WHY DID JESUS CHRIST DIE?
We saw few pages (topics up) back that what is wrong with the world, and what is wrong with each one us, is that we have all sinned.[i]
Our self-centeredness not only does untold harm to others, it also cuts us off from God, so that He seems to be miles away and not to care.
We cannot get to back to God on our own – we are not good enough.[ii] What was needed was someone who was perfect, with no sin of his own, who could bring us back to a relationship with God. Before that could happen the problem of human sin had to be dealt with. We needed someone to rescue us and that is why Jesus – God’s rescuer – came.
If you fall into a river and cannot swim you do not want someone to give you your first swimming lesson – you need someone to rescue you.
If you get heavily into debt you need someone to step in and pay the debt and rescue you.
But how can Jesus, who lived and died 2,000 years ago, rescue me from my sins today?
We saw few pages (topics up) back that what is wrong with the world, and what is wrong with each one us, is that we have all sinned.[i]
Our self-centeredness not only does untold harm to others, it also cuts us off from God, so that He seems to be miles away and not to care.
We cannot get to back to God on our own – we are not good enough.[ii] What was needed was someone who was perfect, with no sin of his own, who could bring us back to a relationship with God. Before that could happen the problem of human sin had to be dealt with. We needed someone to rescue us and that is why Jesus – God’s rescuer – came.
If you fall into a river and cannot swim you do not want someone to give you your first swimming lesson – you need someone to rescue you.
If you get heavily into debt you need someone to step in and pay the debt and rescue you.
But how can Jesus, who lived and died 2,000 years ago, rescue me from my sins today?
The death of Jesus on a cross is not simply an event in history. Each person today has to decide how he or she will respond to His death.
Think of God’s character as a coin with two sides – justice and love. Because of His justice, God rightly condemns us, for sin and wrong must be punished. We would not think much of a judge who kept on letting guilty criminals go free.
Because He is love He longs for men and women to become His friends. It is as though God has a problem – to remain just, yet to forgive people who were guilty because of the wrong they had done.
When Jesus died on the cross, God’s justice and love were perfectly satisfied. Sin had to be punished, so God in His love sent His Son only Son to die in our place, bearing the death penalty our sins deserved.[iii]
This was why He cried out on the cross, ‘My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?’ [iv] The full punishment for our sins was taken by Jesus. He was cut off from His Father for us.
Peter was one of the followers of Jesus who watched Jesus die. He wrote: ‘Christ died for sins once and for all, a god man on behalf of sinners, in order to lead you to God.’
That is how much God loves you and me. There is no other way that we could be rescued from our selfishness and pride. Just before He died Jesus called out, ‘It is finished!’ This is not a cry of defeat: ‘I have had it!’ No, it was a cry of victory: ‘I have done it!’ The huge debt of our sin was paid once and for all.
The way back to God is now wide open, forgiveness of all our sins is freely offered, and friendship with God is now wonderfully available for the asking
[i] Romans 3:23
[ii] Psalm 14:3; Romans 3:9-18 (mankind did not realize the depth of fall in Adam & Eve. As a race the entire mankind has plunged into the miry clay of SIN)
[iii] Isaiah 53 [a divine exchange from God’s side was initiated, purely by His mercy (we are accepted), grace (we are provided) and divine love and favour towards us, who bears His image].
[iv] Psalm 22:1 (Jesus as fully human, though He is fully God (refer what HYPOSTATIC UNION is) cried out).
