What Did God Get Out Of It?

What did God get out of it? What was Jesus' motivation for sacrificing himself on a cross?

If you had a child with a terminal disease, and you found out that they could be cured through a procedure that would transfer their disease to you, would you do it? I am the Father of 2 children and I would undergo the procedure and die for either one of them.

What would I have gained by doing so? I would have gained my child's life.

This is what God did on a cosmic scale through Jesus's sacrifice. It's interesting that the few times Jesus commented in the gospels on the "mechanics" of his sacrifice, he characterized it as a "ransom" -- 'no, don't take them, take me instead. "

On his cross as Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, in effect, absorbed the terminal disease Christians call 'sin' into himself, thereby destroying the power of death and evil. This cures all of God's children and ransoms us away from our captor. All that is necessary on our part, as it would be if I was saving my child, is for us to be willing to undergo the procedure, to allow the ransom to be applied to us.

So what did God get out of all this? He got his children back.