Since the release of Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ," it seems many people are trying to find someone to blame for Jesus' death. Yet Scripture declares that God has taken full responsibility.

In the eighth century B.C., Isaiah prophesied the Messiah's death. He said, "Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand" (Isaiah 53:10, NIV).

Why would God choose an innocent man to suffer and die on a cross made for a criminal? Isaiah explains, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6, NIV).

God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ to suffer and die for our iniquity, our inclination toward doing wrong.

When he met with a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council, Jesus told him, "you must be born again" (John 3:3). To be born again, Jesus explained, you must place your faith in the Son of God. Jesus hinted that he came to die on a cross. He said to Nicodemus, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3:14, NIV).

Jesus alluded to a time when during the exodus the children of Israel were being attacked by venomous snakes as punishment for their sins. Many Israelites died. After Moses prayed for the people, God instructed him to raise a bronze snake on a pole. When a person was bitten, he could look at the bronze snake and live (see Num 21:4-9).

The phrase "lifted up" is translated from the word hypsoo in Greek, and the word zeqap in Aramaic. These terms speak of crucifixion and literally mean, "to elevate" or "to execute on a gibbet." Jesus was in effect saying that his death on the cross would be God's provision and cure for our sin and the way to eternal life.

Jesus drove the point home to Nicodemus, and to us as well, when he said, "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, NIV).

God chose to make Jesus the way of salvation. Jesus willingly chose to offer himself as the lamb of God who would once and for all take away the sins of the world (John 1:29).

He did for us what no one, or nothing else, could do. He became the antidote for sin and death. He rose from the grave in bodily form to be our living Savior and Lord. He appeared to more than 500 people over a 40-day period before he ascended into heaven to prove that he had risen indeed (1 Cor. 15:6).

Whether you see the movie "The Passion of the Christ" or not, I hope you will find a church where you can revisit the way of the cross in a worship setting. I pray that you will learn to appreciate the fact that Jesus suffered for your sins, died in your place, and rose from the grave to open the door to eternal life.

Between the opening of the movie and Easter, I and several of my colleagues in other churches, will be preaching messages about the passion of Christ. Many of our churches will commemorate the week of passion with special services. Now is the time to become passionate about worshiping a God who is passionately in love with you.

Dr. Clark Killingsworth is pastor of College Avenue Baptist Church in Normal. You may contact him at cskillingsworth@juno.com.