Today is Good Friday, the day we remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ who died on an excruciatingly painful Roman cross two thousand years ago. I am sure that many people today ask the same question that a Daily Encounter reader asked: “I understand Jesus died for our sins. I believe it but I just can’t understand why he had to do it. Didn’t God have power over everything? I have looked for the answer to this question for a long time. Please help.”

I’m sure that many people struggle with this same issue so let me explain. Because God is a God of infinite justice, he cannot forgive sin without justice being served. Otherwise he wouldn’t be God. This means that all sin must be judged according to the moral law of God and the universe. We can no more defy this law and live than we can defy the law of gravity by jumping out of an airplane without a parachute. The end result will be death unless—unless we apply another law, the law of aerodynamics. This law makes it possible for an airplane to fly and a parachute to lower us to the earth gradually and thereby save us.

There is another universal law that we cannot defy and live. It is “the law of sin and death,” which means that the judgment and penalty of all sin is death and eternal separation from God. That is, unless we apply a higher law which is “the law of the Spirit of Life,” which is a God-given “spiritual parachute” to save us from eternal death. God provided this law through the death of Jesus who died in our place to pay the penalty for our sin.

Furthermore, because God is also a God of absolute holiness, no sin or unforgiven sinners can survive in his presence. As some bacteria are not able to survive in the light and die if they are exposed to it, so it is with us. In our sinful state if we were exposed to God and his incredible light, we would be destroyed instantaneously. And herein lies our dilemma.

However, God’s answer to our dilemma lies in the fact that God is not only a God of infinite justice and absolute holiness, but also a God of eternal love. Because of his love, God gave his very own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to die on the cross in our place to pay the penalty for our sins to meet the automatic demands of his (God’s) justice and holiness. Christ’s death made possible God’s “law of the Spirit of Life”—our God-given “spiritual parachute”—to save us from eternal death.

Not to accept and use God’s “parachute” means certain death from which there is no other escape. In other words, anyone who doesn’t accept God’s pardon will automatically die for him/herself—which means eternal separation from God, the author of all love and life, in the place or condition the Bible calls hell. All we need to do is confess our sinfulness, believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died in our place for our sins, and ask God for, and accept, his forgiveness and pardon. If you have never done this, you can do so right now by praying the following prayer.

“Dear God, I confess that I am a sinner and am sorry for all the wrongs that I have done. I believe that your Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross for my sins. Please forgive me. I invite you, Jesus, to come into my heart and life as Lord and Savior. I commit and trust my life to you. Please give me the desire to be what you want me to be and to do what you want me to do. Thank you for dying for my sins, for your free pardon, for your gift of eternal life, and for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

If you prayed this prayer and truly meant it, please let us know by clicking on the “My Decision” link at http://tinyurl.com/pgntm and we will send you a free copy of the e-leaflet, “How to Grow” to help you in your new spiritual life.

For further help, click on the “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” link at http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

1. Romans 8:1–3(NIV).

If you haven’t already read the following “prophetic” statements by leaders of their day, they are fascinating to hear:

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” – Western Union internal memo, 1876

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” – David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” – Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

“So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come and work for you.’ And they said, ‘No.’ So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you. You haven’t got through college yet.’” – Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.

“Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy.” – Drillers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist in his project to drill for oil in 1859.

“No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris.” – Orville Wright

“Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.” – Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.²

How wrong all these people were. And what opportunities they lost.

When Jesus came to his people as their promised Messiah (Savior), they refused to believe in him. In spite of all the evidence when he healed the sick, made the dumb to speak, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and raised Lazarus from the dead—and rose from the grave himself—they still as a nation wouldn’t believe and continued to reject him and his teachings.

Our world today is still filled with skeptics who refuse to believe the evidence they see in that the “heavens declare the glory of God.” They also refuse to believe in and accept the teachings of Jesus, and reject the incomparable opportunity to accept God’s offer of forgiveness for all their sins and the gift of eternal life in heaven forever.

The price of rejecting God and his offer of salvation is unthinkable.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, open the eyes of my understanding so that I will see the evidence of your presence in all of life. And deliver me from any spiritual blindness so I will see, understand, and accept your full and free pardon for all my sins and receive your gift of eternal life. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

For help see the article, “How to Be Sure You’re a Real Christian” at: http://tinyurl.com/real-christian

1. John 1:10-12 (NIV).

2. Cited on www.goodquotes.com