Many Christians have a wrong notion about the Gospel of Lord Jesus Christ. This is because they haven't interpreted many verses in the New Testament correctly.
Once upon a time, I too wasn't clear at all about The Gospel. I was completely confused by statements like - Jesus Christ died on the Cross for my sins, Jesus died for forgiveness of sins, Jesus was a heretic, Jesus was put on a cross because he was a criminal and so on.
We know that Jesus Christ visited the Earth as a Man primarily "to die". He had said so Himself to His disciples. Strangely, none of the disciples asked him “Why”. Nor did the Lord explain it away. Perhaps He wanted His followers to find out the precise reasons for His death on the Cross.
The New Testament is not an easy-to-read text book. We have to interpret every verse in it with the support of other connected verses and thereafter come to a logical conclusion yourself based on an overall view of the teaching of Lord and expanded by His disciples in various epistles.
At last and after years of research, I did manage to find all the answers to my mind's satisfaction.
I have given my views and arguments thereon in the subsequent paragraphs. I have not quoted the relevant Biblical references but everything I have stated in the article is from the Bible. .
Now, read on ……
The main purpose why Lord Jesus came to the Earth was, according to my interpretation, to tell the world about the reality of Heaven and Hell and how to get into Heaven. This is Salvation. In order to give us eternal life in Heaven, He had to die; die as Jesus Christ but not as heretic! [Don't forget, He rose from the dead as Jesus Christ and is alive today. Is there any case in the human history of a dead person coming to life !] This is not an accidental death but a well planned one even before the creation of the world.
Switch your mind now to garden of Eden. God warned Adam and Eve that they would "die" if they ate the fruit from a particular tree. What did God mean by DIE? Is it physical death or spiritual death? Both, I think. 'Spiritual death' means, “ they cannot enter Heaven.” Wouldn't this also mean that Adam and Eve were perhaps expected to go to Heaven at some specific time of their life on Earth? Probably, they were not assigned to physically die at all, like the angels in Heaven. Angels are holy and do not die.
So, one of the consequences of the sin in Eden is, 'physical death'. The duration of our life on the Earth became restricted to a limited period only. Physical death thus, became a land mark event in a human being's life.
DIE also could have meant in addition, "death of the soul or obliteration of our identity" from God's book. We may name it as, “spiritual death” or as “denial of entry into Heaven.”.
The "spiritual death" punishment was carried immediately, in that, the gates of Heaven had been closed for the human beings / for sinners. [ we can arrive at this interpretation based on Charles Wesley's famous hymn - To God be the Glory ]
The "death of soul" punishment had been held in abeyance. It's like, the entire humanity had been kept in a "death cell", awaiting execution at some later date.
Angels are the inhabitants of Heaven. They are God's children. Human beings are God's children too. Between the two, God has a greater love for the "woman born human beings". When we say, “Jesus loves you” [a catch phrase every evangelist uses], the true meaning is that the Creator loves every human soul regardless of their religious beliefs and whether they had accepted Him or not.
Because of this stupendous love for us, He didn't want to expunge us from His List but wanted not only to save us from death [extinction] but also get us into His abode at any cost.
He was referred as "The Saviour" by the angels on Christmas morning. We too use the words “Lord and Saviour”, in our prayers and talks quite liberally, don't we? Jesus came down to "save" us. Save us from what? Save us from the 'death punishment of our souls'. God could not condone or conveniently forget this judgment. It had to be implemented. [Isn't it strange that we Christians have forgotten this punishment and never even talk about it?]
So, God's redemption/saving plan was to make “one person die in the place of millions” in fulfillment of that garden of Eden judgment and release the entire human race from death once and for all. This person had to be an extraordinary person indeed - Sinless and Unique. [A sinner cannot die for another sinner!] God could not locate even one sinless person on the Earth. The sinless person was only God Himself.
