Jon Augusta

Why Jesus? Why that horrific death? Couldn’t God, in His infinite power, have found another way to deal with the messy reality of our sin?

The immediate answer, of course, is yes. God is God. He could have orchestrated countless scenarios. In fact, He would have been entirely justified in turning His back on us, in delivering the judgment we so rightly deserved. Yet, in a move that defies human comprehension, He chose a different path. He chose to send His one and only Son.

Think about that for a moment. He sent Jesus to stand in my place, in your place, in our place on that brutal cross. All so that we, the undeserving, could have the unimaginable gift of eternity with Him in Heaven.

This act, this substitutionary sacrifice, goes so far beyond anything we could ever merit. It screams of a grace so vast, so deep, it’s almost overwhelming. It’s like imagining a scenario with Ali and me. If someone were to utterly destroy our home, steal everything we’d worked for, and then face justice, would I ever stand before the judge and say, “No, punish my son instead”? Would I then invite the perpetrators to live in our home, to enjoy all the blessings we had intended for our child? The very thought is repulsive. Yet, this is the staggering reality of what God did in sending Jesus to the cross – taking the punishment we earned and offering us the very life of His Son.

John 3:16. Let that sink in.

But how did we even get here? How did we go from a perfect creation to the necessity of such a brutal sacrifice?

How Did We Get Here?

If you rewind to the beginning, the picture is idyllic. God, the ultimate artist, paints a perfect world into existence. Flawless animals roam a pristine landscape. And then, He creates humanity – perfect beings in perfect bliss. Looking upon His creation, God declares it “good.” Imagine trying to explain death to Adam and Eve in those early days. The concept would have been utterly foreign. I even saw a meme depicting Cain, after his terrible act, riddled with panic at the thought of waking up, followed by another of Abel patiently waiting in Heaven for centuries before anyone else arrived. It’s a stark reminder of the profound shift that occurred. How do we journey from those first two chapters of perfect harmony to the image of the Son of God hanging on a cross?

The narrative continues in Genesis 3:1-19.

Pride, that insidious poison, first took hold of Lucifer. Once a worship leader in Heaven, a being of immense stature, pride twisted him into Satan. He dared to believe he could usurp God’s throne, and a third of the angelic host followed his rebellion. In his characteristic form, a form that remains unchanged, Satan slithered into the Garden and tempted Eve. She was drawn in, enticed, and ultimately succumbed to sin. Then, she offered the forbidden fruit to Adam, who followed her into disobedience. And just like that, sin entered the world through man, forever altering the course of humanity.

As the millennia passed, the stain of sin deepened and spread. A mere 1556 years after God spoke light into existence and declared it good, we read the sobering words of Genesis 6:5. Roughly a century later, in the year 1656 of the earth’s timeline, God cleansed the world with a flood.

Yet, even after this cataclysmic event, humanity continued down a path of sin, corruption, and rebellion for another 2348 years. Through it all, God, in His relentless love, pursued His people. Until, in a humble manger in Bethlehem, a tiny baby drew His first breath. That baby was Jesus.

So, how did we get to the cross? Because for approximately 3000 years, humanity chose sin over obedience, rebellion over relationship with their Creator. And God, being perfectly holy and just, cannot tolerate sin in His presence. Yet, in His immeasurable grace and mercy, He didn’t abandon us to the fate we deserved. Instead, driven by love, He forged a way for His wayward children to be saved.

Love on a Cross

It’s a thought that often strikes me: why do we not see necklaces adorned with electric chairs or lethal injection symbols? Why are there no widespread tattoos of firing squads? Yet, the image of the cross is ubiquitous. It’s a symbol worn with reverence, etched onto skin with devotion. The cross, a Roman invention designed for the most agonizing and humiliating death imaginable, has become the emblem of our faith.

And the reason? Love. It was love that held Jesus to that cross. “For God so LOVED the world…” (John 3:16). As we explored in Ephesians 2, it was the profound love with which He loved us that compelled God to extend mercy and grace.

The Almighty God, the Creator of the universe, loves us. Not just a fleeting affection, but an agapao love – a sacrificial, unwavering love. And He didn’t just feel it; He acted on it. He demonstrated that love in the most profound way possible: by sending His only Son to die the death we deserved.

James Montgomery Boice eloquently stated, “The cross stands as the focal point of the Christian faith. Without the cross the Bible is an enigma, and the Gospel of salvation is an empty hope.”

Brothers and sisters, the entirety of Jesus’ perfect life and sacrificial death on the cross had one ultimate purpose: our salvation.

John 3:17-18 reminds us, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

So, to answer the question I posed last Sunday: why do we call the day Jesus died “Good Friday” while the day of deep discounts is “Black Friday”? It’s because on that cross, our old, sin-ridden selves were crucified with Christ. The “old man,” incapable of entering Heaven, breathed his last on that rugged wood.

If Jesus had not died, He could not have risen. Friday is good, dear friends, because of Sunday. And Sunday, the glorious dawn of resurrection, could not have happened without the darkness of Friday.

Jesus had to die because our sin had taken us so far, had so deeply entrenched itself within us, that we were utterly incapable of saving ourselves. Jesus had to die because without His death, there would be no payment, no redemption for our brokenness. If Jesus hadn’t died, He couldn’t have risen, and without His resurrection, there would be no hope for us. Jesus, the perfect, sinless man, willingly walked the path to the cross so that we, blood-washed sinners, could be made righteous through Him and find our way to Heaven.