How come Jesus knew he was going to resurrect? And what kind of sacrifice is that anyway?

Question

If you believe he knew he would resurrect and rise triumphant into Heaven amid the jubilation of a billion angels, then you must believe it wasn't much of a sacrifice.

The idea of a great sacrifice for our sins is fundamental to your religion.

But you can't have it both ways. If you believe he knew, then you must see that he was only pretending when he said "Father let this cup pass..." And who was he praying to anyway?

Answer 1

I agree. Not much of a sacrifice.

Answer 2

Not much of a sacrifice? Apparently you've never read anything about how Romans put people to death.

First Christ was beaten with a whip that had bits of metal and bone attached. They literally gouged huge chunks of flesh out of the person's back. The Romans were experts with the whip, and many times, the victim didn't survive.

Then He was mocked and crowned with something that looked like a bushel basket of thorns. Forget those dainty little circlets on the average crucifix -- the bush used to make the crown of thorns had three to four inch spikes. Imagine having that hammered into your head!

He was mocked and tortured by Roman soldiers, forced to carry a heavy wooden cross despite the fact that He was weak from blood loss, and then He had spikes driven through His wrists and ankles. For three hours, He endured suffocation and heart failure, along with blood loss, tetanus, and infection.

And all of the physical torture doesn't take into account the fact that He bore all of the sins of everyone who ever lived or will live. Can you imagine knowing every rape, murder, torture, and vile act ever commited anywhere at any time?

He knew the horrors He was going to have to endure, and that's why He prayed to His Father in Heaven that it might pass from Him. But He accepted the necessity of the Cross and drank the cup of suffering and shame.

He earned the triumph of the Resurrection, no doubt about it. And I am so glad that He laid down His life for me. . .talk about no greater love!

Answer 3

Yes he knew. The great sacrifice was for a powerful spirit being to be trapped in a human body and endure everything that we as humans have to, only several million times over as he suffered for every person that was or would be alive.

And no he wasn't pretending to be hesitant about being punished for every sin that had been or would be committed. As a being that doesn't know physical death or pain and is now suddenly faced with both as a human being, it was Jesus' humanity that cried out. Not his spiritual self (at least that's what I believe).

He was praying to the "Creator of the Universe" He is a part of God, a being with a specific purpose, apart from but still a part of God. So yes it is possible for him to pray to that Creator.

Answer 4

Have you ever been accused of something you didn't do? How did it make you feel? Well, imagine you are utterly Innocent, and have done no wrong, but are expected to bear the burden of ALL wrong. Jesus didn't just die, for us, He lived for us! He left His exalted state in Heaven and came down to Earth. For our sakes, he experienced, hunger, thirst, weariness, scorn, torture, imprisonment, trial, shame, and execution. Before dying, He experienced the ultimate punishment: separation from His heavenly Father. He paid the full price of our sins, so we don't have to. At any time He could have refused to go through with it. When He prayed for the cup to pass, He was asking if there was an easier way. There wasn't. And you call this all "not much of a sacrifice"? How many people in your life would do all that for you? How many people would you be willing to go through all that for?

Answer 5

of course He knew that He would be resurrected...but He still had to die a brutal and agonizing death, this after being beaten...and in dying like a common criminal, He took on all our sins...physical agony compounded by the weight of all that sin...and to endure separation from His Father...He knew full well that what He was going to go thru was more agony than any person had gone thru before or since...He wasn't pretending...He prayed that if there was any way for His mission to be fulfilled without being crucified, then He would much prefer it...but was willing to do His Father's will...

Answer 6

The pain on the cross, the shed blood was the sacrifice. Let me ask you a question- even if you thought you would resurrect would you allow yourself to be killed a cruel death? I do not think so- We all deserve to die that death that He did, He paid the price we could never pay to save us. His resurrection was to show us He conquered death. A dead Savior would mean nothing to me. I will live eternally with Him, because of His death and someday I will live with Him in heaven. Sacrifice was paid, and victory is through Him,

Answer 7

The sacrifice of any human life is precious and dear. Jesus the man died on that cross.
To be able to resurrect Himself was just as wonderous as resurrecting Lazarus.
And that miracle was in fulfillment of prophecy, as much as fulfillment of the required blood sacrifice for the remission of sin.
A sacrifice is a sacrifice. Mission accomplished.
Resurrection is new life, from God.

Answer 8

Jesus spent 33 years living in one of the most God forsaken places on the planet.

Then he permitted himself to be brutally tortured and killed.

He did all of it voluntarily, not for himself, but for others.

Since he was already God, he gained nothing more for himself than what he already had.

And his sacrifice, however inadequate you may consider it to be, was certainly sufficient to accomplish all that he came to do.

When Jesus prayed, he was communicating with the other two members of the Trinity ... God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit.

Answer 9

Faith is its own justification. People of faith have been taught to believe before they were taught to think. That's why Christ's 3 hours of suffering in an infinite space/time continuum is so magnified by the believers. (The insignificance of the "sacrifice" relative to the vastness of infinite time and space is ignored.)

It is an item of faith that "atonement for sins" in a world full of war and murder could actually mean anything; or that it makes an ounce of sense to say that someone can die "for" the sins of other people, although this death is followed by a hundred generations of people who continue to endure injustice and suffering and continue committing sins, and turning other people into innocent victims of it, as if this alleged "sacrifice" had never happened. This man died for you? So what? Has it ever protected you from accident or disease or crime? What measurable or detectable difference does it make? None.

I do not, however, want to sound too negative because Christ was primarily a teacher, and the greatness of his message is in his simlpe humanity.

Answer 10

Please don't say "fundamental to your religion" please say fundamental to most Church Empires.

I am a self-read Christian. I think Jesus' life and teachings are just as important as him dying (without denying his teachings)to make the point that he meant what he said. And of course God raising him to prove that he (God) meant what he said about us being able to defeat Death.

Sacrifice is taught by Paul, not Jesus. But believed by 90% of Church Empires. Not believed by those that read only the words of Jesus. (Self-read Christians) -- We are born again, by simply changing our personalities from holding grudges to not holding grudges. That is a huge change in personality. (But, when we do it , The Holy Spirit Witnesses to us personally, mentally, emotionally, and physically that we as harmony-loving people will go to Heaven.)

I don't think Jesus ever said, "I will go and sacrifice myself as your punishment for your sins, so that no matter how you conduct your lives, you will go to Heaven."

Answer 11

Fine - you know 911 is available. Now, go drive spikes through your feet, stand on tippie toe, and drive a spike through 1 wrist. After all, you know you will survive.
Oh yes - carry all the sins of all humanity for all time on your heart.
Remember 911 will come.