WHY CHRIST, AS GOD INCARNATE, HAD TO DIE FOR OUR SINS

God is all-powerful. Why couldn’t the Father have spared His Son from the Cross, as Jesus had prayed before His ordeal:

Matthew 26:39 …“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Seemingly, there was no other way. If Jesus had only been a manifestation, a mere appearance of God, or a created being, He could have reasonable asked, “Why don’t You simply create another being to die instead of me?” Clearly, that would not have sufficed, nothing short of Christ’s death:

•    Hebrews 10:4-7 “…it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll--I have come to do your will, O God.' "(Psalm 40)

Even newborns, who had not yet sinned, did not suffice, nothing short of God’s Son! God had provided a prophetic portrait of this Gospel reality:

•    Genesis 22:2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you”…Genesis 22:14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

Abraham complied and took His only-begotten son Isaac on a three-day journey to Mt. Moriah, tied him to his makeshift sacrificial alter, and was about to plunge his knife into Isaac when the Angel of the Lord intervened and provided Abraham with a substitutionary sacrifice, a ram. Then Abraham named the mountain, “The LORD will provide!” But why not “God has provided?” Evidently, God had revealed the  Gospel to Abraham. This had not simply been a test for Abram but also a revelation of the heart of God. He too would offer His Son on this mountain as a burnt sacrifice. However, this would represent something far greater than Abraham’s cancelled offering. Even Israel had understood that: “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

Could it be that the Gospel had been revealed to Abraham? It seems so:

•    John 8:56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”

Why was Abraham glad? Because God would provide the Offering to end all offerings!
•    Galatians 3:8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you [your Offspring] shall all the nations be blessed.”

The Gospel not only reveals His transcendent love for His people (Romans 5:8-10; 8:31-32) but also His total abhorrence for sin. How? Nothing short of the death of His external Son could possibly atone for our sins. One small indication of this comes from the revelation that God the Father could not be among sinful Israel without destroying them:

•    Exodus 33:3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people…Exodus 33:14 My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Only the Christ could pay the adequate and infinite price for our sins to satisfy God’s righteous character:

•    Romans 3:24–27 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

God’s righteousness had to be propitiated (satisfied). Prior to this, He had to forbear and to merely “pass over former sins,” a stench to His Being. However, He had to “show His righteousness” in full magnitude that had never been demonstrated to humble and to teach us to never boast in our own righteousness.

Amid great suffering, I had struggled with the Faith. I had felt that God was a deceiving sadist, and I couldn’t shake this thought until I realized that Christ, God incarnate, had died for my sins—something that a sadistic deceiver wouldn’t do! Had God merely sacrificed a created being—and this would have been at no cost to Himself—I would have been left with my doubts. However, through Jesus’ display of righteousness on the Cross, He had proved to me that He is truly my loving Justifier and Savior!

From this lesson, we also learn that God wants us to understand His absolute disdain for sin and to avoid it. His intolerance of sin could only be sufficiently demonstrated through Jesus’ suffering and death.

How does the death of God the Son “show God’s righteousness?” By sacrificing what is most precious! The sacrifice of animals and other created beings could never demonstrate His righteousness. It would be like abstaining from lemonade for breakfast. Instead, it had to be at the cost of His own Son!

Why the need for justice? If God is omnipotent, could He not have answered Jesus’ prayer without sending Him to the Cross? This question overlooks the fact that God’s nature requires justice. Even the martyred saints in heaven called out for justice:

•    Revelation 6:10–11 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

We might think that this is beneath the dignity of these saints in heaven to seek revenge. Nor would we expect that God would be pleased by their request. Instead, they were given white robes and merely told to wait.

Were they seeking revenge or justice? Is there a distinction between the two? Yes! I have often watched good guys/bad guys Westerns. At the end, the bad guys are brought to justice, and I rejoice with tears of joy. I was simply a viewer and had no desire to seek revenge. However, I rejoiced that justice had been done, not revenge.

Perhaps this suggests something about the nature of our God who must bring justice and somehow become our Justifier at the same time. This could only be accomplished through the God-man Jesus taking our sins upon Himself and suffering our penalty. Let Him be praised forever and ever!