“And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-27, ESV).
It is amazing to me how difficult it is for people to understand why Jesus had to die. When I pose the question a typical answer is, “to show how much he loves us.” I then ask, “What kind of love is it for a father to subject his son to such a cruel death? What kind of love is that?” I’m talking about people who claim to know Christ as Savior. It is not unusual for my questions to be met with silence.
I also ask, could God have accomplished our salvation some other way? After all, he is all powerful and he can do anything. The answer: technically, yes, in actual fact, no. Our resurrected Lord expected the two on the road to Emmaus, who knew the Scriptures, to understand why the Christ should suffer these things.
The actual but elusive answer is, to satisfy divine justice. When God said to Adam about the forbidden tree, “In the day you eat thereof you shall surely die,” the course was set. Adam sinned. He was guilty. “The soul that sins, it shall die.” “The wages of sin is death.” We, who have inherited Adam’s sin nature, are guilty by nature and by choice.
Jesus had to die because justice had to be satisfied. Sin is not excused, the penalty must be paid because God said it and he doesn’t change his mind.
When I encounter Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, or Muslims, I ask, “What can wash away my sin?” You can be sure, in the many and varied responses, there is nothing about the satisfaction of divine justice.
Well, what can wash away my sin? Only the blood of Jesus! Praise God, he was raised for our justification.