Deliverance from the Cross — Page 74
obscured for nearly two thousand years; they could not visualise a genuine and truly physical resurrection. But contemporary accounts show that it was exactly the same body before and after the resurrection, which was a natural factor in God's plan, because there is no doubt at all that the whole process was God's plan. Many centuries carlier prophecies predicted these events quite unequivocally. Jesus took them to refer to himself and predicted that he would be handed over to the executioners, would be crucified and rise again. Professor Hirt was asked: 'Does this mean that Jesus, the man, knew the exact course of future events, including the smallest details of his resurrection as it would unfold?' Professor Hirt replied, No, it was not God's plan that he should know, and he did not know or he would not have exclaimed from the cross: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" He was not allowed to know the details of God's plan; if he had, his human side could not have remained so uninhibited. Inhibitions might have caused him to believe differently Jesus was, after all, wholly man - which might have jeopardised God's plan. It is absolutely certain that it was God's intention to smite the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes, and the Romans - 74