Co-Host: David in Flint, Michigan. Hello David.
Caller: Hi
Pastor Doug: Hi
Caller: My question has to do with our Father God sending Jesus into the world to be a sacrifice for our sins. I’m wondering was that His plan to begin with, and if so, did Judas and Pilate and them really have a choice?
Pastor Doug: That’s a very good question. It has been a question that theologians have battled with. Let me see if I can re-state that.
Now the Bible says for God so loved the world, He sent His son. So God sent Jesus to die for our sins that we shouldn’t perish. And the Bible prophesied that even His close friend would betray Him.
So did God plan that Judas was born for the purpose of betraying Jesus and then he’d be thrown in hell for doing that? Is that what you’re wondering?
Caller: Yeah, you know.
Pastor Doug: That’s a good question, but let me explain it this way. Because God sees the future, does not mean that He’s making it happen.
And so, the Lord came into the world as a sacrifice. He knew what would happen, but people made choices of their own free will. And Christ washed the feet of Judas just like He washed the feet of John and James. Judas could have repented, but he chose not to. See? And the Lord knew what would happen, but that doesn’t mean He made it happen. Let me see if I can illustrate it this way.
Suppose you’ve got a traffic helicopter, like these radio stations have these traffic planes and choppers,
Caller: Yes.
Pastor Doug: …and you’re up in the air and you’re reporting on the traffic and you notice that there’s this two-lane road that goes through a tunnel on top of a mountain. And you see three trucks on each side going up into the tunnel, and a little red Volkswagen decides to pass at the top of the hill in the middle of the tunnel.
Now you can’t see what’s happening in that tunnel, but you can tell from very simple deduction there’s going to be a collision because there’s no way that those trucks filling the lanes and that Volkswagen are going to pass in the middle of that tunnel.
And so you might say there’s going to be a crash in the tunnel before it happens. You’re not making it happen, but you can see it coming.
Caller: Yup.
Pastor Doug: In the same way, God being God sees all things and He’s prophesied these things, but He didn’t make them happen. The people in the Volkswagen made the decision to pass at a bad time.
Caller: I heard mentioned, and I didn’t quite catch it all but it was – hadn’t Pilate and Judas and they all did what they did, that Jesus might have set on the throne and stayed with us?
Pastor Doug: Well you know, as soon as you start to speculate, you can go forever on any subject. What if Eve ate the fruit and Adam didn’t?
Caller: Yeah I was just wondering if there was anything in the Bible. I’ve never read anything in the Bible about that.
Pastor Doug: No. Christ had never come for the purpose of reining an earthly kingdom. He came to die as our sacrifice. He was the Lamb that took away the sin of the world. That’s how He was first identified by John. And so that was the plan of God for Him.
But you’ve asked a deep question many people have pondered.
Caller: Yes it’s bothered me for a while – just why they got down on Him so much when maybe they didn’t have much of a choice. But I understand.
Pastor Doug: Ok. Thanks so much and we have a break now for our listeners.
Caller: Thank you.
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