Why Did Jesus Have To Die On The Cross?

Last updated on: January 3, 2017 at 11:18 am by Jack Wellman

Why Did Jesus Have To Die On The Cross? 2017-01-03T11:18:47-06:00 Jack Wellman

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Why did Jesus have to come and die on a cross? Why was this necessary?

Why Sin is Deadly

The Apostle Paul reminds each of us who think we might be a good person that “None is righteous, no, not one” (Rom 3:10), not you, not me, not anyone! The fact is “no one understands; no one seeks for God” (Rom 3:10), because “All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Rom 3:12). Does this offend you? If it does, then you haven’t come to terms with your own sinfulness, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23), and tragically, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23a), but God doesn’t leave us there because “the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23b). Amazingly, even “while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Rom 5:10), “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:7-8). That’s exactly why grace is so amazing. Previously, “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isaiah 59:2), but for those who “have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Rom 5:9).

Payment for Sins

The author of Hebrews says that “under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb 9:22) and why in the Old Testament, the sacrificial system required the life of innocent animals to atone for those who were anything but innocent (meaning ancient Israel and us!). Why does sin require a blood sacrifice? Because “the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life” (Lev 17:11), but when Jesus Christ came, “he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Heb 9:12) but “how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb 9:24). Jesus Christ Himself “is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant” (Heb 9:15). Under the Mosaic Law and the Old Testament sacrificial system, God saw it as “necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these” (Heb 9:23), and so it is with “Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (Heb 9:28).

Why Jesus Needed to Die

Why couldn’t Jesus have just come down to earth as a Man and die for our sins without having to go to the cross and endure all that suffering? We already know that sin requires a blood sacrifice, but these old sacrifices only covered sin because “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb 10:4), so these sacrifices “can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near” (Heb 10:2). It was just that “in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year” (Heb 10:3) and that they could never remove sins (Heb 10:4)…only cover them, which is why they had to be repeated time after time, so “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1st Pet 3:18). Jesus’ death reconciled us back to God by removing the wrath that was previously on us from our unbelief (John 3:36b) and had to enter the holy of holies only one time. Jesus had to come and live a life of perfect obedience to God, to live a life without sin, and to make Himself the perfect once-and-for-all sacrifice that would never have to be repeated. By Jesus’ death, He “has broken down…the dividing wall of hostility…making peace…through the cross” (Ephesians 2:14-16). That’s why it says “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25), as the Father “loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1st John 10:4b).

Reconciled to God

Jesus became a curse for us and to reverse the curse that took place in the garden and became a curse for us as the Apostle Paul wrote that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). This is why “A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16). Imagine dying for an enemy? That’s just what Jesus did (Rom 5:10). The ultimate expression of God’s love for us was that He “loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). That’s why we can say, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) since “Christ…suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

Conclusion

Jesus tells us all that “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18) and later repeats something very similar in saying, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” or her (John 3:36). If God has never brought you to repentance and you have never trusted in Christ, you have the wrath of God abiding on you right now, and you or whoever rejects Christ will die in their sins and then comes the judgment (Heb 9:27), however Jesus says, “This is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). That’s why Jesus had to die and suffer after living a perfect life and why He was raised on the third day. If not, we would be eternally separated from a holy God for all time and have to suffer the consequences of those sins (Rev 20:12-15, 21:8).

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.

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