Dear Conrad -- I know Jesus died on the cross so we could go to heaven, but what would have happened if he didn't? -- TYLER

Dear Tyler,

Great question! It gets to the heart of who God is.

Let’s first start with God. God is righteous and just. In our terms let’s say we have a judge and someone who committed a murder is declared guilty. Can the judge simply let the convicted murderer back into society with no punishment? Of course not. We would all declare that judge unjust.

It is the same with God. If God is just, he can’t just let crimes go unpunished. So someone has to pay the penalty for our sins - either us or Christ.

So if God didn’t send Christ, we would all have to pay for our own sins, and therefore we all get shipped off to hell.

Now since we understand God’s justice we can now understand God’s love. Since God didn’t want to send us all to hell, he sent God the Son in the form of a man to pay the penalty for us. So since Christ paid the penalty – those who have faith in Christ no longer have to pay the penalty for their own sins. Remember that Christ’s payment only is counted towards those who have faith in him. Those who do not accept Christ’s payment for sin, will have to pay for their own sins.

So to recap quick… God is just and has to punish sin. But he did not want to send everyone to hell because he is also a God of love as well as justice, so he sent Christ to pay for our sins. Now either Christ pays for our sins or we do. For Christ’s payment to be counted for us – we must accept him as Lord and Savior.