Was God caught by surprise when Christ was crucified?
No. Christ's crucifixion was not an unforeseen event but the centerpiece of God's determinate plan laid out before anything was created. It unfolded according to His predeterminate counsel and eternal blueprint for the ages, in which Christ had to suffer and die, and also be raised.
Les explains that in the determinate plan God laid out before anything was created, the highlight was the cross. In God's predeterminate counsel, Israel took and crucified and slain Christ, but Les asks, "Was God caught by surprise?" and answers, "No!" It was all in the eternal plan of the ages that Christ must suffer. Les says that all the way through the Scriptures this was part of God's blueprint for the ages. He also ties it to the predetermined plan of the ages that Christ would suffer and die, but would also be risen from the dead, as he returns to 1 Corinthians 15.