How Does Jesus dying for our sins work then?

So many people ask what does it mean when we say “Jesus died for our sins,” like seriously what does that even mean?

Okay so let me try and explain the best way I can, I’ll start by saying the cross is both ugly and beautiful.

It is as ugly as human sin and as beautiful as divine love.

But in the end, love and beauty win, and it is an essential confession of the Christian faith. 

Use your imagination for a moment, picture a courtroom scene were we are on trial for our sins, God is the judge and that our sins against God are punishable crimes.

The truth is God Himself is our judge and according to divine law, our crimes deserve the death penalty.

However this does not mean physical death but, Death in a spiritual sense, resulting in eternal separation from God in unending torment.

So this is a very serious judgment.

How does it work then ????

So when Jesus was crucified he shed his blood for us and by shedding His blood on the cross, He took the punishment we deserve and offered us His righteousness.

Christ died on the cross as our substitute and without Him and his sacrifice, we would suffer the death penalty for our own sins – No relationship with God.

When we trust Christ for our salvation (relationship with God) , we are making a trade, we trade our sin and its accompanying death penalty for His righteousness and life.

“And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22).

For God to forgive our sins, His judgment had to be satisfied and that required the shedding of blood.

Is it really necessary? Why doesn’t God simply forgive us?

God is holy, He must judge sin. Would a just and righteous judge let crimes or evil go unpunished?

At the cross, God poured out His judgment on His Son, satisfying His wrath and making it possible for Him to forgive us.

This is why Jesus shed His blood for your sins, my sins, and the sins of the whole world.

Here are a few verses help us to explain this:

He [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

And while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. (1 Peter 2:23-24)

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4-5)

The central message of the cross and the reason for our hope: God forsook His Son so that He might never forsake us. God unleashed His wrath on His Son so that we might be spared that awful fate.

‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).

Isn’t that a wonderful promise?

If you have not yet come to know Jesus we encourage you to receive Jesus as your Savior right now. You can talk to go in a prayer like this:

Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I believe You died for my sins and rose again. I trust in You as my Savior now. Forgive me of my sins, and make me into the kind of person You would have me to be. Thank You for your gift of eternal life. Amen.

The apostle John has written: “And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (1 John 5:11-12).