Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."
Acts 1:9-11

What did Jesus do for those He came to save? He died for us. But that isn’t all. We are considering five components of what Jesus did for the redeemed are absolutely essential. Previously we considered the fact that Jesus was born for us.

Number Two: He lived for us. Our Savior had to be sinless. He was not only conceived without sin (which He was, since He was virgin born); He had to live a life without sin (which He also did). By living sinlessly, Jesus was uniquely qualified to die for us since He had no sins of His own to atone for. If He had sinned even once in any way, He would have earned the wages of sin, which is the Father’s wrath. Since He never sinned, the wrath He incurred was unearned by Him. It was, rather, the wrath we sinners earned. Thus, He suffered the wrath we deserved, since He deserved none whatsoever.

A beautiful, often overlooked, aspect of Jesus’ sinless life is that Jesus didn’t need to live a sinless life to earn acceptance by the Father and entrance into Heaven for Himself. Why? Because being God, He is intrinsically sinless and therefore doesn’t need to earn acceptance with the Father or entrance into Heaven. By living a sinless life, Jesus earned acceptance by the Father and entrance into Heaven to give it to those He came to save. He earned it to give it to we who were not accepted and were not going to enter Heaven. He earned it to give to we who had no way or hope of ever earning it for ourselves.

The “active obedience” of Jesus in living a sinless life does not purchase our forgiveness. That was done through His “passive obedience” when He offered Himself up to die on the cross where forgiveness was purchased for those He came to save.

But more on that next time, when we consider that He died for us.