Why did Jesus have to die & why did his suffering matter most?

Question

Why exactly did Jesus' death save humanity? Also, how is it that Jesus suffered so badly? He, of all people, must have KNOWN for sure that there was a God and a heaven for him to go to, and that he was reserved a place there, seeing as he was both fully human AND fully divine. SO how could he have been afraid of death? He knew God wouldn't judge him badly, because he WAS GodAlso, so he got nailed to a cross and asphyxiated. Which I imagine was pretty painful, but why did his suffering mean more than that of countless other innocent people who have suffered abominable torture in order to protect people they love? Those people REALLY sacrifice something, because they aren't sure of God, or heaven, or that they have a place there. They're the ones who really make a sacrifice. So why worship Jesus and God for this gesture when it was a hell of a lot easier for them than so many others?

I know that he was meant to die for our sins, but how exactly does him dying save us from sin? It's no good just saying, oh, because it does. HOW, exactly, does it work?It's obvious sin didn't disappear, and surely, if God is all powerful, he could have saved us from sin just by thinking about it

I know that he was meant to die for our sins, but how exactly does him dying save us from sin? It's no good just saying, oh, because it does. HOW, exactly, does it work?It's obvious sin didn't disappear, and surely, if God is all powerful, he could have saved us from sin just by thinking about it

Answer 1

This is a great question. I myself didn't understand this until I was an adult, even though I grew up in a church. I think a lot of Christians are fuzzy on it, even though our whole faith hinges on it!

Christ's death was necessary because humanity is fallen - that is, since Adam we have been separated from God because of sin. While we talk of "commiting a sin", a specific action or misdeed, these are just symptoms of sin itself in us, a kind of spiritual disease inherited from Adam and Eve, passed from one to another, and inescapable, because we are born with it, and have no means by ourselves of getting rid of or changing this nature.

Nor can we resist it with any success; even the Israelites, whom God cultivated and gave EVERY opportunity to succeed in being righteous, failed miserably. "ALL have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God."

And, because God is holy and utterly good and just, His nature does not allow Him to just overlook this evil in us or "let it slide" - justice must be done and wrongdoing paid for, He has no choice in this matter. The Bible says that He "cannot countenance" sin - literally, He cannot look upon it.

So there is the dilemma. We are God's creations and He loves us desperately, but we are contaminated and twisted by evil that he cannot accept. We can't have a relationship with Him as we are, we are like fire and water, we just can't coexist together. But God doesn't want to just give up and leave us to our misery, or wipe us out altogether. What to do?

We can't pay God the debt we owe for sinning against Him, but He can. And we can't reform our sinful natures into something useful to Him, but He can.

What Christ did has been likened to a judge who finds his own standing in court before him for a crime. He loves his son and wishes no hardship for him, but he knows his son is guilty of breaking the law and the law must be upheld - to give him a free pass would be corrupt and an act of evil itself. As a judge he does his duty and sentences his son to the punitive fine the law requires, then as a father he takes off his robe, gets down from the bench, and pays the fine himself. Out of love. The law and justice have been upheld, but the son spared, though at the father's expense.

God got down from the bench (Heaven), to where we, the accused, stand (earth). Then He paid our penalty for us. In the case of sin, the only penalty is death. What makes Christ's sacrifice unimaginable is not only His innocence, but His taking on all the sins of the WORLD - every vile thing that any human has done or will ever do- was put on Christ. It was as if, in that moment, HE was the guilty party. And because God cannot countenance sin, in that moment he turned away from His son, the Christ. "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Up until this point, Christ addressed God as "abba" roughly equal to "Daddy", because they were intimately close - indeed, one. But on the cross, God became Christ's judge, and the intimacy was severed as the filth of humanity was transferred to Christ. It was this that had Christ sweating blood in the garden of Gethsemane, not mere physical death.

But, because Christ was truly innocent, unlike the rest of us, he was able to walk right back into fellowship with God again, the price for sin paid for in His sentencing to death, and all justice and righteousness upheld.

And because our sin is already judged and dealt with, God can now look upon us as loving Father, and have the relationship with us that we need and He craves. And he can implant a new nature in us in opposition to the old sinful one, one that is "in His image" and imitates Him. This what being "born again" means - a new creation, a new person in the same body.

So this the meaning of the sacrifice between God the Son and God the Father, one that we can't duplicate or really even comprehend. To compare it to our own trifling acts of sacrifice is to completely misunderstand it, not to mention its implact and relevance to our own existence.

Answer 2

the story is just to set the idea of "sacrifice" into people´s minds. I dont get the idea of his death to save me from my sins...i really dont get it, where is the connection??? he died and in doing so he saved me from my sins, does it mean that according to christian religion no matter what i do i am gonna be "saved"??? So why talking about judgment day?? if at the end god is gonna judge me for my sins, why the heck did jesus have to die??
I think christians had tried for years and years to give sense to what is all nonsense and had created a very strange belief

Answer 3

The person who became known as Jesus Christ did not begin life here on earth. He himself spoke of his prehuman heavenly life. (Joh 3:13; 6:38, 62; 8:23, 42, 58) John 1:1, 2 gives the heavenly name of the one who became Jesus, saying: “In the beginning the Word [Gr., Lo′gos] was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god

Through the perfect man Adam, sin, entered the human race (Ro 5:12) No longer perfect Adam passed on sin to all his offsping. Jesus however being Gods son was born a perfect human, unlike Adam though, Jesus (“the last Adam”) kept integrity (1 Corinthians 15:45) By suffering death, Jesus ‘tasted death for every man’ and provided “a corresponding ransom for all.

In this way God’s provision of the ransom arrangement and its benefits gives striking testimony not only of His love and mercy but also of his fidelity to his exalted standards of justice, such as that given in Deuteronomy 19:19 You must also do to him just as he had schemed to do to his brother, and you must clear away what is bad from your midst. 20 So those who remain will hear and be afraid, and they will never again do anything bad like this in your midst. 21 And your eye should not feel sorry: SOUL WILL BE FOR SOUL, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

In this way then, Jesus perfect human life buys back our right to gain the everlasting life that Adam lost for us.

Answer 4

There is no remission of sin w/o the shedding of blood.....before Christ people had to use the blood of pure animals and shed their blood to cover their sins......but Christ (the lamb of God) shed His blood for us...he had to die to take the keys of life and death from Satan and then he rose again breaking the power of death....If Jesus never rose from the dead people who concider Him no better than other prophets.

Answer 5

His death saved humanity, because when He died, He took on the sins of all the people who had lived, were living, and were to live, and that's alot of sin!! by taking on death, and conquering it I.E. rising again!!! He also conquered death for us, since it was our sin He took on. Thank you Jesus!!!! oh, and He was afraid to/didn't want to die, because he DID know what was coming, and duh, noone would want to die like that. i know i wouldnt, again, let me say thank you Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 6

He did not have to die. He gave His life. Sin needed to be punished, so He died so that we do not have to die. If we just serve our Lord.

Answer 7

Very good point. In Christianity, they say he sacrificed his life. He didn't. He came back to life three days later.