Why did Jesus have to die?
The death of Jesus was not an accident of history or a tragedy that ran out of control. Scripture treats it as a necessity — something that had to happen — and the writers below press the question of why a holy God could find no other way to save people He loved.
Sin Carries a Death Penalty
The starting point is what sin has already earned. One writer traces the need for the cross back to the sentence God had passed, and then draws out who alone could carry it:
A. J. PollockGod in His wisdom passed the sentence of death upon the sinner. It is clear then that nothing less than death can expiate the sinner's guilt. Further, it is clear that the One who atones for sin must Himself be sinless, or else He would be under the penalty of death on His own account, and so incapable of dying an atoning death for others.
Until that penalty was paid, no one could be released. As another writer puts it, as long as the question of sin stayed unsettled, "death must continue to reign," and man must lie under the results of his own deeds "until there should be found One qualified, able, and willing, to take up his case and settle it with God" (Edward Dennett).
Love Could Not Simply Overlook It
Why not forgive and say no more about it? Because a God who ignored evil would not be loving; He would be indifferent. The cross is where both sides of God's character appear at once:
J. N. DarbyIf God judged sin only, then He is righteous, but there is no love. If He had said of men, "They are poor wretched things and cannot help it, so I will pardon all," there might be love shown, but there would be no righteousness. It would not be holy love. But when we come to the cross, we have perfect righteousness and perfect love.
Gethsemane Proves There Was No Other Way
If any alternative existed, it would have surfaced in the garden, when the Son Himself asked for the cup to pass. One writer sets that prayer against the fixed character of God:
The Bible TreasuryNow, if it could ever have been possible for God to waive a fraction of His righteousness, it would have been done then, at the request of His own beloved Son. But that was an impossibility. You could sooner see the sun drop out of the centre of our system and leave us all in darkness and confusion. The law of gravity could more easily be abandoned than God swerve a hair's breadth from His righteousness.
He Drank the Cup That Belonged to Us
What made that cup so terrible was not the nails but what it contained. He measured it, and He knew who would drink it if He did not:
W. T. P. WolstonIt was all God's judgment against sin. If He drank it He must be forsaken of God, and be cast off, upon the cross… He knew that if He did not drink that cup of judgment upon the cross, you and I would have to drink it in eternity. If He did not drink the cup in our place and stead, there was no deliverance, no salvation, no pardon, no cleansing, possible for you and me.
God Was Glorified Where He Had Been Dishonoured
The cross did more than clear our record. It put God's whole character on public display in the one place where sin had called it into question:
Hamilton SmithBut to glorify God He must be made sin, and go into the place of death. "The heavens declare the glory of God" as Creator, with infinite wisdom and power, but they cannot declare the glory of His moral Being. For this the Son of Man must suffer, so that by those sufferings every attribute of God may receive its highest expression. By the cross the majesty of God is vindicated, the truth of God maintained, the righteousness of God is seen in the judgment of sin. The holiness that demanded such a sacrifice, and the love that gave it, shine at their brightest.
He Died to Have Others With Him
Jesus compared Himself to a seed that stays alone unless it is buried. Writers read that as His own desire, not just a duty:
An Outline of Sound WordsJesus did not wish to be alone; He desired companions; but His companions must be like Him, and the only way to secure them was, like the grain of wheat, to enter into death. This the Lord has done, and how brightly His glory shines in bringing His own into His own place.
His Death Broke Death's Power
The last purpose reaches past forgiveness into fear. By dying, He disarmed the one who held death as a weapon:
J. T. MawsonThe gospel has brought a wonderful peace to our souls, for it has told us the news of Him who shared in flesh and blood so that, through death, He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery… He has taken the sting out of death, and robbed the grave of its victory.
Summary
- Debt. Death is the penalty sin earned, so nothing less than death could expiate guilt — and only a sinless Person could pay it for someone else.
- Dilemma. God could not pardon by ignoring evil; at the cross righteousness and love are both perfect, neither one sacrificed to the other.
- Decision. Gethsemane settles it: the Son asked, and the answer was no, because God will not swerve a hair's breadth from His righteousness.
- Display. Creation shows God's power; only the cross reveals His moral being — majesty, truth, righteousness, holiness and love at their brightest.
- Delivery. He died to have companions like Himself, and to strip the devil of the power of death, freeing those held all their lives by fear of it.