Why was it necessary for Jesus to die that our sins could be forgiven? Sin is the violation of God’s law of love. Through our disobedience we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).We earned the death penalty because of our sins (Romans 5:12; Romans 6:23).
Paul explained the principle of a righteous man who would give up his own life as a replacement for one who is guilty (Romans 5:6-8). We would all be destined for the finality of death had someone not paid the penalty for our sins. Christ substituted his death for ours. His sacrifice became the payment for our sins.
By living a sinless life and dying for us, Jesus took on himself the penalty that we ourselves should have had to pay. Jesus Christ died in our stead so we could share life with him forever.
A new way of life
The Passover bread also reminds us of the close relationship Christians have with Jesus Christ, resulting in a new way of life.
After transforming five loaves of bread and two fish into enough food for a crowd of multiple thousands (John 6:5-14), Jesus was followed by crowds seeking him for the wrong reasons -they wanted a free meal (John 6:26).
“Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life…” He told them (John 6:27).
“…My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world…I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6: 32-35).
Speaking of the future Passover symbols of the bread and wine picturing his body and blood, Jesus Christ said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day… abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:54-56).
In Romans 6:1-6, Paul shows that once we are symbolically united with Christ in death through baptism, “we should no longer be slaves of sin” but “should walk in newness of life.”
The bread we eat at Passover demonstrates our commitment to live in Christ and allow him to live in us.
The apostle Paul described this commitment in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Paul understood that controlling his own life was no longer important. His relationship with Jesus Christ, surrendering his life to the one who had willingly given his life for Paul, was now far more important to him.
The apostle John described this relationship very succinctly: “Now by this we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He who says, ‘I know him,’ and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked” (1 John 2:3-6).
The Passover bread reminds us that Jesus Christ, the true “bread of life,” must also live in us, making it possible for us to walk in newness of life, living just as he lived.
The Passover wine
Why did Jesus command his disciples to drink wine as a symbol of his blood? What meanings are wrapped up in this extraordinary analogy that is vital to our understanding when we drink the wine at Passover?
Notice the meaning Jesus gave to the Passover wine: “Then he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matthew 26:27-29).
What does Christ want us to understand about his shed blood?
First, Christ knew that our drinking wine as a symbol of his shed blood would impress indelibly in our minds his death for the forgiveness of our sins. “This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:25).
God forgives our sins through Jesus’ blood. We are taught that “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Jesus Christ “loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood” (Revelation 1:5). Christians normally understand this basic tenet of faith-that our sins are forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ-but not all professing Christians fully comprehend how this is so. Let’s be sure we understand.
Paul explains that “according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22).
In the context of the Old Testament, God instructed the priesthood to foreshadow the shedding of Christ’s blood by a system of cleansing and purification through the blood of sacrificed animals.
He commanded the nation of Israel to undertake this temporary system of the ritualistic cleansing from sins (Hebrews 9:9-10). Animal sacrifices served as types of the one and only future sacrifice, Jesus Christ, who would pay the penalty for the sins of everyone once and for all.
