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RE:QUEST

A space for resources to help RE teachers and their students explore the Christian faith
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Salvation: Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

(Easier)

Many people wonder why Jesus died. After all, he was God's own son, so why did God allow it to happen?

The story of Jesus’ death is in the second part of the Bible, the New Testament. If we read the first part of the Bible, the Old Testament, we can find out a bit more about why Jesus died.

The Old Testament

In the Old Testament, we read that God and the people of Israel made a promise to each other.

If they did bad things, they had to make it up to God. They had to sacrifice an animal to pay for their sins. Usually, this was a lamb. If they did this, God would forgive them.

The animal had to be perfect, with no marks on it. This showed God how special they thought He was.

How This Links to Jesus’ Death

Jesus was perfect. He was called ‘the Lamb of God.’ This makes us think of sacrifice from the Old Testament.

Christians think that Jesus’ death on the cross was a good thing. They think God let Jesus die so that we could always be close to him. Jesus was the sacrifice, for all our sins. No more animals had to be sacrificed. He took our punishment. This is known as atonement.

This is why Christians believe Jesus needed to die.

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