Why did Jesus have to be rejected and crucified?
It was all part of God's eternal plan for the ages, and it had to happen in order to purchase salvation for every human being who would respond. His own people rejected and crucified Him because the princes of this world did not know He was the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel.
Les teaches that this wisdom revealed Christ as the Son of God, the Messiah, the King of Israel, yet His own people rejected Him and crucified Him. But it was all part of God's eternal plan for the ages, that it had to be in order to purchase the salvation of every human being who would respond. Paul alludes to this when he says none of the princes of this world knew. That word knew means more than casual recognition; they did not know Him as the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel. Neither the princes of Israel nor of Rome truly knew who He was. Had the leaders of Israel, the high priest, and the Pharisees known who Jesus of Nazareth really was, they would never have cried for His death. Pilate came close, finding no fault in Him and receiving his wife's dream warning, but he still put his stamp on the crucifixion. Consequently, because they did not know who He was, they went ahead and crucified Him.
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
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