March 4

There have always been critics who said that Jesus was a noble teacher, He was a religious leader, and He was a spiritual man. He had grandiose ideas of what He wanted to accomplish. He wanted to teach people true religion. He wanted to teach people morality and virtue. He made a noble effort at it, but it all kind of went bad. It all ended up in a terrible tragedy. He got caught in the gears of His own ambition and He ended up dead; and the critics have often said this was not the plan, it was a tragic ending to a noble effort.

Well, of course, nothing could be further from the truth than that Jesus was surprised by His death. Jesus was not surprised by His death, He came for that purpose. The murder of Jesus came as no surprise to Him, the cross was the very reason for which He came. Scripture says He was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world; and believe me, from before the foundation of the world, the eternal Son knew exactly why He was coming into the world. And even Jesus the man in the world understood that the purpose of His incarnation was His death and resurrection. ~ John MacArthur