If Jesus was just a really good human being, then He cannot help us. While great human beings can inspire us, they cannot actually change us. According to the Bible, man needs to be changed - he needs to be saved. The bent toward sin is inborn in all of us. It is from his sin that man needs to be saved. All men who die unsaved will be held accountable by God. Hebrews 9:27 says, ...it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment. Consider these words from Revelation 20:11-12,15, Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds....And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. To go to heaven, a man's sins must be paid for. This is how his name is entered into the Book of Life. Revelation 22:14-15 says, Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. Revelation 21:27 says this about heaven, And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Revelation 21:8 adds, But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
Who is the "Lamb"? John 1:29 says specifically of Jesus, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! The Bible says that when Jesus died on the cross, He was like a lamb that is led to slaughter (Isaiah 53:7). On the cross, the Bible says of Jesus, But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him (Isaiah 53:5-6). The Bible says, ...'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved'... (Acts 16:31). If you will place your trust in Jesus and receive the salvation He purchased for you on the cross, you will be saved. You must turn from your sin and to Jesus to be saved. According to the Bible, there is no other way to be saved, and there is no other savior. I Timothy 2:5-6 states, For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all... Acts 4:12 adds, And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. Salvation is not something you earn. It's something you receive as a gift. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).
How is it that Jesus can save? The reason Jesus can save is because He completely obeyed God's moral law when He lived on this earth, and then paid the penalty for sin on the cross. He shed His perfect blood and paid the price for sin in full. Because of this sacrifice, all men can be saved. The Bible explains, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).
How can one man atone for the sins of every human being who ever lived? He would have to have an infinite amount of grace and power. He would have to be God. This is exactly Who the Bible says Jesus is. He became a human being in order to fulfill His moral law and to purchase our salvation. The gospel of John refers to Jesus as "the Word". It says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being...And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1-3,14). Colossians 1:15 says, He is the image of the invisible God.... Colossians 2:9 adds, For in him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form. Philippians 2:6-8 states, Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Hebrews 1:3 says of Jesus being God, And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Jesus proved that He was God and that He truly does have the power to save when He rose from the dead on Easter morning. You may say, "Well, how do we know He really resurrected from the dead?" Consider these proofs. First, we have many eyewitness accounts of His resurrection. Real historical people like Peter, Luke, Paul, and John actually saw Jesus living after He had been crucified. Someone has calculated that if you brought in all the eyewitnesses the Bible records who saw Jesus alive after His crucifixion, and limited each witness to only a fifteen-minute testimony, it would take 129 straight hours to get through them all! We all believe that George Washington existed, even though none of us has ever seen him. The reason we do is because there were people who did see and know him, and they told us about him. The same is true of Jesus.
Second, the empty tomb itself is a STRONG proof of the resurrection of Jesus. Everyone knew where He was buried. By historical standards, it is safe to say that Jesus was, at the very least, the most influential human being who ever lived. Why is there no grave for him? Certainly, if He had remained buried, it would be expected that His followers would flock to His gravesite. Yet, the Bible contains no record of His followers going to visit His gravesite after the third day after His death.
Third, many ancient historical documents written by people who were not followers of Jesus corroborate the historical accuracy of the Bible's account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Josephus, a Jewish historian of the first century, and Tacitus, a Roman historian of the first century, document the life of Jesus. Further, archaeologists have discovered letters written during the first century which make reference to Jesus from those who were not followers of His. The fifteenth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica says, "These independent accounts prove that in ancient times even the opponents of Christianity never doubted the historicity of Jesus..." .
Lastly, how do you explain the total transformation of Jesus' eleven apostles within a matter of a few days? When He was dragged away to be crucified, they all ran away in fear, and Peter denied Him. Yet, within a few days you find the apostles boldly preaching of Jesus. Something major must have happened. Everyone of the apostles was martyred, except for John, who died naturally. We know from history that many of them were crucified, just like Jesus. Throughout history, people have often died for what they think is true, but no one dies for what they know is a lie. The apostles would not have gone through what they did, if the resurrection of Jesus was a giant hoax.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life - John 3:16