No one takes it 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. This charge I have received from My Father.”
No language could more plainly express the absolute voluntariness of His death than this, language only One conscious that His life was His own could speak. Here lay the glory of His sacrifice: purely voluntary. His power to take up His life again shows His resurrection was His own assertion of His right to life once His purposes were accomplished.
AI summary
No force could seize His life; He went to Jerusalem knowing He would die, and chose the most painful, lingering death known to man. That He could raise Himself proves His divinity, no creature has such power. His death was the fruit of love, voluntary from beginning to end.
AI summary
Though the Jews and Pilate's soldiers laid hands on Him, no man took His life without His own consent and the Father's counsel. He surrendered Himself willingly, went freely to the cross, and when hanging there could have disengaged Himself, yet He gave up His life as a ransom for His people, that they might live through Him.
AI summary