RedemptionSample

What does the death of Jesus mean for the world?

Because Jesus died, sin has been defeated, and all who believe can receive forgiveness for their sins and be reconciled to God.

Imagine you’re following the story of a hero—an exciting drama filled with love, adventure, and mystery—one that keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time and it just keeps getting better. Excitement is around every corner. Then, all of a sudden...the hero dies! What in the world?

How on earth can the story go like that? How on earth can this ever be considered a good story?

And, even more shocking...what if the story presents the hero’s death as the great moment of victory, of love, of salvation?

What sense could that possibly make?

But that is, of course, the story of the Bible. The great moment of victory, of love, of salvation, happens when Jesus dies on a cross.

But why does the story go like that? What does Jesus’ death accomplish?

It’s very difficult to understand how Jesus’ death could be good news if you miss one particular key to the story. While books and movies today have stories filled with heroes conquering problematic villains and evil empires, the main problem in this story, in our story, is sin. And the only solution for sin is for someone to deal with it. Specifically, the only solution for sin is for God to condemn or put it to death in a human.

And that’s what happened at the crucifixion. That’s what happened in the death of Jesus: he substituted himself for us. As Paul puts it in Romans 8:3, God condemned the sins of the whole world in the person of his son, Jesus, so that all who believe in Jesus could be forgiven of their sins and have eternal life!

That’s how death can become the best news. That’s how death can be triumphant.

Spend some time today thanking God for the gift of his son.