Why did Jesus come to earth?

 

"...I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." John 10:10

When our first parents were created, they had everything they could possibly want. They lived in a beautiful garden, where they would never have to work. There was no sickness or death. The animals were their friends and companions.

Best of all, God came daily and communicated with them. If they had proven their love and loyalty by obeying his one command, they would, in time, have been lifted to heaven to live forever with him.

Unfortunately, the humans ate the forbidden fruit, sentencing themselves and their descendants to the tragedies we must now all endure: sickness, death, pain, work and other hardships.

However, God still loved them and promised to send a Savior. God addressed Satan, the tempter, who had disguised himself as a snake:

" I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel." Genesis 3:15

Indeed, Mary's son, Jesus, would seriously curtail Satan's ability to harm the world and its inhabitants, while Jesus would only be slightly affected by Satan's schemes to destroy him. Jesus' death would shortly be followed by his resurrection.

The sin of our first parents was very serious, because they knew God personally. They had daily witnessed his glory, his goodness, his majesty and his love. Yet, in spite of this, they chose to disobey him. This mammoth rejection of all that was perfect had to be atoned for.

Because an infinitely holy Deity had been offended, a mere human being could never atone for so great an offence.

Only Jesus could do so. He had two complete natures: human and divine. As son of Mary, he was human; as son of God he was divine. Thus, he was able to stand in place of humanity and offer the supreme sacrifice to Almighty God. Because Jesus was divine, his sufferings and death were sufficient to atone for every sin that would ever be committed on the earth.

Jesus came to earth to restore our relationship with God. Because of his sacrifice on the cross, we can now access heaven, even though we may commit sins. We only need to express our sorrow and do our best to repent. All our sins have already been atoned for by Jesus Christ.

There was another reason for the incarnation. On our own, a human could never really know God. He is, after all, Infinite Perfection. However, God loves us and desires to have a relationship with us, as he did with our first parents. When Jesus walked among us, he gave us a human face for God. Now we can more easily relate to the Divine, through the person of Jesus, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity.

Because of Jesus' life and death, we do possess the possibility of obtaining abundant life, not only during our brief sojourn on earth, but most importantly, for eternity in heaven. Because Jesus came to earth, lived, suffered and died among us, we now have the opportunity to know God and to live forever with him in heaven. It's no wonder Jesus is referred to as "... the Savior of the world". (1John 4:14).