Questioning The Logic Of Jesus’ Sacrificial Death On A Cross

John the Baptist said to Jesus, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Question Stated

A guy wrote to me about Jesus’ crucifixion death. He asked, “Can you explain to me why God would require a murder and blood in order to forgive man’s sin. … The God I’ve come to engage and seek forgiveness from does not need the blood of an innocent man to forgive me. My understanding of God is much higher than that.”

This fellow did not say if he is Muslim, but his remark is one that Muslims sometimes make. Here was my response to him. It does not include an answer as to why God required animal sacrifices as part of his required worship to himself because, as far as I know, the Bible does not provide an answer to that question. What do you think?

My Answer

“The Bible begins with accounts of humans offering animal sacrifices to receive acceptance from God. This practice and concept is extended in God’s choosing of Abraham to father a nation of Israelites/Hebrews through whom God will reveal himself to all humankind. God then gave this nation, through Moses, festivals for worshipping God that also involved animal sacrifices. Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 begin the clear revelation of God’s scripture that some anointed man will die for the sins of the people/nation in fulfillment of the meaning of all those animal sacrifices.

“Jesus of Nazareth was that man—the Passover Lamb of God. This is God’s foremost revelation of himself to not only Israel but the entire world. That is, God will forgive individual people of their sins and give them eternal life if they believe in Jesus of Nazareth whom God sent to die on a cross as a blemish-free (sinless) sacrifice that those sacrificial animals had pointed to as types. There is no divine salvation other than this atonement by Jesus. The New Testament gospels repeatedly reveal that he predicted his death and resurrection to his apostles during his ministry, not afterwards. This is a subject that I have studied diligently and written about.

“Paul, there is nothing difficult about this. It’s very clear in scripture. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to [God] the Father except through me” (John 14.6), and God sent him to the cross. Moses said, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet,” meaning God will hold people accountable for that prophet’s words (Deuteronomy 18.15). Jesus was that prophet. You need to listen to that prophet’s words, look at what he did, and believe.

“Jesus told Nicodemus he needed to be born again (John 3.3). He later explained how it happens by saying, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (v. 14). What is this lifting up? It is Jesus being lifted up on a cross, just as Isaiah had predicted of him by proclaiming on behalf of God, “See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high” (Isaiah 52.13). Jesus being lifted up on the cross is the beginning of that divine exaltation which culminated in his resurrection from the dead and lifting up to heaven to be seated at the right hand of God. Paul, again, you need to believe it.”

Conclusion

What would your answer be to this fellow’s question? I could have added something about the fall of the first humans: Adam and Eve. Genesis 3 says God put Adam in the Garden of Eden and said, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” (Genesis 2.16-17 NRSV). God obviously did not mean what we think of death but that the sin and death principle would then be a part of his body. Indeed, we humans have body cells that die every day and new cells that take their places.

When Adam and Eve later sinned by disobeying this divine command, they then realized their nakedness, which symbolizes man’s sin. God then required atonement for them to have relationship with him. And God provided that atonement. For we read, “And the LORD God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them” (3.21). Apparently, the garments of skins came from an animal or animals, which I think should be understood as animal sacrifice that covered the symbol of man’s sin—nakedness.