Jesus actually had avoided capture or death at the hands of His enemies on several occasions, but as He approached Jerusalem for the last time He knew His work was almost finished. “My appointed time is near,” He said shortly before His arrest (Matthew 26:18).

Why did He not escape? The reason is because He knew God had sent Him into the world for one reason: To become the complete and final sacrifice for our sins. This could only be accomplished if He endured the judgment and death we all deserve for our sins — and this is exactly what happened when He went to the cross.

He was without sin — but on the cross all our sins were placed on Him, and He died in our place. If He hadn’t done this we would have no hope of eternal life, because our sins would have kept us out of heaven. But He did go to the cross — and because of that, we can be saved. The Bible says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

During this Easter season, may we all pause and thank God that Jesus Christ did not refuse to go to the cross, but gave His life for us. And may we turn to Him in repentance and faith, and give our lives to Him. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).