Most religions claim a transcendent God, or at least a transcendent non-personal entity. We know we need a solution that goes beyond human ingenuity. We know we need help. To quote a phrase I remember from childhood, “if you feel guilty, it’s probably because you are.” Of course, we try to sedate ourselves, and use a plethora of distractions as drugs, but at the end of the day, or at the end of our lives, we know we need a Savior. We need saving, because we are lost. Although made in God’s image, we have rebelled.
So what do you do with sin? God being holy, He can’t just say, “Wow, that Rod, I really like him! We’ll suspend holiness in his case. Justice doesn’t need to be served for him.” If the God of the Bible were like that, we couldn’t really trust Him. In the voice of every five-year-old, we could legitimately say to God, “that’s not fair!” But therein lies the problem. How can God save us, and still be just? The answer is the death of the God-Man, dying on a cross.
Jesus received our eternal payment, because He was sinless, willing, and eternal. Only God could satisfy God. We are accepted, because He was condemned in our place. He is the ultimate substitute. God is holy, and God is love. To deal with sin, Jesus had to represent man to God, and God to man. He had to be fully God and fully man. And he had to die, with no reward except for our continual praise and worship.
