Before the foundation of the world was laid, God,
in His divine sovereignty, planned to send His
own Son to the cross to be our Savior.
~ Anne Graham Lotz
Why did Jesus die on the cross? The short and simple answer is . . . so we could be forgiven of our sins and have eternal life in heaven.
Today may be a tad off topic and a bit in-depth, but I’ve been asked the question, and I find the answer so awesome. AWEsome, in every sense of the word. Case-in-point, I was just moved to tears as I was diving deeper into the Word and new revelations on the power of forgiveness touched me.
Starting at the very beginning . . . God created human and the earth perfect. But ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden of Eden, a time also known as “the fall of man,” we’ve been born into sin.
You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we’re in—first sin, then death,
and no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with God in
everything and everyone, but the extent of the disturbance was not clear until God spelled it
out in detail to Moses. So death, this huge abyss separating us from God, dominated the
landscape from Adam to Moses. Even those who didn’t sin precisely as Adam did by
disobeying a specific command of God still had to experience this termination of life,
this separation from God. But Adam, who got us into this, also points ahead to
the One who will get us out of it.
Romans 5:12-14 {MSG}
Whew! Follow that?
You see, because God is infinitely holy and righteous, overlooking sin would make Him unjust. The punishment for sin is death {a separation from God}. In Romans 6:23 we read, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners.
But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.
Romans 5:19 {NLT}
But our loving God didn’t leave us without hope. He promised to send a Sacrifice to take the punishment we deserved. Until that day, men would sacrifice innocent animals, showing their repentance of sins and faith in God’s promise of a future Sacrifice. God declared without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness {Hebrews 9:22}.
And because God is the only one who’s sinless, the sacrifice would have to be sinless and without blemish, which is why Jesus {God made flesh} had to die on the cross.
So that man was no longer required to offer animals as sacrifice for our sins, Jesus came as the ultimate Sacrifice so we could live forgiven and have eternal life with God in heaven.
I’d like to close by sharing something I find incredibly moving and beautiful. In the Old Testament {the old covenant}, 1 Kings 6, we read of Solomon building the first temple of the Lord.
The temple contained two rooms. The first room, an outer room was called the Holy Place. Throughout the year, priests would regularly enter this outer room to carry out their ministry and worship.
The second room, an inner room was called the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was separated from the rest of the temple by a veil and was the earthly dwelling place of God’s presence. The veil signified man’s separation from God by sin and only the high priest was allowed to pass beyond the veil once a year. Each year the high priest would enter into God’s presence with a sacrifice to make atonement for himself and the sins of the people.
Based on the writings of first century Jewish historian Josephus, the veil between the two rooms is believed to be somewhere near 60 feet high and four inches thick—so thick that horses tied to each side couldn’t pull the veil apart.
Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit.
At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the
Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
The earth shook, rocks split apart.
Matthew 27:50-51 {emphasis mine}
When Jesus, the new covenant Sacrifice, died, the veil was torn in two, from top to bottom signifying we now have full access to God.
The veil is symbolic of Christ as the only way to the Father. Under the old covenant, the high priest had to pass through the veil to enter the presence of God. Christ is now our High Priest and we can enter into God’s presence through Him {John 14:6}.
So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God,
into “the Holy Place.” Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice,
acting as our priest before God. The “curtain” into God’s presence is his body.
Hebrews 10:19-20 {MSG}
I’m in complete awe of the detail in each event and prophecy . . . all so we could live free and forgiven lives! God planned this out in the most intricate of detail and it strikes me again and again . . . if God went to this much “trouble” for us, how can we not find it within ourselves to forgive our fellow sinners?
If you’d like to do some reading for yourselves, I encourage you to read through some of the following Scriptures:
Exodus 30:10
Leviticus 16
Hebrews 9 & 10
If you’d like to keep up with 31 Days of Forgiveness, you can
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{read 31 days of forgiveness from the beginning}
you continue to direct me towards the awe in the digging deeper :) thank you!
and i love that the torn curtain means that we have full access… no “middle man!”
I teach middle school Sunday school at church and we are going through the Tabernacle. Just did the curtain part two weeks ago and I LOVE it so much!! I remember being taught about it when I was about middle school/early high school age and never forgot it (hence the reason I am teaching it to my class!! SO important!)
The symbolism and the complete picture we can now see(well, sort of! still so much we can’t see!) is amazing!!
God is so good! What he has done for us, is completely amazing. When I think about the depth of it all, what it really means and what I have been saved from – I’m just overcome. I am amazed by the Lord, and by what He continues to do.
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