The Answerer

Basically, it was a part of God's 'Rescue Package' to bring us back to Him. Seems strange but it's true. If Jesus had not died, there would be no world changing resurrection of Jesus from the grave. Christianity would simply be another 'good set of rules and ideas to live by'. There are plenty of them around. God's love, and Jesus' love, was shown to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus. An illustration: Somebody does something bad, really bad. The police cannot find him and the public complain that the police cannot find the criminal and are under pressure to catch one. They finally do, but the man is innocent. No matter - we have a suspect and false charges make him seem guilty. He goes to jail and the public are happy. He has become the 'fall guy' for the real criminal and pays the price with his time in jail. Jesus volunteered to be the 'fall guy' for us. A 'sacrificial lamb' is another example of an innocent one paying the price of someone else's crime. We could not get to heaven by our own efforts. Jesus paid the price for our sins to get us there.