The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is a pivotal event for believers and the entire world. This reveals much about God’s love for humanity and the dying world. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus accepts his death to save the lives of other people, as he was unjustly executed as a criminal. However, the pertinent question that bothers people throughout the years is, What was the point of Jesus having to suffer and die on the cross? What was the purpose of Jesus’ death on the cross? Was Jesus put through what he was put through for a reason? As you keep on reading, you will find more details.
Why Did Jesus Have to Die?
It is important to note that the reason Jesus has to die for humanity is tied to the very beginning, when God created Adam and Eve. God made man in Genesis chapter one and placed him in the garden of Eden. Man was given the authority to rule, dominate and eat everything created aside from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. However, man disobeyed God by eating from the tree he was warned not to eat.
As a result of man’s disobedience, he lost his dominion to Satan and was corrupted and became an enemy of God; Man can no longer please God. However, Jesus came to redeem man back to God – not just as a creation, but as a son to the Father. The only way for man to be redeemed is to die. For the wages of sin, the Bible says death (Romans 6:23). In addition, man’s blood cannot satisfy the divine claim of justice because man is a fallen creation.
So, man’s sinful nature makes him incapable of saving himself and damned eternally; as the Bible says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). However, the only hope of salvation for man is someone who has power over sin – which is Jesus. Angels or heavenly bodies can not save man because they are not fashioned in the image of God; angels can make mistakes and are only messengers. The Bible says, shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be purer than his maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly (Job 4:17-18)
The only way for man to obtain salvation is the death of someone purer, holy, sinless, and without any error in his form. However, the person that met all criteria is Jesus Christ. So, Jesus has to die for man’s salvation because of his love for humanity despite their transgression, and there is no other way for man to be saved. In conclusion, the death of Jesus brought about the satisfaction and end of God’s wrath toward man.
What Does Jesus’ Death Symbolize?
There are several symbolic meanings of the death of Jesus, and here are a few mentioned in this section:
Jesus Death Symbolizes God’s Love for Man:
Despite man’s action by rebelling against his maker; God still loves man and is willing to pay the ultimate price of giving the life of his only Son. The Bible says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). The death of Jesus shows that God’s love for man is everlasting and genuine, regardless of man’s condition.
It is because of love that Jesus came from heaven. When God looks after the world, it shows that he is fond of the world. Moreover, God’s promises to Abraham reveal his compassion for all of humanity. The crucifixion at Calvary serves as Jesus Christ’s final and most dramatic expression of his love and justice on the earth.
Jesus’ Death Signifies that God Wants to be Close to Man:
After man’s disobedience, there was a barrier to the communication or fellowship between man and God. However, the death of Jesus reveals that God can go the extra length to bring man back to himself. It follows from this that, before Jesus’ death, we were a long distance away from God. Both the apostle Paul and Peter agree that the blood of Christ has brought those who had previously been far away closer to God in Christ (Eph. 2:13).
God could not be reconciled with us until Christ died for our sins, which was the only way (1 Pet. 3:18). When it comes to the ramifications of disobedience, the Bible is not stingy with its words. In Matthew 7:11, Jesus’ disciples are referred to be “evil,” while in Romans 6:23, it is said that “the price of sin is death.” The holiness and justice of God cause our separation from God, and we are all condemned before him.
Understanding how God deals with sin and provides us forgiveness is dependent on our understanding of the substitutionary nature of Jesus’ death on the cross. “Christ died for sins, and the righteous for the unjust,” as the Bible says, to bring us closer to God and one another (1 Pet. 3:18). “The unjust” refers to all of us, while “the righteous” refers to Jesus. Jesus “became sin” (2 Cor. 5:21), which is the same as our sin to offer us mercy.
To convey the idea that Jesus died on the cross in our place, the New Testament uses various visually arresting images. For example, when Jesus “gave his life as a ransom in the place of many,” he paid the price that enabled us to receive eternal life (Mark 10:45). Through Jesus Christ’s self-sacrifice, we have been reconciled to God (1 Pet. 2:24). According to the Bible, as a means of atonement for our sins, “God sacrificed Christ as a sacrifice of atonement by the shedding of his blood” according to the Bible (Rom. 3:25).
In conclusion, Jesus’s death has a great significance to the believer and unbelievers. That is why all three persons of the Trinity were fully involved in man’s redemption. The Bible says that “Christ offered himself through the eternal Spirit to God” (Heb. 9:14). The Father is the architect, the Son the accomplisher, and the Spirit the applier of the atonement.
[…] were doomed due to the sin of disobedience caused by the first man (Adam). As earlier explained in our previous post, Adam became an enemy of God and was stripped from every authority, position, and influence he had […]