Why Did Christ Have To Die For Our Sins?

I think that we usually think of Christ dying for our sins in the context of Him answering the demands of justice. I would imagine that nearly all societies that have ever existed had certain crimes for which the punishment was death. But I think there’s a deeper reason than that. Christ is the great exemplar. He shows us what we must do to become more like Him. I believe that when Christ died for our sins, He was showing us symbolically that we need to allow our sins to die. Our sins happened in the past. They were choices that brought ourselves and others pain and sorrow, but we can’t take back what we did. There is no traveling back through time to warn our previous selves. We can’t take back what we did. But that doesn’t mean we have to keep holding on to that moment. Christ died for our sins to show us that our sins could be killed. They don’t have everlasting power over us. When we obtain forgiveness from the Lord and from those we have harmed, and especially when we have chosen to forgive ourselves, our sins die. They no longer have power over us. Forgiveness is the power to realize that our previous choices happened in the past, that the previous choices of those around us also happened in the past, and that while none of us can do one single thing about the past, we all have the power to do something about the present. Forgiveness is recognizing that our past selves our dead and gone, but through the power of Christ’s atonement, we have all been resurrected and reborn as new men and women in Christ. Things might have turned out differently if we had made different choices, but thanks to the power of Him who is mighty to save, things couldn’t have been better. We need to follow the example of Christ and let the past die, let all of those could have beens and would have beens and might have beens wash away with the passage of time, and then we need to follow the example of Christ and through His power be raised up again from the dead and become new creatures in Christ, a little wiser, a little kinder, a little more forgiving, and a little more committed to following in His footsteps. He will lead us through the valley of the shadow of death, but He will be there to comfort us, to restore our soul, and to show us the way to the paths of righteousness.