Why did Jesus have to die? Part 2

I don't do this much here but ... woohoo! Bible Study time. Don't worry, I will give the elevator version.

This is a great question. The answer is found in Romans Chapter 3.

Verses 20 and 21 state:

20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. Righteousness Through Faith 21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.

Righteousness is "Right-standing" before a holy God ... right. This is the goal of nearly every religion around the world. In almost every religion it is also obtained by doing "good" works and sometimes physcially paying for the wrongs they have done. In these two verses Paul is saying to them that everything that they thought was true about getting right before God was wrong. He is saying that it is impossible to be righteous ... Impossible. It can only be granted by God completely apart from anything that we could do to earn it or push it away.

So how does Righteousness come then? verse 22 says "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference," This says it all, then the next verse goes on to say ... 23"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," What does this mean. In essense ... say there was a archery match and you must get 5 bulleyes in a row to progress to the next round of the competition. Let's say you miss the first bullseye by a smidge ... well you are out anyway. It doesn't matter if you shoot 15 more perfect bulleyes in a row! You still missed the first one and can't progress. In the same way, we have all sinned at least once (in my case, too many to count) and from that point on, it makes no difference how much good we do, we can never be good enough to make it to heaven on our own. There is no price we could ever pay to re-gain right standing before a perfect and Holy God.

It then says: "24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God 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— 26he 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."

Here is where the answer then lies ... Jesus had to die, because God is Just ... perfectly Just ... it is against his nature to be anything but Just! Someone must pay for the injustice commited, there is absolutely no way around it, He can't break or change the rules or change the rules! ... that would be injust. Even if no one else ever knew or found out? Yeah ... He is perfectly Just and not capable of being Injust. This is so encouraging ... in a world where there are no "absolutes" and no pure justice, it is refreshing to know that we serve a God that is purely Just.

These are very heavy and complicated scriptures, but if we are to simplify it. All it is saying is:
1. Mercy - the thing that delayed God from exacting justice for as long as it could. At some point, the sin must be paid for!
2. Justice - Eventually all sin must be completely paid for, completely ... no way around it.
3. Grace - God brought perfect justice out on his sinless son ... the only one that could actually pay the price.

Jesus had to die. It is the only way.

See part 3 for the final thought...