How does Jesus save us?:
"Jesus saves!" "Jesus is our Savior!" Messages like these appear on the walls of buildings and public places in many countries. Millions of people sincerely believe that Jesus is their Savior. If asked, "How does Jesus save us?", They are likely to answer: "Jesus died for us" or "Jesus died for our sins". It is true that his death makes our salvation possible; but how is it possible that the death of a man pays for the sins of multitudes? What would you answer if you were asked how Jesus' death can save us?
ALTHOUGH the biblical response is very simple and clear, it is full of meaning. In order to understand its importance, it is necessary that we first look at the life and death of Jesus as the solution to a very difficult problem. Only then will we understand the great value of his death.
By providing Jesus to give his life, God took care of the situation that arose when Adam sinned. That fact was quite a tragedy. The first man and his wife, Eve, were perfect and lived in the beautiful garden of Eden. God entrusted them with the profitable work of caring for their paradisiacal home and lovingly supervising the other living creatures on Earth. As human beings multiplied and populated the planet, they would extend paradise to the limits of the Earth (Genesis 1:28). What a delightful and exciting assignment they received! In addition, they enjoyed loving mutual fellowship (Genesis 2:18). They did not lack anything. A happy life without end awaited them.
How Adam and Eve could sin! However, they rebelled against their Creator, Jehovah God. The spiritual creature Satan the Devil used a snake to deceive Eve and make her disobey Jehovah. Later, Adam followed her (Genesis 3: 1-6).
There was no doubt about what the Creator would do with the two of them. He had already exposed the consequences of disobedience by saying: "From every tree in the garden you can eat until you are satisfied. But as for the tree of the knowledge of the good and the bad, you must not eat of it, because in the day you eat of it, you will positively die "(Genesis 2:16, 17). An issue of transcendental importance that demanded an answer had arisen.
Humanity faces a difficult situation:
Original sin created a very serious problem for humanity. At first, Adam was perfect; therefore, his descendants could have enjoyed eternal life in perfection. However, he sinned before fathering children. The whole human race was still in his loins when he received the sentence: "With the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, because you were taken from it. For you are dust and dust you will return "(Genesis 3:19). So when Adam sinned and began to die as God said would happen, he condemned all mankind to death along with him.
The apostle Paul wrote later correctly: "Through one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned" (Romans 5:12). Indeed, because of original sin, children who were supposed to be born perfect in the hope of living forever were procreated with the prospect of getting sick, growing old and dying.
"That's not fair - I could object to someone. We did not choose to disobey God, it was Adam. Why should we miss the opportunity to live forever in happiness? "If a certain father stole a car and, instead of him, a court imprisoned his son, he would have reason to complain, and could well say:" This it's not fair! I did nothing wrong "(Deuteronomy 24:16).
By inducing the first couple to sin, Satan may have concluded that this would be a dilemma for God. The Devil attacked very early in the history of man, because no human being had yet been born. At the time Adam sinned, an important question arose: what would Jehovah do about the offspring that Adam and Eve would produce?
Jehovah God worked with justice. "Far be it from the true God to act wickedly, and from the Almighty to act unjustly!" Exclaimed the righteous Elihu (Job 34:10). And the prophet Moses wrote the following about Jehovah: "The Rock, perfect is its activity, because all its ways are justice. God of fidelity, with whom there is no injustice; just and right is he "(Deuteronomy 32: 4). The way the true God solved the problem that caused Adam's sin does not deprive us of the opportunity to live forever in a paradise earth.
God supplies the perfect solution:
Let's examine the solution that God provided in dictating the sentence against Satan the Devil: "I will put enmity between you and the woman [the heavenly organization of God], and between your offspring [the world under the dominion of Satan] and the offspring of it [ Jesus Christ]. He will bruise [you, Satan] in the head and you will bruise him in the heel [the death of Jesus] "(Genesis 3:15). In this first biblical prophecy, Jehovah alluded to the purpose of his heavenly Son coming to Earth and becoming Jesus, a perfect man who would later die-he would be bruised in the heel-without sin.
Why did God demand the death of a perfect man? Well, what was the penalty that Jehovah God imposed in case Adam sinned? Was not death? (Genesis 2:16, 17) "The wages that sin pays is death," wrote the apostle Paul (Romans 6:23). Adam paid for his disobedience with his own death. Although he was given his life, he chose to sin, and died as a punishment for it (Genesis 3:19). What can be said of the condemnation that mankind inherited because of that sin? It required a death to atone for his sins. But who could give his life and, with justice, cover the transgressions of humanity?
The Law of God for the ancient nation of Israel demanded "soul for soul [or life for life]" (Exodus 21:23). According to this legal principle, the death that covered the transgressions of humanity would have to be equivalent to what Adam had lost. Only the death of another perfect man could pay the wages of sin. And Jesus was that man. In reality, he was a "corresponding ransom" for the salvation of all redeemed humanity that had descended from Adam (1 Timothy 2: 6, Romans 5:16, 17).
The death of Jesus is very valuable:
The death of Adam had no value, because he deserved to die for his sin. However, Jesus' was very valuable because he died without sin. Jehovah God would accept the value of his perfect life as a ransom for the obedient children of the sinful Adam. In addition, the merit of Jesus' sacrifice not only covers our sins of the past. If so, we would have no future, for, as we were conceived in sin, sooner or later we would err again (Psalm 51: 5). Therefore, we are very grateful that his death gives us the opportunity to achieve the perfection that Jehovah intended to have the offspring of Adam and Eve in the beginning.
Adam can resemble a father who died and left us such a large debt (sin), that it is impossible to pay. On the other hand, Jesus is like a good father who died bequeathing us a large inheritance, which not only frees us from the enormous debt that Adam gave us, but also gives us the means to continue living eternally. The death of Jesus, in addition to canceling the sins of the past, constitutes a wonderful provision for our future.
Jesus saves because he died for us. And what a valuable provision is his death! When we see it as part of the divine solution to the complicated problem that caused the sin of Adam, our faith in Jehovah and his way of working is strengthened. Indeed, the death of Jesus is a means of saving from sin, sickness, old age and even death to "all who exercise faith" in Him (John 3:16). Are we grateful to God for lovingly arranging the necessary means for our salvation?
