Question:
Did the wrath of God, man, and Satan all meet on our Saviour as He hung upon the cross, or was it we that “esteemed Him smitten of God, and afflicted”? Was He not that same beloved Son at His darkest hour as He was at His baptism?
Answer:
Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree, as the apostle declares. 1 Peter 2:24. (Also see Isaiah 53:4-6, 11). God made Him to be sin for us, and therefore He bore the consequence of sin, which is death. In this sense only, did the wrath of God rest upon Him. Of course, Satan hoped that He might be destroyed, and so did wicked men as the agents of Satan. The prophet, speaking for the Jews at the time of the crucifixion, says, “We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted,” but He was not so because of His own sins, but because He bore our sins. He was the same beloved Son when He hung upon the cross, when the horrors and darkness of death were around Him, as He was at His baptism and His transfiguration. The crucifixion was but the culmination of all that He did for man. He humiliated Himself for man, even unto death. Death was the climax of all. But in it all, He was submissive to God’s will, and in it all, God regarded Him with the most tender favor. It was our sins which He bore for us that hid from Jesus, through His humanity, the Father’s face, and caused Him to cry, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Sometimes an overwhelming sense of our sins brings the same feelings to us, but that does not mean God has forsaken us.
