Why Did Jesus Die? 

What is the single most important event in human history?

Without question, it is the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. At the cross of Christ . . .

• God and humankind were reconciled.
• God's righteous demands were satisfied.
• What was lost by humankind in the Garden of Eden was regained
• Satan and his minions were dealt a crippling and decisive blow.
• Our salvation was purchased.

We can never talk about Christ's sacrifice on the cross too much, or contemplate it too often. Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper for this very reason, saying, "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19).

The Cornerstone of the Christian Faith

Scripture tells us that the foundation of Christianity rests in Christ's death and resurrection: "And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! " (1 Corinthians 15:14-17, emphasis added).

The good news it that Jesus did die and rise again—and because of this, we know that there is truly life beyond the grave!

The originator of a new religion came to the great French diplomat, Statesmen Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perlgord and complained that he could not make any converts. "What would you suggest I do?" he asked.

"I should recommend," said Talleyrand, "that you get yourself crucified, and then die but be sure to rise again the third day."

Christ's Crucifixion: Humankind at Its Worst

As the incredible story of the Crucifixion begins, we find that people had treated Jesus—God in human form—in the worst way possible:

• When the One by whom the world was made set foot on this earth, "the world knew Him not" (John 1:10)
• The eyes that sin had blinded saw no beauty in Jesus that He should be desired (Isaiah 53:2);
• At His birth, there was no room in the Inn, which foreshadowed the treatment He was to receive at the hands of men (Luke 2:7);
• Shortly after His birth and throughout His ministry, His enemies tried to do away with Him, but "His hour had not come" (Matthew 2:13).

Christ's Crucifixion: The Ultimate Sacrifice (Matthew 27:33-56) 

Finally, the hour of Christ's death had come (John 12:23). Jesus had earlier told His disciples, "'No one takes [My Life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself'" (John 10:18).

Jesus' road to Calvary began with a decision in Gethsemane.

While Jesus briefly displayed His power to His enemies in the Garden of Gethsemane (see John 18:5), He chose to lay aside His divine privilege and willingly go to His death. In this way He demonstrated His great love for us (John 15:13). Upon His arrest, Jesus was brought to the High Priest, then passed over to Pilate, then sent to Herod, and then returned to Pilate. Because of the unique charges brought against Jesus, He had become a political "hot potato" for the ruling Roman government. In spite of being declared innocent of all the charges brought against Him, He was still blindfolded, ridiculed and beaten, enduring the cruel scourging of the Roman whip. Ultimately, He was sentenced to death on a Roman cross.

The actual act of crucifixion was incredibly barbaric and torturous.

Crucifixion was not simply a means of execution, but also an instrument of incredible pain, anguish and humiliation. This method of execution fulfilled a number of Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah, or Savior of the Jews.

• The Messiah's hands and feet would be pierced (Psalm 22:16)
• The Messiah would have wounds on His hands (Zechariah 13:6)
• The Messiah would become a "curse" for us by being "hung on a tree" (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13)

In the Old Covenant, an animal would act as a "scapegoat" for the atonement of the peoples' sins but it failed to get to the root of the problem. Jesus—the perfect, sinless, Son of God—became the final atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 2:2).

Though Jesus was God, He was still human with human emotions. He clearly had the ability to feel real physical pain. Interestingly, when Jesus was offered the "sour wine mixed with gall" to drink in order to numb the pain, He refused
(v. 34). Earlier in the Garden of Gethsemane, He had contemplated a way to lessen the suffering: "Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, 'O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done'"(Matthew 26:42).

Jesus chose to experience the full extent of His pain for us.

In his article, "The Crucifixion of Jesus: The Passion of Christ from a Medical Point of View," Dr. Truman Davis gives this description of Jesus during His final hours on the cross: "He experiences hours of limitless pain, cycles of joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, and searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins - a deep crushing pain in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over...the compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues. The tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air" (Arizona Medicine, Vol22, March 1965, pp. 183-187)

The Seven Statements Jesus Made from the Cross

In this incredible agony, Jesus utters the first of seven statements He makes from the cross:

1. "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34).

Jesus made this statement following the thieves' comment to Him in Matthew 27:42, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save."

2. "Today you will be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43).

Jesus uttered these hopeful words in response to the one thief beside Him who had come to his senses and asked Jesus, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom" (Luke 23:42).

3. "Woman, behold your son...[Son] behold your mother!" (John 19:26-27, emphasis added).

Jesus spoke these endearing words to two of the closest people in His life: His mother, Mary, and His disciple, John. Even in death, He refused to think only of Himself.

At this point, Scripture records that there was "darkness all aver the land" (v. 45). The Greek word for "land" could be translated "earth," indicating the entire world. Several historical and extra biblical sources suggest that such a universal darkness did occur. In fact, history relates that in a report from Pilate to Emperor Tiberius, Pilate assumes the Emperor's knowledge of a certain widespread darkness, even mentioning that it took place from 12:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon.

4. "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46).

The horrifying presence of sin surrounded Jesus at this dreaded moment: "And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). To be forsaken of God was much more of a source of anguish to Jesus than to anyone else because He was absolutely holy.

Never for one moment during His entire earthly life did He ever step outside of intimate fellowship with His Father. Yet, this was something the Father had to do in the life of the Son so that we could come back into the relationship He desired to have with us from the beginning—the relationship that had been forfeited back in the Garden.

Scripture repeatedly speaks of this moment:

• "He shall bear their iniquities" (Isaiah 53:11)
• "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him"
  (2 Corinthians 5:21)
• "[He] Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree..." (1 Peter 2:24, emphasis added)

The Anguish of the Father's Heart

Imagine for a moment how hard this must have been for the Father. He loved His Son! Jesus never had a thought that was out of harmony with the Father's mind. His Son never spent a moment out of His conscious presence. He had never committed one sin!

We are given a glimpse of this kind of sacrifice when God told Abraham, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, . . . and offer him there as a burnt offering [to Me]" (Genesis 22:2, emphasis added). We don't know what was said between Abraham and Isaac in those final moments before Abraham raised the knife over his son. Nor do we know the details of what happened over those three hours when Jesus took the sin of the world upon Himself.

• Abraham took the knife in his hand, but was stopped in a last minute reprieve.
• God the Father, however, did not stop at the last moment.

God Himself took the great knife of His own fierce wrath against sin and brought it upon His Son.

Why Did This Have to Happen?

Jesus had to go through this ordeal because of the unscalable wall between God and man. God in all His holiness could not look at sin: "[He] is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. . ." (Habakkuk 1: 13, emphasis added). As a result, man in all his unholiness could not look at God. So the holy Father had to "turn His face" and pour His wrath upon His own Son. For Jesus, this was the greatest sacrifice He could have possibly made. Yet, He had to feel forsaken of God because that is the necessary consequence of sin.

5. "I thirst" (John 19:28)

In saying this, Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy, "They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink"(Psalm 69:21).

6. "It is finished!" (John 19:30)

This is Jesus' "battle cry of the Cross." Never again would He experience pain or be in the hands of Satan. Never again would He even for a moment be forsaken of God. He had completed what He had been sent to do (John 5:36; John 17:4).

The word "finished" is translated in many ways . . .

• It is made an end of
• It is paid
• It is performed
• It is accomplished!

What was made an end of? Our sins and the guilt that accompanied them.

What was paid? The price of redemption.

What was performed? The righteous requirements of the law.

What was accomplished? The work the Father had given Jesus to do.

Finished was Satan's stronghold on humanity

"...He has made [you] alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:14, emphasis added).

7. "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit —(Luke 23:46).

These final words signified the restoration of the relationship between the Father and the Son, but they also ushered in the new relationship we can now have with the Father. Immediately the veil in the temple, a visible reminder of the barrier between God and man, was torn in two (Matthew 27:51). In essence, God was saying, "Through the death of my Son, you now have total access into My presence" (see Hebrews 10:19).

What kept Jesus going when His disciples deserted Him, when the crowds screamed "Crucify Him!", when He underwent the horrible ordeal of taking on all of the sins of the world? You Did! Paul said, "[He] loved me and gave Himself for me . . ." (Galatians 2:20, emphasis added).

Why did Jesus die? He did it for you.

• He did it so that you could enter into a close fellowship with Him.
• He did it so that you would no longer live an empty, lonely, purposeless life.
• He did it so that you could be forgiven and free of an ever-present guilt.
• He did it so that you could know that there is life beyond the grave in Heaven for you.

Never underestimate the priceless gift God gave you at the Cross of Calvary.

Part IV