The Christian Answer
THE CHRISTIAN ANSWER
Let’s allow the Bible to answer our question in its own words. “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Jesus came into the world to solve humanity’s basic problem. He came to be our Savior, which he accomplished by dying on the cross. He came to earth not to live but to die. He lived in the shadow of the cross from the beginning. He knew perfectly well that death awaited him in Jerusalem. In fact, he clearly predicted it.
On the night he was betrayed by one of his followers, when he gave his disciples bread and poured out wine, he not only predicted his death but explained its purpose. Speaking of the wine, he said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).
Someone might ask, “What is the connection between his death and our forgiveness?” The real meaning of Jesus’ death on the cross is not so much about his physical and mental pain and suffering, but in the spiritual anguish he endured. From noon to three the land became dark. This was a symbol of the darkness of our sin that surrounded Jesus while he hung on the cross. To fully understand what was happening, we need some background information.
Regarding what Jesus experienced on the cross, the ancient prophet Isaiah, who lived hundreds of years before Jesus, said,
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity [sin] of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
And the apostle Paul explains, “God made him who had no sin to be sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Isaiah further explains,
He was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed. (Isaiah 53:5 NLT)
Jesus not only carried our sins but experienced their penalty as well. This penalty is death—separation from God (Romans 6:23). God, who is light, cannot be in fellowship with darkness—even when his dear Son was enveloped in it for us. So, because he was unable to be in the presence of or even look at evil, God turned away his face from his Son, and Jesus cried out in desolate abandonment, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34).
Then, after Jesus carried our sins “in his body on the cross” (1 Peter 2:24), he cried out again, this time not in despair but in triumph, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). The work of salvation was accomplished.
Then, as if to confirm the truth of the words Jesus had spoken, God gave his dramatic reply. “The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Mark 15:38). The thick veil in the temple in Jerusalem, which for centuries had stood as a symbol of the barrier sin had erected between the sinner and God, was ripped apart. Then God’s righteousness was perfectly satisfied; Christ had fully borne the penalty for the sins of the whole world and so had opened the gate of heaven to all believers.
Furthermore, Jesus’ resurrection from death and his return to the Father is final and decisive proof that his sacrifice had been effective for the removal of sin and that God’s righteousness had been fully satisfied. Jesus is depicted as sitting at the Father’s right hand because he is now resting after perfectly completing the work of salvation he had been given to do.
Sin is the basic problem humans face. And Christianity is a “message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19). It is the “gospel,” that is, good news of what God has done in Christ to deliver us from our sins.