Now we come to the second major step of Christ: His crucifixion. Let us at the outset consider why it was necessary for Christ to be crucified on the cross. He was the manifestation of God and the mingling of God with man. He lived a life full of God. There was nothing sinful, nothing wrong about Him. His was a life in which only God could be seen. Yet, according to God's eternal purpose He had to die. Why? Before I was saved, I heard that because we are sinful, Christ must die for us. This is true, but there are more important reasons why Christ had to die. May the Lord grant us to see them more fully.
There are at least three reasons why Christ had to be crucified. First, man was fallen, and creation was corrupted by the enemy. Therefore, both man and creation must be judged. Man is contradictory to the holiness and righteousness of God and has "come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23), and creation is subject to vanity under the bondage of corruption (Rom. 8:20-21). Man and creation must be dealt with by God.
Let us look at it from another direction. God had a plan. Satan came in to frustrate and stop God's plan from being accomplished, but he could never succeed. He can frustrate and delay, but he can never stop God's eternal plan from being realized. God will certainly accomplish what He has purposed. So the question is, how would God accomplish His eternal purpose when man was fallen and creation corrupted? The answer is—by redemption through judgment. That is why Christ had to die on the cross. That is why He had to be judged on behalf of fallen humanity and the corrupted creation. Through judgment God could redeem fallen humanity and recover the corrupted creation. Thus, the death of Christ on the cross is on one hand the judgment of God, and on the other hand redemption. Herein lies the wisdom of God. God seized hold of the work of Satan and turned it to His own account.
We all know that we were sinners (Rom. 5:19). We were born sinners, for we are children of Adam. In this country, the children of foreigners born here are automatically Americans. They do not need to be naturalized; they are born Americans. So it is with us—we were born sinners. No matter how good our parents were or how good we are, we are all sinners by birth and we "all have sinned" (Rom. 3:23). God must judge sinners. But where and by what were we judged? We need to be redeemed, but where and by what were we redeemed? We must answer these questions before God and to ourselves. We must have full assurance that we have already passed the judgment of God and have been redeemed. We must be able to say that this day we are free from God's judgment and redeemed by Him! Brothers and sisters, not only were we judged two thousand years ago on the cross in Christ, but we were likewise redeemed then by Christ. Praise the Lord! Christ, by His death, was judged on our behalf (1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18), and by this judgment God has redeemed us. Whatever God judges, He is able to redeem. God only redeems that which He has judged. No sinner can be redeemed without the judgment of the cross. But, praise the Lord, since Christ suffered the judgment, He likewise accomplished redemption for us (Heb. 9:12; Rom. 3:24). The moment we were judged in Christ on the cross, we were also redeemed. God judged both sinful man and the corrupted creation and at the same time redeemed them back (Col. 1:20-22). Why? Because God needs both humanity and creation to fulfill His eternal purpose. This is why Christ had to die.