Was It God's Will for Jesus to Die?

Yes. The Bible says the cross was never an accident or a backup plan. Jesus was "handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge" (Acts 2:23), and seven centuries earlier Isaiah wrote that it was the Lord's will for His servant to suffer for our sins (Isaiah 53:10). Scripture holds a second truth right beside the first: the people who put Jesus to death were fully responsible for what they did. God took the worst thing humans have ever done and made it the way we are saved.

Brad Straarup took this on in his message Choose Freely, and he was blunt about it: "It wasn't an accident. God wasn't having a bad day when all of this happened." The cross was always the plan.

What does Acts 2:23 actually say?

Peter preached it on the day of Pentecost, only weeks after the crucifixion, in the same city where it happened: "This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross."

The verse has two halves, and Peter doesn't let go of either one. The first half is God's plan. The second half is human guilt. Both are true at the same time.

The early church prayed the same way. Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and the people of Israel had conspired against Jesus, and yet "they did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen" (Acts 4:27-28). That gave the believers courage. If the darkest day in history was still under God's hand, so was theirs.

How long was the cross part of God's plan?

From before the beginning. Christ "was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake" (1 Peter 1:20). Revelation calls Him "the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world" (Revelation 13:8).

The thread runs through the whole Old Testament. Isaiah 53 describes the suffering servant in startling detail: "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). Then verse 10 says, "Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer."

Jesus knew it too. He told His disciples more than once that the Son of Man must suffer, be killed and rise again (Mark 8:31). After the resurrection He asked two confused followers, "Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" (Luke 24:26).

Why would God plan for His Son to die?

Because He knew what we would do with our freedom, and He loved us anyway. God gave people real choices, knowing we would choose wrongly and that we could never be holy enough to make our own way back to Him. So He came Himself, in Jesus, to live the life we can't live and to die the death we deserved.

That is the heart of the gospel. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). He planned the rescue before we ever needed it.

If God planned it, were the people who crucified Jesus guilty?

Yes. Jesus said of Judas, "The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!" (Luke 22:22). Decreed, and still woe. God's plan didn't erase anyone's choice or anyone's guilt.

Joseph's story is a small picture of the same thing. His brothers sold him into slavery, and years later he told them, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good" (Genesis 50:20). They meant evil. God meant good. Both were real.

God's sovereign will takes in everything that happens, good and bad, without making God the author of evil. He doesn't tempt anyone to sin (James 1:13). At the cross He used the free, sinful choices of real people to accomplish the very thing they thought they were ending. The Bible doesn't explain every gear of how that works, but it never asks us to drop either side.

Did Jesus go to the cross willingly?

Completely. "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord" (John 10:18). In Gethsemane He felt the full weight of what was coming and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). Then He got up and walked toward the cross. Hebrews says that "for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame" (Hebrews 12:2). The joy was people brought home to God.

What does this mean for the hard things in my life?

Be careful here. The cross doesn't mean every painful thing in your life is something God wanted for you, or that you should call evil good. It means no evil is bigger than God's purpose. If He could turn the betrayal and injustice of the crucifixion into salvation for the world, He can work in the worst chapter of your story too.

Nothing can stop what God has decided to do, and that means "no one, no thing, and no enemy can ever stop God from accomplishing through you what He wants to accomplish." Even your mistakes don't put you out of His reach (Romans 8:28). If you're worried you've already wrecked things, read What If I Missed God's Will for My Life?

Frequently asked questions

Did God make Judas betray Jesus?

No. The betrayal was foretold and "decreed," yet Jesus held Judas responsible for his choice (Luke 22:22). God knew what Judas would do and worked through it. He didn't force Judas's heart.

Were the Jewish people to blame for Jesus' death?

Scripture names Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles and the people of Israel together (Acts 4:27), and says Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). The honest answer is that all of us put Him there, and He went willingly for all of us. Blaming one people group has caused terrible harm and has no place in following Jesus.

Does this mean everything that happens is God's will?

Nothing happens outside God's sovereign rule, but that isn't the same as everything being what God desires. He is "not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9), and people still perish. God allows what He doesn't approve, and He can bring good out of it.

The cross was always the plan

The crucifixion was not a tragedy God scrambled to fix. It was the center of His plan from the beginning, carried out by a Savior who chose it out of love. The God who planned your rescue is not surprised by anything in your life, and He hasn't given up on you.

This post comes from Brad Straarup's message, Choose Freely, which teaches what the whole Bible says about God's will and how to live in it.

If you'd like to talk about what Jesus did for you with people who are following Him, plan a visit.

Keep reading: Is There Only One Person God Wants You to Marry? · What If I Missed God's Will for My Life? · How to Make Decisions When God Seems Silent