Remembering, "/ and the Father are one," (John 10: 30], the death of Jesus must have involved a shared management decision by God and his Son. We have already discussed and have come to the conclusion that Jesus and God had a close association for perhaps billions of years. In other words, they knew each other extremely well, and had a close, ongoing, and long-term working relationship. We can take for granted that they had discussed the Son's mission as Jesus' on this planet and knew well in advance what the probable outcomes of his life would be. It is pre-dictable, even by humans with a fair knowledge of Jewish and Roman culture and law, that Jesus would be killed for his proclamations, insubordination, and refusal to submit to the demands of Jewish authorities.
What would be the implications if Jesus did not follow the flow of events to his death? What would be the implications if he followed the events to his death as he did? What would one option say about God that the other
did not? Either situation would be open to interpretation. Either situation could be misconstrued. What would be the lesser hazard with the potential for the greater benefit? Obviously, God and Jesus decided that the "least damage, most benefit" option would occur by Jesus' voluntary participation in the events, which led ultimately to his physical death.
Option #1: God actively willed Jesus to go to earth and die upon the cross as a sacrifice to Himself for the sins of mankind, as traditional Christians believe. This option is contrary and inconsistent with Jesus' loving-God concept and the singular, loving nature of God. It is not a choice the perfect and loving, supreme and ultimate Creator of the universe would make because it is less than a perfect solution a loving, benevolent Creator would choose.
Option #2: God passively willed (allowed) Jesus to die by accepting the will-decisions of the individuals involved, and Jesus concurred. This option agrees with God's plan for self-willed creatures and ironically provides the best example of a totally consistent, loving Creator.
The only two aspects of will that God can be accused of in the murder of Jesus was that a) he originally willed each self-willed creatures' will to be sovereign and inviolable, and b) he willed not to interfere in the events leading to and including Jesus' death. Jesus even discussed this issue with his Father and concurred with both aspects of God's will. We know this by his words, "My Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done," [Luke 22: 42; Matthew 26: 39, 42, 44; Mark 14: 36, 39].
At any time that Jesus was on the cross he could have changed the events and rescued his material body from the cross. God could have done that, too. But neither did. God allowed those terrible events to take place because He limited Himself to act — upholding the sovereignty and inviolability of human will-decisions.