Why
did Jesus have to die? A question many who look at Christianity ask. It is also
a question that even those in Christianity ask. Why couldn’t God just forgive a
person of what they have done wrong?
What
we have done wrong is sin. Sin is not just not doing what is right. Sin is not
just disobeying God. Sin is much more.
The
essence of sin is that we human beings substitute ourselves for God. We put
ourselves where only God deserves to be. Sin then is rebellion against God’s
authority. It is telling God that you, not He, have the right to direct your
life and it is you, not He, who life is all about.
Deuteronomy
4:35
To
you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other
besides Him.
Sin
is denying that the one and only God, the Creator of everything, has the right
and authority be in charge of my life.
Raise
the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging what sin really is and
recognizing the seriousness of sin.
The
essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for us. It is God putting
Himself where we deserve to be.
How
can God be love if He does not become personally involved in suffering the same
violence, oppression, grief, hurt, weakness, and pain that we experience? The
answer to that question is twofold. First, God cannot. Second, only one major
world religion even claims that God did and still does.
In
John 11 Jesus weeps over the hurt in the lives of Lazarus’ family and friends
over their grief at his death.
In
Luke 19 Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because they had rejected Him as Messiah and
thus rejected peace with God.
Jesus
did not express anger or disappointment over the people’s lack of faith in Him.
He expressed grief. Jesus entered into their pain with them.
Raise
the Roof and Remove the Walls is, along with Jesus, responding to the
lostness of humanity with love and grace, not anger or disappointment.
To
understand why Jesus had to die, it is important to remember both the result of
Jesus’ death on the cross (costly forgiveness of our sins and reconciliation
with God) and the pattern of the cross (reversal of the world’s values). On the
cross neither justice nor mercy loses out – both are fulfilled at once.
Jesus’
death was necessary if God was going to take justice seriously and still love
us. Jesus identified with the sinner.
On
the cross Jesus loved His enemies.
On
the cross, Jesus went the second mile for sinners.
On
the cross Jesus turned the other cheek to those who struck Him.
Jesus
asked the Father twice why.
In
Luke 22:42 Jesus asked the Father why. He prayed, “Father, if you are willing,
remove this cup from Me. Nevertheless, not My will but Yours, be done.”
The
Father’s answer was, there was not another way. And there is still no other way
for our sins to be forgiven, no other way for us to be reconciled to God, and
no other way for us to have the assurance of eternity with God.
In
Matthew 27:46 Jesus cries out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Jesus
cries out and asks why, for the first time in eternity, the Father had
abandoned Him.
The
answer in the Bible of why Jesus had to die and of why the Father had forsaken
Him is that it was the only thing that could bring forgiveness for our
rejection of God and His authority. It was the only thing that could reconcile
us with God.
Why?
Because of Us!
Romans
5:8
But
God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us.
All
love involves sacrifice and God’s love for us is so great and our sin is so
evil that only God becoming human and dying on the cross as the perfect
sacrifice could be enough.
Christianity
is not God telling us all that we have to do to be pleasing to Him. It is God
showing us how much He loves us by doing for us what we could not do for
ourselves.
Because
Jesus Died for Us Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,
Joe
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