5 Things Jesus did to make Salvation Possible

Holy Week is the week we commemorate the greatest events in Jesus’ life. But what does it mean? What did Jesus accomplish?

1. Jesus revealed God. Who is God? And how could anyone ever answer the question? Only God could answer the question and he has done so by sending his only Son into the world. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that whoever believes in him might not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) The times of ignorance are over. The question we could never answer has been answered. All the fullness of God is in Jesus Christ.

2. God lived with us in Jesus Christ. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” (2 Corinthians 5:19) Jesus was not just another inspiring life. He is God’s living presence on earth. He shared the nitty gritty of human life: dirty diapers, cemeteries and sick beds. It had to be this way. If you’re going to save someone from a fire you can’t send a text, you have to go in. God did.

3. Jesus died for us. How do we understand his death? Assassination? Miscarriage of justice? Martyrdom? None of these fit the facts. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Your sin—as well as everyone else’s was loaded up on Jesus shoulders. When the full weight of this reality came upon him, it was then he cried out, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” One innocent life took all the guilt of the world away. Have you accepted this fact? Will you start living for him now?

4. Jesus conquered death. The resurrection means that Jesus is everything he claimed. He is the way, the truth and the life. It demonstrates that Jesus is God, the Bible is true and we owe our lives to him. The resurrection is no mere metaphor for rising above the tragedies of life. It is a genuine flesh-and-blood victory for God within human history. Jesus Christ is the center of history and he is also the world’s destiny. This is big. Build your life on him and nothing else.

5. Jesus opened the way into the Kingdom of God. The way had been blocked by sin. The moral and legal record against the human race shouts from the daily news as well as from our own broken lives. We each face an insurmountable moral reckoning. Here’s the good news:

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)

One day soon, someone from the government is going to tell us our quarantine is cancelled. Will people believe them? Will people come out of their houses and resume a free life? Jesus has cancelled sin. He has opened the way into the Kingdom. Will you believe him? Will you come out of your old way of life and enter into the new?