WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE FOR US?

A lot of people have been asking this question. WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE FOR US? Before we answer this question, let’s dig up a bit more.

UNDERSTANDING THE SEPARATION/SIN

THE MIRROR OF THE LAW

WHAT IS SIN? HOW CAN WE DEFINE SIN?

Sin is anything that separates us from GOD’s love and will for our lives. As it is mentioned in 1 John 3: 4 “ Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawless”.

WHAT ARE THE LAWS OF GOD?

GOD’s laws are not just a set of rules to follow, but a way of life that reflects HIS LOVE and CHARACTER. The most well-known laws of GOD are the ten commandments, which are found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 which are:

You shall not have other gods than me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol.
You shall not misuse your LORD’s name; your GOD.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it HOLY.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
You shall not covet.

In Matthew 22: 37-40, JESUS summarizes the entire law in only two commandments which are “Love the LORD your GOD with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “ Love your neighbor as you love yourself."

THE HEART OF THE COMMANDMENTS

THE ARCHITECTURE OF LOVE

When we’re really looking at it and thinking about it, the ten commandments really talk about two things : to love GOD and your neighbors. Because when you love GOD with all your heart, with everything that you have, we surrender ourselves to HIM, you will never have other gods before HIM, you will never make of yourself an idol because the LORD will ALWAYS be your IDOL, you will respect HIS HOLY NAME and never misuse HIS NAME, you will respect the LORD’s HOLY DAY, you will honor your parents because HE chose them for you (whether they were in your life or not, they’re your parents).

And when we love our neighbors as ourselves, we won’t murder, we won’t commit adultery, we won’t steal from them, we will never lie about your brothers and sisters because we would love to see the person they love fall? Nobody, right? And we won’t ever covet. We all would love to be treated with respect, right ? So, we have to take the first step and start treating others with respect and love. Keep loving others and never stop because the LORD loves us, that’s why in Luke 6: 31 “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”. But let’s come back to our original topic “ sin”.

THE PRICE OF REDEMPTION

THE BLOOD OF REDEMPTION

As we know already based on what the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of GOD is eternal life in CHRIST JESUS our LORD.”. Which means what? It means that sin is so serious, that we deserve to die, blood must be shed because of our sins. That’s why we see in the old testament that they used to sacrifice lamb all the time.

THE SYMBOLISM OF THE LAMB

THE SPOTLESS SUBSTITUTE

Well, the answers are really simple. Lambs were often used as sacrifices because they were considered pure and without blemish, they represented perfection and innocence, this is mentioned in Exodus 12: 5 “ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year.” Also, if we do remember during Moses’ time, in Egypt, during the passover, GOD instructed the Israelites to apply the sacrificed lamb’s blood to their doorposts so that the angel of death would pass over their homes, we find it in Exodus 12: 13 “ The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land in Egypt.” We find more explanation of the lambs sacrifice in Leviticus 17: 11 which says “ For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” What’s the meaning of this verse ? This verse highlights the importance of blood in making atonement for sins, which is why they used to sacrifice lambs. That’s why JESUS was called the Lamb of GOD as we can see in John 1: 29 where it says “ Behold, the Lamb of GOD, who takes away the sin of the world!”

THE NEED FOR A DIVINE SAVIOR

THE FLAWLESS CREATOR

WHY CAN’T HUMAN BE THE SACRIFICE?

The first answer to the question is because GOD loves us way too much. The second answer is because no man was born sinless or pure enough. We actually see it in the book of Psalms 51: 5 where King David tells us “ Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” King David reminds us that we’re all born with a sinful nature, and that our struggles with sin are deeply rooted. In other words, humankind wasn’t fit for this, that’s why they had to sacrifice lambs. However, GOD already had HIS PLAN before the beginning of earth which was to send HIS ONE and ONLY SON on earth for our sins, since we already know that the universe was created by JESUS and for HIS purpose. HOW DO WE KNOW THAT ? We know this through the letter of the apostle Paul to the Colossians (Colossians 1:16) “ For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” The verse makes it really clear that all things, including the earth, were created by JESUS CHRIST and for HIS PURPOSE. Furthermore, because of His intense love for us, God of all creation had to come down to earth and change everything. He became human and gave his life in order to save us. (John 1: 1-14), John 3:16 “For GOD so loved the world, that he gave his only SON, that whoever believes in HIM should not perish but have eternal life” & on Romans 5: 8 “ But GOD demonstrates his own

love for us in this; while we were still sinners, CHRIST died for us.” Those 2 verses remind us that while we were still sinners, CHRIST died for us. HE took our wages (death) and gave us HIS GIFTS (eternal life).

THE RESTORATION OF EDEN

FROM THE GARDEN TO THE GRAVE

FROM ALL THE PLACES, WHY THE CROSS?

A lot of Christians don’t know the real reason behind JESUS crucifixion , why he had to wear a crown of thorns, why his side was pierced, why he was crucified naked. Yes it’s for our sins, but it doesn’t stop there, there’s more to the story. Let’s go back to the beginning of the creation. As we all know, GOD created the earth and the Heavens in six days and the seventh day he rested, and everything that GOD has made were perfect: the earth, the foods, the animals and humans were sinless as Genesis 1: 31 “ GOD saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good”.

However, GOD planted in the middle of the garden the tree of the knowledge of the good and evil and the LORD commanded the man saying “ You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2: 16-17).

This verse shows us that GOD made it very clear to Adam to command him and warn him to not eat of the tree. Nevertheless, GOD saw that Adam was lonely so the LORD said “It’s not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18) . So the LORD GOD caused a deep sleep (death) upon Adam and took one of his ribs and created Eve (woman). As most of us remember from the book of Genesis, Eve got deceived by the serpent ( who represents satan) and took the fruit from the forbidden tree with her bare hands, ate and gave to her husband who also ate. Right after eating from the tree, their eyes opened and noticed that they were naked and they made themselves loincloths by sewing fig leaves together so they could wear, then they hear the voice of the LORD walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid themselves in between the garden trees from HIM. Furthermore, the book tells us that GOD called Adam and asked him where was he, not because GOD didn’t know or that Adam hiding spot was too good that GOD couldn’t find him, but because GOD wanted Adam to return to HIM even after doing something bad because GOD is all knowing and nothing can escape him as we can also remember in the book of Joel, in Joel 2:12 where GOD said to Joel “ Yet even now, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” This verse reminds us that GOD is always willing to forgive and restore us when we genuinely seek him… No matter what we’re going through, it can never be greater than GOD, because GOD is our SOURCE, our SAFE PLACE. In this situation, Adam and Eve should’ve rushed to GOD instead of hiding from HIM just as they were ashamed of themselves, ashamed of showing their faces to GOD, that’s why we have a saying “ The LORD put my shame in the grave” by being crucified Naked for us. And I am certain that many of us have experienced this, and some of us constantly believe that GOD will never forgive us for what we've done. You are never too far away from GOD, and HE already KNOWS everything. I urge you to kneel and pray to HIM, ask HIM for forgiveness and to help you change, and surrender yourself over to HIM. The fact that you are able to wake up every morning is an indication that HE is not finished with you yet.

Moreover, we noticed that GOD cursed the serpent in Genesis 3:15 by saying “ I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” As we all know, when JESUS was crucified, HE had his feet nailed to the cross and in this verse, GOD is saying that the seed of the woman (JESUS) will strike the serpent’s (Satan’s) head. What does this mean? How can we understand this ? This verse actually shows us that GOD already had a plan from the beginning as I mentioned it earlier to redeem humanity through JESUS CHRIST. The devil lost another battle again by the nailed feet of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST, because by his nailed feet to the cross was the fulfillment of the prophecy, and it shows how JESUS willingly suffered for our sins. Now, let’s talk about the crown of thorns. What do we know about thorns? The naissance of thorns begins after GOD cursed the ground as Genesis 3: 17-18 tells us “ Because you listened and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, You must not eat from it; Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat from it all the days of your life.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plant of the field.” How is it related to the crucifixion of JESUS? As the scripture tells us, this curse is a result of Adam’s sin, and it represents the struggles and hardships that humanity would face after the fall. The crown of thorns that JESUS wore during HIS CRUCIFIXION, is a symbol of HIM taking on the curse of sin, including the thorns that were a result of that curse as Galatians 3: 13 “ CHRIST redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written : “ Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

The nailed hands

Eve grabbed the fruit with her hands and gave to her husband.

The nailed feet

Genesis 3: 15

Side pierced

Eve was formed with Adam’s rib

Died naked

After finding out that they were naked, Adam and Eve were ashamed of themselves. (Shame).

Crown of thorns

The curse of the ground toward humanity. JESUS took the curse of us.

As we can see, Jesus did more than only suffer in order to atone for our sins; He also took away everything, altered the course of history, and offered us a new life, hope, and purpose. He is the reason we are here, the reason we can breathe, and the reason we have another opportunity to tell Him and others that we love them. He took our place, endured a great deal for us, suffered without crying, made himself human, and altered history for us out of love. As stated by John in 1 John 4:19 "We love because HE first loves us," therefore let's continue to remember what the LORD has done for us and love one another as HE is asking us. And as HE commands, let us spread the gospel with love. Let's help people discover this amazing LOVE, just like we did in the LORD.