The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is in many ways the most illogical approach to life that the natural (unsaved) person can imagine. And yet for the believer the Cross of Christ carries with it a most logical philosophy of life.

After Paul recounted the marvelous mercies of God in the first eleven chapters of Romans he then breaks forth in the pastoral exhortation, “I urge you brothers, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God which is your reasonable service.” As we recently learned, the word reasonable comes from the Greek term from which we derive the term ‘logical.’ In the light of the loving mercies of God it is only logical that we fulfil our privilege of priesthood before Him (1 Peter 2:5-10). But further, Paul says in Romans 12:2 that as we give ourselves totally to God we will grow in our appreciation of just how ‘good and acceptable and perfect’ the ‘will of God is.’ That is, as we logically respond in devotion to God’s mercies — revealed by the Cross work of Jesus — we will grow in a proper appraisal of just how logical God’s will is; both His secret and revealed will. Thus rather than seeing trials (a demonstration of God’s ‘decreed’ or ‘secret’ will) as evidence of God’s rejection of us, we will view them as expressions of God’s loving mercies to us. This is true for every believer as it was equally true for Jesus Christ.       

In Acts 2:23 Peter proclaimed this logic of the cross when he said, ‘Him (Jesus) being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death.’ Note that the murder of Jesus Christ was in accordance with the plan of God. The Father loved the Son and so when He was cruelly condemned and ignominiously crucified the love the Father was behind this. Yes, the Father ordained the Cross for His Son because He loved Him.   

The word ‘foreknowledge’ means far more than mere ‘prescience’ (to know of something before it happens) rather it means ‘to set one’s heart upon.’ The root of course is ‘knowledge’ and it is generally accepted that both in Hebrew as well as in Greek that the word ‘to know’ speaks of ‘know intimately’ (Gen 4:1; 1 Cor 8:3); ‘to set one’s affections upon’ (Psalm 1:6; 2 Tim 2:19); ‘to have special loving regard for’ (Amos 3:2; John 10:14, 27).

The point is that this is not a statement merely informing us that God was not surprised by this event but rather it is a wonderful revelation that just as the Father ‘knows the way that his children take’ so He was intimately involved in the crucifixion of His Son. The cross of Christ is no doubt a revelation of God’s love for sinners but more so it is a revelation of His love for His Son. How can this be?

Actually the answer is not hard to find for you see the crucifixion was the means by which the Son would be exalted (Phil 2:5-11); it was the means for Jesus to be glorified (John 12:23-32). The cross was the means by which the Father would give to His Son a people whom would glorify Him forever (Is 53:10; John 12:32; John 6:37; Rom 8:28-30; etc.). It was precisely because the Father loved the Son that He ‘delivered’ Him according to His ‘determined purpose.’ It was because of the Father’s loving ‘foreknowledge’ that Jesus ‘became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross’ (Philippians 2:8). Yes, as unconventional and as illogical as it may at first blush appear, the Father ordained the cross, the crucifixion of His Son as a means of expressing His love toward Him. God’s loving ways are illogical to those who do not know His love but they clearly make sense to those who have received His mercies to see the logic of the cross.   

This is the answer to those in our day who attack the events of ‘Good Friday’ as an example of ‘Cosmic child abuse’ thus dismissing the cross work of Christ as a man-made doctrinal invention. It is also the biblical answer to the doubts concerning God’s love for us that we often encounter when we undergo various heartaches. 

Our heavenly Father has a ‘determined purpose’ for the trials that we face. And that purpose is to make us more like His Son (Romans 8:28-30). And just as Jesus needed to experience the crucifixion before He would be exalted with a Crown so we need to be humbled before we will be exalted (James 4:10; 1 Peter 5:6). God’s foreordained trials for us are a means to this end.

Yes, when the burdens of life (temptations, traumas, betrayals, etc.) shout the worldly reasoning that God is opposed to us let us rather look to the Cross of Christ and take comfort in the truth that our Father is once again revealing His love to us. That may make no sense to the world, but for the Christian we rejoice in such logic of the cross.