Reason #2 – To Please His Heavenly Father
[Christ’s] death was not the begrudging consent of God to be lenient to sinners.
What is most astonishing about this substitution of Christ for sinners is that it was God’s idea.
What strikes me most about this entry is that it is a vivid reminder of the incomprehensible foresight and foreknowledge of God. How he sees through time from eternity past to eternity future. And how he knows every detail of every moment in between.
God knew man would sin. He knew this before Adam was created. He knew this before the earth was created.
He knew the penalty for that sin — death.
And He knew the price that would ultimately be paid. By His Son.
The cross was not a reaction to man’s sin. It was an action planned prior to man’s disobedience.
And that’s exactly what Piper means when he says it was pleasing to the Father.
Jesus knew the plan. He knew the Father’s will. We see this all through the gospels as He foretold of His death with the most obvious statement being found in Luke 22:42.
“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
And just like I’m pleased when my children obey me, so was the Father.