Why did Jesus have to die?

 

Article by Victor S E Moubarak - Link HERE 

Why did Jesus have to suffer and die in order that we might be forgiven? Surely, if God wanted to forgive us, and to redeem us, He could have done so without Jesus having to suffer such a cruel death.

Let us first consider what is meant by "to redeem us".

Imagine the slave trade of times gone by, when free people were captured and sold as slaves to serve their owners as servants. Imagine a rich man buys a slave and then signs a paper which he gives the slave and sets him free. The rich man has bought the slaves freedom. He has redeemed him to his previous self. 

When God created us, He could have created a race of robots, all pre-programmed with His will, all doing as He would have wished. There would have been no wrong-doings, no sin, no evil; and everyone living happily ever after in Heaven.

But God in His infinite love and generosity gave us a gift. The gift of free will. He created us as free people able to decide for ourselves. He gave us the freedom of choice to make our own decisions and to do as we wished. 

And humanity did just that. Humanity rebelled. We chose sin time and again, from one generation to the next, we chose to sin.

God wanted to give us a second chance. He sent His Son Jesus to buy our forgiveness and to set us free and on the right path once again. To redeem our sins. That is, to pay the price for our sins by dying on the Cross.

This next bit is very important. 

Humanity sinned against God by disobeying His Commandments. So, strictly speaking, only God can forgive sins and no one else; since we sinned against Him. 

No human can take the role of forgiving sins; not Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah or anyone else. 

God wanted us to know that we can be forgiven by Him, so He sent His Son, (Jesus) on earth. 

Jesus is God. He is the only one with the power to forgive sin. 

(Note: In Matthew 18:18 Jesus gives His Disciples the authority to forgive sins). 

By sending us Jesus, God the Creator joined us and became His own creation. Jesus was born fully human as well as being fully God.

Jesus declared many times when healing people that their sins are forgiven . The Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes did not understand what He said and criticised Him saying that only God can forgive sins. They did not accept Him as the Son of God and reviled Him for saying so; and plotted to kill Him.

Despite  witnessing  Christ's compassion, mercy and love for His people, and the miracles He performed; His enemies still did not acknowledge Him as the Son of God and that He had/has the power to forgive sin. Because He was/is God.

Many today do not still accept Jesus as the Son of God.

"Philip said, 'Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.'

Jesus answered: 'Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?' " John 14:1-14

Eventually, the leaders of the Jews got their own way and managed to have Jesus crucified for claiming to be the Son of God. 

God knew all this would happen and that humanity would turn against His Son long before it happened. 

It was predicted by the prophets in the Old Testament many years previously. The prophets were inspired by the Holy Spirit in what they said and wrote. 

Yet God allowed it to happen. He allowed His Son to come to earth and be rebelled against and killed.

Jesus always existed as God; He did not just start to exist when He was born on earth. He always existed and always knew that by coming to earth He will be rebelled against and be killed. Yet, He accepted His mission in obedience to God and in love for us. 

I can appreciate here the possible confusion in many minds. 

How can a Jesus who always existed as a Spirit appear again as a baby on earth? This is one of the great mysteries of our faith; and I doubt anyone has a suitable explanation. 

In my mind, I think that as a Spirit Jesus always existed. His birth as a baby was as a human being. God decreed that He would be born of a human as a vulnerable child, growing amongst us, learning our ways, and living with us. Jesus was/is fully God and fully human.

Because of our sins, from generation to generation, everyone in humanity has to suffer. It is the price we pay for making the wrong decisions. 

For some it is poverty, for others it is some illness or ailment, for others it is the work we do, or the difficulties of unemployment and so on. Everyone of us has his own share of suffering that we go through in life.

It is important to note that this is not a punishment for our own personal sin; but a consequence of humanity's rebellion over many generations and its propensity to sin; to choose evil instead of good. 

It follows, therefore, that Jesus, being human, as well as being God, had to suffer the pain and cruelty of a terrible death. Not because of His own personal sins; because He was without sin. But because of the consequences of humanity's sins throughout the generations. 

Sinning humans rebelled against Him and put Him to death; thus fulfilling the prophesies about Him which God knew about all along.

When Jesus prayed to His Father in the garden on the Mount of Olives "not my will, however, but your will be done"; He meant, "not your will that I should suffer, but your will that they may have and exercise their freedom of choice!"

Later, on the Cross, Jesus says, "forgive them Father! They don't know what they are doing," (by exercising their freedom of choice).

When He hung dying on that Cross, God had not abandoned Jesus, but was there beside Him suffering the evils of mankind. 

It was us who put Jesus to such suffering and cruel death, not God. 

When we study the life of Jesus, there are more than 300 prophesies about Him in the Old Testament that He fulfilled in His life. Some prophesies He had no personal control over - like where He would be born, the manner of His death and suffering, where He would be buried. The fact that on His Death the Romans would not break His legs as they did to the other two crucified with Him. The fact that the Roman soldiers would divide His clothes amongst themselves and gamble for His robe whilst He hung from the Cross.

And God allowed it all to happen in order that our sins against Him may be forgiven.

But there is more to it than just Jesus suffering death in such a way. 

God wanted to show us that He can conquer sin. He can conquer death. 

He did so by resurrecting His only Son in order for us to believe. For us to know that He was/is the Son of God. 

The one Who died for us, to forgive our sins, to redeem us. 

And He was raised again by His Father, our God in order to glorify Him for ever more.