Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/8171

8171 The sacrifice of atonement of the man Jesus....

May 7, 1962: Book 86

He who allowed Himself to be crucified, He knew about all the spiritual and earthly hardships of people, which were the result of the guilt of sin.... And therefore He wanted to redeem humanity's guilt of sin, He wanted to take all suffering upon Himself, He wanted to help His fellow human beings in their adversity.... It was the man Jesus Whose immense love also brought Him the knowledge of people's wretched condition and its cause.... He knew that they would never be able to free themselves from their adversity because He also knew the reason for their humanity, their former apostasy from God, their creator, of their own free will. And this human being Jesus offered Himself to His God and father from eternity as a sacrifice of atonement.... He wanted to redeem people's great guilt, He wanted to clear their path to the father again.... He wanted to give His life Himself in order to give His fellow human beings the life again which they had lost through their apostasy from God, for they were in a state of death, they were bound in the power of God's adversary. And to snatch people from this power was the will and the work of the man Jesus, Whose soul descended to earth from the kingdom of light for the purpose of this mission. This plan of salvation was prompted by an overwhelming love for this plan, for He was in constant contact with the eternal love; He was filled with love for the father and this love motivated Him to travel a path of dreadful suffering and torment in order to atone for the guilt of sin which burdened the whole of humanity. And the love in Him constantly increased, the eternal love itself took abode in the man Jesus, Who prepared Himself as a dwelling place for His father, Who was love itself.... And this love dwelling in Him gave Him strength to accomplish a work of mercy which was and will remain unique.... that He laid down His life for people, that He suffered the most painful death on the cross and thus redeemed the guilt of sin for the whole of humanity, for people of the past, the present and the future.... Only love could accomplish such a work.... God as the eternal love was in the man Jesus.... thus God Himself had offered the sacrifice on the cross and redeemed humanity from eternal death. God's justice did not allow the guilt of sin to remain unatoned for.... God's justice also made it impossible to admit the sinful being into His kingdom of light and bliss.... And therefore humanity would have had to remain in its wretched state forever, because it could not free itself from it if a soul of light had not taken pity on its misery.... if a soul of light had not offered to make a sacrifice of atonement in place of the beings which had become sinful and to satisfy God's justice.... But this sacrifice of atonement was immeasurably painful, no human being would ever have endured this measure of torment if an abundance of love had not given him the strength to endure to the end.... if God Himself, the 'eternal love', had not been in the human being Jesus and Jesus was thus capable of the superhuman suffering precisely through the strength of love.... Yet the man Jesus suffered unspeakably and therefore paid for the great guilt of sin towards God, so that the path to the father became free again for people who consciously place themselves under the cross.... who want to take part in Jesus' act of salvation, who approach Him for increased willpower, for forgiveness of their guilt of sin and who also recognize and acknowledge the father Himself in Him.... No human being is forced, it is entirely up to him whether and how he accepts Jesus Christ and His act of salvation, but time and again he is informed of what the man Jesus has done for His fellow human beings and who it was Who accomplished this act of salvation in the man Jesus. And time and again it is pointed out that no human being may pass by Him, the divine redeemer Jesus Christ, if he wants to enter the kingdom of light and bliss again, where he once dwelled before his fall into sin.... Jesus has atoned for the great guilt, but He must now also be consciously approached.... He must be asked that His blood has also been shed for the person who makes this request to Him. The human being must voluntarily take refuge with Him under His cross.... And he will truly be redeemed from all guilt, he will be able to return home to the father Who longs for His children but can only accept them into His kingdom again when all guilt has been redeemed through Jesus Christ, the Son of God and redeemer of the world....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers