Why did Jesus have to die?
John 3:16 - 17
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
God sent Jesus His only begotten son for two reasons:
1. Mercy
2. Judgment
I wanted to give you the answer right now, so those of you who are watching your watches can go ahead and get to your reservations or hurry up and get home and kick your feet up and start the grill. But for those of you who want to learn the real meaning of Easter (Resurrection Sunday) then hold on to your seat and fasten your seat belt, the ride may get a little bumpy.
These two words that I just gave you are the answer to the pop quiz. There are no other answers, oh they can be worded in other ways but the truth is (are you listening?) THERE CAN BE NO MERCY APART FROM JUSTICE. Sin must be Punished; God Himself took upon Himself the Punishment of Man’s Sin, and regard those who, in gratitude accept the Savior’s sacrifice, as possessed of the Savior’s own righteousness.
Here let me take you back, way back to the beginning.
In Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
And of course you know the rest if you’ve had any teaching of the bible:
1. Day one - He created the light and separated it from the darkness. It was Good!
2. Day two – He created the Firmament and separated the waters from the waters. It was good!
3. Day three – He created Dry land and the grass, plants, and seed bearing fruit. It was good!
4. Day four – Sun, Moon , and the Stars
It was good!
5. Day five - He created the Fish and the creatures of the sea and the Fowl in the air.
It was good!
6. Day six - He created living creatures upon the earth, then He created man in His own image, in His image He created them male and female.
And He saw it was very good!
7. Day seven – God rested from His works
BUT something happened in Genesis 3
(Genesis 3:1) Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, ’You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?"
Long story short the serpent tricked Eve into eating the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil and JUDGEMENT HAD TO BE DISHED OUT (Separation from GOD, Death Physical as well as Spiritual).
And the story continues on in Gen 3:14 & 15 So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
Yeah and I know you say but Pastor that doesn’t tell me a thing about Jesus let alone why he came. I’m glad that you said that Turn to
Gal 3:16, 17 & 19 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "AND TO YOUR SEED," who is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. 19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator
Wait let’s not just stop there go to:
Heb 2:14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, Hallelujah!
I. How can one die for many,
We could possibly see one dieing as a substitute for another – We can see some justice in that, but for One to Die for Millions – How could it be?
With this kind of logic we could have died for someone and someone else could have died for you, or me. But Paul’s answer is that Men are not to blame for being sinners. They are born that way, brought into life without being asked if they wanted existence. Just woke up in this world to find themselves in a Body with a sinful nature. But, Paul goes on to say that the Founder of our race, Adam, (THE NATURAL HEAD OF the HUMAN RACE) did not start with a sinful nature. But Rom 5:12 tells us “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…”
Christ the Spiritual head through His death UNDID what Adam did if you would just take the free gift that God offers to all.
II. You may ask was there any other way for God to save human kind then by sending His Son to die in our place?
First before I attempt to answer that question let me say this!
A. That it was not Necessary for God to save any people at all.
2Pe 2:4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
Then we realize that God could also have chosen to save no one, just as he did with the sinful angels. So in this sense the atonement was not absolutely necessary.
BUT once God, in his love decided to save some human beings, then several passages in Scripture indicate that there was no other way for God to do this than through the death of His Son.
So We’ve learned that the atonement wasn’t absolutely necessary but once God decided to save some human beings, then the atonement WAS absolutely necessary. LET’S look in the Garden of Gethsemane Matt 26:39 Jesus prays, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will but as you will”
We are confident that Jesus always prayed according to the will of the Father, and that He always prayed with fullness of faith. Thus it seems that this prayer shows that it WAS NOT POSSIBLE for Jesus to avoid the death on the cross.
IF HE (JESUS) WAS GOIN TO ACCOMPLISH THE WORK THAT THE FATHER SENT HIM TO DO, AND IF PEOPLE WERE GOING TO BE REDEEMED FOR GOD, THEN TI WAS NECESSARY FOR HIM TO DIE ON THE CROSS.
Jesus said something similar after His resurrection, when He was talking with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They were sad that Jesus had died, but His response was in, Luke 24:25 & 26 "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?"
Jesus understood that God’s plan of redemption made it necessary for the Messiah to die for the sins of His people.
III. But Why Jesus and why couldn’t you or I die for the sins of the world.
Two reasons WHY:
1. Christ’s obedience for us, in which He obeyed the requirements of the LAW in our place and was perfectly obedient to the will of God the Father as our representative,
Christ had to live a life of perfect obedience to God in order to earn righteousness for us. (Could you or I do that or have we even come close to it (I THINK NOT)) He had to obey the law for His whole life on our behalf so that the positive merits of His perfect obedience would be counted for us. This was CHRIST’S ACTIVE OBEDIENCE
2. Christ’s suffering for us, in which He took the penalty due for our sins and as a result died for our sins.
So you see that through God’s Love for us that He showed us Mercy through His GRACE (unmerited favor), When He didn’t have too, but it was because of His LOVE that His JUDGEMENT was poured out on the only one who could pay the PENALTY for our sin JESUS the only one who obeyed the law completely THAT’S WHY JESUS HAD TO DIE, That’s why today we today we celebrate RESSURECTION SUNDAY. Because He lives we too can live. GLORY BE TO GOD
John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
