WHY DID JESUS DIE?

 Death is the common lot of all living, so what is particular about that of a man said to have occurred over 2000 years ago? Why did Jesus die?

There is controversy surrounding the death of Jesus. This probably would not have been if His followers had not attached special significance to a death non-followers attach no value.

Jesus died at about 33, at the prime of His life, we may say. Yet He claimed to have finished the work He came to the world to do (John 17. 4). That is a good example of ‘not how long, but how well’ one lived. David Brainerd died at 29 but almost all Christian historians and biographers mention the young missionary who, in his short life, touched the lives of Indians of New England.

What did Christ accomplish? Why did He die? The answer is: He died to set us free from sin and its consequences.

Sin attracts the death penalty. It is written “the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18.4), and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6. 23). Sin came into the world through one man and death came by that sin, and so death spread through the whole world (Romans 5. 12). Humans and, indeed all creation are in bondage to sin. This manifests in the catalogue of human woes we see everyday. They include sexual immorality in its various forms, namely, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, lewdness, and lust. Sin manifests also in theft, murder, greed, malice, deceit, envy, slander, arrogance, folly, violence, hatred, witchcraft, and many more. Sin has power. It enslaves. A bad habit indulged enslaves. So addicts are made.

We must note that the primary effect of sin is to corrupt, enslave and then kill its victim. Adam and Eve’s tasting of the forbidden fruit radically and irreversibly corrupted their entire being. So too, a virgin who gives herself over to sexual immorality never regains that virginity. She is irreversibly defiled. Drunks are made from a glass of the intoxicating stuff. Hardened criminals are made from a simple misdemeanor at home. Wherever sin is given the leeway, it corrupts, enslaves and eventually kills. Christ came to set us free from this.    

Christ gave Himself as a ransom for many (Matthew 20. 28). Ransom is payment for the release of a  captive. Sinners are the captive Christ is the ransom. His sinless blood shed on the Cross of Calvary is the redemption price. Unlike in life when ransom is paid to the enemy to release a captive, Christ did not give himself over to the devil or sin to set us free. He rather bore in his body that which enslaved us, and presented His blood before the Father’s throne signifying complete redemption. The fact of Christ redemptive act on the Cross reechoes through the Bible.

Christ Jesus gave himself as a ransom for all men 1 Tim 2 v 6

Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all wickedness Titus 2 v 14

It is by giving Himself over to death on our behalf that He destroyed the works of the devil who used sin to enslave us  (1 john 3.  8)

Why did Jesus die? 

He died to redeem us from bondage. In this Passion Week and beyond we must remember this and appropriate it. You don’t have to continue in those bad habits. Jesus died for you. He died to set you free. If the Son therefore shall set you free you shall be free indeed. Choose Christ today and experience total liberation.

God bless you.