Have you ever wondered why Jesus needed to die? After all God is God, and he makes the rules. He could’ve just made it so that Jesus didn’t have to die to atone for our sins, right? Actually, I don’t think it’s that simple. I believe that Jesus had to die because God is, and always will be, holy and just and he will not change his nature, not even for us. No, the laws and rules have to bend to his nature, not the other way around. Romans chapter 3 verses 25 and 26 speak of the blood atonement this way:
"God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus."
God is holy and just. He is so holy that sin can’t even enter his presence without being judged to destruction - or death. And he is so just, that no one gets a pass. Everyone who sins will be judged. But God is a loving God and even though we sin, he provides a way for his holiness and his justice to be pacified even in light of our transgressions. He provided Jesus who paid our price of death allowing God to still be just, and then covering our sin with his righteousness which allows us to exist in the presence of God’s holiness. All we have to do is have faith in Jesus, because as Romans puts it, God is the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
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Jesus had to die because God is holy and just. Without the blood of Jesus to make atonement for us we could not exist in God’s presence. He is entirely too holy and entirely too just. Read how the Israelites had to live when God resided in the tabernacle and the temple. People died because they made mistakes around just the holy things of God. It is difficult to fathom how holy God is and how much we are not. But through his love, he provided a way for us to abide with him forever. Only through Jesus can this be accomplished. Yes, Jesus is the only way to God, the only truth about God and the only life possible with God.