Why Did Jesus Need to Die on the Cross? |Three Essential Questions to Help You Understand the Need for Jesus
Why do we need a savior? Why is sin such a big deal anyway? What’s up with the fruit? Who cares if someone ate an apple? Is that really a crime deserving death? What’s our purpose here on this earth? These are some of the questions you might have. However, you can’t find an answer to these questions unless you answer some other more important questions first.
The Three Questions
In my previous posts, I stated that there are three important questions that you need to understand why Jesus had to die on the cross. They are as follows:
- Who is God?
- Who did God intend us to be?
- Why was eating the forbidden fruit was so significant?
Who is God?
I explored the question “Who is God?” in-depth in some of my previous posts Understanding Elohim: The Kingly Attributes of God and Why Understanding God as Yahweh Can Improve Your Relationship with Him.
Elohim
To recap, in Genesis 1 God describes Himself as Elohim. (Unfortunately, many English translations obscure the names of God.) Elohim is the creator, definer, judge and king. Since He made the world, He gets to make and enforce the rules. Elohim is the God of power and justice.
Yahweh
Then in Genesis 2 we meet God as Yahweh or specifically Yahweh Elohim. The name of Yahweh emphasizes the relational aspect of God. He is our creator, but He created us in an intimate fashion. Yahweh sculpted us with His own hands. We are His work of art, but He didn’t stop there. By sharing His breath with us we became part of Him in a sense. God is our father, and He desires a more intimate relationship with us because He loves us! He cares about both our physical and emotional needs. Yahweh Elohim is our Father-King who is full of complete justice and mercy, truth and grace.
Check out my Bible Studies on Genesis 1 to explore God as our creator.
Who Did God Intend for Us to Be?
We are made in the image of God (Imago Dei). Although not God, we are to reflect His image to the world. This is why it’s so important to grow in our understanding of who God is and become more like Him. The more we are like Him, the easier it will be for other people to see Him. God intended for us to be like Himself: Blameless and pure. He wanted us to shine like the stars in the sky!
Like Elohim we are to be creators, definers, judges, delegators. We need to pursue truth and righteousness because God is truth. But like Yahweh, we need to be relational—both with God and others. We need to be compassionate, merciful, loving and full of grace towards others.
For an in-depth discussion on what it means to be made in the image of God, read my posts Reflecting God’s Image—Part 1: Insights from Scripture and Reflecting God’s Image—Part 2: An Infinitely-Faceted Diamond. Also, check out my Bible Study on Genesis 2 to learn about being made in the image of God.
Why Was Eating the Forbidden Fruit So Significant?
God created us in His image—to reflect His glory. As we turned our eyes towards the snake, we turned our gaze away from God. Instead of reflecting glorious perfection, we became shattered and broken. We rejected intimacy with God, and therefore lost intimacy not only with God but with one another. You see the snake knew, it was never about the fruit, but it was about trust, intimacy, loyalty and love. We tried to shine without God, but without God there is no light. We can’t reflect God when we are looking at ourselves or at other things of this world. After all we were not made with the beauty of the sun, but with the beauty of the moon. When we lose the light, we are left walking around in darkness.
God knew that the best way to discern between good and evil is to study the good. That’s how we recognize evil. Yet with partaking in the forbidden fruit, we chose to study evil in order to understand good. However, that methodology is flawed, as it’s hard to see what’s truly good if our minds are clouded with evil. The devil knew that. That’s why we need someone to defeat the snake for us. Until the snake’s gone, we live in a broken world filled with heartache, yet we yearn for the goodness and intimacy that we lost in the garden. The intimacy we seek yet cannot truly attain. The good we long for is obscured by darkness. Since we don’t have the power to obtain it ourselves, we need a snake crusher that can truly see the snake for what he is. After all Romans 16: 19b-20 says,
“I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. [NIV]”
For a more in-depth conversation around this topic, check out my post: What if the fruit on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil were chocolate? Also, see my Bible Study on Genesis 3.
Rejoice! Our Snake Crusher Has Come!
In the garden, the devil had victory over mankind as he brought sin, death, and suffering into the world. Then, the devil thought he had the ultimate victory at the cross. He assumed by killing God, he would rule this world in darkness forever. However, he miscalculated! You cannot kill God! Instead God reversed (and continues to reverse) the curse in the garden. As Christ’s kingdom grows, love and goodness will expand here on this earth by His followers until one day we can be intimate with Him and one another in His new creation. At that time the kingdom of darkness will no longer exist!
“Where O death is your victory?
Where O death is your sting?The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.[NIV]”
~1 Corinthians 15: 55-57
Now what?
If you don’t know Jesus, I invite you to get to know Him! If already have a relationship with Jesus, pursue a greater intimacy with Him. The best way to know our loving-creator king is to study His Word. It’s His love story to us, and the more we study the more we will know His love for us. And the more we understand and apply that love to our lives, the more we will reflect His glory and bring His light and goodness into the world.
As the Apostle Paul said in Ephesisans 3:17b-19,
“I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have the power, together with all God’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. [NIV]”
My Bible Studies/Discipleship Curriculum
The studies I posted on my website connect Old Testament stories to Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. They are a great tool to keep you in the Word. After studying for awhile, you will find that God tells us the same love story over and over again in a variety of ways so that we can truly understand his love for us. Join me in this journey of knowing and loving Him better! Subscribe to my blog to get these posts straight to your inbox!
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