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Question:
Hello! Please excuse me for bothering you but I have a question to which I cannot seem to find the answer and I would be very grateful for your help. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God that He died and rose again. There is one thing that I do not understand. How is it that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the price for my sins even before I as born and ever committed a single sin? And, if He died for all of my sins (past, present, future) how is it that I can still receive eternal punishment if I do not accept Him as my Lord and Savior? Was His death, burial, and resurrection the only way to pay for my sins and forgive me? Thank you.
The Lord Jesus Christ died for the sins of the entire world. As John 1:29 reads, “He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.
How was He able to do it? In the Apostle Paul’s epistle (letter) to the Roman Church, in chapter 5, he compares Christ’s saving the world to how sin entered into the world through Adam:
So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous (Romans 5:18-19)
God sits outside of time because time itself was created by God. (see Hebrews 1:2) On the other hand, God is omnipresent (He is present and active in all places at all times) and He knows the heart of every person even before that person is ever born and has ever committed one action; good or bad. He already knows the person’s eternal outcome before he or she is born or has done anything. That is why Paul writes what he writes in Romans:
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren ; and these whom He predestined, He also called ; and these whom He called, He also justified ; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30)
In Paul’s epistle to the Church in Ephesus, he writes that God’s decisions were already made before the foundation of the world.
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:4-6)
The next logical question is, “if Jesus Christ died for all of my sins, then why am I still warned of eternal judgment?”
Even though Christ did die for the sins of every man, not everyone will receive this gift from God even though all people will be resurrected.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order : Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, (I Corinthians 15:22-23)
We see that all people will be resurrected but not all have the same results after being resurrected. Daniel sheds some light on the subject:
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)
Why? Because eternal life in the presence of God is only for those who believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him as their Lord and Savior; He died to save those who believe in Him. (see John 3:15-16)
Jesus Christ’s first advent was for a reason; to save people from the terrible “Day of the Lord” which is a great day of judgment:
“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. “He who believes in Him is not judged ; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:17-18)
We see that judgment is for those who did not believe in the Son of God, the One who died for their sins.
In the book of Revelation chapter 20 verses 11-15, this judgment is described. According to this text, people will be judged on this day of judgment based on their actions while living on this earth because their names were not found in the book of life:
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened ; and another book was opened, which is the book of life ; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11-15)
As you can see, this warning of judgment is for those who do not believe in the Son of God, Jesus Christ; the One who died for their sins. They will be judged for the way that they lived, especially based on the fact that they did not believe in the Name of the only Son of God, Jesus Christ, who died in their place for their sins.
Translation by: Erik Brewer