How Did Jesus Already Do the Work to Earn My Entry into Heaven?

Short Answer Version

He earned your entry into heaven by dying on the cross for you. In so doing, Jesus removed from you the burden of responsibility to do good works as a condition of getting into Heaven. He took that burden on Himself.

Jesus did the ultimate good work, good enough to be applied to you, me, and everyone else. In the process, He also did the ultimately hard work of taking on Himself the punishment of all our bad works.

The only condition on our parts is, you guessed it, believing in Jesus.

Long Answer Version

Jesus did something that stands as the most important event in history. He substituted Himself for you. He died in your place, when He was 33 years of age. It was just outside Jerusalem on a Roman cross. He did it so you wouldn’t have to die. He did it in an act of sacrificial love that was powerful beyond measure.

Jesus died on the cross in our place. He rose from the dead on the third day later. His substitutionary death was not for only you but was powerful enough to cover the whole world of people needing a Savior, throughout time. It was powerful enough to do the work of earning the way into Heaven for everyone who believes.

That is why you can consider Jesus not only your personal Savior. He is also called the Savior of the world. When Jesus took our place on the cross, it was to fulfill God the Father's desire to reconcile us all to Him. Here, "reconcile" means to take away the emotional and spiritual separation between a person and their Heavenly Father. When Jesus took our place on the cross, it was to fulfill God the Father's desire to reconcile as many as would believe to Himself. Unfortunately, those who refuse will not have that honor, as far as we can tell from what we know here on earth.

Jesus experienced the agony of all the wrongdoings that ever happened or will happen. He did this “in our stead”. Today we don’t use the phrase “in our stead” very often, but we do use the words “instead of us”. The two phrases mean the same thing. He died instead of you dying, and instead of me having to die. He paid for ALL our penalties, Himself.

This means you do not have to work your way into heaven or earn points for doing good things. God is not waiting to count all the bad things and all the good things you did and decide your future based on which number was higher. When you have faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, you can rejoice because your name is written in heaven. Jesus said that. You are on the guest list.

Not only His sacrificial death, but also His resurrection are part of the deal. He died as a substitute for us and so we are united with Him in death. We are also united with Him in His resurrection. He applies resurrection power into our lives as we are born anew, and that carries over all the way into the next life. It is a “package deal”.

You don't have to do good works to live forever. But you certainly can do good works, and try to be as good a person as you are able. God likes that. He is good, and appreciates it when we let Him transform us to be more like Him in those ways.

When we get to know Him personally, He puts the desire in our hearts to do good things, and become better people. He gives us the ability to live out the lives of saved and Spirit-filled individuals. This is because we wouldn't otherwise be able, not at the heart level, due to our limited abilities. He improves our hearts. One way of explaining this is that He ransomed you. He bought you back for Himself, when you were not a part of His family. He paid a high price for your adoption. He welcomes all who believe to be in His close, loving family. Salvation is a gift, not a burden.

A Few Scriptures of Jesus Doing the Work that Earned Our Entry into Heaven

God set it up from the beginning. We see in many of the Old Testament prophecies that Jesus would die in our place. Even from the beginning in Genesis 3, just after Adam's fall, God gives a prophecy that the serpent (revealed later as the devil) would “bruise the heel” of Jesus, but Jesus would crush satan’s head.” Jesus resurrected, and was not defeated. But satan’s head was crushed because the cross brought victory and sealed his fate, his ultimate demise.

In Genesis 22, the sacrifice of Isaac was symbolic of the death of Jesus. Genesis says, “God will provide Himself a lamb.” In Exodus 12 we see the next lamb said to be offered in sacrifice. It was unblemished, and its blood protected the children of Israel from death. The Passover lamb represented Jesus who triumphed over death on the cross.

In Exodus 12 we see the next lamb said to be offered in sacrifice. It was unblemished, and its blood protected the children of Israel from death. The Passover lamb represented Jesus who triumphed over death on the cross. Then, in Exodus 22, the sin offering was set up. A bull and two lambs would be sacrificed. The lambs would be sacrificed, one in the morning and one in the evening. This was to be a continual burnt offering throughout all generations of Israel.

The death of Jesus stands as continually and utterly effective through all generations. In Leviticus 4, a lamb without blemish was a sin offering assigned by God. When Jesus was 30 years old, He was called “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” by John the Baptist. Jesus was unblemished in that He was without sin his entire life.

Many other prophecies foretelling the substitutionary death of Jesus were made. The most famous is in Isaiah 53. The entire chapter is remarkable, but the following statement stands out.

"Surely, he has borne our griefs and has carried our sorrows. Yet, we esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his wounds, such as through being whipped, we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but despite such failures, the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted. Yet, he didn't even open his mouth; he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter."

Please excuse me for the long uncommon words, but in the field of theology (the study of God) the word “vicarious” means the same as “done in the place of”, also known as “substitutionary”.

The word “Atone” means to completely make amends. The noun form is "Atonement." The phrase “vicarious atonement” is the idea that Jesus Christ took the place of mankind, being punished for our faults. In so doing, He paid for the sins we commit. Thereby, He reconciles us to God.

The Lord, who is all-wise, has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all. When Jesus from the cross said, “It is finished,” it was this act of which He spoke. It was this work that earned your way into heaven.

When I received Jesus into my heart, I knew He was my Savior. Over a year later I started to grasp what it meant. I had many questions, and deeply studied these concepts in Bible College. It deepened my love for Jesus immeasurably just to know the extent of His demonstrated love.

I wanted to lay this out for you in the beginning of your journey, hoping you will start to understand how this good message of Jesus, though simple, is deeper than all other profound statements ever known to humanity.