Romans 5:6-8. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
The most significant event in all of human history was the crucifixion of Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, died on the cross for the unrighteous. His death was not a random tragedy but the fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan, prophesied for thousands of years (Isaiah 53:5-6).
The central theme of the Old Testament is none other than the promised death of the Messiah. It is revealed in the ram that was provided as a substitute for Isaac at Mount Moriah (Genesis 22:1-14), the blood of the Passover lamb that protected the Israelites from judgment (Exodus 12:1-13), the countless burnt offerings that symbolized atonement (Leviticus 1:1-9), and even the account of Jonah spending three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish—foreshadowing the burial and resurrection of Christ (Jonah 1:17; Matthew 12:40).
Even the baptism of Jesus pointed to His ultimate mission. When John baptized Him, it was not because Jesus had sinned, but because He came to stand in our place. Just as priests would lay their hands on sacrificial lambs to transfer the sins of the people on the Day of Atonement, God placed upon His Son the sins of the world (Matthew 3:13-17).
Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us. The Old Testament does not merely tell a history of a nation—it reveals why His death was necessary. From the moment sin entered the world, God established a plan to redeem humanity. By His death on the cross, Jesus destroyed the root cause of every problem in the world.
But why was His death necessary? Because sin brought eternal death upon all humanity. From the very beginning, God clearly warned Adam, “But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:17).
How did this death come upon all of us? Through the sin of one man, Adam, sin entered the world, and with sin came death. As a result, every person is born spiritually separated from God, under the sentence of eternal death, because all have sinned (Romans 5:12).
Sin is more than the wrong things we do. It is the broken condition of humanity, separated from God’s glory—that is, original sin (Romans 3:23). It is a spiritual state where we are cut off from the Creator, the source of life, and as a result, death, curse, and condemnation reign.
Under the curse of sin, all people live according to the “ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:2). People may believe they are free, but without Christ, they are enslaved to sin and under the power of the enemy.
Worst of all, every person is, by nature, under the grip of the devil. Jesus made this reality unmistakably clear: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). Our failures and suffering do not begin with external circumstances alone—they begin with our identity apart from God.
Unless this fundamental identity—as children under the dominion of darkness—is changed, no amount of effort, religion, or self-improvement can free us from sin and condemnation. Before anyone can live in true freedom, they must first be rescued from the dominion of Satan. Yet no one can accomplish this by human strength, good works, or moral striving. That is why Jesus had to come. That is why He had to die—to destroy the works of the enemy and to set us free.
Freedom from sin, death, and Satan required the perfect sacrifice—the blood of a sinless man, free from all sins, including original sin, sins of the parents, and personal sins. Jesus alone met that requirement. His death alone could break the chains that bound us: “Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).
From the very moment humanity fell from grace, God declared His rescue plan. He promised that one day, the offspring of the woman would crush the head of the serpent: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). This was the first gospel, the first promise of victory over sin, Satan, and death.
God fulfilled that promise when Jesus died on the cross. Paul reminds us: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The cross is not simply a symbol of religion—it is the ultimate demonstration of God’s love.
God did not merely speak words of love from a distance. He proved His love by giving up His only Son. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). The cross is God’s eternal declaration that we are loved, forgiven, and redeemed.
The cross of Jesus changed everything. It turned death into life, darkness into light, flesh into spirit, wrath into salvation, hell into heaven, religion into faith, law into grace, children of the devil into children of God, enemies into friends, sinners into the righteous, the accused into the justified, the lost into the found, the powerless into the powerful, the ungodly into the godly, the worthless into the beloved, the wounded into the healed, the useless into the useful, shame into glory, suffering into hope, human pride into boasting in God, and wanderers into witnesses.
This is the message of the cross. Believe it with your whole heart. Experience its transforming power. Proclaim it to the world, for this message is the only hope for all humanity.
Prayer. Lord Jesus, I thank You for giving Yourself completely to take away all my sin. By Your death, I have been made alive, restored, and healed. May the message of the cross be the only reason for my life, the only boast of my heart, and the unshakable foundation of my hope. Give me the courage to proclaim to the world why You had to die, so that many more may come to know Your love and salvation. In Your precious name, Amen.