Why Did God Send His Son?

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which is translated, God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

I have a friend and coworker whom I see almost every day. He often comments about my column and asked me recently to deal with a spiritual question that has bothered him for many years.

“One Saturday,” he said, “I want you to tell me why God had to resort to such extreme measures to save us. I mean if he really is so all-knowing and powerful, wasn’t there an easier way to get our attention than sending his only son to die for us?” He continued, “Look, if he really makes the rules, why couldn’t he just say, ‘Okay folks, this isn’t working and I’m making a mid-course change’?”

The Bible tells us at 1 Peter 3:15, “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you.” In spite of Peter’s challenge, I wasn’t ready to answer his question. Instead, I told him, “I’m going to have to give that some thought.” But the more I thought about it, the more I realized the answer to his question was as simple as the plan of salvation.

It’s very important for us to realize that God wasn’t making a mid-course change when he sent Jesus to us. Jesus was present at creation. That’s why Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness’.” The whole point of this verse is that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all present when man was created. The same triune God we worship today has been here since the beginning of time.

Well, if there is no doubt that God’s plan was at work from the beginning, then why didn’t he just go ahead and send Jesus to us instead of waiting for thousands of years?

Before God could send Jesus to save us, he gave us enough time to realize that we can’t save ourselves from our own pride and folly. The fact is the Bible is full of stories about men and women who thought that they had control of their lives, only to realize that their destinies really depended upon the grace and mercy of God. From Adam to Paul, God’s point is that man is sinful and his sinful nature will never change. Real hope can only come through redemption.

This is where Jesus comes in the picture. Because Jesus was fully God, his life was perfect and he enjoyed unqualified favor with God. That’s exactly why God says immediately following Jesus’ baptism, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17) Jesus is the exchange which redemption offers. God gives us the opportunity to trade our sins for his righteousness.

God also came to walk among us as a man because he desires a relationship with us. After all, you can’t relate with someone, and they can’t relate with you, if there aren’t some common experiences. S.D. Gordon puts it another way in the book, Jesus Christ, The God-Man. “Jesus,” he wrote, “is God spelling himself out in language that men can understand.”

More than anything else, we also need to understand that Jesus gave his life for us and for God. He took our sins all the way to the Cross so that we could take His cloak of righteousness all the way into eternity. But what about God? Why did God give his only Son? My associate pastor reminded me the other night that Jesus didn’t die so that we could go to heaven instead of hell. He died so that God could live, not in heaven, but in us.

The Apostle Paul says it another way, “Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)