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Jan 6
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Curve-ball #4 – Why did Jesus have to die? posted by jwatson on Jan 06, 2012

The reason Jesus had to die. It’s the most unfair thing that’s ever happened.

This is how I would maybe answer this question. I see things very black and white, and this may come across as harsh. What do you think?

“We human beings have a sense of justice, an inborn knowledge of right and wrong. Even children know this – how often have you heard a child say “That’s not FAIR!”, when they have been overlooked or treated differently from others.

Every society has a set of rules that orders their existence, and ensures the survival of a peaceful, harmonious community in which no-one suffers harm at the hands of another.

The rules of a society are seldom merely punitive. Rules make provision for the restitution of loss, for the restoration of relationships and the most equitable distribution of life’s blessings within the community.

The only exception is that crime against society which results in death. It is impossible to make restitution for the loss of a life. It is impossible to restore a relationship that has been destroyed by death. Every right-thinking human being knows that the punishment for a crime that leads to death can only be resolved by the death of the perpetrator. It is only in recent times that we have lost that understanding of the nature of deadly crime.

God in his infinite mercy made it possible for his people to kill an innocent animal as a substitute for the death of the criminal. Why was it necessary for something to die for a sin that we wouldn’t be too fazed about today, a “petty crime”? Again, we have lost our sense of the deadly seriousness of sin. Every sin leads to spiritual death, and only the shedding of innocent blood is an adequate punishment for it.

That’s why Jesus had to die. Our sin leads to spiritual death. A crime that leads to death requires the death of the perpetrator OR an innocent substitute.
Jesus is the perfect substitute, the only innocent sin-bearer for the sin of the whole world.

If Jesus had not died for us, none of us would have a hope of escaping the penalty of eternal death. Not one.

That is why Jesus HAD to die. Someone had to be judged, condemned and sentenced to death, because the punishment for sin is inescapable.

Jesus is your and my only hope. If we are desperate for pardon, for forgiveness, for the restitution of the relationship with the God we have wronged, there is no other solution.

Forgiveness and restoration are ours for the asking.”



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