Wednesday, April 8, 2015

WHAT SO UNIQUE ABOUT JESUS' DEATH IN A WORLD OF MANY DEATHS?

Duke Jeyaraj

So many people die every day. What makes Jesus' death unique?
 

By definition God is eternal. So God cannot die actually! But God can die – if He chooses to. Jesus chose to die. He was unique in his death too. He said, "No man can take away my life from me. I lay down my life voluntarily. For I have the right to lay it down when I want to and also the power to take it up again" (John 10:18). And that is what exactly happened at Calvary's cross: Jesus willingly gave up His life. The nails did not hold Him onto the cross but it was just love, as someone put it. No one died the way Jesus did: others would die and then bow down their head. But Jesus bowed His head and then died – He could pick and choose the exact moment He would give up his spirit without resorting to a suicide (Jn 19:30)!

Jesus said that He was dying as a "ransom" for the sins of the world – a purpose for which no one has died or will die (Math 20:28). He explicitly said that the blood He would shed would bring "forgiveness of sins" – again a unique reason to die (Math 26:28). The rest of humanity - when it dies - does so for their sins. The wages of sin is death, we are told in the Scriptures (Rom 3:23). Put in another way, we all die because we are all sinners. But Christ wasn't. He need not have died at all. But nevertheless He did – as a substitute for sin (Isa 53:5). A one-of-a-kind death! Because He was one hundred percent human – He could die as a valid substitute for the human race. And because He was one hundred percent God as well He could die for all people of all time. God is beyond time, you see! "A just-God Jesus could save us, but not understand us.” A just-man Jesus could love us, but never save us. But equally-God-and-equally man Jesus could understand, love and save us, if only we surrender our lives to Him alone!" – this is how someone put this whole thing irrefutably!