God the Father Cursed God the Son to Redeem Man from Adam's Curse

Cursed by God

God the Father cursed Jesus, God the Son, by hanging him on the cross.

And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. (Deuteronomy 21:22-23)

Willed and Destined

The Father willed Jesus to be cursed.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief. (Isaiah 53:7-10)

The Father destined Jesus to be cursed.

Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know -- this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. (Acts 2:22-23)

"Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed" -- for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. (Acts 4:25-28)

The Father destined Jesus to be cursed before the creation of the world.

Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. (Revelation 13:7-8)

Jesus Agreed

Jesus died because he wanted to.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. (John 10:18)

Jesus died when he wanted to.

We are Cursed

Adam was cursed. The curse involved economic hardship and ultimately -- death.

And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." (Genesis 3:17-19)

We are all cursed because we are all descendants of Adam.

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man... (Romans 5:12)

We are all cursed because we are all law breakers.

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." (Galatians 3:10)

Redeemed from the Curse

The cross was a symbol of the cursed man on the tree. The early church interpreted Jesus' death on the cross in light of Deuteronomy 21.

The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. (Acts 5:30)

And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree. (Acts 10:39)

And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. (Acts 13:29)

Jesus was cursed in our place so that we may be saved through faith in Jesus.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree" -- so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13-14)

The Curse Brought Death and the Death of Christ Ends Death

Adam's curse resulted in death for him and for us all.

By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. (Genesis 3:19)

Our own sins compounded with the Adam's sin doubly judge us and result in our death.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

For the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23)

Death is all around us. The entire world order is subject to death and futility. But one day that will change! All of creation waits for that day!

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:20-21)

Jesus put on our curse on the cross and triumphed over the penalty of sin by rising again from the dead so that those who are united with him will rise from the dead like him.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:4-5)

Christians wait to be clothed with new bodies that will never be corrupted by cancer, greed, or lust.

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. (Romans 8:22-24)

So what can we do but celebrate and praise God for the death of death in the death of Christ?

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

Let us put our hope in Jesus, who was cursed in our place!

So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. (John 7:30)