“Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy; — but the Father, for love!” - Octavius Winslow, quoted by John Stott in The Message of Romans (Downers Grove, Ill.; Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), 255.
HT:FE
As Mike Wittmer astutely writes, "On this holiest of holy days, we thank God for paying the ultimate price—our ultimate price—to save us. This is the day that Jesus went to hell. As his bewildered cries bounced off his Father’s back, it was only the straining grip of the Holy Spirit which kept the Trinity from flying apart. We will never comprehend the agony and betrayal in that eternal moment, but we know enough to realize that we are the recipients of history’s most lopsided trade: God sacrificed himself for us."
This was done for our sin to God's Glory. Kevin DeYoung writes, "The cross demonstrates the love of God not because it speaks to our great worth, but because, in electing grace, it turns away God’s just wrath. ... Divine mercy without divine wrath is meaningless. We have been rescued from much, forgiven for everything, and saved unto infinitely more than we deserve. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10)."
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