Reason #4 - He died for you

“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God.” 1 Peter 3:18

Did you ever wonder why Jesus died on the cross?

To know this is vital to understanding what Jesus is all about. Read carefully!

The Bible teaches that God is a just God whose very nature demands that He rightly judge all evil and all people who do wrong. That includes you and me. We have each sinned, and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Jesus offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. He was totally innocent and without guilt, but He stepped forward to bear the punishment we deserved. He is our substitute.

From the beginning of time, God established that “without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). Jesus’ death for us was brutally painful and bloody. His suffering was intense. This was required to pay the penalty for all the sins ever committed.

Imagine for a moment how awful this was for Jesus to endure. Have you ever been accused of something - worse yet, punished for something - that you did not and never would do? It hurts, doesn’t it? But that’s exactly what happened with Jesus. Although He was pure, He was judged and punished on the cross as if He was a lust-filled, immoral womanizer and adulterer. Although He only spoke the truth, He was punished as a lying, backbiting, gossip. Although He was generous by nature, He was punished as a thief. Although He was pure love, He was condemned as a man of hate and bigotry. Why? Because He took our sins upon Himself and suffered in our place.

And as amazing as it may sound, God the Father, the judge of all people, has told us that He accepts the sacrifice of Jesus in place of the sins we have committed.

Throughout history, subjects have died for their king and the devoted have died for their god. Only in Jesus does the king die for His subjects; only in Jesus does God die for His creation. Though to many it sounds foolish, to those of us who know Him personally, we agree with the words of the ancient hymn, “Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou, my God, should die for me!”

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