Jesus said plainly that all that happened to Jesus happened exactly at the time God had set for it to occur. He tells Peter to put away his sword because he must fulfill God’s plan (John 18:11). He reminds Peter that he could ask the Father to send 12 legions of angels to deliver him, but he chose to fulfill scripture (Mt 26:52). He in essences tells the mob who came to arrest him, “Don’t you think it strange you did not arrest me when you could have easily taken me in the temple on any day I was there? You didn’t because scripture had to be fulfilled (Mt 26: 55-56). Then the disciples forsook Jesus and fled for their lives (Mt 26:56; Mk 14:50) but even that was fulfillment of scripture (John 16:32; Zechariah 13:7).
The Bible tells us in Acts 4:27-28 that all Pilate and Herod did to Jesus was planned by God. All of this was to save us from our sins.
If God did not severely punish sin, he would be an unjust God. We could not be reconciled to God without someone accepting the punishment for our sin. That is why Jesus took the punishment for us.
