The Significance of Jesus' Sacrifice
What is the significance of Jesus' death on the Cross ?
Why was the unblemished, sinless Son of God tortured and slain in such a way ?
Here are some Verses from the Bible on this subject:
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
- Romans 6:23 (NKJV)
"...the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
- Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45 (NKJV)
"For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all..."
- 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NKJV)
"And He Himself is the propitiation (atoning Sacrifice) for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."
- 1 John 2:2 (NKJV)
"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (atoning Sacrifice) for our sins."
- 1 John 4:10 (NKJV)
"The next day John (the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'"
- John 1:29 (NKJV)
"For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us."
- 1 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV)
"For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 'Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth'; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness - by whose stripes you were healed."
- 1 Peter 2:21-24 (NKJV)
"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God..."
- 1 Peter 3:18 (NKJV)
"Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God."
- 1 Peter 4:1-2 (NKJV)
Isaiah 53, a Prophecy describing Jesus, written over 700 years before Christ appeared on the Earth:
1
Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4
Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
6
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
8
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9
And they made His grave with the wicked -
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
11
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
12
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors."
- Isaiah 53 (NKJV)
"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace..."
- Ephesians 1:7 (NKJV)
"For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."
- Jesus in Matthew 26:28 (NKJV)
"Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.'
And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God."
- 1 Peter 1:13-21 (NKJV)
"This is the message which we have heard from Him (Jesus) and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us."
- 1 John 1:5-10 (NKJV)
"To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood..."
- Revelation 1:5 (NKJV)
"Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate."
- Hebrews 13:12 (NKJV)
"For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s."
- 1 Corinthians 6:20 (NKJV)
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By these Bible Verses (and many others), we can understand that Jesus died on the Cross as a Sacrifice, so that our sins may be forgiven.
The wages of sin is death; but by God's Grace (graciousness), and because God and Jesus Love us, Jesus paid the penalty of death for us, a penalty caused by our sin.
He died as a ransom for us, so that we may be given the chance to Live.
And how do we Live ?
By keeping Jesus' Word that He gave to us when He was alive on the Earth.
(Jesus’ Word is recorded in the Gospels - the Bible Books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.)
It is only by doing what Jesus teaches that we accept His death on the Cross as the payment for our sin.
That is precisely how to keep the New Covenant with God: by doing what Jesus teaches.
If we Love the One who Loved us first,
If we see the Gift that God has given to us in Jesus Christ,
If we are thus convicted by His generosity and Love for us,
Then let us listen to Jesus and do what He says,
And be Blessed forevermore.
Amen.
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