Journey To The ResurrectionSample

The Old Testament predictions Jesus fulfilled during Holy Week are a powerful argument for His divinity and the trustworthiness of Scripture.

So, what are the chances that one man could fulfill the promises Jesus kept? Mathematician Peter Stoner once calculated the odds of one man's fulfillment of just eight of the Old Testament Messianic predictions at one in 10 to the 17th power. The odds of fulfilling forty-eight are one in ten to the 157thpower. 

Jesus' life, death, and resurrection kept promises His Father had made centuries earlier, demonstrating His divinity and His authority over time and eternity.

Now, let's ask a few more questions: Why did Jesus have to die? Why didn’t our loving Father in heaven just forgive us? Why did He require a blood sacrifice? 

In short, Jesus died to solve a problem we could not solve ourselves. 

The Bible says that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Your last sin includes you in this group.

What happens to those who sin? 

The penalty for the crime of sin is death (Romans 6:23). The Lord warned Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden: "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die" (Genesis 2:17). They did, and then they did. When someone sins against the holy God of the universe, someone must die for that sin. That's just how things are.

So, God could watch His children spend eternity separated from Him in spiritual death and hell. Or, He could provide a sacrifice to take our place. 

But that sacrifice must be sinless or his death would only pay for his own sins. There's been only one candidate for this job, only one Person in history “who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin”: God's own Son (Hebrews 4:15).

So, before time began, He and His Father decided that He would come to our world and die in our place. He would bear "the sins of many" (Isaiah 53:12). You and I were on death row for our sins. Jesus went to the execution chamber for us.

That's why He came and why He died.