Not a Victim...

It is the time of year where there we, as a culture, take time to remember the Crucifixion.
(If we are consistent, we must also remember Jesus' Resurrection and Ascension.)

Inevitably, there will be some that mourn and lament Good Friday's 'tragic hero'. "Isn't it sad that Jesus was so misunderstood," some would say, "and had to die?"

"Isn't it sad," some would say, "that the gentle Lamb was so horribly mistreated?"

Jesus was not blindsided by the Cross.
He was not mugged by men, scourged, and left to die on a cross.

He is on record as saying: (John 12:27)

Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

Jesus was on a mission. He had a specific purpose. It was not merely to be a good example, or to provide some good teaching.

Luke 18:31 cites Jesus saying that the reason they were going to Jerusalem was so that everything spoken about him would be accomplished (teleo: completed, fulfilled, brought to perfection, put the finishing stroke upon).

This is perfectly consistent with the "It is Finished" statement in John 19:30.

So then, since he was no victim, what exactly was going on? He certainly seemed to be a victim, didn't he?

No. He was much more than a victim. He was a willing sacrifice. There is a world of difference between the 2.

He made this clear in John 10:17-18 where he explicitly said his life was not to be taken from him, but freely laid down. This is also echoed in his conversation with Pilate, or with his arrest in Gethsemane, it is not the will of man orchestrating the death of the Son of Man, but rather the decree of Almighty God himself.

Jesus is the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world. (Rev 13:8)

But why?

It was the only means by which men, hostile to God, and alienated from him by their sin, could be restored. Jesus asked -- while he prayed in the garden -- whether there could be some other way. There was no other way.

Sin could not be left unpunished, or God must suppress His Justice.
Humanity could not be condemned entirely, or God must suppress His love.

What was it that motivated the Son to face the torment, and see it through to the end?
He had his goal in mind:

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

What did this look like to the Father?

Isaiah 53 breaks this down in unmistakable detail. (I encourage you to read the entire chapter.)

I would like to focus our attention to a particular portion of it:

The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all... (v. 6)

Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering (v. 10)

my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities (v. 11)

Jesus was here to bear our guilt. For us to even understand the Good news, we must first wrap our head around the fact that Sin is no merely abstract thing. It corrupts us. It changes our core nature. It sets on a collision course with God's goodness. It evokes a real divine response of real wrath.

If God were to just wave away sin, that would make him as bad as us.

Sin needed to be dealt with.

The reason we don't often understand Grace is that we know, deep down is that God does require moral perfection. He has been explicit about that throughout His Word. Because of that, we have a tendency to move the goalposts -- to give reasons we have achieved, in some way, that perfection. But the reality is, we haven't.

We try to make arbitrary checklists and say we have lived the godly life, if we can check off the right boxes. We tell ourselves we're 'good enough', forgetting that: "If we say we have no sin, we call God a liar." (1 John 1:9-10)

What we're doing when we do that, is we are trying to be our own Saviour. We are trying to be Christ. The merit we are looking for, that perfect life, does exist. But it isn't our merit. It isn't our perfection. It's HIS.

Christ did not come to change the Law. His coming fulfilled it.

He came to change US.

He did not come as a victim. He came as a conquering King. The foes he vanquished were sin and death.

Mission Accomplished.

The suffering Lamb is the Lion Rampant!

Rejoice in Him!

Trust to His merit, not your own.
Turn from sin, and turn to Christ.