There is a debt that we all owe that we cannot pay. Romans 3:23 (NLT) says "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. What is the penalty for our sin? Romans 6:23a tells us "For the wages of sin is death..." Finally, Hebrews 9:22 adds "In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness."
This all sounds harsh and cruel to us today in our "modern" society. God required a sacrifice of an animal without defect, such as a sacrificial lamb. It was a lamb without spot or blemish. It would take a very long blog to go into all the details of the covenant, but an imperfect lamb could not be sacrificed.
This is why we could not pay the debt for our sins to God. We are not perfect or without spot or blemish. Jesus is called the Lamb of God and he is without defect. He did not sin and he was perfect. He was sacrificed for us and shed his blood for the forgiveness of our sins. He did it once for all of us. All we have to do is believe in him and receive him as our Lord and Savior.
Jesus did not owe the debt he paid for us. We could not pay the debt we owed, yet he paid the debt for us. We are freed from death and given life eternal because of him!
John 3:16 (NLT) - "For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."