To clarify, in this verse Paul is speaking of Jesus our Lord, as he continues from the previous verse.
who was delivered up
I think it's important that we notice the words Paul used here: delivered up. The Greek word for this means to surrender, yield, deliver, commit.
We must never think that Jesus was crucified against His or the Father's will.
Acts 2:23 states: this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. It was God's plan that His Son be crucified, and Jesus willingly submitted and obeyed the Fathers command -
Luke 22:42: saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done."
John 10:17,18: For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."
Isaiah 53:10 is blunt and to the point: Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him - crush meaning - to crumble; transitively to bruise (literally or figuratively): - beat to pieces, break (in pieces), bruise, contrite, crush, destroy, humble, oppress, smite.
We can see from these verses that it was God's determinant plan, that Jesus was delivered up and crucified for a purpose far above those that crucified Him could even comprehend. In Genesis 50:20, we see how God's purpose is far above evil man:
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
This is Joseph, speaking to his brothers, explaining to them that God's plan is far greater, and always accomplishes good, even when men mean to accomplish evil.
Jesus willfully surrendered His life, obeying the command of His Father, according to the determinant plan, as prophesied many years before - nothing happens outside of God's control!
for our trespasses
Now we see why Jesus was delivered up and crucified. We see why it was the Father's will that His Son be crushed, and why Jesus willingly laid down His life when He knew the extreme pain that lay ahead - even being forsaken and left alone by His Father whom He had known for eternity past
- for our trespasses -
I don't think we could stop and mediate on these words long enough. This is the why, this was the purpose behind the people screaming out "crucify him," our sinfulness is the reason the innocent Son of God was crushed - so that we could know the Father through a restored relationship.
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 1 John 3:16
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Oh what love the Father has for us, that He would offer up His Son as payment for a debt that we could never pay! Our sins have been forgiven, the trespasses erased, the debt settled! When Christ died on the cross, when He said "it is finished," the perfect and final sacrifice had been made.
But it doesn't end there...
and raised for our justification.
I know I tend to gloss over the fact that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Maybe around Easter a little more time is spent focusing on the fact that the grave is empty, yet this should be thought about and mediated on year round. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead is so important, more than we may ever understand.
I read a sermon that laid out six gifts of the resurrection as stated in 1 Cor 15:12-20:
Our preaching is not in vain
Our faith is not in vain
We are not false witnesses
We are not still in our sins
The dead in Christ have not perished
We are not to be pitied
These are all wonderful truths that we can hold to in faith, knowing that Christ did rise from the dead, because the grave could not hold Him!
One commentary summed up the importance of Christ's resurrection this way:
"When he was buried he lay a prisoner in execution for our debt, which as a surety he had undertaken to pay; on the third day an angel was sent to roll away the stone, and so to discharge the prisoner, which was the greatest assurance possible that divine justice was satisfied, the debt paid, or else he would never have released the prisoner: and therefore the apostle puts a special emphasis on Christ's resurrection"
The resurrection confirmed God's acceptance of Christ's sacrifice for our sins, that it really was finished and sin really was defeated.
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