Inconsistencies of Traditional Theology: Jesus' Death on the Cross as the Most Desired Will of God

God sent Jesus Christ, the Messiah, to that people as promised. According to His plan, the people were in the position of having the responsibility to receive him. However, the people who had yearned for the coming of the Messiah did not receive him. Rather, they watched their leaders persecute him, seize him and have him killed. Ladies and gentlemen, is this not confusing?...

 Simply saying Jesus came to die is insufficient. It is logically wrong. If you came to die, why would you ask God to forgive those who killed you? There is no reason for the death of innumerable prophets for four thousand years and the suffering of the people of Israel if their role were to reject the Messiah.

If the purpose of his coming were rejection, God could have sent him to a group of uncivilized savages. How easily they would have killed him. How would you answer that?

                                                                                            Rev. Sun Myung Moon 
                                                                                      The New Future of Christianity
                                                                                                 March 9, 1974

 Rev. Moon posed a profound question on that day of March 9, 1974. If (Jesus) came to die, why would (he) ask God to forgive those who killed (him)?  

We will examine in here some of Jesus' words demonstrating that he did not come to die.

First, Jesus speaking of Judas, who treacherously turned him over to the religious authorities says:
Matthew 26:24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed. It would be better for him if he had not been born. 
This verse is very important because before condemning Judas it makes reference to the fulfillment of prophecy. However, this is clearly explained on the post on the dual nature of prophecies.

In that post we can find that God had given two types of prophecies concerning the coming of Jesus. One centered on the realization of God's kingdom on the earth.

Isaiah 9:6-7  prophecies of Jesus being born and of establishing an everlasting Kingdom.

 Very interestingly, a similar prophecy is given at the time of Jesus' birth to Mary:
Luke 1:31-33

You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.

In other words, the prophecy given to Mary had to do with Jesus becoming the King of the Jews , and establishing an everlasting kingdom on the earth in his lifetime, not on a Second Coming.

The second type of prophecy God gave concerning Jesus' coming had to do with the crucifixion.
God gave two types of prophecies because human beings were created with a portion of responsibility with which God does not interfere. We will explain in more detail this portion of responsibility on a future post.

Our post on the dual nature of prophecy demonstrates how both types of prophecy come together in an important prophecy about the coming of Elijah prior to the coming of Jesus. Malachi 4:5 says: ⁵ “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. ⁶ He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”


This means that God is sending Elijah with a specific mission, and if that task is not accomplished God will come and curse the land. Elijah's mission describes what God wants to happen. The curse upon the land implies that it was not accomplished. The two plans God has for mankind depending on whether they have faith or not magnificently presented in one single verse! 

Now, let us return to the statement on Judas. To repeat: The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed. It would be better for him if he had not been born. In other words, Judas should not have been born because he is going against God's will and betraying the Savior of mankind. Judas lack of faith is preceded, obviously, by a reference to the prophecies concerning the crucifixion and not the ones concerning the establishment of God's kingdom. Hence, though Jesus can refer to what is written about Him, he is not properly referring to all that is written about him. He is not referring to the prophecies about the beginning of the Heavenly world, which would have occurred had Judas done the opposite and had been willing to lie down his life for his master and friend.

Had Judas been faithful and confronted the religious leaders, Jesus would have said instead: The Son of Man will establish the heavenly kingdom as it is written of him, and praise to that man who lied down his life to protect him.

Unfortunately for the world, Israel and Judas himself that was not the case. Judas died having betrayed the Savior and his name became a synonym for a traitor.

One more point about Judas. Based on the teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon one could say that if Jesus came to die then Judas was the only disciple who not only understood Jesus' real mission but was also willing to do what was necessary to realize the purpose of his coming. The inevitability of this horrendous conclusion was confirmed with the discovery of the apocryphal Gospel of Judas which centers on such a view.


In the following post we will cover the rest of the statements of Jesus, the disciples and Stephen demonstrating that an early strata of writings testify to the idea that Jesus did not come to die.
that God Himself was responsible for it. "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh" Exodus 9:12, 10:20.