ANSWER:
Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. Jesus was a sinless man but bore the sins of humanity, thus he himself likewise partook the worldly suffering resulted from the disobedience of the law. He’s presenting himself to God as sinful mankind who was meted with death punishment. Prophet Isaiah foretold about the suffering Messiah, the savior who will bear the sin of the many, and who will take their punishment;
- [Isaiah 53:4-6] “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all“
- [Isaiah 53:11-12] After the anguish of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He has poured out His life unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
- COMMENT: The above verses foretell the fate of Jesus, who will become the bearer of our sins and taker of our punishment. He will become the intercessor between God and sinful mankind. Jesus though God in spirit, did not use his divine power to his advantage, instead he showed so much humility and used his humanity in going through worldly suffering. Consider the verses below;
- [Philippians 2:5-8] Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider to be equal with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, having taken the form of a servant, having been made in the likeness of men. And having been found in appearance as a man He humbled Himself, having become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Jesus had authority on his life but he intentionally gave it up in order to redeem mankind, as he said;
- [John 10:18] No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.
Right after the fall of the first man, God had set up a plan to destroy Satan’s work. He said to the Serpent Satan;
- “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall crush your head, and you shall bruise his heel” [Genesis 3:15].
- COMMENT: This promised seed was fulfilled in Jesus who was born to a woman (Mary). The reason why the Son was sent by the Father is to destroy the devil’s work through his death. So that in Jesus death, he might deliver us from the power of death inflicted by Satan. Kindly read;
- “He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” [1 John 3:8].
- Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. [Hebrews 2:14-15].
The wages of sin is death [Romans 6:23], but all people are sinners [Roma 3:23-24], therefore all people are doomed to perish physically and spiritually. Only sinless or righteous man can enter into Heaven, but how can we be sinless if we are sinners since birth [Psalm 58:3]? A sinner cannot reconnect to the glory of God by himself. God looked for a sinless or holy man to be the reason He would not destroy mankind, but He had found no one [Ezekiel 22:30 & Isaiah 59:16]. Since God so loved the world [John 3:16], He made His ‘word’ or ‘spirit’ to become His ‘son’ through His decree [Psalm 2:7]. The Son or spirit of God entered the world through a human birth [Isaiah 7:14]. The resulting man (Jesus) obeyed the law without failing even death on the cross. Sinless man is now available in mankind as the outcome of Jesus’ deed, thereby giving God a reason not to destroy them. Jesus acted as a lamb sacrificed to take away the sins of many. He bore our iniquities and died on our behalf so that through him we can become righteous and justified in the eyes of God [Romans 3:25-26]. By Jesus’ suffering and anguish, God’s wrath becomes pacified;
- “As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities” [Isaiah 53:11]
Jesus was following the will of his Father, his fate was already foretold in the Scriptures thousand years before his birth. In fact his last word was, “it is finished” [John 19:30], referring to the fulfillment of the prophecies about him. Kindly check this speech of Jesus to his apostles after his resurrection;
- “These are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” [Luke 24:44]
Mankind became separated from God the reason they lost their eternal life. ‘Sinlessness’ means ‘everlasting life’ while ‘sinfulness’ means ‘death’, thus we are dead already because of sin. But through the resurrection of Jesus we can also resurrect, all we have to do is to believe in his saving work and follow his will.
Why is it that the spirit of God needed to dwell in a human body in order to save us mankind? The answer is;
- “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead” [1 Corinthians 15:21]
- For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. [Romans 5:19]
One reason Jesus needed to die was to allow His spirit to descend to Hades and preach to the spirits in prison;
- [1 Peter 3:18-19] For Christ also sufferedd for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit, in whome He also went and preached to the spirits in prison.
Can God be killed? Only the human body of Jesus which was killed, but his spirit was not. Even us ordinary humans, Satan cannot kill our spirits. Only God can kill spirits including the spirit of Satan.
- [Matthew 10:28] Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
- [Ecclesiastes 12:7] then the dust [out of which God made man’s body] will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it
- [Romans 8:10] If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness..
Why Jesus did not use his divine power to stop or skip the test of life? If Jesus avoided the earthly suffering, that is a cheating already. How could he become righteous or sinless if he is a cheater? If his saving work was not done through his perfect humanity, how could it be valid? Since mankind lacked a sinless man to regain their eternal life, Jesus filled this void by obeying the law perfectly for us. As a result of his deed, a sinless man is available already in humankind. In this manner, Jesus saved mankind from death.
Is the Father unfair by allowing Jesus to be killed? Nope, for He exalted Jesus to the highest place in return.
- [Psalm 89:27] “And I will appoint him to be my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth”
- [Isaiah 52:13] “Behold, My Servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted”
- [Hebrews 2:9] “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone”
- [Philippians 2:9-11] “Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”
Watch: Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin
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