255 The Red Letter Answers - 8

In this episode we look at the question Was the Cross God's idea? We unpack a few verses like Isaiah 53:10 that people assume are evidence that the cross was necessary in God's mind to be able to save us. However when understood in its context we discover that is not the case. Jesus is clear he was put on the cross by the Jewish leaders with the help of the Romans.

Click on the link below for the pdf.

SHOW NOTES

The Red-Letter Answers.

Jesus’ Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s).

In some bibles Jesus’ words are in red. These are then the Red-Letter answers to FAQs.

Why focus on Jesus’ answers? Because Jesus is the Creator and the Maintainer of the Universe.

He is the exact representation of his father (Hebrews 1:1-3), and the only eyewitness who is close to the father’s heart (John 1:18).

8. Was the Cross God’s idea?

There are many acts of violence in the Bible which are attributed to God. It is time to recognize the source of violence and stop blaming God for deceit and violence. It is time to take seriously the words of Jesus in John 10:10 NLT The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

In this pronouncement Jesus draws the lines in the conflict between good and evil. He identifies the principal opponents in the battle. The thief who would steal away the good creation of God is the devil. He has the power of death (Hebrews 2:14) and whenever death strikes the devil is responsible. Whenever there is peace and joy (rich and satisfying life) Jesus is responsible. Be discerning.

We consider passages from the Old Testament where the blame for Jesus’ suffering and death is placed on God.

The planned execution of Isaac as a sacrifice by Abraham at the instruction of God (Genesis 22:1) is taken as prophetic evidence introducing the necessity of God sacrificing his own son.

The sacrificing of innocent lambs is another claimed prophetic type for the need of death by an innocent being for attain the forgiveness of sin.

This statement by Jesus is taken to mean that his death had been prophesied at the instigation of the Spirit and thus the events referred to must have been caused by God.

Matthew 26:56 NLT “But this (the death of Jesus) is all happening to fulfill the words

of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures.” At that point, all the disciples deserted him

and fled.

However, prediction does not necessarily imply causation. I can predict you will be dead within 100 years but this does not necessarily imply that I will cause your death.

Isaiah 53 is one Old Testament passage that is relevant in the death of Jesus. Specifically verse 10 is used as primary evidence that God planned and executed the death of Jesus to satisfy his justice or holiness.

Isaiah 53:10 KJV "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when

thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his

days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand."There are reasons which indicate that the translation for Isaiah 53:10 is not correct. Here they

are.

1. V erses 4 and 5 are then in conflict with verse 10

53:4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;

it was our sorrows that weighed him down.

And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,

a punishment for his own sins!

5 But he was pierced for BY our rebellion,

crushed for by our sins.

These two verses clearly indict humanity for the suffering and death of Jesus. This means we cannot have consistency between verses 4 to 5 with verse 10 as they are translated at present.

10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief.

This sentence above cannot be interpreted to mean that God caused Jesus’ crushing, grief and death. This claim is made and accepted by those who believe in the Penal Substitution theory of the Atonement (PSA). What the writer intended from the context of the whole chapter is that God predicted and did not prevent the suffering of his son.

A similar usage of this phrasing is the traditional committal service using the language of the KJV as follows,

“Forasmuch as it has pleased Almighty God, in His wise providence, to remove from

this world the soul of the departed, we now commit the body of ______ to the ground,

earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.”

This means that since God is all powerful the person could not have died unless God agreed to his death.

Causation is not determined by this sentence in Isaiah 53:10.

2. The Hebrew view of God was that he alone was the cause of good and bad for the planet. This is demonstrated by the blessings and the curses (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28) where God either rewards for obedience or punishes for rebellion. There is no hint of a supernatural evil being, viz the devil who inflicts suffering. This means that if Jesus is crushed God must have caused this action and is thus accountable for it. Isaiah is clearly of this tradition,

3. As demonstrated above in (Isaiah 53:4-5) it impossible for God to have caused Jesus’

suffering and death. These verses indicate that the crushing of Jesus was by US.

And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,

a punishment for his own sins!

5 But he was pierced for BY our rebellion,

crushed for BY our sins.

The choice of which preposition to use, viz. “by” or “for” depends on the translator’s

understanding of what happened to Jesus at the end of his life. Who was responsible for the death of Jesus? Was it God or people? Translators who believe it was God will use “for.” Translators who believe it was us will use “by.”4. From the predictions of Jesus his pain and death were caused by the Jews and the Romans .

John 2:19-22 NLT “All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I

will raise it up.”

20 “What!” they exclaimed. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can

rebuild it in three days?” 21 But when Jesus said, “this temple,” he meant his own

body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.

The verb “destroy” cannot be interpreted to mean that God would be the cause of Jesus death. It is rather suggesting that when those who were asking the question would be the cause of his death.

Matthew 16:21–23 NLT From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was

necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead (Mark 8:31–33, Luke 9:21–22).

Here Jesus attributes his death to the religious leaders of his people.

Matthew 17:22–23 NLT After they gathered again in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son

of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. 23 He will be killed, but on

the third day he will be raised from the dead.” And the disciples were filled with grief.

(Mark 9:30–32, Luke 9:43–45)

Jesus enemies are the religious leaders not God. This statement cannot be misunderstood as to the causation of the death of Jesus. He is to be killed by his enemies not his father.

John 3:14 NLT And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so

the Son of Man must be lifted up.

It was Moses who lifted the bronze snake not God. It was the religious leaders who lifted Jesus up on the cross. Not God.

Matthew 20:17-19 NLT As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples

aside privately and told them what was going to happen to him. 18 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading

priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. 19 Then they

will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified.

But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” (Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-34)

The detail described by Jesus of what he was going to experience at the hands of the priests and the Romans is impressive. At the same time there is no hint from Jesus that his father is causing this torture and death.

There are some details that are relevant to the causation that we must add.

Luke 23:34 NLT Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are

doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.Jesus forgives the soldiers, not God for his execution. If God was motivating the soldiers to execute Jesus it would make no sense for Jesus to ask God to forgive the soldiers. The father

would rather be congratulating them for work well done.

Matthew 27:46 NLT At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli,

Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned

me?”

Jesus does NOT cry out, “My God why are you executing me?” It is abandonment that Jesus experiences from God not execution. Jesus felt abandoned but God was there (Romans 8; 2 Corinthians 5:21)

We turn now to the record of the Passover Meal for the record of Jesus last occasion with his disciples before his death.

Matthew 26:26–28 NASB Now while they were eating, Jesus took some bread,

and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is

My body.” 27 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them,

saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being

poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

Jesus gives no cause for his death in the repurposing of the Passover Supper to the Communion Service or the Eucharist. He is stating the consequences of his death. For those who copy or mimic his actions (bread) and internalize his teachings (wine) will know with perfect certainty they are forgiven of all their sins. What a celebration the communion service is. It is prophetic about the marriage supper of the Lamb.

In the dialogue with two disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter Sunday the cause for Jesus’ death is revealed as understood by these two disciples.

Luke 24:20 NLT But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to

be condemned to death, and they crucified him.

Jesus made no correction to the disciples understanding but demonstrates how the Law and the Prophets predicted this central event of all time and timelessness. There is no other conclusion but to acknowledge that humans, under the influence of “the thief who steals, kills and destroys” are responsible for causing the death of Jesus the Messiah at the hands of men.

Conclusion

In the one of the last parables of Jesus

Matthew 25:40 NLT “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one

of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!”

We are all indicted in the death of Jesus. We would like to disassociate ourselves from the causation of his death but Jesus statement above does not allow this desire. Given enough pressure it seems from this statement that all of us turn on God at some point in our lives. Thedisgraceful actions of the disciples during the arrest, trial and execution of the Messiah illustrate this claim.

Our thin veneer if mercy and compassion are exposed by the atrocities of war where our nature is revealed in hatred and cruelty, deceit and violence.

It is this knowledge that leads to repentance and reformation when contrasted with the kindness of God. This is the rock Jesus referred to he responded to Peter’s recognition that Jesus of Nazareth was the long-awaited divine Messiah who came to love and serve us.

He came to love and serve us because this is the nature of God. He came knowing how we would respond to his innocence and goodness with rejection, torture and death. It was the only way the nature of God and the nature of evil could be revealed to the universe. It is the foundation of our understanding that God does truly love us, that, he is especially fond of us, that he likes us, that he looks forward to sharing the New Earth with us.

Ian Hartley, May 2026