Here's an interesting question. Why did Jesus have to die for our sins? I mean, why him, specifically? In the Old Testament, God asked the people to bring an animal substitute. This animal from the flock or the herd, had to be without blemish. Its blood had to be spilt to make an atonement for the sinner. Beginning with Adam and all through most of the Bible, believers brought animal sacrifices to make an atonement.
But in Hebrews 10:4, God says, "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins."
Why? An animal can never be our proper substitute. Suppose you were driving and you crashed into someone’s expensive Mercedes Benz. It would be your responsibility to replace the Mercedes Benz you wrecked. What if you gave the owner a toy model of a Mercedes Benz as a replacement for his wrecked car? Would that be an equivalent replacement? No, it would not. You would have to replace his car with another real Mercedes Benz. It is the same with animals. They could never be a sufficient substitute for us. The animal sacrifice was an act of faith and a visual aid to help people understand that a suitable, sinless substitute would have to die for their sin. Another human had to die for us. God's wrath against sin could only be satisfied with the death of a sinless person.
Okay then, how about another perfect Adam? What if God were to create a second perfect Adam? In today's Net parlance, we could call him Adam 2.0. What if God kept this perfect man from sinning his whole life and then this Adam 2.0 offered his life as a substitute for us and died for us. Would that work? Would that be an acceptable payment for our sin?
Let's think about this carefully. God’s plan of salvation involves two parts. One is getting our sin-debt paid in full. The second part is he will give us his righteousness.
"For our sake he [God] made him [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Cor 5:21.
God laid our sin on Jesus and then Jesus gave us, or imputed, his righteousness into us. It was the same thing God did with Abraham; God applied his righteousness to him because Abraham trusted him. God wants to do the same with us. But he will only do that when our sin-debt is paid for.
Let's get back to Adam 2.0. He's just a man. If he were to die for us and pay for our sin-debt, how long would he have to pay? Remember that the punishment for sin is eternal separation from God and suffering in the lake of fire. How long would this second Adam have to stay in the lake of fire? Answer: Forever. In other words, he would never finish paying off our sin-debt. We would be waiting forever in limbo for our sin-debt to be paid which means we would never receive God’s righteousness. We could never be with God.
So a second perfect Adam cannot be our substitute. We need someone who is infinite to pay an infinite debt. Who do we know is infinite? Yes, Jesus is infinite. He is infinite because he is God. And he was also a human. Therefore he could pay our infinite sin-debt. Jesus was the only one who could be our substitute. Thus, when he prayed at Gethsemane, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36), it wasn't a human failing but a confirmation for us that no one else but Jesus could be our substitute and sin bearer. He was not only praying for himself but praying to show us there was no other way. What an amazing truth to absorb.
