Ephesians 4.8-10:
Therefore it says:
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”
(9) (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? (10) He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)
We know from John 1.1-2 that Jesus was in the beginning with God. Jesus was and is God. Jesus was before the creation of the universe. And he was in heaven before he was born on earth of the Virgin Mary. Thus, the verses quoted above from the letter of Ephesians, using the picture of heaven being located up and earth being located down, affirms to us that upon the incarnation of Jesus, he came down from heaven to live physically as a man on earth. When Jesus was born into this world be became one hundred percent human at the same time he was and is one hundred percent God. His divine being was fully mixed with his humanity. Both indivisible.
The purpose of Jesus descending from heaven to earth was so that he would live a perfect, sinless life and once for all pay the penalty for all of the sin of all of the world. Perhaps we don’t fully understand all of why the forgiveness of sin requires the shedding of blood, but it does relate to the holiness of God. Forgiveness of sin is expensive. A portion of Hebrews 12.14 says, “without holiness no one will see the Lord.”(NIV) It is a holiness that only comes from faith in Jesus.
By means of the Old Testament, God established the sacrificial system as the way people could have their sins forgiven. But for approximately 1500 years of experience, the people of Israel demonstrated that they were unable to faithfully carry out the requirements of the Old Testament. Jesus came down to earth so that he could, by his death on the cross, once for all satisfy God’s Law. He did so by his blood and established the New Covenant.