It is tempting to look at the crucifixion of Christ simply as the result of the unchecked sin of unredeemed men and the unbelief of the nation of Israel.
Considering only the responses of the crowds can lead one to think, “well, if they had believed, then this would never have happened — Christ would not have gone to the cross. He was at the cross only because of the sin of unbelief.”
Yet that minimizes the reality of Christ’s intention. As we will see on Thursday evening (Maundy Thursday service), Christ went with intention into the betrayal. “Let us be going,” he said to the disciples (Mt. 26:46) — and He wasn’t thinking about running away from the Romans. He meant to fly directly into their bonds and the traitorous actions of Judas.
In fact, Peter makes that very same conclusion when he says to the Jews in his first post-resurrection, post-ascension sermon:
“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.” [Acts 2:22-23]
In other words, it was their unbelief in His miracles and the signs of Messiahship and it was their nails, and it was the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God (or better yet, the “predetermination of God’s omniscient wisdom and intention”) that put Christ on the cross. It wasn’t simply their unbelief; it was the eternal intention and plan of God — using the sin of unbelief — to put Christ on the cross as the means of redeeming men from their sin.
Understand this: all the unbelief that is evidenced against Christ throughout His ministry that culminated in the cross was under the sovereign control and design of God.
And even more than that, this unbelief was fully under the authority of God so that He used it to accomplish what Satan was attempting to thwart. Yes, they did not believe; but their sin of unbelief was what God used to accomplish the salvation of other sinners from their unbelief!
As John Piper has noted,
Jesus was not accidentally entangled in a web of injustice. The saving benefits of his death for sinners were not an afterthought. God planned it all out of infinite love to sinners like us and appointed a time. Jesus, who was the very embodiment of his Father’s love for sinners, saw that the time had come to set his face to fulfill his mission: to die in Jerusalem for our sake. “No one takes [my life] from me [he said], but I lay it down of my own accord…” (John 10:18). [“He Set His Face to Go to Jerusalem,” in Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross.]
How great is the cross and the sovereign purposes of God!
Words of Grace 