According to Daniel’s prophecy, why did Jesus die?

“The Anointed One will be cut off but not for himself.”
—Daniel 9:26, margin.

At his death on the cross, Jesus was “cut off, but not for himself.” Jesus lived a perfect life, the only one to do so in our world. He died “not for himself,” not to pay a penalty for His own sin, but to pay a penalty for your sins and my sins and for the sins of the entire world.

How can we know that God has forgiven all our sins and accepted us?

“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. . . . ALL HAVE SINNED and fall short of the glory of God, and are JUSTIFIED freely BY HIS GRACE through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement [margin: taking away sin], THROUGH FAITH IN HIS BLOOD.”
—Romans 3:22-25.

The key points in these verses are: We “all have sinned,” but because of God’s “grace,” all “are justified” who have “faith” in the cleansing power of Christ’s “blood.”

Two things happen when we are justified:

• God declares us forgiven, atoning for, or taking away, the guilt of our past sins.

• God declares us righteous; “righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ.”

God’s way of giving us complete security is to justify us by faith in Christ. Jesus promises, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). All of us worn out by the struggle to be good enough, to measure up on our own, can find real rest in Christ’s gracious acceptance. All of us who are burdened by scars from the past and by an aching sense of inadequacy and shame, can find peace and wholeness in the Christ who at the cross opened His arms to us.