Why did Jesus had to die on the cross? Could He have saved us some other way? After all, He is a powerful God, and He created everything. One of the characteristics of God is holiness. Psalm 99:9 says, "Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy." The word holy means perfect in goodness and righteousness. Since He is holy in nature, God cannot tolerate sin in His presence. And before He created the universe, He established that the penalty of sin is death (Romans 6:23). God knew that creating us as human beings with free will (the power to choose to follow or disobey Him) was risky, but He created us anyway because He wanted us to choose to worship and obey Him with our own free will.
When Adam sinned against God by disobedience, we suffered the consequences of sin, which was death. Since God is Holy, we couldn't be in His presence anymore unless our sins would be paid for by death. Although God loved us, He couldn't change the consequences of sin because of His holy character. So if He wanted us to be with Him, He had to rescue us from the penalty of sin. We were helpless and hopeless to save ourselves from the penalty of sin because we didn't have the power to make us alive from death. But because of His great love towards us, He made us alive. Ephesians 2:4-5 says, "But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!)."
So we see in the Word of God that Jesus had to come to us to rescue us from sin and death through His death and resurrection. The only solution to the death and sins of this world is our Lord Jesus Christ. He was the perfect sacrifice for our sin because it requires a perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty of our sin (Hebrews 10:14). We need to be encouraged that our Lord Jesus Christ took care of the penalty of our sin so we can have eternal life in Him. We do not need to work out our eternal life. We have eternal life, and we will never lose it because Jesus already paid the penalty of sin for us.
Ask yourself these questions: Why did Jesus die on the cross? How do I feel knowing and believing that Jesus already paid the penalty of my sin? How should I live my life knowing that I already have eternal life?
Write down all the worries that you are facing today and lift them up to God.
Prayer:
Father in Heaven, thank you for saving me from the penalty of my sin. Thank you for making me alive through my Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your death and resurrection. I am saved from my sin and death because of what you have done on the cross. I praise you and honor you. In your name Jesus, I pray. Amen.
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