Why Did Jesus Die On The Cross For Us? What Does His Death Mean?
I'm the kind of person who doesn't like being told there is no way out of a sticky situation. One instance, I was lining up to pay for groceries and the cashier upon attempting to swipe my card told me that the store's machine had rejected my payment. I quickly checked my account online to see that the money had been deducted from my account.
Apparently we had a problem, but the cashier repeatedly told me there was no other way for me to leave with my groceries. That was until a manager had noticed the debate and gave me a way by contacting my bank to have the mistake reversed on the spot. Hallelujah!
Have you ever been in a similar situation? You might have felt stuck with no way out. And then suddenly there's one way and it feels liberating. Likewise, there is a spiritual parallel of infinitely greater magnitude.
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Romans 6:23 tells us, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." We were once without any other destiny apart from death and eternal separation from God forever. But God made one way and one only way- the death of His own Son - for the payment of our sins.
But what is the reason that such an act had to be performed? It all starts with this foundational truth - that God's character is that He is both loving and just. God loves us so much that He would do anything and everything to be with us, but because He is just and holy, He can't just let us off with a warning. Payment had to be made.
In Old Testament times atonement was made through the sacrifice of an animal (usually a lamb, ox or dove) for the forgiveness of our sin. There is no other wage for sin except death and in exchange for our sin an innocent beast was to be slain for an individual's sin.
Fast forward a few centuries to a time when a man named Jesus of Nazareth came to earth promising to be the Savior of all only to die in the hands of Roman soldiers. People didn't understand it the way we understand it today, but that death became every Christian's ultimate victory.
This victory had been prophesied so many years prior by a prophet named Isaiah. He writes, "Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him as the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. . ." (Isaiah 53:4-5)
Jesus' death brought us healing because He had become our atoning sacrifice. Just as people in the Old Testament would slaughter innocent lambs to be cleansed of sin, Jesus- the Lamb of God- would become our atoning sacrifice once and for all. It is through that sacrifice and that sacrifice alone that we receive sanctification and thus a way to live in God's presence and goodness for all eternity.
