Why Did Jesus Die For Our Sins? Christ Our Refuge
A Difference With Significance
When asking this question, it’s important that we don’t try to disassociate ourselves from the situation. We aren’t asking, “Why did Jesus die for sins?” (That’s a different question, and we have an article about that, too!) But, “Why did He die for our sins?” As we look at what God has said about this, don’t fall into the trap of thinking this is about someone else—your neighbor, coworker, or the person who often offends you. This is about you. Failing to see your place in this is to completely miss the point.
So, why did Jesus die for our sins? The testimony of God’s word, confirmed by our daily experiences, is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). And, as terrifying as it is, “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Therefore, based upon the perfect justice of God, our sin must result in (be paid for by) death. But the good news of Jesus Christ is that, in love, He came and paid that terrible price so that, instead of death, “you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).
As simple as that statement may seem, there’s actually a lot to unpack. Truth be told, no simple article could ever hope to capture all of the profound depth and beauty of what Christ did on the cross. An eternity in heaven might still find us overwhelmed by it. Regardless, let’s dive into this a little deeper.
God’s Holiness
In the year King Uzziah died, the prophet Isaiah had a vision of God.
I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” (Isaiah 6:1–3, bold added).
To be “holy” is to be separate. Set apart. Sacred. Of all the things that the Lord is “set apart” from, sin is the most important. The prophet Habakkuk tells us that God’s “eyes are too pure to approve evil, and (He) can not look on wickedness with favor” (Habakkuk 1:13). This is exactly why Isaiah’s vision leaves him terrified to be in God’s presence:
Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5).
Because of the Lord’s immeasurable holiness, the prophet expected instantaneous punishment. He knew what we either forget or try to ignore: That no sinful man can be allowed to even lay eyes on the holy, sinless Creator of the universe and go unpunished.
Therein lies the problem. It was a problem for Isaiah just as it is for us. He was unclean; stained by sin. However, in his vision, he was purified (made clean and acceptable) by an angel:
Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.” (Isaiah 6:6–7).
God provided a way for His prophet to be made clean so that he could approach.
We’ll come back to this idea in just a moment.
The Sinfulness of Sin
Every person, without qualification, has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Yes, some sin more egregiously than others. But we aren’t being compared to each other. You won’t ever be judged by the standard I set. Likewise, I won’t be measured by how well I stack up against you. The point that the Apostle Paul is making in Romans 6:23 is that every last one of us will be evaluated by God’s glory, and found wanting!
One of our greatest misunderstandings is that we think our sins are primarily transgression against the person we sin against. When I lie to my wife, I consider that a sin against her. When you take an “extended lunch hour,” you believe it’s merely a violation committed against your employer.
The problem is, that’s not how God looks at it. When He gave the Law (most specifically the 10 Commandments) to the Israelites, He provided for a wronged party to be recompensed when they were sinned against. But the need for atonement and cleansing for that sin was always between the sinner and God.
The sacrificial system (which was a shadow of Christ’s sacrifice to come) laid out in Leviticus was about addressing the reality that an individual’s sins (every last one) was primarily against God. Because we often forget or ignore that, we minimize the sinfulness of our sins. Consider just a few of the things the Bible tells us about the expectation of those who walk in wickedness:
For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness;
No evil dwells with You.
The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes;
You hate all who do iniquity.
You destroy those who speak falsehood;
The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. (Psalm 5:4–6, bold added)
The perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD. (Proverbs 11:20a)
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD. (15:8a)
The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD. (15:9a)
Those who persistently walk in iniquity, sin, and wickedness are hated by God and an abomination to Him! This is serious.
Why? Because,
Thus says the LORD,
“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind
And makes flesh his strength,
And whose heart turns away from the LORD. (Jeremiah 17:5)
And because,
A jealous and avenging God is the LORD;
The LORD is avenging and wrathful.
The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His enemies.
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,
And the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. (Nahum 1:2–3)
Every time we sin, we are incurring a debt we cannot afford pay.
But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. (Romans 2:5, bold added)
However, just like when God provided a way for Isaiah to be cleansed, He provided a payment for our great debt. He opened a way for His enemies (you and I, who rightfully deserve the wrath we’ve stored up for ourselves) to be made children of God and friends of His.
For more on the problem see our articles,
The Atoning Savior
The reality is, God’s justice must be satisfied. He won’t simply forget or ignore the sins and transgression we’ve committed against Him. He will not forgive your sins without them being atoned for. Doing so would be abominable:
He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous,
Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD. (Proverbs 17:15)
Someone must pay the debt to atone for your sins. That payment will either be satisfied by your eternal separation from God in Hell, or it will be covered by the blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
The Bible teaches that Christ atoned for our sins. To atone means to make amends or to pay for sin, debt, or a fault committed.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:23–26, bold added)
When Paul uses the word, “propitiation,” he is talking about Jesus’ act of satisfying God’s justice. Through Christ’s propitiation (atoning sacrifice), God’s demand for payment was completed.
The author of Hebrews is writing of this perfect sacrifice when he tells us that,
By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10, bold added)
And we call it a perfect sacrifice because,
Where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin. (Hebrews 10:18).
Jesus’ death on the cross was a wholly perfect, totally complete, absolutely sufficient payment for all our sins. There’s nothing left to be paid. There is no outstanding balance due.
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1, bold added)
Why did Jesus die for our sins? Because He and the Father love us. And, out of that love, they’ve graciously provided a way for our debt to be paid, without us being the ones to pay it. What do they ask in return? That, in response to their love, we love them in return as they bless us with abundant grace in every area of our lives.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. (2 Corinthians 9:8).
The Father’s Love
As we discuss God’s justice being satisfied by Christ’s atoning sacrifice, someone might get the idea that kind and loving Jesus had to protect us from the angry Father. That’s not the case at all! We never needed “rescuing” from God. We needed rescuing from the consequences of our sin. The Father has always been calling His people to avoid sin and repent for their own good.
Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:6–7, bold added)
“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct,” declares the Lord GOD. “Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,” declares the Lord GOD. “Therefore, repent and live.” (Ezekiel 18:30–32, bold added).
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:16–17, bold added)
No, the Father didn’t need to be “talked into” allowing Christ to save us. Out of His great love, He sent the Son. This is why Paul called God the “Father of mercies and God of all comfort.”
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3–4)
The Father and Son are in perfect agreement in their love towards mankind.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
So, have you accepted the mercies and comforts offered by the Father through the Son? Have you repented – are you repenting – from your sins and believing in the Son who came to die for your sins? Have you cast yourself in the arms of the God who loves you? Are you in Christ, the Ark of our salvation?
If not, what are you waiting for? Christ lovingly died for your sins so that you could stand with Isaiah and all the saints of God, beholding His glory and love for all eternity; knowing that there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus!
Seek the LORD while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the LORD,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6–7)
For more on this, you may enjoy this article: Forsaken By God, and this sermon: He is Our Stronghold.
Related Questions
Why did Jesus die for sins? God is holy, perfect, righteous, and just. Therefore, He cannot allow the guilty to go unpunished. The Scriptures say that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Our sin has made us enemies of God. The punishment for sin is death (Romans 6:23a) but because God is love, “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God satisfied His justice in the death of Jesus the Christ, making a way for sinners to be made right with God in Christ (Romans 5:10). For more, see our article Why Did Jesus Die for Sins?
Why did Jesus come when He did? The Scriptures tell us that Jesus came in the fullness of time, born of a woman, born under the law (Galatians 4:4). Several factors contributed to Christ’s coming being considered as the fullness of time. First, the timing of the arrival and death of the Christ fulfilled a very specific prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27. Second, the Roman influence in the area played a significant role. The Roman Empire brought about peace, an elaborate road system, and trade. Third, the Jewish synagogue network played an important role in the spread of Christianity. Lastly, Roman cruelty in crucifying criminals is vitally important. All of these factors were crucial in the ministry of Christ to redeem His people from the “curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13). For more, see our article The Fullness of Time.