God’s Holiness Demanded a Perfect Sacrifice

When Jesus spoke the words from the cross, “why have you forsaken me?” it brings up the question, why did God have to abandon Jesus? Why couldn’t God just pronounce forgiveness? Why all this blood, all this suffering? Why sacrifice His Son? Because God is holy—completely pure, distinct, and separate from all evil and sin. Holiness is God’s chief attribute. Scripture says His eyes are so pure He cannot even look upon evil. But God is not only holy, He is also just. He is the Judge of the universe, and we would not want to live in a world where justice is not done. We all cry out for justice and demand it when we’re wronged. So how does a holy and just God satisfy His righteousness while also loving sinful humanity? The answer is found in a theological word: propitiation. This means that God’s wrath against sin must be satisfied, but instead of requiring the blood of animals or our own punishment, God laid our sin upon Jesus. Second Corinthians 5:21 tells us, “He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God.” Every vile deed, every wicked act, every murder, rape, lust, perversion, all the anger, hate, and wars—in that finite moment of time, the eternal weight of all sin was laid on Jesus. He absorbed the wrath of God; He absorbed the judgment we deserved. This is the meaning of the cross and the mystery of His suffering.