The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was “made. . . to be sin. . . .” Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We are acceptable to God not because we have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and for no other reason. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the fatherhood and the loving kindness of God, but the New Testament says that He came to take “away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And the revealing of the fatherhood of God is only to those to whom Jesus has been introduced as Savior. In speaking to the world, Jesus Christ never referred to Himself as One who revealed the Father, but He spoke instead of being a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9 , where Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” was spoken to His disciples.

That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)— not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (seeGalatians 4:19).

Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for His Highest”

What resounding words,  Jesus was made to be sin. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the rightesousness of God in Him”. Christ didn’t die on calvary because He felt sorry for us, but out of obedience to His Father.  What an example to follow! Christ paid the ultimate price to be obedient to Him. Is it so much to ask of us to follow where the Father leads? To follow in Christ’s footsteps of obedience? It’s true, not all of us will face the sort of death and torture that Christ did in our walk with God. But to be completely and utterly obedient, means to follow Him even in those dark times when it seems there is no end to the trials. It also means to keep focused on our Lord, and not the trials and the hardships.

The first step of this walk of obedience is to accept that sacrifice that Christ suffered on that cross. Do you live your life as if someone else has paid the price for your sin? Or do you cling to traditions and superstition to get you through this life instead of the putting your faith utterly and completely into the Savior’s hands?