In my previous blog post I wrote about the time that Jesus calmed a raging storm simply by speaking a few words. Surely He could have stopped the crucifixion before a single hammer blow had struck the first nail into His flesh. But He did nothing to prevent the soldiers from doing their cruel work. He even prayed "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" as they cast lots for His garments as He hung there. (Luke 23:34)
I have experienced some pain in my life, such as when I broke my leg or was recovering from surgery. But that was nothing compared to crucifixion. Why did Jesus let Himself be nailed to a cross and stay there for those hours until He finally yielded up His spirit, declared "It is fisnished" and died?
God is holy and just and so there are consequences to sinning against Him. We have sinned against God, all of us.
Religions and even most non-religious concepts of what we're all about acknowledge that we're not what we ought to be. So they prescribe ways of making ourselves better in some way or another. Perhaps to reach a higher spiritual level of some sort. Perhaps to be a better person, or more successful, or more acceptable to others or ourselves.
But Biblical Christianity it about something quite different. It is about Jesus and why He was nailed to a cross.
In the Bible God declares that sin is so serious that the consequence of it is death. In the Old Testament it is written that "The soul who sins shall die" (Ezek 18:20) and in the New Testament it is written: "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23)
When God made known His Law to Moses it included a system of demonstrating what needed to be done in response to our sins. It commanded that when a person sinned, a blemish free animal would be slain in his place, because, as it is written in Hebrews 9:22 "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins." ESV
But as important as the Law was in letting men know God's perspective on our sinning against Him, the slaying of those animals did not take away the sins of the people. "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." (Heb 10:4) ESV
It would take something far greater than the slaying of an animal or change of our behavior to take away sins.
That something took place when Jesus was nailed to the cross for our sins. Jesus was a real man, conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit. He was both the Son of God and Son of Man. He lived a real life as a babe, child, and man. He never once sinned. That made Him the one and only one whose shedding of blood, being put to death, on our behalf could be the perfectly acceptable sacrifice to grant forgiveness for our sins.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, (Ephesians 1:7) ESV
That is why Jesus let Himself be nailed to a cross, to suffer, bleed, and then die when He yielded up His spirit. There is no other way for us to have our sins forgiven and for us to become righteous in the sight of God. There is no keeping of rules or spiritual teachings, even the Law of God, that can make us righteous before God. Indeed, "if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. (Gal 2:21) ESV
Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross, and did die for a glorious purpose. This was the only way for our sins to be forgiven.
Do you want your sins to be forgiven? There is only one way for that to happen. Believe in Jesus as your Savior whose death on the cross was the only thing to pay for your sins. Then get to know Jesus as both your Savior and Lord as you read about Him in Scripture. If you do that you will be eternally thankful that He let Himself be nailed to that cross.
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