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Was it necessary? I can actually think of 3 other ways Jesus could avoid dying.

1. Couldn’t the Creator (God) just release Divine Pardon for His creation? Call it quits. Forgive. Amnesty.

2. Or how about suffering for my sins? I’ll try to cover what I’ve done by suffering for it?

3. Better yet, what if I try to pay for it by doing good – from giving to the poor to reading my Bible more?

The more I study the Passover story, the more I understand the big picture.

When the Israelites cried out to God for deliverance from the Egyptians, God raised up a deliverer in the person of Moses. Moses goes before Pharaoh to give Yahweh’s directive to “let His people go.”

Because of Pharaoh’s hard heart, God sends 10 plagues to judge the 10 gods of Egypt – from Heqet to Ra. All the 9 affected the Egyptians but not the Israelites.  However, on the 10th plague (the death of the first born), Israel was not exempted.

They however were given a way out – that if they kill a lamb that is unblemished and perfect, sprinkle the blood on the doorposts of their houses, then the ‘destroyer’ (Ex.12:23) will passover their houses and spare the male firstborn children.

Whenever they would celebrate Passover from then on, the firstborn will look at the table and remember, “the only reason I’m alive is because that thing on the table isn’t.” It was either a dead son or a dead lamb.

Fast forward 1500 years, the Israelites were still celebrating the Passover.

On the night Jesus was betrayed, he took both the bread and the cup.

Everyone around the table were probably wondering, “the bread and the wine are here, but where’s the lamb?”

That night, the lamb was not on the table because The Lamb was at the table.

No wonder John the Baptist declared when he saw Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29)

He no longer covers sin. He takes away sin.

He alone could do it.  The lamb had to be perfect, without defect.

Jesus because like one of us yet he was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

He alone could identify with us because He was fully human. But at the same breath, He alone could fulfill the requirement to appease God’s wrath toward sin because He was fully divine and without sin.

Did Jesus have to die?

A definite YES!

I was reading my Bible this morning and I read an interesting passage that grabbed my attention.

“Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did at the Passover Celebration, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew human nature. No one needed to tell him what mankind is really like.” (John 2:23-25, NLT)

Jesus really knew.

Many people these days “follow” Jesus the way they follow Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber on Twitter.  But if they ask Lady Gaga or Justin, they wouldn’t know a thing about them.  Why? There really isn’t any relationship.

Unfortunately, what happened in John chapter 2 still happens to this very day.

People follow the miracles and not the Miracle Worker.
They follow the blessings, not the Blesser.
They follow the healing, not the Healer.

Who or what do you follow? Jesus or His miracles.

Good question to ask ourselves every single day we wake up.

As I was preparing for yesterday’s message on Romans 7, I was reminded of a quote Pastor Joey Bonifacio made in one of our conversations.

“Being married to a perfect spouse is not wrong. It’s just tiring.”

That is what life is when we’re married to the LAW. We need to keep measuring up and trying to keep up.

There are 613 laws in the Old Testament and trying to keep all of them is a worthy effort but it will only show us that we can’t. We can try but it will be tiring.

James tells us that breaking just one part of the law will make us guilty of breaking the whole law.

Romans 3:20 says, ” Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”

The law makes us conscious of sin. In fact, it is like a school teacher (tutor) that points us to Jesus.

Therefore the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24)

The law reveals sin but it is powerless to remove sin. It points to righteousness but it can never produce it.

What then is the way to righteousness?

Martin Luther said, ”

“Sin is not canceled by lawful living, for no person is able to live up to the Law. Nothing can take away sin except the grace of God.” 

It is only by the grace of God and through the imputed righteousness of Christ that we can be declared righteous. His death on the cross paid the penalty, justifies us from sin and declares us righteous before God’s eyes.

I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! (Galatians 2:21)