Do you remember what the Bible says about the sixth to ninth hours? The sun's light failed (Luke 23:44-45). The Jews could mock Him, and the Gentiles could chastise and shame Him, but the sun was beyond the Jews' control. The Gentiles did not have the authority to manipulate the sun. Man could clamor and trumpet, but the earthquake was not something that Pilate could summon. Why was the sky darkened? These phenomena happened because God Himself had come to bear our sins. This was not something done by man. If it had been done by man, would God have added to His Son's pain when He was hanging on the cross? Would God not have sent twelve companies of angels to come and rescue Him? Such would indeed have happened had it not been for the redemption for sins. We thank and praise God that His Son came to redeem us from sins. This was why He said, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46). No believer throughout the past two thousand years has ever said these terrible words when they died. For two thousand years, whether the believers died in peace or in woe, they were more bold than He was. Why was the Son of God rejected there by God? If it had merely been man's hand and man's crucifixion, that would have been the time He needed God's presence even more. When man plotted to persecute and kill Him, God should have manifested His presence more. That was the most crucial moment. God should have been with Him. Why did God leave Him instead? It was solely because the Son of God had become sin and had borne the judgment. That was the reason He cried, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" God had forsaken Him. We who have believed in the work of redemption know that the work of the cross was for Him to be judged by sin. The cross of the Lord shows us how evil sin is and how much of a price God has paid for the work of redemption.

Besides Isaiah 53, another clear testimony of the Scripture can be found. In Romans 3:25, God set forth Christ "as a propitiation place." This also shows clearly that the work was done by God. Deuteronomy 21:23 tells us that he who is hanged on a tree is accursed of God. When the Lord was hanging on the cross, He was not accursed of man. Rather, He was accursed of God. That is why He can deliver us from the curse. First John 4:10 says that God loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation concerning our sins. It was God who sent His Son to be a propitiation. It was not man who crucified Him. Second Corinthians 5:21 also says, "Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf." This was something that God did. The cross is the work of God. It was God who sent the Lord Jesus to pass through the cross. Acts 2:23 mentions both the aspect of God and the aspect of man. "This man, delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, through the hand of lawless men, nailed to a cross and killed." The Lord Jesus was killed by the Jews through the hand of lawless men. However, such a death was according to the determined counsel of God. This shows us that everything was done by God. We have sin, and sin can only be taken care of by God Himself. For this reason, God came to the world to be a man. While He was a man, He was indeed righteous. But this righteousness was not imputed to us. It was the death of the Lord Jesus that delivered us from the curse of the law (Gal. 3:13). He did not deliver us from sin while He was living, but when He died. On the cross, it was God who crucified Him, rather than man. Man's hand is useless. It was God who took the opportunity to make manifest man's sin.