Answer
God is holy, eternal, almighty, and totally self-sufficient. He does not need any created being, but we do need Him. All of creation is dependent on the life that God alone sustains. “He makes grass grow for the cattle,” and “all creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time. . . . When you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust” (Psalm 104:14, 27, 29).
God, on the other hand, is not dependent on anything or anyone. He suffers no lack, knows no limitation, and experiences no deficiency. He is “I AM THAT I AM,” with no qualification or exception (Exodus 3:14). If He needed anything to stay alive or to feel complete, then He would not be God.
So, God does not need us. But, amazingly, He loves us passionately, and in His goodness He wants us to live with Him forever. So, 2,000 years ago, God Himself put on skin, came to Earth, and gave His very life to atone for our sin and prove His deep love for us. He paid the ultimate price to reconcile us to Himself, and nobody pays that high a price for something they don’t want or value.
Jesus certainly knew what was going to befall Him at the end of His earthly ministry (Mark 8:31; John 18:4). In His anguish in Gethsemane, as He prayed about the trials that would soon befall Him, blood-tinged sweat dripped from His brow (Luke 22:44). And Jesus surely knew very well the prophecy of Isaiah 52:14, “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness.” The Son of Man was flayed to the bone to the extent that He no longer resembled a human being. And that torture was followed by something even worse, the crucifixion itself, the most painful and vile method of execution ever devised.
As Jesus hung on the cross, His Father in heaven “turned away” from Him. Habakkuk 1:13 confirms that God’s eyes “are too pure to look on evil.” And at that moment, Christ cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).
This is the price God paid for us, and this is how we know that He loves us. Because of this incredible and unwarranted love for us disobedient sinners, we are offered eternal life. Salvation is a gift, given freely for the asking, because of the breathtaking, voluntary sacrifice by the one true God. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Once joined to Christ, nothing can separate us from Him. Romans 8:38–39: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Believers in Christ are made new. We understand the depth of His love for us: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
You, too, can immerse yourself in God’s eternal love for you and know the certainty of eternal life. Continue reading here to learn what it means to accept Christ as your personal Savior.
