God's Will is Done

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

This truth cannot be over emphasized, for without it our understanding of ourselves, the Gospel and most importantly of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ is distorted.

The reason why it was God’s will to crush Jesus begins in the Garden of Eden. It was God’s will to crush Jesus because...

We All Like Sheep Have Gone Astray

In the Garden we have the story of how Adam and Eve fell into sin. Their story is our story. Just like Adam and Eve we too have succumb to the temptations of Satan, but there is more to this story than our following their bad example. Death came into this world because of Adam’s sin. When we think of death we naturally think of physical death, but the death in Genesis 3 is more comprehensive than mere physical death. In Genesis 2 we learn the penalty for eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Genesis 2:16–17 ESV

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

But on the day Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they did not physically die. Was God a lier? Was He making false threats? No! On the day that Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they died spiritually and with them all of used died spiritually as well! We sin because we are born sinners. The Apostle Paul explains it like this:

Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

This is why Adam and Eve felt such guilt and attempted to hide themselves from God and cover their shame with fig leaves. This is way we hide ourselves from God and attempt to cover ourselves with the “fig leaves of our self-righteousness”. And just as they failed, we too fail to hide and cover ourselves from God’s judgement.

But the story does not end in Mankind’s will to sin, but continues with God’s Will to Crush Jesus.

It Was God’s Will to Crush Jesus

In the Garden God sacrificed an animal to cover the shame of Adam and Eve. This sacrifice pointed to a greater sacrifice that would be made by the “Seed of the Woman.”

Genesis 3:15 ESV

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

To decisively defeat Sin and Satan, Jesus had to be “bruised.” Isaiah explains it like this:

Isaiah 53:4–5 ESV

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

This is what was happening on that first Good Friday.

Have you ever considered what an odd name Good Friday is for such a dark day? Their is nothing “good” about betrayal, brutality and blood. The cross is the ugliest form of execution ever devised by Mankind. It is an illustration of our brutality and the depth of evil that lurks in each of our souls. Yet, the day is Good. It is Good, because on it Jesus paid the price of our sin—death for death. Those who unite themselves to Christ by faith share in Christ’s death, consequently they now can share in His life!

Romans 6:3–4 ESV

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

At the Cross, God’s Will Was Done! But this is not the whole Story, it gets better!

It Was God’s Will to Exalt Jesus!

If you listened carefully to Isaiah 53:10 carefully, you would have seen that the Story does not end at the crushing blow of the cross. Let me read that verse once again.

Isaiah 53:10 ESV

Perhaps some of you might have been puzzled by why God says in Genesis 3:15 that Jesus would be “bruised” but in Isaiah 53:10 God says that Jesus would be “crushed.” In Genesis 3:15, the “crushing” blow is reserved for Satan only. The reason is because in Isaiah 53:10, the text does not end with the “crushing” of Jesus, but concludes with His resurrection and exhalation! There is Victory on the other side of the cross.

Isaiah 53:11–12 ESV

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Satan and Sin are “crushed” because they will never rise again. Jesus is merely “bruised” because He has risen from the grave! Good Friday is a day of Celebration because of Easter and because of saving faith.

Have you placed your faith in Christ? It is by this faith that we share not only in His atoning death, but also in His resurrection. It is by this faith that we Celebrate this day as Good Friday!