God and Jesus
Why did Jesus die on the cross?
Christians believe Jesus died to deal with our sin. On the cross he willingly took the consequences of our wrongdoing on himself, so that we could be forgiven and brought back to God.
What happened
Jesus was crucified outside Jerusalem on the orders of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Christians remember the day each year as Good Friday. On the surface it was a miscarriage of justice: an innocent man was executed. But Jesus had spoken about his death in advance as the very thing he had come to do.
For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
In our place
The Bible explains the cross as an exchange. Jesus, who had done nothing wrong, took the judgment our sin deserves, so that we could be put right with God.
Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God.
For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Centuries earlier the prophet Isaiah had described someone who would suffer on behalf of others:
But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.
Why couldn’t God just forgive?
If someone smashes your window and you forgive them, the window is still broken. Either they pay for it or you do. Forgiveness always costs the one who forgives. Our sin is a real wrong against a just God, and it cannot simply be waved away without God ceasing to be just. At the cross God himself bore the cost.
This is important. The cross is not an angry God punishing an unwilling victim. Jesus is God the Son, and he went to the cross freely. The one who was wronged paid the price himself.
“It is finished”
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished.” He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.
Jesus was not saying that his life was over. He was saying that the work he had come to do was complete. Nothing more needs to be added to it, by him or by us.
The measure of God’s love
The cross shows how seriously God takes sin, and how much he loves the people who commit it.
But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Not the end of the story
Three days later Jesus rose from the dead. Christians see the resurrection as God’s confirmation that the price was paid in full and that death itself has been beaten.