God's Purpose for the Cross

“... this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” (Acts 2:23-24)

This verse makes it clear that the crucifixion of Jesus was God’s plan. But how can this be? How can this evil be a part of God’s plan? And what was the goal of this plan?

God’s plan, and the end goal, was that God would be glorified. God does not need us. God would be no less majestic if he had never created us. He would be no less holy if he condemned every one of us for our sins. But this was not the way God chose to be glorified.

What was intended and desired by the enemy and by those who put Christ to death was evil, but God intended it for his glory and for our good. Yes, God would still be beautiful if he never created anything. Even after creating everything, he could have not redeemed us, but this is how glorious he is!

Before the beginning of the world, God had a plan. He created man and woman and made them very good. Humanity sinned against him time and time again and he gave them the promise of a coming salvation to look forward to and to trust in.

Then, at the right time, God came to earth in the form of a man to be born of a virgin and to live the sinless life which his people have never been able to live. That God-man, Jesus Christ, died the death that we deserved. He then rose to life and ascended to the right hand of the Father to intercede for us. While it is true that God did this out of love for us, even more importantly than this, he did this for his own glory.

Let this piece of God’s plan cause us to be comforted by his love and drive us to praise him for who he is and what he has done.