In one of my favorite songs—Worlds Apart by Jars of Clay—singing of the death of Jesus, the
lyrics ask (at about the 2:29 mark in the linked video) “Did you really have to
die for me?” The answer, of course, is a resounding “YES!”
One of the most important questions in the history of the
universe is “Why did Jesus have to die?” This is especially the case as we are
in the throes of what some are referring to as the “Negative
World” era, where “Everybody
Wants to Rule Their World.”
Aaron Renn describes
the “Negative World” (2014-the present) as a period when a culture adopts a
negative view of Christianity, “particularly in the elite domains of society.” Mr.
Renn adds that, in the Negative World “Christian morality is expressly repudiated and
seen as a threat to the public good and the new public moral order. Subscribing
to Christian moral views or violating the secular moral order brings negative
consequences.”
Of course, this is exactly what we see in America today,
especially where the “woke” rule. Much of the disdain for Christianity that we
see today—and throughout time—is due to what God has had to say and do about
sin. Far too many Americans today have refused to close their minds on matters that have been settled
for all time, and instead have decided to adopt their own moral code (especially on
matters in the sexual realm).
We are a nation littered with those who are deciding for
themselves what is good, what is truth, and what is sin. We have largely
abandoned the notion that we are sinners in need of a Savior. Thus,
unsurprisingly, few Americans truly understand the reasons behind the life, death,
and resurrection of Jesus.
The late-great Oswald Chambers provides one of the best
descriptions of why
Jesus went to the cross:
The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of
God’s judgment on sin…There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely
certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He
made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing
relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that
is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.
The Cross was not something that happened to Jesus— He came to die; the Cross was His purpose
in coming. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation
13:8).
The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the Cross. Beware of
separating “God was manifested in
the flesh…”
from “…He made Him…to be sin for us…” (1 Timothy
3:16 ; 2
Corinthians 5:21). The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh
to take sin away, not to accomplish something for Himself. The Cross is the
central event in time and eternity, and the answer to all the problems of both.
One of my favorite Scriptures that explains the death of
Jesus is near the end of the first chapter of the book of Colossians.
Colossians 1:19-20 reads:
For God was pleased to have all his fullness
dwell in him [Jesus], and through him to reconcile to himself all things,
whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood,
shed on the cross.
In other words, Jesus was, in the words of C.S. Lewis, “The Perfect Penitent.”
As Lewis puts it,
We are told that Christ was
killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled
death itself. That is the formula. That is Christianity. That is
what has to be believed.
Christ dying for our sins is an amazing—and necessary—act of
love and sacrifice, but it is not the end of the matter. Just as important as
Christ dying for our sins is His resurrection. The physical resurrection of
Jesus is the cornerstone of Christianity. British theologian Michael Green said
it well when he noted, “Without faith in the resurrection there would be no
Christianity at all.”
The facts of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection all
are, of course, central to Christianity. For millennia, each of these events has
been celebrated, studied, taught, and preached on. Most everyone—from the
fervently faithful to the lukewarm to the “near
Christian” to those outside Christianity—at least admires the loving life,
work, and words of Jesus. However, for a complete understanding of the events
of Jesus’ life—especially His death and resurrection—one must seek to
understand sin and its sorrowful, destructive, and deadly effect upon humanity.
Unless you have a proper understanding of sin—especially the
sin in your own life—you don’t really understand why Jesus came into this
world, why He said the things He said, why He did the things He did, and why He
died and was raised to life again. The first act of Jesus’ public ministry was
His baptism by John. As Jesus came to the Jordan River, John declared (John
1:29), “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world!”
Since the first humans decided that they wanted to “be like
God,” the world has been plagued—literally cursed—by sin. More so than any
other human who has walked this planet, Jesus knew—and knows—what we need most.
He understood perfectly the sin-sickness of humanity and that He alone had—and
still has—the cure.
People don’t like hearing that things in their life need to
change; that they are on the wrong path; that the things they are currently
enjoying are really quite evil and deadly. In other words, people don’t like
being told that they need to “repent.”
As I noted several
years ago, the greatest lie ever told is that there is no God. The second
greatest lie ever told is that the devil does not exist. The third greatest lie
ever told is that your (and my) sin is not really sin. One of the greatest
debates within the church today surrounds the question of what is sin. If we
can’t answer that question well and accurately, then we will fall short of
understanding and appreciating all that Jesus did for us.
As Oswald Chambers reveals above, Jesus came for no other
reason than to redeem us, to save us. Save us from what? From the sin that
leads to death, hell, and eternal separation from God. We don’t get to come to
God and accept Jesus on our own terms. It must be unconditional surrender. We
must be willing to lay down everything that is an affront to God. He created
us, He sustains us, and He alone can save us.
The ministry of God—feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the
sick—should never be separated from the message of God—to repent of our sin and
believe that Jesus was who He claimed to be: the Son of God and the savior of
the world. The ministry of God and the message of God—both together complete
the mission of God. In other words, God became man
not simply to improve us, or to help us out of a jam, or to give us what we ask
for, or to make us feel better, but to make us into new creatures.
Happy Resurrection Day!
(See this column at American Thinker.)
Copyright 2023, Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of
America
trevorgrantthomas@gmail.com
