Christians! Was the crucifixion a 'set up'?

Question

Well, that got your attention! No offence intended, but I've been thinking again. God created us with free-will, yes? So how did He know that Christ would be sentenced to death?

What if people had just said, 'Oh wow! That Jesus really makes sense. We really should live by his words, because the world would be such a better place'. And then Jesus would have lived quite happily until he was old and grey and still have gone down in history as a great teacher, or even the founder of a religion.

But the whole idea of 'sacrificed for our sins', or 'redemed through the blood of Christ' would be out the window wouldn't it?

So really, for the whole 'salvation' thing, God needed Jesus to die as he did. But what if He hadn't? What if the Jews (God's chosen people after all) had accepted Him as the Messiah?

Thoughts please.

Answer 1

Only the shedding of God's blood could defeat Satan. Satan brought sin into the world and it took the blood of Jesus to take away the sins of the world. Jesus triumphed victoriously over Satan and took the keys of death and hades from Satan.
Until Jesus went to the cross we were all dead in our sins and on our way to hell.

If the Jewish people had accepted Jesus as their Messiah we would all be living according to the Word of God the Holy Bible and the Ten Commandments. God would be living among us and His way would be our way. Jesus would be King of Kings and Lord of Lords ruling the world. Everything would be done according to how the King wanted it done.

I don't like WHAT IF questions because no one knows until the event occurs. Assumptions are never good to make so all I can give you is what I understand from God's word. And God doesn't tell us everything.

Answer 2

Perhaps you would like to consider the following:
1. Time of his death:

The death of Jesus Christ took place in the spring, on the Passover Day, Nisan (or Abib) 14, according to the Jewish calendar. (Mt 26:2; Joh 13:1-3; Ex 12:1-6; 13:4) That year the Passover occurred on the sixth day of the week (counted by the Jews as from sundown on Thursday to sundown on Friday). This is evident from John 19:31, which shows that the following day was “a great” sabbath. The day after Passover was always a sabbath, no matter on what day of the week it came. (Le 23:5-7) But when this special Sabbath coincided with the regular Sabbath (the seventh day of the week), it became “a great one.” So Jesus’ death took place on Friday, Nisan 14, by about 3:00 p.m.—Lu 23:44-46.

2. Summary of evidence:

Summing up, then, since Jesus’ death took place in the spring month of Nisan, his ministry, which began three and a half years earlier according to Daniel 9:24-27, must have begun in the fall, about the month of Ethanim (September-October). John’s ministry (initiated in Tiberius’ 15th year), then, must have begun in the spring of the year 29 C.E. John’s birth therefore would be placed in the spring of the year 2 B.C.E., Jesus’ birth would come about six months later in the fall of 2 B.C.E., his ministry would start about 30 years later in the fall of 29 C.E., and his death would come in the year 33 C.E. (on Nisan 14 in the spring, as stated).

Answer 3

It was a set up, God set it up.

God knew that the religious leaders would feel threatened by Jesus, who performed miracles, pointed out their hypocrisy, offended their sense of "how things should be" by reaching out to the outcasts of society and claiming to be God's Son. So they handed him over to the Romans as a trouble-maker, after a parody of a trial to be executed in a manner that would cast doubt on Jesus being the Messiah.

God also knew that the Jews had got the wrong end of the stick about the Messiah, they were expecting a great military ruler who would unite them in throwing out the Roman empire, not a pacifist miracle worker who talked about loving their enemies. It is theorised that Judas Iscariot was trying to force Jesus to declare himself king and overthrow the Roman occupation by force.

The fact that Jesus was the Messiah and the One True God was nearly impossible for the Jews to understand, let alone accept. Towards the end of the Gospel of John, Jesus states "You believe at last!" (John 16 v31). He has been telling his disciples about who he is for about three years and they still didn't understand.

Answer 4

What were the gifts that the three wise men brought to Jesus when he was born? Gold (for royalty), Frankincense (for worship), and Myr (for embalming). what kind of gift is Myr for a new baby? Imagine bringing that to a baby shower. "here you go, You're baby is going to die before you, you might want to have some of this on hand" So yes, I would say that it was known long before he was born that he was going to die.
There were many Jews that did except him as the messiah, of course we don't call them Jews, we call them Christians, but thats what they were, Jews. It was the scribes and the pharisees that rejected christ and convinced some of the Jewish population that he was a fake

Answer 5

Things happened just the way God planned. It was no "set up." Christ's sacrifice for the sins of mankind had to take place. What if He had not? The sinfulness of mankind still had to be dealt with.
God knew all this before the world began. God cannot be surprised by anything.

Answer 6

Good question....and, unfortunately, worthy of an entire term in "Dogmatic Theology Class" in seminary.

The answer lies in the realm of the Trinity (don't they all?)

This Scripture contains all of the answers, fron the Orthodox point of view....and there is much more than this, but - I have to go to Mass.

Philippians 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

1) We cannot forget that Christ was fully human as well as fully Divine.

2) Nor can we forget that God the Father is omnicient - which means we cannot apply limited human knowledge in three dimensions to limit what He can know. He not only knows what DID happen, or - what WILL happen - - but He knows what COULD happen in any number of infinite possibilities or variables.

Answer 7

Well, it was prophesied in the psalms that he would die that way, so it was no surprise. But you ask a good question. (Not original though, I'm sorry to say). It was the Romans who crucified him, BTW. Back to your question though. There was no way that the Jews were going to accept him. It was the undoing of their way of life. Jesus did away with the need for the temple, the sacrificial system, priests, etc.

Answer 8

There is not "what if" with God.

God is not bound by time. He knew because all of time exists as one. He see the creation of the earth and the end of the earth all at once. He knows what will happen. This does not mean that he makes it happen or that we cannot choose for ourselves, but no matter what...he already knows what will happen. He knew that the Jews would crucify him, if they had changed their minds...God would have known that too.

He saw the fall of man, that he would sacrifice his son for our salvation, and that some will accept this and some will not.

Answer 9

It was certainly a set-up, Nobody:

In fact, it was planned before this world was created. You can see this when God created Eve through the wound in Adam's side--then animal sacrifices to atone for our sins.

There is a hidden Bible code that proves Jesus was not a hoax and that sacrifice was "set up" in advance.

Break the code at: www.revelado.org/revealed.htm

Blessings

Answer 10

God is controlling the earth, and Jesus is Lord , he has much more wisdom than us . Even though he has freewill he is the son of God and he knows his father , has been with him , hence he knows what he has to do.

God did not brainwash him and send him to earth.