Why did Jesus have to die? Part 1
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them and fed them. Hosea 11:1,3-4
In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself,
not counting their trespasses against them. 2 Corinthians 5:19
It was necessary for the Christ to suffer because the character of the God who was known in Israel, and whose agent Jesus was on earth, is such that the way of the cross was in practice bound to be the way he would follow....
..He came to embody the love of God for his creation, accepting the consequences of doing so whatever these might be. He came to be the love of God; to show in our own 'frail flesh' not what God demands but what God is prepared to give. Love Unknown, John Barton
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. John 3:16
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
