Why Did Jesus Die For Our Sins? Christ Our Refuge
A Difference With Significance
I live in a Christian culture that makes very little of the death of Christ. It is true, Christ died for sins. In a culture that makes little of Christ, people stop there. Thinking that’s it. They just acknowledge that Christ died for sin and are done with it. But there is a very important difference between Christ dying for sins and Christ dying for OUR sins. Don’t miss it. Your eternity may rest upon understanding it.
So, why did Jesus die for our sins? The Scriptures are clear that all have sinned (Romans 3:23). It is equally clear that sin must be punished. The wages of sin are death (Romans 6:23a). Jesus’s death made it possible for all who call upon the name of the Lord to have their sins paid for and be justly forgiven. They would be paid for by the blood of the spotless Lamb. This forgiveness is made possible for as many who would come to Christ would be saved from the wrath of God on the day of wrath. But we must come. We must abide. Salvation is only those who are found in Christ, the refuge, on the day of judgment. Only those found in Christ will be saved from God’s righteous judgment against sin. Jesus is pleased to redeem a people for Himself from the curse of sin.
These truths are so great, wide, and deep that they cannot be fully captured in a paragraph. Neither can they be captured in this article. We will spend an eternity learning of Christ. But let us learn and meditate more on this subject in greater detail.
God’s Good Pleasure To Save In Christ
An overriding thought must be considered. The picture painted below shows that God saves sinners for no reason other than His own will to do so. No one is saved because they deserve it. God’s glorious nature is revealed as a willing Savior. Although many attempt to say God is a monster for His justice, they fail to understand the height, the depth, the breadth, and the width of His amazing love. They are merely guilty criminals complaining about a righteous judge.
God does not delight in the destruction of the wicked. He desires that the wicked would turn from their evil ways, and live. He is not a tyrant sitting in heaven looking for a reason to condemn. God already has abundant evidence against rebellious sinners. While God will judge the wicked, He is abounding in lovingkindness and long-suffering toward His rebellious creation. He has provided everything we need to be reconciled to Him and forgiven of all our wickedness, transgression, and sin.
“For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live." (Ezekiel 18:32)
God is not reluctant in saving. He delights in salvation. All of heaven rejoices when one turns to Christ and believes.
Jesus Himself endured the shame of the cross for the joy that was set before Him.
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)
It is God’s good pleasure and will to save sinners. He rejoices over the lost being found. Jesus died for our sins because He was pleased to do so. It brings Him glory and joy to redeem a people for Himself from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people.
Christ’s death was necessary for salvation. Without it, salvation is impossible. Salvation must be received by individuals through faith. Otherwise, they remain dead in their trespasses and sins. Although God delights in saving, He does not save automatically. Salvation must be appropriated by each individual through their personal faith in Jesus.
The Problem of Sin
Every human being, without qualification, has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). While some may have sinned more egregiously, all are under the just condemnation for their own sinfulness. God is righteous. He is also just. He always does what is right. This means sin will be punished. It cannot be overlooked without sacrificing God’s justice and righteousness.
But if we look around, we see the wicked prospering every day. We ourselves continue to love seemingly everything else more than God. We transgress and break the law of God daily. We honestly live as if God has given us no laws to live by. By our actions we show our rebellion against our Creator.
When observing and experiencing these things, we might begin to think that God is not righteous. Or that He is not just. That God will not punish us for our sins. Some think God doesn’t see nor will He ever bring justice to bear.
This, however, is far from the truth. The Scriptures declare that God in His lovingkindness has NOT punished sin for a time. But only for a time. This restraint is so that man would have an opportunity to repent and believe in Christ.
Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. (Romans 2:4-5)
The problem is that man is incurring a debt that cannot be paid by ourselves. We just keep heaping wrath upon wrath on our heads. Every moment out guilt increases as we pile sin upon sin. Transgression upon transgression. Iniquity upon iniquity.
This is due to man’s fallen state. Sin dwells in the flesh. We can do nothing in our own strength to earn favor with God. To pay off our debt. To even try is sin, as we are glorying in our strength rather than God’s. The Scriptures declare,
Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. (Jeremiah 17:5)
To trust in the strength of man, our own strength, is a declaration that our heart has turned from the LORD. This is sin. The Scriptures say that those who do this are cursed. They are cut off from all of the goodness of God. Cut off from His love, mercy, grace, and kindness. For them, there is only wrath and condemnation.
God’s kindness, forbearance, and patience has not punished sin for a time. Justice will be served for the sins of every man.
The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries and keeps wrath for His enemies. The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. (Nahum 1:2-3, bold added)
Yet, God does not leave man without hope. God is love. In His love, God has provided man with a Savior. One who could justly save them from their punishment if they would only believe. The Savior is Christ Jesus the Lord.
For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. (1 Timothy 4:10, bold added)
How can this be? That God would be both just and able to justify sinful men?
For more on the problem see our articles,
The Atoning Savior
To make atonement means to make amends for the wrong committed by paying off the debt that is owed.
God’s justice must be satisfied. His justice will either be satisfied in our punishment in hell for eternity or in His Son, Jesus Christ.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26, bold added)
Propitiation means a satisfaction of justice. When justice is satisfied, it causes God’s righteous indignation to be removed and replaced with God’s favor.
What this is saying is that for those who believe in Christ Jesus, God has satisfied His justice in His Son on their behalf. Demonstrating God’s righteousness, the truth that God always does what is right. Making a way for God to be both just in His punishment of sin and the justifier of sinful men. Sin was not overlooked. It was dealt with fully and finally in Christ.
Christ Jesus on the cross bore the full force of God’s wrath for the sin of everyone who would believe!
Let’s dig a little deeper on this. Looking at the shadow of the actual substance will give us more on the atonement.
In Leviticus 16, God gave His people instructions for the atonement. I recommend you read this whole chapter for yourselves. Before we dig in it must be emphasized that the atonement that is observed by God’s people here was a mere shadow of Christ. The entire sacrificial system, including the sacrifices made on this day, did not satisfy God’s justice. The whole system pointed to the One who was to come.
The One who came, Jesus, is the One who did satisfy God’s justice. Once and for all.
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God. (Hebrews 10:11-12)
Every year the nation of Israel and all who would come were to assemble for the Day of Atonement. The high priest would sacrifice a bull. Making atonement for himself and his family. Allowing him to enter into the holy of holies, the dwelling place of God in the tabernacle. Temporarily.
Then the goat of the sin offering is killed for the people. After this the Scripture says,
Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, and all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. (Leviticus 16:16-17, bold added)
It is important to understand that the atonement made was ONLY for those who were assembled. If people chose not to come then their sins were not atoned for. If more people came, then more sins would be atoned for. If the nations came, then the nations would be atoned for.
The sacrifice offered on this day knew no limit in itself. However, it was limited by the amount of people who came and observed the Day of Atonement.
The substance of this day, who is Christ Jesus, is of much greater worth than bulls and goats. Jesus is fully God and fully man. Therefore, His worth is infinite. It knows no end. (For more on who Jesus is, see our article: Christology 101.)
Therefore, all who come and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. Their sins will be atoned for. As many as would come would have their sins paid for by the blood of Christ.
The book of Hebrews speaks of Jesus Christ’s atonement with much more clarity.
Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him. (Hebrews 9:23-28, bold added)
Jesus was perfect in every way. He still is. He was born as a man, in the likeness of sinful flesh, although He Himself knew no sin. Jesus freely offered Himself up as a sacrifice to bear the punishment for the sins of many. Christ satisfied the wrath of God on behalf of those who are eagerly waiting for Him.
The Refuge
The Scriptures declare,
But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Romans 5:8-11, bold added)
We can be reconciled to God and receive forgiveness of our sins. This is only possible in one way: through receiving Christ by faith.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21, bold added)
These Scriptures make it abundantly clear that it is only those who are “In Christ” who have their sins paid for. It is only “In Christ” that man can become the righteousness of God. Being reconciled to God by the blood of His Son. It may help to think about Noah and the Ark. Noah’s family was preserved through judgment by being hidden safely inside the Ark. Outside was only death. This, too, is a picture of how we must be found hidden in Christ. He is the Ark of our salvation.
Our sins are only paid for if through we draw near to Christ and eagerly wait for Him. Only if we are found In Christ on the day of judgment will we find our sins atoned for!
For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. (Romans 3:23-25, bold added)
It has always been this way.
The righteous shall live by faith. (Habakkuk 2:4)
For the righteous know that they can offer nothing to God on their own. They recognize their poverty of spirit, that they have nothing nor can accumulate anything to pay off the debt owed to God. So, the righteous cry out “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us!” Knowing that the only way to have their sins paid for is found in the person and work of Jesus. Who God has made both Lord and Savior!
Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the heat of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by Him. The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him. But with an overwhelming flood He will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue His enemies into darkness. (Nahum 1:6-8, bold added)
The LORD says,
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; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7)
We find our pardon only “In Christ.” Seek Him while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. For we find sufficient payment for our sins in Him. In the refuge of Christ we eagerly await for His return!
For more on this, you may enjoy this article: Forsaken By God, and this sermon: Christ 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.