How do we know Christ's substitutionary sacrifice is true?

The truth of Christ's substitutionary sacrifice is grounded in the authority of Scripture and the prophetic foreshadowing of His death. Throughout the Old Testament, we see multiple prophecies that anticipate a suffering Messiah who would take upon Himself the sins of the people (Isaiah 53). In the New Testament, the Gospels narrate the fulfillment of these prophecies, particularly in the accounts of Jesus' crucifixion and the theological interpretations of His death provided by apostles such as Paul and Peter.

Moreover, the doctrine of substitution highlights that Jesus, being without sin, willingly took on the sins of humanity, fulfilling God's righteous requirement for justice while extending grace to sinners. Hebrews 9:26 states that He appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, which reinforces His role as our substitute. Thus, the cumulative evidence of Scripture and the testimony of the church affirm the truth of this essential doctrine, grounding our faith in the reality of Christ’s atoning work.