Why the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Were Necessary to Save Us
Last year, President Biden used Holy Week to honor the Transgender Day of Visibility. This year, President Trump has returned us to our American roots by dedicating Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday to the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you need any proof of the difference in administrations, look no further. President Biden’s proclamation oozed “wokeness” and an atheistic worldview. President Trump’s expresses the beauty and wonder of Jesus’ death and resurrection and its centrality to history.
Following is the new administration’s proclamation–and why the cross and resurrection of Jesus were necessary to save us.
Why the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Were Necessary to Save Us
President Trump’s fifth Holy Week proclamation is the clearest expression of “Easter” I’ve seen in my lifetime from a U.S. commander-in-chief (including Ronald Reagan). Here it is in its entirety:
This Holy Week, Melania and I join in prayer with Christians celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—the living Son of God who conquered death, freed us from sin, and unlocked the gates of Heaven for all of humanity.
Beginning with Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and culminating in the Paschal Triduum, which begins on Holy Thursday with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, followed by Good Friday, and reaching its pinnacle in the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night. This week is a time of reflection for Christians to memorialize Jesus’ crucifixion—and to prepare their hearts, minds, and souls for His miraculous Resurrection from the dead.
During this sacred week, we acknowledge that the glory of Easter Sunday cannot come without the sacrifice Jesus Christ made on the cross. In His final hours on Earth, Christ willingly endured excruciating pain, torture, and execution on the cross out of a deep and abiding love for all His creation. Through His suffering, we have redemption. Through His death, we are forgiven of our sins. Through His Resurrection, we have hope of eternal life. On Easter morning, the stone is rolled away, the tomb is empty, and light prevails over darkness—signaling that death does not have the final word.
This Holy Week, my Administration renews its promise to defend the Christian faith in our schools, military, workplaces, hospitals, and halls of government. We will never waver in safeguarding the right to religious liberty, upholding the dignity of life, and protecting God in our public square.
As we focus on Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, we look to His love, humility, and obedience—even in life’s most difficult and uncertain moments. This week, we pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our beloved Nation. We pray that America will remain a beacon of faith, hope, and freedom for the entire world, and we pray to achieve a future that reflects the truth, beauty, and goodness of Christ’s eternal kingdom in Heaven.
May God bless you and your family during this special time of year and may He continue to bless the United States of America.
You could teach the main elements of this proclamation in any Sunday School class in the USA. Regardless of what you think of our current president, the 2025 Holy Week proclamation shouts out the truth that Jesus died for our sins, rose from the dead, that we need a Holy Spirit revival in our nation to continue to be “a beacon of faith, hope, and freedom for the entire world.”
Amen.
But why did the God who made the universe become a human being, die a tortuous death on a cross for our sins, and then come alive again? Why did Jesus have to die? What was so important about his resurrection?
Atonement
The atonement in Christ is the greatest act of history–and probably has a bearing in many worlds and will throughout all eternity. It is so magnificent that it is something into which “angels long to look” (1 Peter 1:12). For thousands of years, most human beings understand the concept of atonement via animal sacrifices.
Modern folks do not.
Atonement means “to cover, to change or exchange, for one thing to cease and another to take its place, to restore to favor.” In the biblical story, Jesus, the Son of God, substituted his own sufferings in the place of our penalty (eternal separation from God) to “cover” our debt or sins.
It was God’s way of proclaiming to the universe: “Don’t worry. It’s covered. You can be reconciled to Me.” But why was it needed?
There are many reasons for the necessity of the Cross. I only have space to mention four problems that arise from God’s position as King of the Universe:
- The Problem of Justice – How can God wisely forgive anyone without his character and law being questioned and His kingdom collapsing? This is the problem of law and justice. When you forgive sin (or crime), you bring into question whether you are just, whether the law is good, and encourage more rebellion. This was the problem Darius faced when wanting to pardon Daniel (Daniel 6). He failed to find an answer.
- The Problem of Friendship – How can we come back to God without deeply knowing how our sin has affected Him and the entire world? The cross demonstrates both the justice and the compassion of God (his great love).
- The Problem of Pride – God can’t reveal himself to an arrogant heart. He must find a way to break and humble the heart–to bring the person “down” to a sense of humility and wonder.
- The Problem of Purity – The inner defilement and power of sin must be broken and cleansed by a living ideal that reigns in the changed (repentant) heart.
The Cross of Jesus Christ answers these four dilemmas with an astounding triumph!
- Covering our sins,
- Revealing God’s compassionate heart,
- Humbling human beings via Jesus’ suffering,
- And providing power to live right through his Holy Spirit in our hearts.
Good Friday was extremely bad for God but good for us. We can be forgiven because of Jesus’ sacrificial death.
Resurrection
What about the resurrection? Why did Jesus have to rise from death? Why is that so important?
One word: Proof.
Biblical faith makes a revolutionary assertion: the Creator of the universe came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ and lived among us. According to both the Old and New Testaments, the coming of Jesus consists of nothing less than “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23)—not simply a guru, a holy man, a religious founder, a wise man, or political leader.
Jesus is the only figure in history to claim to be God and back it up by living proofs.
Permanent proof.
Albert Wells sums up well the unique aspect of the deity of Christ: “Not one recognized religious leader, not Moses, Paul, Buddha, Muhammad, Confucius, etc., have ever claimed to be God; that is, with the exception of Jesus Christ. Christ is the only religious leader who has ever claimed to be deity and the only individual ever who has convinced a great portion of the world that he is God.”
Jesus’ resurrection is the final proof “there is salvation in no other” (Acts 4:12). Only one religion is true.
The evidence is found in the unique and eternal resurrection of Jesus. It proves you can believe his words, trust in his book (the Bible), and experience eternal life (including your own resurrection from the death).
The cross covers our sins and the resurrection removes our doubts.
Happy Holy Week. Hallelujah.
He is risen!
