How Could a Good God Sacrifice His Son?

 

Many who misunderstand the Gospel, complain that it's unfair and cruel of God to demand that His son suffer and die for our sins. "No good father would do that," they argue. Agreed.

But one has to recognize that the Scriptural descriptions of God as a father are metaphorical. God and Jesus aren't literally father and son in the biological sense. Their relationship is FAR closer than that. They (along with the Holy Spirit) are ONE (Isaiah 9:6, John 1:14, 10:30, Colossians 1:15-17, 2:9, etc.). Therefore, where Jesus is, God is. What Jesus chooses, God chooses. What Jesus does, God does.

When Jesus allowed Himself to be put on that cross, God allowed Himself to be put on that cross. Jesus wasn't put on the cross by His Father--a distant, uncaring God who turned His back on His son. God Himself was on that cross! Jesus's cry of, "Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?" is a great mystery, but the way I understand it is that He was NOT referring to a breach in relationship with God, as many have assumed. God and Jesus were never at odds or at cross purposes or against one another (Matthew 12:25). Rather, Jesus/God was experiencing the weight of sin and suffering and pain in the same way all humanity has experienced it when we allow sin to master us rather than Christ's love and grace.

Because Jesus "became sin for us" (II Corinthians 5:21) as a human being--suffering and dying for the sin of the world--He was not experiencing the glory of Heaven or of divinity or of grace at that moment. He was experiencing existence as a mere man--separated from His Godhood and divine nature and state of sinlessness. That, I believe, is the separation and abandonment Jesus felt--not a literal abandonment of a cruel, heartless father refusing to acknowledge the suffering of his son--but the choice God made to abandon His godliness and glory so He could live life as a human being and suffer and die as a human being in our place (Philippians 2:6-8).

In this way, God Himself, as Jesus, allowed Himself to be tortured, ridiculed, and rejected, so we don't have to be. Therefore, God didn't demand any sacrifice He didn't pay Himself. And, because He is an excellent Father, He made sure you wouldn't have to pay that price either.