It never fails to amaze me how often this question is raised by even Christians, yet many find themselves with a unsatisfactory answer. Why do we need to be saved by Jesus? Whats the point of this being the central thing for becoming Christian? How does submitting to Christ allow us to go to heaven? Why is Jesus called “The Lamb”, why did he have to die on the cross?
There’s many questions that surround this very topic. It all began 6 thousand years ago. As for the term itself “Covered by the blood of Jesus”-Â it is a poetic simplification of a complex issue.Â
It all began from Eve eating the fruit from the tree of Knowledge. Here we see the first sin. This was considered sin because Eve (and Adam) were given 1 rule, that was not to eat the fruit. By eating the fruit anyway, Eve knowingly disobeyed God- Thus bringing Sin into the world. The trouble I think many wrestle with this is- why would this be such a big deal it’s only a fruit- Why condemn the world to hell over that simple stupid thing? God gave us free will right from the start however he did not give us the knowledge of good AND evil. When Eve ate the fruit she choose to disobey God and go against Gods perfect creation and Gods will. conceivably, In doing so she learned she can do what she wants- even if God says ‘Dont do it’.
Later on in the Bible Jesus talks a lot about things like “Weeds of The Field” and we also see references later in Genesis that Sin multiplies and spreads. So here is how Sin works according to the Bible. It began from Eve as a tiny act, a bit like a seed. Through out genesis we see sin as a weed grow into Cain killing his brother. In just a few generations we come to the days of Noah where the seed has grown into many weeds. It has spread itself and multiplied all over the face of the Earth. God finds himself in the position there is no hope for man, and its better to just make a clean slate and start over. Picture dandelions taking over a back yard. The grass is out numbered by dandelions and eventually disappears to just one lonely blade, this blade was Noah. So there you have it, the “Idea” of disobedience was a seed in Eves mind, It was watered, spread out, and took over the whole field like a weed. Now we we have things like nuclear war and terrorism. This is the nature of sin in humanity and throughout the bible we see subtle examples of god stepping in to curb sin (but thats too much for now).
So we skip ahead to Abraham a wee bit later. Abraham gets together with God and comes up with a way to atone for sins. Sacrificing a Lamb to God. God and Abraham make a deal spelling out how this should be done, the criteria involved, what steps to take, what Lamb to pick, etc… Think of this as Abraham’s contract with God in standard legal format. Man can be forgiven of sins. Then there was Moses who gives us the 10 Commandments, along with Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers. All of these amount to 613 mitzvot (Commandments/Laws). You can read a full list by clicking here. See at this point it isn’t enough to be able to atone for sins, God wants to make sure the moral path is spelled out. Essentially he gives us a guide of whats a sin and what is not a sin. Though God himself tells us no matter how hard we try, even if we succeeded in living a life according to these rules, we will still fall short because Sin is much apart of human nature. Thus we still need sacrificial lambs, but at least for now we have a clear definition of what is right and wrong from God himself.
  Secularists in particular do not understand this concept as for them “Morality is Relative”. Indeed it is not relative – Hitler for example believed he was a good guy didn’t he- For us looking at him not so much. The devil himself believes he is a good guy. Look at yourself, you are a good person right? Everyone says they are a good person, because of this everyone is in the same boat with Hitler. By who’s standards are you a good person, your own or a perfect beings?Â
As the old testament continues we see prophetic “Glimpses” of a coming Messiah. It is particularly noticeable in the book of Isiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and sprinkled lightly in Daniel. 1st and 2nd Samuel and Kings also touch on it a bit, and there are a many others. (If I were to cite references here I would have to literally insert the whole of the Old Testament and so I want to keep this short). Suddenly, we come to the Books of Matthew, Luke, Mark and John. These are the 4 books in the Bible (each a different disciples version) that talk about Jesus’s life. Collectively, these 4 show Jesus was the son of God, that he lived a perfect life, and he fulfilled the many prophecies of the Messiah. To the Jews, they had a twisted view of the prophecies and the role of the messiah that they did not recognize him as a Messiah. The joke (if we can call it that) was on them, as they perfectly fulfilled the prophecies by killing Jesus for no reason. Indeed, Jesus did not break any law of God or of Israel, or even of Rome- He was executed as an innocent man. So this is what makes Jesus a Sacrificial Lamb and by the law of Moses the authority to Judge sin. This is where we can understand why we need Jesus to atone for our sins. God sent Jesus, his only son, down to be sacrificed as a Lamb to the whole world, instead of salvation for just the Jews. Thus, Creating a brand new contract agreement with man. When you bow your head and ask Jesus into your heart, you are signing a contract that roughly says:
I realize I am a sinner as described in Gods law, by default I am worthy of hell. Jesus, by fulfilling the laws of Moses and prophecy, Lived a perfect life and is the only one (recognized by the law of Moses) who can issue this user agreement. The undersigned recognizes Jesus by fulfilling the law is the only one to issue a new law, of which he says “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” John 13:34. God agrees to amend the law to conform to Jesus’s terms and conditions. Jesus agrees to remit payment on the undersigned debts of sins, and allows the undersigned into his fathers kingdom. After review of terms the undersigned agrees to these terms and conditions. This contract, is henceforth kept in heavens records, the undersigned has his name in Jesus’s book of Life. Aka. ‘The Lambs Book of Life”. X_______________________________________ (Insert Signature Here)
Why is this such a big deal? It is because a sinner is completely a good person in his own eyes, He can not simply bow his head and ask for salvation. Its too much for him, thats why so many Christians preach it down peoples throat. The more a sinner hears “Repent” the more they say to themselves “Im perfect the way I am” or “I’m going to heaven because I deserve it”, no you have to bow your head and come to Christ- if you cant even do that simple thing, why do you deserve to go to heaven? God made you and gave you life, and a planet where you can enjoy that life- he doesn’t owe you anything much less eternal life or heaven.
The definition of “Grace”- as the bible explains to us is: people are so full of sin god can barely stand the sight of us sometimes, however he is willing to give us the opportunity to join him for eternity anyway. All we have to do is accept his Son. He gave us this offer because he loves us, even though we don’t deserve it.
But then there is a tiny tiny problem a christian might see with this contract. We do not have to follow the laws of Moses as per our contract agreement with Christ. Indeed Jesus himself tells us:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:17-19
Later on Jesus tells us there is only one commandment now, this whole thing is contradictory isn’t it. Especially when Jesus also telling us those following the law are under a curse, because they can not fulfill it anyway or atone for their own sins. If you have some time I refer you to the following 2 videos:
Now see – Christ Law in Action:
So I bring this down to the bottom line. “Covered by the blood of Jesus”- is a poetic simplification of all that I’ve said.
It is because we are all sinners we can not have our own salvation. God loves us so much he gave us an easy contract to sign with him so we may have eternal life and go to heaven. The laws of moses are a fixed reference point on how to love one another, though we are no longer subject to it. I hope I answered your question of why we need Jesus. Don’t be afraid to comment below with any questions you might have, I am all to happy to answer them. If you are not saved by Christ I hope this has come to you as a wake up call. Maybe you don’t know how, maybe you just cant find the right words, Again comment below I will be happy to help, though I’m sure any christian would be happy to help- simply ask any 2 billion +/- of us. God bless you beloved.
If you made it this far down, you may as well take the next step in reading ‘I’m saved, Now What?’
(The videos were taken from The Fuel Project series ‘Stay Free’ I encourage you to check them out Here Is the Link highlighted in green)
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