The basic problem that man has is that he is estranged from God. He needs to be set right with God. The way to accomplish this (ST 1/20/90) is by a revelation of God.

Satan chose to make himself king, as it were, wishing to be in the place of God. In so doing, he set in motion the principle of selfishness, which is the law of sin and death. The law of life of the universe is to receive from the hand of God, and give back, to God Himself (first table of 10 commandments) or one's neighbor (second table of 10 commandments).

In order to win homage to himself, Satan resorted to deception. He represented God as having his own attributes (stern, harsh, sever, getting his way by force, etc.). Thus he deceived angels. Thus he deceived men.

In order to redeem man, it was necessary that the truth be made known. This truth involves the truth about:

1.God
2.Satan
3.Sin
4.Death
5.Ourselves

Christ's mission was to reveal the truth.

It's a mistake to separate Christ's death from His life, as if it could be considered as a separate element unrelated from His life. His life gives meaning to His death, and His death cannot be understood apart from His life. So in asking why Christ had to suffer and die on the cross, we are implicitly asking, what was Christ's mission.

Christ's death on the cross was not an arbitrarily set demand on the part of God. Christ's death was the inevitable consequence of being delivered to evil men and evil angels. You will recall that attempts were made on Jesus' life many times, but His time had not yet come, so God did not permit His death prematurely.

To summarize, Christ's life, and death, were necessary that the truth might be revealed, regarding the items I mentioned.

Regarding justice being satisfied, I think Fifield described the idea eloquently. Any pardon which would not result in obedience to the law of God would be worthless. Here's an EGW explanation:



Here is speaks of justice being satisfied at the cross. What specifically happens to satisfy justice? Here are the things mentioned:

1.Christ presented to the world what humanity might become when united by faith with divinity.
2.Man is drawn to God, and God to man.
3.The sinner is drawn from the stronghold of sin.
4.In penitence the sinner cries, "It was my sins that crucified the Son of God."
5.The sinner leaves his sins, and through the grace of Christ his character is transformed.

These are the items mentioned in relation to justice being satisfied. I believe this is an accurate list. The last item, #5, is the bottom line (as what needs to happen, above all else, is that man be reconciled to God and His law, the principles by which He runs the universe, the law of life) but is not possible without items 1-4.

My previous post was quite detailed, so this one is less so. Items 1-5 refer to the list in my post previous to this one.



Because items 1-4, leading to 5, could not be accomplished without the cross.



In the sense explained by items 1-5.



Same answer.



Same answer.



Sin always leads to death. That's what sin does. As life follows obedience, so death follows sin. The sting of death is sin.



The slain beasts represented that Christ would be slain for our sins.



It represented that death is the result of sin. In figure, the knife represents sin, and the beast represents Christ, thus Christ's death comes as the result of sin. The fact that the sinner himself kills the beast brings home the point that it is the sinner's sin which causes the death of Christ.

You wrote - "We required the sacrifice of Jesus' life in order to be saved." Here is the context:

MM, I've written dozens upon dozens of pages on this! It's unfair of you to take this one sentence, which is a short answer to a question you asked, out of context and ascribe to it a different meaning than what I've given in the dozens, or hundreds, of pages I've written about this.

When I wrote "We required the sacrifice of Jesus' life in order to be saved." the meaning is the same as "We require 8 hours of sleep in order to be well rested." It's not a demand we are placing upon God, but that needs to happen in order for the desired result to take place.

Tom, how does your clarifying answer improve your position? Jesus satisfied our unspoken need before He died on the cross.

The clearest revelation of the truth was the cross. The cross revealed the truth about:

a)Satan
b)Death
c)Sin
d)Ourselves
e)God

It's clear that there were things that were not understood, even by holy angels, until the cross. In order for the Great Controversy to be won, it was necessary for the truth to be revealed.

Jesus revealed everything we need to know about the character and kingdom of God before He died on the cross. He said so Himself. The angels were convinced, way before the cross, that God is worthy of worship. What they observed on the cross did not change their minds about God. True, it confirmed what they suspected about Satan, but the cross did not change what they already believed about God.

This is from DA, the chapter "It Is Finished"

Tom, did you post this quote to support what I wrote above? Because it certainly does. Again, the angels were already convinced God is worthy of worship. The cross didn't change their minds about it. However, their suspicions about Satan were confirmed at the cross.

Satan presented God as having his own attributes. The truth about God could only be made fully known by making fully known the truth about Satan.

My point has been that the cross was necessary to make known the truth. However, the cross should not be separated from the rest of Christ's life, as if it were a separate act. It was the climax of His life. His whole life was a gift, a sacrifice, a revelation of God.