Why could God not have used his power to sidetrack the cross, rescue his Son and transport his followers to glory without suffering?
Well, God certainly had the power to do it; but would it have been a fitting thing for God to do? No! Bringing many sons to glory is a task that God must do, if he does it at all, in a way that befits his holiness, dignity and love.
Merely introducing a sinner into celestial glory by a sudden act of divine power would not change his rebellious and selfish heart and turn him into a saint, any more than suddenly introducing a tiger into your home will turn it into a civil, gracious and well- mannered guest. The sinner must first be brought to repentance and forgiven; the rebel be reconciled to God; the mere human creature be born again and become a child of God. And if the person concerned is going to have an abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom (see 2 Peter 1:11 KJV), and there carry an 'exceeding and eternal weight of glory' (see 2 Corinthians 4:17 KJV), some process, long or short, of preparation, training and refining is absolutely indispensable; and suffering will be an inevitable part of the process.
In order to bring his many sons to glory, then, God had first to provide them with a source and leader, a pioneer and pathfinder, of their salvation. And then God had to allow him to be qualified as their leader by first suffering himself. As the pre-incarnate Son of God he enjoyed equally infinite power as his Father. But how much did he know then about suffering from personal experience? And how, without that personal experience of suffering, could he ever understand and sympathize with his people in their suffering?
In saying this, of course, the writer is not laying down conditions which he demands that God shall fulfil. Inspired by the Holy Spirit he is relaying to us how God himself felt about it all.
And what a glorious insight into the character of God it gives us! Possessing infinite power he had the right, as Creator, to treat us in any way he pleased. But having decided to bring us to glory through a pathway of suffering, his infinite compassion insisted that it must be done not just anyhow, but in a way that would be fitting, even if it meant the suffering of his Son.
