I was up one morning before daylight and decided I might as well head to the church and begin work. Pulling into the parking lot, things were just starting to lighten up. I imagined that it must have been a morning like this when the women were headed to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus after the crucifixion. I began to thank God for forgiveness and cleansing and the resurrection. I began to worship Him out of pure gratitude for His offering of Himself, for His death, burial and resurrection, for laying down His life and I began to worship the Father with thanksgiving, for the gift of His Son and His willingness to commit Himself and all of heaven in this, the drama of Redemption. Why did Jesus have to die? Jesus died because of man’s CHOICE: In the beginning, Adam served as the Representative of the human race. Given the choice to walk in obedience or disobedience, he chose disobedience and with that choice slid from innocence into guilt and all humanity fell under the curse and was infected with a corrupt, sinful nature. Jesus had to die because of our CONDEMNATION. Because we were all included in Adam when he sinned, we are also included with him in being condemned by The Law as criminals. But we are not held accountable for what Adam and Eve did. We are not condemned for our nature; we are judged for our sins. But our nature makes it impossible for us not to sin. That is why the Bible says, "…All have sinned…" Because of our sins, Jesus died to provide a COVERING. For man to have a relationship with God, something had to be done with sin and guilt. A covering was needed that would provide a remedy for the corrupting influence of the fallen nature. According to Romans 3:25, God sent Jesus to be a covering for our sins. But a covering was not enough; so, Jesus died to provide for our CLEANSING. The covering allowed God to approach us and provide grace for our forgiveness and cleansing. The grace He provides breaks through the blindness created by our fallen nature and awakens within us an awareness that we are lost and in need of a Savior. Because Christ became our covering, the Father has provided a measure of grace to all. And because of His love and grace, the Holy Spirit makes us aware of our spiritual need for forgiveness and cleansing. By His actions for and in us by grace, we are once again provided with the freedom of choice to believe the Gospel or not. Faith in what Christ did for us, provides cleansing through His blood and immediately the stain of our sins is gone. Finally, Jesus died for our COMMUNION: Jesus did all this to reconcile us to the Father – to bring us back into relationship with Himself – to make a way for us to be together eternally and until then commune with us spiritually.
