Why did Jesus have to die on the cross to save us from our sin?
This question is the core to our salvation. Too often Christians believe that they will reach heaven because they lead a “good life”. This is a belief found in almost every religious group. If you do good, you will be saved.
I have bad news my friends. The Bible makes it clear that leading a “good life” is impossible: Rom 3:10 “There is no one righteous, not even one.” And Rom 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
My friend, if you base your salvation on your own merit, you will not make! Rom. 5:21 tells us that there is only one way to get to heaven: “Through Jesus Christ our Lord.” There is only one way to salvation: John 10:9 9: “I am the door; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.”
Eternal life is not given to those who try to do good, but to those who believe in Jesus and accept Him in their life. John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Why? Rom 5:8-10: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”
We are saved by the blood of the Lamb. This is the only way to salvation! Jesus is the only answer for our salvation!
Is there any other way to obtain salvation?
Acts 4:12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
Salvation can only be found through Jesus Christ! No other name can save you, not even your own!
It’s not to late to accept Jesus in your life. Will you accept His salvation for you now?
Rob Chaffart
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Preamble: There was no prophecy about the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross in the Old Testament. Although there was prophecy that he was to die from the Old Testament writings. It was not specifically stated that the Lord was to die on the cross. Both the Roman and the Jews were not having things in common in the historical record. However, when the Lord was to be crucified, they united in order to achieve the common goals.
Discussion:
Crucifixion was not practiced in the OT (where execution was by stoning) although dead bodies were occasionally hung on a tree as a warning (Dt. 21:22ff; cf. Gal. 3:13) Phoenicians and Carthaginians practiced it; the Romans later used it extensively, rarely for Romans citizens but usually for slaves, provincials and the lowest type of criminal.
There were 3 types of Cross: The T-shaped St Anthony’s cross; the X-shaped St Andrews’s cross, and the dagger-shaped cross which is likely to have been the one Jesus was crucified on, because of the inscription nailed to it above his head.
After a criminal was condemned, he was “scourged” with a ship with leather thongs, and then made to carry the crossbeam like a salve to the scene of his execution outside the city. He was stripped naked, laid on the ground with the crossbeam under his shoulders and his arms or hands tied or nailed to it. This was lifted and secured to be the upright so that the victim’s feet (which were tied or nailed) were just clear of the ground.
The NT writers were more interested in the theological significance of what happened. Through the cross God reconciled Jew and Gentile to each other and to Himself. (Eph. 2:14ff).
The cross portrays Jesus Humility
Philippians 2:8
“And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!”
One of the biggest problems of humanity today is pride. Jesus humbled himself and died on the cross. The Lord is expecting humanity to be humbled and accept Him as Lord and Savoir.
He died on the Cross-to Prove His Messiah ship:
1 Cor. 1:23
“But we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
The Symbolism of the cross is discipleship:
Mark 8:34 “When he called the crowd to Him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follows me.
This was Jesus speaking to the crowd. Since the cross was not an easy thing for Him to carry, he knew that Christianity calls for denial. He enjoined people to carry their cross (shun worldliness, sins and cares of this world) and follow him. Following Jesus calls for dedication, consecration, and sanctification.
Jesus Died on the Cross-to Reconcile Us:
Sinful people are God’s enemies (Romans 5:10), the NT pictures God as a vigorous opponent of all that is evil. The way to reconciliation is to grapple with the root cause of the enmity. So Christ died to put away sin and so open up the way for true reconciliation between God and man.
Jesus Died in order to Redeem Mankind Back to God:
Sinful people are in bondage to sin (John 8:34) for which death is the only possible consequence (Roman 6:23). The cross of Christ is the price paid to release the slaves, to let the condemned prisoners go free. Even in the OT, where God is said to have redeemed his people from Egypt and where there is no actual ‘price’ paid, The NT word for this costly redemption occurs only 10 times (there is another word which means simply deliverance without a price being paid. The price is Christ’s shed blood on the cross (Eph 1:7 cf. 1 Cor.6:19F.).
Conclusion:
The Christian response to that gracious provision is to live a life of service to Christ, which does not submit again to slavery of sin (Gal. 5:1).
Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Personal Savior? Accept Him today and live forever more! The reason why He died on the Cross is to Redeem, Deliver, Save and Restore everything the enemy has stolen back to you.
You are blessed!
Rev Debo Adeyemo
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This is the crux of the true biblical gospel.
All throughout the history of creation, God had never executed complete justice. Even when he sent the great flood he still spared 8 people. He showed Noah and his family grace. Exodus 33:19, the Lord said “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” God’s compassion is for those that meet the requirement in John 3:16 “Whosoever believes in Him (Christ)” This means God will show mercy on those who trust in Jesus. Jesus died for all the people before and every one after.
Why Jesus had to die on the cross makes simple sense:
Romans 6:23 “The penalty of sin is death.” Sin garners the death penalty and thus total separation from God. Jesus experienced both. On the cross, he cried out, “My God My God, why have you forsaken me?!?” In Hebrew as well, not in Aramaic. Also, when rabbis wanted to bring a passage to mind, they only had to quote the first portion. See Psalm 22 written centuries before the crucifixion… it describes it in prophetic detail.
The whole Jewish animal sacrificial system existed so that the world could understand what Jesus’ sacrifice was. A goat can’t truly die in a man’s place, only another man can. AND only a sinless man can die for another’s sin. And only God is without sin. One who has sinned must die for his own transgressions.
Why death, why not just punishment?
He had to die so he could be raised from the dead. The lynchpin of Christianity is the Resurrection. A dead savior isn’t much of a savior. AND if Jesus stayed dead it was probably because he was a fraud and God killed him for his blasphemy.
Why crucifixion?
This is simple. One reason is for total humiliation of God. NO ONE can say, “Oh God’s just up there on His throne being a party pooper!” No, the gospel says a living and loving God took it upon Himself to put on human flesh and enter our world of flesh and blood, of tears and death. God took the initiative when he didn’t have to. God would have been totally justified to wipe us all out and still be just. But he’s also loving. Christ’s death on the cross satisfies both justice AND love. Crucifixion is especially humiliating because it’s in public, it’s slow, and its victim is completely helpless.
The Roman Empire used it on kings and criminals to show they didn’t mess around. Furthermore, it served to satisfy prophecy which ties the bible together and gives one confidence that scripture was inspired by God. Crucifixion didn’t exist until hundreds of years after Psalm 22. Secondly, many suggest that Jesus didn’t die on the cross but just “fainted” and that he woke in the “cool of the cave”. Of course this is absurd. For the Resurrection to be valid and unquestioned, EVERYONE had to know without a doubt that Jesus was dead. DEAD DEAD.
God chose the Romans to execute him because the Roman Empire was known then and throughout history since to not fail in executions. If the Roman soldiers who were charged with execution failed in their duty, they were put to death themselves. So you can imagine they made sure Jesus was dead. The spear in the side was confirmation, by the fact that water and blood came out. They knew how to crucify and they knew how to confirm death. God made sure to stamp out all doubt in a historical sense. He waited until the moment in history when everyone knew what crucifixion meant before sending His Son to the cross.
Hope this helps! God bless you.
Adam
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First of all it is necessary to understand why no one else could do it. When Adam sinned it was in fact a sell out to Satan. Adam may not have realized the full consequences of what he did but nevertheless, he was disobedient to God. Prior to this Satan (Lucifer, as he was known then) rebelled in heaven and managed to gain the support of a third of the angels.
Revelation 12:7-AV And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Revelation 12:3-AV And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Revelation 12:4-AV And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Luke 10:18-AV And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
After seducing Eve and Adam to sin, Satan became the prince of this world.
John 12:31-AV Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
John was talking about Satan being defeated by Jesus. But what really happened here? Let us go back to the book of Job where Satan is pictured as the prince of this world in a dramatic way.
Job 1:6-AV Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Job 1:7-AV And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
There are two occasions such as this mentioned in Job. What I believe happens is that God, from time to time calls a conference of planetary leaders. Certainly the language explains that Satan appeared there as the prince of earth. God did not show him the door but permitted him to attend the conference since it was his right, as owner of the earth and mankind, to do so. He had been defeated in Heaven when he mounted what we would call a military coup, and was cast out, but had now gained a planet of his own to call home.
But how could we get it back? Why, by redemption of course. The redemption process given to the Jews so that they would understand the big picture, provided for a purchase agreement to be drawn up when a man sold land or slaves. This agreement would also include an agreed redemption price and other conditions of sale like how long the new owner would be able to remain (to get a crop off for instance) after the redemption price was paid. Either the man who sold the property could redeem it or a direct descendent such as a son. If the ‘tenant’ refused to vacate the land or return the slave, the redeemer could open the seals on the original purchase agreement, and with the open document as his authority, use whatever force was necessary to take back the possession. There was a 50 year limit on any such sale to safeguard family property put there by God for man’s benefit.
However there is no such limit involving the big picture. Now since the wages of sin is death, according to God, the redemption of the earth required the blood sacrifice (death) of a man, Adam or a descendent. This man of course, had to be in the same moral condition as Adam was when the deal was made. Are you starting to get the picture? Mankind could never produce a redeemer! As a condition of Adam’s fall, every child born of man was born into legal slavery to Satan (original sin).
Now God had a couple of options open to Him here. The easy way was to let things run their course and when Satan had demonstrated the utter haplessness of his position to the watching universe, just zap the earth, Satan, mankind and all. That of course would have meant that everyone who ever lived on the planet would only have the time allotted to them here as a life and not have a chance for eternal life which was what was originally intended when we were created.
The other option was to somehow provide a way mankind, and the earth, could be redeemed. And the only way to do this was for God Himself, in the form of His Son, to take on human flesh as a man and pay the redemption price for mankind. It had to be the Son part of the Godhead that did this because the Father had to remain aloof. In fact we are told that this plan was made before the world began. God had foreknowledge of what mankind would do and provided a solution even before creating him.
We all know the story of how the Holy Spirit caused the conception of the baby in the virgin Mary. Since he was not conceived of man, but of God, He was able to be born without the ‘original sin’ condition common to all mankind. Because this redemption thing had to be done by a Man and not a God, Jesus was totally unable to use any divine power while He went through this process. He was also tempted severely by Satan, who gave his personal attention to the task, because not being stupid, he knew what was being done here. Jesus could have sinned just as Adam did. Imagine what might have resulted if that had happened!
Now because Satan had such an interest in getting Jesus to sin, even to think an angry thought, he arranged for Him to be killed by the cruellest and most horrible means ever thought up by an evil mankind. Maybe he could get Jesus to get angry with the soldiers who were torturing him. When that didn’t happen he arranged for one of the thieves to tempt Jesus to use His divine power to come down off the cross. He could have done that, but it would have meant failing His mission.
It was known beforehand what method would be used to kill Jesus because when the children of Israel were in the desert at one time they were being bitten by a plague of poisonous snakes. God gave instructions to make a brass serpent and hang it on a cross. Any snake bitten Israeli who looked upon the brass serpent on the cross was healed of the snake bite. This was a prelude to when Jesus, (who took upon Himself the sins of the world and was therefore pictured as a snake, a symbol of sin), would be hoisted up on a cross and all who look upon Him (believe in Him) will be healed of sin and have everlasting life.
Jesus paid the redemption price for the earth and mankind and as the result of this, we all now belong to Jesus, or can if we choose to. In Revelation we are given a vision of the Father holding up a scroll sealed with seven seals, and calling for someone to take the scroll. Only one being could come forward and take that scroll, and He is pictured both as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and as a Lamb, slain. Our redeemer, Jesus. He took the scroll out of the Father’s hand and proceeded to open the seals. We are given other visions of history, prophecy when Revelation was written, as each seal is opened. When the last seal is opened, there are thunders, and lightening and great noise and Jesus comes back to earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to take back his possession by force.
My study of prophecy and that of every other bible student I have encountered, reveals that this time is almost upon us. There is now quite an urgency to spread the Gospel message of salvation while we are still able.
I pray that readers not already saved will do something about it. And that those who are, will be taken with this sense of urgency I and others now feel.
Lance Wearmouth
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God knew from the Old Testament that man would keep sinning and making animal sacrifices over and over again to make atonement for our sins. So God offered the ultimate sacrifice, Jesus his son, to bear our sins on the cross, so that we might have life.
Dave
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God does not exist outside of logic. Because God is Holy he cannot ( is my understanding ) have in His presence, anything Unholy. Sinful man (that is man) is Unholy. In order for man to be Holy, and therefore able to be in the presence of God, he must be redeemed. Surely a sinful man couldn’t redeem himself, much less all of us, so we needed a sin-free man to redeem us. Jesus’ Holy life did that.
But why did he have to die on the cross to save us from SIN?
Specifically to fulfill prophec(y)(ies), I guess. Generally speaking, I think, he needed to live a sin-free life, which he did. But in order to LIVE a sin-free life he surely had to die. Why did it have to be such a terrible, painful death, I don’t know. Surely, taking on EVERY SIN ever committed by man had to have been terrible in itself.
I look forward to the responses you get. Thanks for taking the time to read my correspondence, Mike
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I believe one of the answers to the question is: There had to be a shedding of blood for an atonement for our sins and it had to be spotless blood and Jesus was the only one that could have shed spotless blood. If Jesus had not died on the cross for our sins we would be lost without any hope headed for a Devil’s hell. Thank God He did die for us that day on Calvary, I so glad we have a Saviour aren’t you, Praise His wonderful Name.
Love, Dean Linville
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The cross itself was the method of ” death penalty” of Jesus’ day. But nothing that our God does, is a coincidence. There are significance’s in the cross itself.( for another day)
I make sure my children understand… that no one killed Jesus! He gave himself over to the authorities, as a lamb to slaughter. But at any time He could have called a legion of angels to take him home.
For the atonement of sin, a blood sacrifice was required . No more sacrifices are EVER required for our sins. Jesus willingly paid it all for you & me.
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Jesus died for my sin because we all are subject to death–fear of death or the lack of continual living forever. Hebrews chapter 29-18:galatians chapter 3:11 states that Christ was to become sin-( sin is the transgression of the law of God) I john 3:4-(because the carnal minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God-( God is spirit)-for it is not subject to the law of God -(God is spirit) john 4:23,24- for I delight in the law of God-(God is spirit) – after the inward man: but I see another law-( spirit of death) in my members, warring against the law of God -(spirit of God)- of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am!! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death– for us that we might become the sons and daughters of God. He took the curse of the law-( the condemnation of the law working in our members), (the law of sin and death) – upon himself that thru death on the cross that death has been defeated that opens the door to heaven and earth for mankind.
He did this because of the transgression Adam and eve made and thru the spirit of God desiring to work in the heart of them and their heritage or seed of family that the law of God would be kept by faith, man thru all the instruments God employed for man to accomplish he failed to live obedient to the law of God -ten commandments, so since that didn’t happen and likely that man wouldn’t, he-God- prophesied that a seed- (Christ) would come to keep the law of God by faith alone . So Christ took on mans nature – the spirit of death in the body and defeated it by not allowing thru the mind to submit to its avenues of transgression, rebellion, or allegiance to Satan’s works.
Hebrews chapter 2:9-18, read those passages. Also I peter 2:21-24, reiterates the same context .verse 24 reads who -(Christ)- his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. Christ had to come to save us from sin because of three things one: man couldn’t keep Gods law, two: since man couldn’t keep his law someone who was God who required it to be kept, he alone had to come and ransom others-creatures who couldn’t save themselves, yes God took on human nature – the incarnation – the God man- a holy spirit in the mind recoiling the body of the spirit of death and not allowing sin to rule the mind, where as we are born our minds are already subject to a rebellious attitude against God.
Three: to vindicate the consistent law of God. That it was on trial . Does the law of God thru Christ completely satisfy always and perpetuate total freedom to his creatures? Is the law of God just? Is God always true to his freedom and character? Christ came and showed us the law can be kept by faith in him alone and sustained by sanctification thru his spirit . So without someone to come and save us we would still live in sin with no answer after the grave. The bible says that it is appointed unto men once to die , but after this the judgment.
Hebrews 9:27. So without a law that is just there would be no judgment. So the remainder of the creatures that die without knowing hope after the grave is frighten to us as creatures , we wont to live forever. Christ came and defeated death and succored heaven and earth and gave us opportunity to still know him and to possibly live with him forever if we stay faithful to him. Other passages on this is : Hebrews 9: 14,15; Galatians 5:16-24; Galatians 4:1-9 these passages deal with the contrasting elements of the spirit of God and the spirit of death. This is true justification to take our nature and conquer it so that we do not have to serve that nature thru Christ the lord. My understanding is that why would Christ come to save but have no power to keep us from going back into bondage . It would be in vain to waste the time. If any would share their comments i would appreciate it.