Was Christ willing to die for sinners?

To prepare our hearts to remember the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ at Easter, over the next few weeks we will be considering various aspects of this history-turning event. Today I want us to consider the question, “Was Christ willing to die?”.  And perhaps a suitable follow-up question, “Does it matter?”.

Many have questioned whether Jesus was actually willing to die. They point to those mysterious words of Jesus, quoted by all gospel writers except John, uttered in the garden of Gethsemane as proof:

Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Was Jesus willing to die? Did Jesus change His mind when He came face to face with the immense gravity of the task set before him: suffering at the Father’s hand for the sins of all His people? On the other hand, if our Lord was willing to die then how are we to understand such a request? Let’s briefly look at this from a number of angles.

Firstly, we must understand that the Godhead has the same will. Jesus indeed was completely man, which was a prerequisite for Him being our representative (Rom 5:17), but Jesus was no less completely God. According to the Nicene Creed, which was a response to the teachings of Arius, who denied the divinity of the Son, the one God exists in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each distinct yet co-equal and co-eternal. Therefore, we must understand that the Trinity not only shares the same nature but also the same will.

Secondly, all three persons of the Trinity agreed to the redemptive plan; commencing with the incarnation and culminating in the death and resurrection of the Son of God. The Scriptures teach that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son” (John 3:16). But we must not think Jesus was pressured into coming. Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Not only did Jesus willingly become man but He testified to His willing sacrifice. Jesus said,

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:17-18).

Jesus willingly left the glories of heaven to become a man and He willingly gave up His life to the Father as a sacrifice for sin to achieve reconciliation for His people. Jesus willingly was “despised and rejected by men” (Isaiah 53:3). He willingly bore “our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4). Despite us going astray and turning to OUR own way, and not God’s (Isaiah 53:6), Jesus willingly accepted the Father laying upon Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6) as He was “cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of [His] people” (Isaiah 53:8). Both Father and Son, offeror and offering, were in perfect agreement.

Octavius Winslow stated, “Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy – but the Father, for love!”.  And yet we must equally say that the Son likewise gave us His life for love. Puritan Stephen Charnock is right: “He that can rescue himself from the hands of men, and will not, may be said to die willingly though he die violently.”

So what do we make of Jesus’ request in the garden? Did He have a momentary lapse of will? Absolutely not! When Jesus cried out in anguish, “not my will, but yours be done,” Jesus was giving full expression to His humanity. Up to this point, Jesus had not known a moment in which He did not bask in the love of the Father. The cup represented the unmitigated unleashing of God’s wrath upon Christ. And at this moment, Christ’s innocence coupled with the knowledge of His being “made sin” (2 Cor 5:21) caused an intolerable trembling. Christ’s cry was a cry of unparallelled submission, not a cry of mutiny.

Was Christ willing to die for sinners? Yes, there is no doubt! But sadly, Jesus was more willing to die for sinners than sinners are willing to receive eternal life. And not only this, but unfortunately Jesus was also more willing to die for His people, than His people are often willing to die for Jesus. May these short considerations of the Triune God’s willingness to redeem you give you much encouragement as you rest in His love at this time while causing sober consideration to your commitment to live in absolute submission to the will of God.