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shocking acronym: 'YHWH'. No wonder they wanted it reworded.

So, why was Jesus crucified? The answer lies in Scripture, where we are told that "he who is hanged [from a tree] is accursed of God". (Deuteronomy 21:23)

The Apostle Paul explains further in Galatians 3:13, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs from a tree')".

Hebrews 9:22 says, "And according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding blood there is no remission".

Likewise, at the Last Supper, Jesus handed the cup to his disciples saying: "For this is my blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:28)

Had Jesus been stoned, beheaded or put to the sword, then, he would have fulfilled part of his purpose in shedding his blood for the remission (forgiveness) of our sins. He would not, however, have fulfilled the rest of his mission which was to redeem us from the curse of the law, which includes sickness, disease, poverty, etc. In order to do that, as Paul said, Jesus had to suffer a very particular form of death; not mere hanging, which would have strangled him without haemorrhage, nor mere shedding of blood, which would not have addressed the curse of the law, but crucifixion, whose gruesome mechanics satisfy both criteria. In addition, it also included the added element of total humiliation, which was a Roman speciality.

The entire redemptive work accomplished by Jesus on that fateful April afternoon, twenty centuries ago, constitutes what is called a 'substitutionary sacrifice'. Everything Jesus did and suffered was in order that he acts as our total substitute.

He died that we might receive eternal life. He took on himself our sicknesses and infirmities that we might live in divine health. And he became accursed of God that we might be reconciled to the Father. That's why, as he neared death, Jesus cried out those heart-rending words: "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is translated, ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?") (Mark 15:34)

The significance of this is that, when praying directly to God, Jesus habitually addressed him as "Father", but here, for the first time, he addresses his heavenly Father merely as "God" - a substitutionary estrangement that he voluntarily endured on our behalf so that we, who were estranged from God, might call him Father. In the same way that 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us, "For he [God the Father] made him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him."

That's one reason why the One so often called our 'Shepherd', died as 'the Lamb of God', becoming like one of the sheep that he might die as one of us.

And that's why Colossians 1:12 says: "giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light."

It's all grace, which means that our salvation is based not on what we do to qualify for it, but on what Jesus did to qualify us, on our behalf.

All we have to do to please God and receive it is to believe it and give thanks.

Learn more about this author, Allan McGregor.
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