A Great Teacher Shows Us the Creator More Clearly - Conclusion of Why Did Jesus DIe?

During the course of that stressful night, Jesus was given a hasty hearing by the Jewish high court. H  was false accused of blasphemy, taken to the Roman Governor, and then unjustly turned over to be executed.  Jews and Romans ridiculed him. He was brutally abused and was finally impaled. Much of that mistreatment fulfilled prophecies written centuries earlier. Even soldiers observing Jesus on the torture stake admitted:  "Certainly this was God's Son." -Matthew 26:57-27:54; John 18:12-19:37.  

Those developments must have caused Peter and others to ask, 'Why did the Christ have to die?'  It was only later they understood.  For one thing, those events fulfilled the prophecy in which Isaiah chapter 53, which showed  that the Christ would make liberation available for not the Jews only but for all mankind.  Peter wrote:  "He himself bore our sins in his own body upon the stake, in order that  we might be done with sins and live to righteousness. And 'by his stripes you were healed.' "  (1 Peter 2:221-25) Peter grasped the sense of a truth that Jesus had presented:  "The Son of man came, not to ministered to, but to minister and to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many." (Matthew 20:28)  Yes, Jesus had to lay down his life as a perfect human so as to repurchase mankind from the sinful state inherited from Adam.  That is basic Bible teaching-the ransom.

 What does the ransom involve?  You might think of it this way: Suppose you had a computer but one of its electric files was corrupted by an error  (or virus) That someone had planted in an otherwise perfect program.  That illustrates the effect of what Adam did when he deliberately disobeyed God, or sinned.  Let us continue the illustration. Whatever copies you might make of the corrupted electronic file would be affected. However, all need not be lost. With a special program, you could detect and purge the corrupting error from your files and computer.  Comparably, mankind has received a "virus," sin, from Adam and Eve, and we need outside help to wipe it out.  (Romans 5:12) According to the Bible, God provided for this cleansing through Jesus' death.  It is a loving provision from which we can benefit. -1 Corinthians 15:22. 

Appreciating what Jesus did moved Peter to "live the remainder of his time in the flesh, no more for the desires of men, but for God's will."  For Peter as well as for us, this would mean avoiding corrupt habits and immoral life-styles.  Others may try to make problems for the person who strives to do "God's will." Nevertheless, he will find that his life becomes richer, more meaningful.  ( 1 Peter 4:1-3, 7-10, 15, 16)  That was so with Peter, and it can be with us as we 'commend our souls, or lives, to a faithful Creator while doing good.' -1 Peter 4:19. 

Next time: A Great Teacher Shows Us the Creator More Clearly - A Disciple Who Recognized Love

From the book: Is There a Creator That Cares About You?