I John 3:16 “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
One of the most astonishing truths of Christian Doctrine is that the Son of God “laid down his life for us”! It is true that the Jewish and Roman authorities had him Crucified, but when the moment of death came, the Crucifixion did not take His life, our Lord sacrificed Himself, He freely and willingly gave His life to satisfy the wrath of God against our sinfulness and sin. Isaiah prophesied, “He (God the Father) shall see of the travail of his (Jesus Christ) soul, and shall be satisfied: by his (Jesus Christ) knowledge shall my righteous servant (Jesus Christ) justify many; for he (Jesus Christ) shall bear their iniquities.” (Isaiah 53:11). Our Lord explained His Death this way: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” (John 10:17-18). In the moments just before our Lord Sacrificed Himself, Paul explains that an amazing thing happened: “he (God) hath made him (Jesus Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (Jesus Christ)” (II Corinthians 5:21)! The Old Testament Scapegoat (Leviticus 16:8-26) illustrated and prophesied that sin would be entirely removed from the Children of God; and, in that Holy Moment, our Most Beloved Lord Jesus Christ was “made … to be sin for us” and in that moment He judicially and entirely removed our “sin” from before God so that we now appear before our most Righteous Judge perfect and without sin and fit for Eternal Heaven with Him. That moment was so traumatic that our Savior “cried with a loud voice … My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). No animal or other human was fit for this Sacrifice; furthermore, no other human priest could perform such a duty, only the “High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus” (Hebrews 3:1) possessed the Power, the Authority, and the Worthiness to offer such a Sacrifice. It is important to note that Jesus Christ is our King, is our High Priest, and He is our Sacrifice; and God our Heavenly Father is “well pleased” (Matthew 3:17) in Him; for, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)! While we can barely comprehend such a Grand Thing, we now greatly rejoice that our Lord, Himself “hath” fully and eternally “saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” II Timothy 1:9)!