What is so Special About Jesus' Death?

Sin has a price because it violates God's holiness. Justice must be served. God's holy justice must be satisfied. Jesus was not simply a martyr but his death had atoning significance. No other religion matches that feature. Modern Judaism teaches salvation by penitence. If you say you are sorry to God, he freely forgives you. But modern Judaism does not teach that an atonement price must be paid.

Modern Protestant liberalism says that the cross is just a part of God's mission to bear God's antecedent forgiveness. The death of Christ to such people does not bring forgiveness. God had already forgiven. It was just part of Christ's mission to bring the message of forgiveness. For such people atonement is something eternal, not an event in time at all.

But the Bible teaches us that atonement is not eternal. It did not take place just in the heart of God. No, because of God's loving heart He sent His Son into this world to die at a time and place in history, to pay a price.

Without Jesus dying on the cross, there would be no salvation. On the eve of Jesus' death, He prayed to the Father If it were possible, please remove this cup from me. If it were possible, don't you think the Father would have done something else. Salvation necessitated Jesus's death.

NKJ Hebrews 9:24-28 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another -- He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

The atonement of Jesus stems from God's sovereignly exercised love. NKJ John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

God is loving by nature, but that does not mean that He had to save the sinner. He is still love and His love is not constrained. The choice and explanation of God's choice to do that is hidden in the unsearchable riches of His grace.

The love of God moves Him to provide the atonement. His love is not moved by the atonement. The atonement does not win the love of God for sinners. The atonement, the death of Jesus on the cross, is the provision of God's love!

In other words, Jesus does not bribe God into a good mood by dying on the cross. Jesus died on the cross because God set His love on us. It was the love of God that was the source, not the result of Jesus' death. Christ's mediation is the greatest display of God's pre-existent love for sinners. Contrast that with pagan religions. In Christianity, the deity supplies the victim which is rejected by those who are saved, but is highly valued by the Judge Himself. In paganism, the deity is bought off by sacrifice. Only in Christianity does the Judge send the victim into the world because He loves those who are running from Him!

So in what other ways is this death of Jesus different from any other death? Every other person who has ever lived was sinful when they died. Jesus was sinless. In fact, when Jesus stood in the courtroom of Pilate, this Roman governor declared:

NKJ John 19:4 Pilate then went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him."

   His innocence is declared. He is not dying for himself, but for others. Nevertheless, Pilate does pronounce judgment on Jesus, and orders him to be crucified. A judicial sentence was carried out on an innocent person.

This is what Jesus came to do. His work was one of obedience, to do the will of the Father. He was willing to lay down his life, in obedience. NKJ John 10:17-18 "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."

This obedience carried him all the way to his death on the cross. NKJ Philippians 2:7-8 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

It is through this one death that we are justified, made right with God. NKJ Romans 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.

In that obedience, Jesus provided a cleansing sacrifice. He pacified the wrath of God. He removed our alienation. He obtained redemption by paying the price of ransom. Jesus died for our sins. The Bible says that he died for the ungodly. What does that mean? Four things come into play here if we are to understand the significance of this death.

First, the work of Jesus is the work of expiation. Jesus died as a blood sacrifice. Why is such a sacrifice necessary? Because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Christ's death purged away sin and cleansed our consciences. What is expiated? Guilt. Jesus' death was vicarious, that is, in the place of another. It was substitutionary in nature. Our guilt has been covered and our condemnation taken away – forever.

Second, the work of Christ is the work of propitiation. Propitiation means to turn away wrath, to placate, to pacify, appease. God is angry because sin violates His holiness. He is wrathful toward sin. Propitiation is not the cause of God's love, nor is it the turning of God's wrath into love. God sent Jesus to propitiate His wrath. In this way, God's love does not violate God's integrity, nor does it compromise His justice. Justice is satisfied with the death of Jesus (Romans 3:25-26).

Next, the work of Christ is also the work of reconciliation. The object here is alienation. God has a holy enmity against our sin. The work of Christ on the cross produces reconciliation as we are reconciled to God. It is not our enmity that is set aside, but God's (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).

Last, the work of Christ is also the work of redemption. This denotes the price paid to set someone free, to deliver them from bondage, to release a person from unwanted domination over his life. In the Bible it means deliverance from bondage bringing restoration of privilege through the payment of a ransom price by someone who has a prior and more fundamental claim to whatever is set free. Christ has paid the ransom price for us and set us free from the bondage to sin, its guilt, its curse and its power. The price was the blood of Jesus and it was paid to God. It was rendered to God to pay off the penalty of sin and release the captives from the realm and power of Satan. Jesus satisfied God's demands.

His work is complete and it is finished. There is nothing to be added to it. Human work and merit may not intrude into the work of Christ and rob Him of the glory that He alone deserves as Savior. Jesus uniquely satisfies the guilt, wrath and alienation. Only God the Son, Jesus, can redeem us through His blood; not the Father, not the Holy Spirit, not us.

So, what must I do to be made right with God?