In John 10:18 Jesus said, "No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again." Those very significant words of Jesus mean that everything that happened to him on that first Good Friday

-all of the physical pain of the whippings, the beatings, the crown of thorns thrust into his head, the nails driven into his hands and his feet; all of the emotional pain of being mocked and spat upon; all of the spiritual pain that Jesus endured when his Father turned his face away from him as he took upon himself the sins of the world

-all of it was voluntarily accepted and voluntarily endured by Jesus Christ for the glory of his heavenly Father and for the eternal well-being of his people. Nothing that happened to Jesus that day caught him by surprise. None of it was unforeseen.