Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

Romans 8:3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent His Son in a body like the bodies sinners have. And in that body, God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins

A single verse containing four short sentences captures the essence of the whole Gospel message! John 3:16 is also relevant here - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Man can’t attribute “motives” to God. Admittedly it is not for humans to question the sovereign God’s action like why He did this or why He did not do that.  God makes it quite clear that “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8, 9). No one knows God’s mind (Romans 11:34). God doesn’t fit into man’s logic.

While these are all true, as Christians we are allowed to analyze and test the Biblical truth and hold on to what you learn. See 1Thes 5:21. Keeping this in mind I dared to raise the question “Why Jesus had to die?” and have tried to answer it.

The the true role of the Messiah had been known to our ancestors.  Predictory prophecies of the Old Testament have provided a number of clues to His personality and work. God promised to Abraham that through his descendant the nations will be saved. Job who lived centuries before Abraham said: “I know my redeemer lives”. The arrival of the Magi demonstrates the truth that the world outside Israel also contained people who believed in the coming Messiah. The concept of the suffering servant (Isaiah 53) who would build His kingdom in the hearts of the believers and rule through love was modified by the Jews’ wrong teachings over centuries and the Messiah was portrayed as a conquering hero who would establish an earthly kingdom.

Christ had to die because:

1. God’s holiness demanded a penalty for sin. As we emphasize the loving nature of God, it is only too easy to overlook that He is a terrible God, a wrathful God and a consuming fire.  He cannot tolerate or ignore sin.

Habakkuk 1:13 says  “Your eyes are too good to look at evil. You cannot stand to see people doing wrong”.   

When the sin of Sodom Gomorrah grew exponentially and reached heaven He decided to destroy the region completely.  Divine anger fall on the entire community of Israel when a soldier called Achan sinned by stealing the things set apart for the Lord. He, his entire family and animals along with the things he stole had to be burnt. Following his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, David repented truly and thoroughly and God had forgiven Him, yet he had to still suffer the consequences of his sin. 

The whole mankind had become evil and had been destined to eternal death.  

God, true to his nature, had to either annihilate mankind wholesale or save it by paying the appropriate price. Somebody had to pay the price, by meeting the demand of holiness, by absorbing God’s wrath. Who will do this? Who meets the requirements? In His mercy, He decided His only Son, the second person in the Holy Trinity, the Logos, would do this. But why?

2. Christ’s suitability. Christ’s worthiness, His “qualification” and his willingness made Him the natural choice.  It is not possible for any man to see or make contact with God. See John 1:18. When Adam and Eve sinned and were thrown out of the Garden of Eden, God had not given up on man but had been dealing with them through His Son, the pre-incarnate Christ -- much before Jesus’ Bethlehem birth. For example:

Genesis 18 speaks about a group of three wayfarers who visited Abraham. One of them tells Abraham that Sarah was going to give birth to a child within a year. He also informs them that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham suddenly realizes he was in divine presence. He humbled himself in “dust and ashes” and supplicate the stranger that He spares Him that the cities be spared the cities.

Genesis 32 – a stranger accosts Jacob and wrestles with him all night. The later realizes the celestial nature of the visitor and begs Him to bless him. The midnight visitor dislocates Jacob’s hip bone and names him Israel.

Judges 13 reports a similar incident. Sampson’s parents are met by a
stranger and informed about the birth of a male child.  He refuses to give them His name but agrees to be present as they slaughter a young goat as a sacrifice to the Lord. During the sacrifice, He climbs to heaven in the flame.

It is a fundamental premise of the Bible that there is no forgiveness without shedding of blood. The priestly sacrificial system (the blood of animals) was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.  The Old Testament saints could not do the job, because they were all stained with Adam’s sin. One of the angels or heavenly hosts was not chosen because they were created for a specific purpose. So God did what the law could not do. He sent His Son in a body like the bodies sinners have. And in that body, God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins (Romans 8:3).

3. In order to fulfill Old Testament prophecies. Jesus said in Luke 24:44 that everything written about Him must happen. Prophecies of Moses, the prophets and the Psalms contain prediction about Jesus Christ’s birth, His teachings, the signs and miracles He performed, His rejection and betrayal, the disgrace, shame and mockery He suffered, His separation from the Father, His death, burial and resurrection had all been prophesied in about 350 prophecies. The book of Isaiah alone contains 120 prophecies and the Psalms 80. More than 30 prophecies were fulfilled on the day of His arrest and crucifixion alone. When Jesus screamed, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He was quoting Psalms 22.

4. Because of our sinfulness:

Romans 4:25 says “Jesus was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God”.  He who never knew sin became sin for us  (2 Corinth   5:21). The anointed One became a curse for us by hanging on a tree. (See Deuteronomy 21:23).

The Old Testament sacrifice system Moses instituted was to teach men discipline, obedience, and sacrifice and to impress upon us the ugliness of sin and the need for redemption. Jesus as God-designated High Priest carried His own blood into the altar of Calvary and sacrificed Himself once and for all. The job completed, He sat at Father’s side. The High Priest who carried animal blood into the temple alter first sacrificed for himself and then for the sins of the people had to repeat the sacrifice year after year.

5. To defeat Satan through His death and resurrection. Satan controlled us through his power over death. Through the resurrection, Jesus neutralized this power. We don’t fear death anymore. God has broken into man’s life and we are not bound anymore to certain death and eternal separation from God.  

Romans  6:11  Count yourselves also to be truly dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our old nature was dead along with old works, old plans, old desires, and old goals. We are a new creation in Christ.  

1John 3:8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.

The warning of Satan by God in Genesis 3:15 that Christ would crush his head was done.

In addition to the above five reasons, there is another supreme reason Why Jesus had to die—that it was God’s will.  The Bible makes this clear in 1Peter 1:20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake; and Acts 2:23 This man (Christ) was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

Forgiveness led to freedom from sin; freedom from sin led to union with Christ; union with Christ led to God’s acceptance. God’s wrath and God’s love met at the cross and solved man’s problem.

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