Over the last few days I have found myself thinking about why it was that Jesus needed to die on the cross, so naturally, as I come into God's presence today, I bring my thoughts and questions to Him. I don't understand much about life, the universe and everything...... (even if the answer is 42!...for the uninitiated, read 'Hitch hiker's Guide to the Galaxy!')) But there are some things I know in my 'knower'!
- I know, looking at creation, that if there is a God, then He has to be good - there simply is too much beauty around for any other possibility to be viable.
- I know that the presence of evil permeates human nature in such a way that it is not possible to extricate it, in the same way that once too much salt has been added to a meal, you cannot take it out.
So here is God's predicament: how could He release humanity from the grip of evil and death without destroying us? It is true that He could have made robots who would just obey His every command, but He wanted us to be free to choose. OK.... so He decided He wasn't going to destroy us, so His next option was to destroy death and nullify its power over us.
God cannot die, it is completely opposed to His nature, which is the personification of life itself. He had to actually become human in order to take on death, rather like Hercules had to fight Cerberus to get back from the Underworld. (It's amazing how some of these old legends can have some truth mingled in with the stories.)
So Jesus had to die in order to come back to life. It was through His resurrection that death was dealt that final blow! Death couldn't hold Him, and now it will not hold us!
Maybe the reason for dying that particular death on the cross will be the subject of another time, but it is enough for now to know the truth of the words from the first letter of John (chapter 3) in the Bible:
'By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.'
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