Jesus Died for Us

Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And how does He accomplish this? By means of His penal substitutionary atoning sacrifice on the cross where He shed His blood and paid the total price for our sins. As Christians, we are part of “the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28), for “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph 1:7), and He is the One “who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood” (Rev 1:5; cf., Rev 5:9), and we have been redeemed “with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pet 1:19).

Jesus came into the world “to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45), and to pay our sin debt. If we could have paid it ourselves, then the death of Christ would have been unnecessary. But His death was necessary. Jesus had to die to satisfy God’s righteous demands concerning our sin. Because God is absolutely holy, it means He must condemn sin. Either He will condemn it in us, the guilty, or in a substitute who is willing to bear the punishment for us. Jesus is our substitute. He died for us. Paul wrote, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). Jesus said, “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative” (John 10:17-18). Jesus shed His blood on Calvary, and when we trust in Him for salvation, we receive forgiveness of sins (Eph 1:7), and, having “been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him” (Rom 5:9).