The death of Jesus on the cross on behalf and in place of sinful humankind has been the centerpiece of Christianity for two thousand years. Of course, without the resurrection, the cross would be a waste, but without the cross, there would be no resurrection. Jesus had to die before he could come back to life. Even more, to get to the reason for the cross, Jesus had to die so that we might live.

This view that Jesus died so we don't have to is called "substitutionary atonement," and it's best expressed in Scripture in Isaiah 53:4-6. Substitutionary atonement troubles some believers, in particular young adults who are troubled by "religiously motivated violence." On a personal level, they struggle with a God who would subject his own son to the violence and horror of the cross, something Tony Jones refers to as "divine child abuse."

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On Good Friday, my childhood pastor would become Clint Eastwood. He would basically tell us, “You are a know good-for-nothing-yellow-bellied-gizzard. You are a worthless worm. You killed Jesus! Feel guilty.” (And we wondered why people didn’t come to church on Good Friday.) What if we told the story like the gospel writers? In Jesus’ last moments, he teaches us the greatest lesson of all: how to love those who hate you. He teaches us how God suffers. The point is not guilt; it’s godliness—no matter what the circumstances.

T-Minus 2 Days until Jesus Dies. The chief priests and the scribes want to kill Jesus. Why? Power. They can’t have a rabbi around who teaches against their religious power plays. But wait: they can’t kill him during the Passover feast, because that would ruin the party and could create an uprising among all the peasants—Jesus’ main following—who were in Jerusalem for the festival.

The reason Christ had to die was to earn our salvation. As sinners, we deserve the penalty for sin, which is death (Romans 6:23). Because God is holy and just, He demands a punishment for sin. A penalty must be paid, and we aren’t capable of paying the penalty because we are sinners. The only one who can offer an acceptable payment is Jesus, because only He is without sin. The Bible clearly tells us it was love that caused God to send Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin (1 John 4:10).

The work that Christ did in his life and in his death to earn our salvation is called the atonement. The death of Jesus by crucifixion was the pivotal event that allowed sinful humankind to get back into a right relationship with the holy, almighty God. The crucifixion of Christ wasn’t a tragedy. It wasn’t a series of events gone out of control. It was the divinely designed plan of God. Here is a list of some of the fundamental accomplishments achieved by Christ’s death on the cross. Each one is a vital part of God’s plan of salvation for humankind:

• Substitution.  Christ died so that we don’t have to. This is what Christianity is all about, and it required the death of Christ on the cross (Romans 8:3-4).
• Propitiation.  Christ’s death on the cross turned God’s wrath away from us. Because God is so holy, He hates sin and is radically opposed to it. As sinful beings, that would place us as the objects of God’s wrath. But Christ’s death on the cross appeased God’s wrath (Romans 3:25).
• Reconciliation.  God was alienated from humankind because of sin. That alienation was removed when Christ died on the cross. Reconciliation between God and humanity was made possible (Romans 5:10-11).
• Redemption.  Before Christ died on the cross, we were slaves to sin. We were in bondage. We couldn’t escape sin’s snare. Think of it as if Satan had kidnapped you and was holding you as a hostage. Your release was dependent upon someone paying a ransom. That’s exactly what Christ did on the cross. He paid the ransom to redeem you (literally, to purchase you back) from slave market of sin. The ransom price was high. It cost Christ His life (1 Peter 1:18-19).
• Destruction.  Satan was behind all of this sin stuff from the beginning. (Remember the serpent in the Garden of Eden?) Not only did Christ’s death on the cross free us from Satan’s bondage, it also demolished Satan in the process (Hebrews 2:14-15).
• Perfection.  In the Old Testament times, the priest had to offer a sacrifice on behalf of the people each year (in a ceremony referred to as “the Day of Atonement”). When Christ died on the cross, His sacrifice was enough to cover the sins of all people—past, present, and future (Hebrews 9:26-28).

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