When we look at the cross the first question to ask is “who was the angry party here”? The angry party was man’s fallen mindset, not God. When Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they identified themselves with natural corruptible creation instead of the incorruptible likeness and image of God, which action led to death. In their own minds, they became enemies of God, while in actual fact He was not their enemy, He was still searching for them in the Garden of Eden. They perceived God as being angry, and that they needed to appease Him by a sacrifice – which mindset was continued, carried over into the times when people believed in false gods, also trying to appease them with sacrifices. The second question is: “what was the demand”? Jesus came to reveal the Father. God’s true character is to love, not to want sacrifice and burnt offerings, as is stated in Hebrews 5. It was the law that demanded the sacrifice of blood. Having been born under the law, Jesus came and laid down His life to appease man’s anger, guilt and shame once and for all, so that we can start identifying ourselves with our true identity which is the image and likeness of God, our Father in heaven. God’s justice is corrective, not punitive; He always has our best interests at heart, His will being to give us life, not death. Death is the result of sin, not an act of punishment from God.
