A View On The Crucifixion of Christ

The other day I was talking to someone, and she asked me a question.  I had tossed around the same question with no good answer years before. Her question was about Christ's death.  She asked, "Why did it have to be that way, why did it have to be so violent?"  My friend was resigned to not knowing the answer this side of heaven, but her question stirred up my curiosity and made me wonder all over again.

Funny how her question collided with my daily meditation and somehow the two caused me to come up with a new understanding.

I realized that even though Jesus was sinless, He was carrying our sins. It was our sins that caused Him to be tortured and to die a horrific death.   None of that was new, but I realized that without Jesus our sins would cause us to have the same sort of torture, only it wouldn't last a day or two. It would last for an eternity! His death was just a glimpse of what our future would hold without Him.

When I look at His crucifixion that way it makes absolute sense, and it reminds me of God's great love for us.  2nd Peter 3:9 tells us that God wants that no one would perish, but that all would have everlasting life.  I'm no theologian, but I think that God was giving us a very graphic picture, and He was also letting us know that no one is exempt from judgement.