If Jesus took all sin into His heart and died, how did He go to Heaven?

Great question! The truth is Jesus never sinned. He (amazingly!) took the sins of the world upon himself as part of God’s plan to save us from being separated from Him forever.

 

Do you remember that in the Old Testament days, animals were sacrificed to pat the price for sin? The blood  of the sacrificed animals was traded to cover the sins of men. The animals never sinned, but were sacrificed in exchange for human sin.

 

Animal sacrifices, however, could never be enough to fully cover human sin. God’s plan required blood from a perfect, sinless person. This is because our perfect and holy God cannot be anywhere near sin. Of course, it was impossible to find a perfect and holy person since we all have sinned and fallen short of the perfection God requires. So, God sent His One and Only Son to be that perfect, sinless sacrifice in our place. 

 

Jesus took our place and endured the punishment that we all deserve, even though He had never sinned. Because of His sacrifice, God was able to us as if we were perfect and sinless like Jesus. And even though Jesus accepted all our sin onto Himself, He was still perfect and sinless! That is why Jesus was able to ascend into Heaven and is alive today at the right hand of God.

 

This is why we now can be sure of having eternal life with God in Heaven, because of Jesus’ sacrifice. Of course, we still have a part to do … though it’s actually pretty easy: You simply have to accept Jesus  as your Savior and accept His gift of grace!

 

If God and Jesus are the same and God can't see us because he is so holy, how can Jesus come and not make God not holy because they are the same?

Hmmm…this is a very well thought-out question. And, to be honest, I’m not quite sure what you are asking but here goes:

First of all, God and Jesus are the same person. In fact, God is a…get ready for a new word…triune being. Triune (pronounced tri-yoon) means that God is three separate and distinct personalities in one being. He is God, the Father; God, the Son; and God, the Holy Spirit.

This was one of the hardest things for me to grab hold of when I first became a Christ Follower. But, here’s a simple way to explain it: your dad is a father to you. He is also a husband to your mom. And, he is also a teacher in T.R.A.C.K. One person but three different and distinct personalities. Does that make sense?

Okay, the next part of your question suggests that God can’t see us because He is so holy. I think this is where the confusion is setting in. You are correct in that God is holy and perfect. But, God is also all-powerful, all-knowing and ever-present. Not only that but God is aware of everything and can perceive everything too. So, God can see us. Not only can He see us, He knows everything about us! God knows every little detail about you all the way down to the number of hairs on your head and the thoughts in your brain! He is with you all the time when you are awake and when you are sleeping.

So, now that we know God can see us, let’s look at the last part of your question. You asked, how can Jesus come and not make God not holy because they are the same? Remember, Jesus, even though He was a man, lived a perfect and sinless life. Jesus was holy just like God. I know that is hard for you to imagine because it is hard for me to imagine! I mean, c’mon! Jesus was a carpenter! You don’t think at some time when he was building something He didn’t hit his thumb with a hammer and get mad at the hammer??? But, you know what? According to the Bible, Jesus was without sin. He was perfect.

So, Jesus never made God “not holy.” And (here comes another confusing part), remember what we said about God earlier, that He is a triune being? Because God is holy and perfect and without sin, Jesus is also holy and perfect and without sin. And, because Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is holy and perfect and without sin.

So, just to wrap this up in a workable package, Jesus is God and is holy and perfect. He came to earth as a man but is still holy and perfect during His life. Because Jesus is God but is also a man, He sees us and experiences all the same emotions and feelings that mankind experiences and feels. Jesus, all the way up to His death on the cross, never sinned but took the sins of the world on his shoulders.

Now picture this. Here is a perfect, sinless man who ends up taking the sin of the world on His shoulders and dies on the cross for us. Here is a man who was with God His entire life but who had to be separated from God in order to take that sin for us because a holy and perfect God can’t even be in the presence of sin. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, experienced the separation from God that sin creates. This is the same separation from God that occurs when we sin against Him. Every time we sin, at that very moment, we are separated from God.

But, here’s the great news. Jesus redeemed us. All that means is that Jesus traded His life for us so that we wouldn’t perish but have eternal life. Because He gave His life for us, He provided a “bridge” for that separation from God. Remember what Jesus says in John 14:6? He tells us all that, “I am the truth, the way and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

My cousin doesn’t know if he wants to divorce or not and I want to help him with that decision by using Bible verses. Can you help me find some?

Thank you for your courage in asking a difficult question.

I suggest you go an excellent Christian website called Bible Gateway. Go to http://www.biblegateway.com/ and enter the Keyword “divorce” into Quick Search.

Quick Search allows you to see how many times any one word (like divorce) is used in the Bible. It shows every verse where that word is used. When we plug in the word divorce, we get 33 Bible verses. That’s a lot of Bible verses!

First, if you look through all those verses, a lot of other questions and issues will pop up, and I think it would be a good thing if you used Bible Gateway with your mom or dad so that they could help you right away with other questions that might come up.

There are a couple of big ideas that come out of all these verses. Here are a few of the important ones – (1) divorce happens, even in the Bible, even with God’s people (2) there are certain times when God allows divorce Matthew 5:32 (3) God still hates it, though Malachi 2:16 (4) divorce is not God’s plan for a marriage Matthew 19:4-6.

Much of what the Bible has to say about divorce comes from the perspective that God wants the very, very best for His people. He asks His people to be holy (set apart, committed to him, different than the world) because He is holy (perfect and pure). The whole book of Leviticus (which talks about divorce a lot) can be summarized in one verse "Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy" Leviticus 19:2. So God asks for His people to live to His high standard, not the world’s standard, because He is our Creator, He loves us, and He wants the very best for us.

Since your cousin may not know what the Bible says about divorce, probably the best way you can talk to him about this is to let him know that you care about the trouble he is having in his life. By showing him that you care, you will be the light of Jesus and the love of God to him. Even if it is not possible to prevent this divorce, we can always know that no sin is too much for Jesus to forgive. And please don’t give up on him. And please continue to pray for him. Most of all, I hope that your cousin can learn about how much God loves him, and begin to make his choices based on a relationship with God.

Even though I do encourage you to know what the Bible says about divorce, and I do encourage you to connect with your cousin and share your concern about him, the responsibility for how this all ends up belongs to God. It won’t be your fault if you try to reach him and he still gets divorced. That is God’s responsiibilty. I am proud of you. I will pray for you. Keep in touch. Let me know if I can help you. Thanks for a fantastic Apple Box question.