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“Him [the Lord Jesus], being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23).
Here in today’s verse we find God’s side of the cross, and man’s side. From man’s side, man is guilty of the murder of God’s beloved Son, for as our verse says, they took Him by wicked hands and demanded that He be crucified. Instead of welcoming the Lord Jesus as their Messiah, the nation of Israel rejected Him.
However, from God’s side all this was necessary in order for you and me to be saved. For this reason our verse tells us that all this was by the counsel and foreknowledge of God. It was necessary for the Lord Jesus to go to the cross and suffer for sin, not only for us, but also for the glory of God. This does not lessen the guilt of man in crucifying Him, but it shows that God’s plan of redemption was already there. It was not a “second thought” with God when the Lord Jesus was rejected.
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