by Pearl Nabi

Created on: April 19, 2009

This question raises the biggest issue of why God allowed men to so mistreat His Son at the crucifixion, where he was sacrificed as the Lamb of God to atone for the sins of mankind.

Under Jewish Law, the sin offering has to be completely unblemished to be put to death as an atoning sacrifice. By the time of his sacrifice the Son was obviously not unblemished physically although he was spiritually the perfect sacrifice.

The Son was imprisoned, interrogated, spat on, unjustly accused, reviled, beaten and cruelly whipped, punished, tortured, burdened with carrying the cross, hung on it in the most appalling method of execution that could be devised by man, etc. you get the picture. Why did God put him through all of this?

Surely God could have done it all in such a manner that the Son was not made to suffer so much? What did the Son do to deserve it? Nothing! He bore our sins but are our sins so revolting to God, that we deserve the kind of punishment metered out to the Son who stood in our place?

The Son said in effect that that God had given him permission to forgo the crucifixion but that he chose it of his own accord; obviously knowing and understanding the purpose and the necessity of it. (John 10:18) If this is the case, as I believe I understand it to be, then those who executed him are no more guilty of his murder, than the God who required it.

God will judge us all individually and according to our deeds. He will judge us righteously through the very Man that He has appointed to judge us all. (John 5:27 & 30)

We cannot make any kind of judgement that is even remotely based on the truth, so it is not for us to judge anyone else on anything at all. (Compare James 4:12) Much less judging God on why He permits evil.

As with all the things of God there are obviously very sound reasons for what the Son went through in the flesh and while undergoing the crucifixion the Son was actually being glorified (Hebrews 2:9) and, going by the teachings of Dick Reuben (http://www.dickreuben.org/), being inaugurated as our High Priest.

While we may not understand the purposes of God in permitting evil, it seems that the sufferings of the flesh count for very little, as there are things that are still to come after this life, from the Almighty God, that far out-weigh all our fleshly sufferings!

We may see the pain, ugliness and degradation of death and evil; but with spiritual eyes' we can sometimes dimly perceive God's greater purposes for His own children.

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