The Everlasting Covenant - 16.5 Why Did Jesus Die?

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16.5 Why Did Jesus Die?
by Hubert F. Sturges, www.everlastingcovenant.com, December 2009

Topics:
Why Did Jesus Die?
Yet He Still Came
The Hour is Come
The Last Supper
Example and Command
Gethsemane

Why Did Jesus Die?

This is a crucial question that is not often clear to human understanding. To explain this mystery we must first know why He came. Before the “foundation of the world,” before creation, it was decided in the council of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit that Jesus would come to this earth. He came to do the work of the Father. This included:

Preaching, teaching, and healing—even to the extent of raising from the dead.
He lived as a man, a sinless life, thus fulfilling the law given at Sinai.
He came to bring in the kingdom of grace, to change the lives of men and nations.
He laid the foundation for the church.
He showed that God is love and mercy as well as a God of justice.
He came to die as a ransom for every man who has lived.

Jesus, as a man, knew the prophecies of the Messiah. He did not wait for them to happen, but actively worked to fulfill them all. He was tempted as we are yet without sin. He died a sacrifice on Calvary making a complete atonement, paying the penalty for the broken law, for every man. He now stands for us in judgment, our High Priest in Heaven. And in His forgiveness He is making effectual the work of grace on our hearts.

But why does He do all this? From the human standpoint, we do not understand the depth of the love and justice of God. In His great love He desired that men freely choose to give Him love and praise. This free will, given to all sinless beings, provides for creativity in beauty, art, music, and praise. In their choices, life would take new unexpected and wonderful directions. Life would be more interesting!

God chose to limit His sovereignty to the extent that He gave men free will. In a sense, He “delegated” to sinless beings a dominion of creativity. The gift of His free will bounded only by His law of love is the basis of the entire universe. God was pleased with His Creation. He would do what was necessary to restore and to strengthen all that was lost in Eden.

Yet He still Came

Why would Jesus give up the glory of His position in heaven and become a man? This “is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). Jesus Christ, Jehovah, the great Creator God became a man! John 3:16, “For God so loved the world” tells us why. This is a love that man cannot understand, but we can take it by faith. He accepted poverty, rejection and death “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

• He was loved and popular with the millions of angels in Heaven. Yet He still came.
• Humanity scarcely understood the gift of the Son of God. Yet He still came.
• Mankind was depraved and in rebellion. Yet He still came.
• Immorality, even murder, was imbedded in heathen worship. Yet He still came.
• He could look forward to rejection and a death on the Cross. Yet He still came.

Jesus stooped to become a man, even a servant. He took on, not just the problems of humanity, but the problems of poverty, rejection, even insult as to the circumstances of His birth. He accepted death as a criminal. He stooped low enough to reach EVERY man. But when He rose, when He ascended to heaven, when He comes again; He will lift man to sit with Him in His throne (Revelation 3:21). Jesus gave Himself to mankind for eternity (9).

     “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5-8).
Mankind redeemed, more fully recognizing what Jesus has done, will spend eternity returning to Him the glory that He put aside, in praise, in song and in service. In the fullest sense, Jesus fulfilled the covenant promise made before the foundation of the world: “I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” He was, He is and He will be for eternity, “Emmanuel, God with us.”

When Jesus Christ lived on this earth, He considered His life a fulfillment of an agreed and pre-arranged plan. He is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (10).

In response to the call of God, He said: “Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:7). At the appointed time, Christ repeatedly referred to the fact that He was sent of God. “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son” (Galatians 4:4). When Christ was about to leave this earth He declared, “I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4).

The Hour is Come

In His ministry there was an increasing momentum toward a supreme event—His sacrifice on the cross. On at least four occasions during His ministry Jesus said “Mine hour is not yet come” (14). When the time of His crucifixion arrived, He said nine times, “My time is at hand” (15). The purpose of His life was to be the sacrifice, to pay the penalty for man’s sin. In this He succeeded and just before His death on Calvary, He could say in triumph, “It is finished.”


During His life, the Devil had failed in every attempt to make Him sin (John 14:30). In the wilderness while being tempted, at Gethsemane, and while on the cross, Satan failed to induce Christ to use His Divine power to save Himself. His sacrificial death on Calvary up held the law of God. The throne of God and the future of the universe was assured for eternity.

The 490 year prophecy of Daniel 9:24 was about to close. In the middle of the last “week” (seven years) of the prophecy, the Messiah would “confirm the covenant” and bring to a close the “sacrifice and the oblation.” The beginning date of this prophecy is established by the third decree, given by King Artaxerxes in 457 BC (Ezra 7). It was from this decree that Jerusalem was rebuilt, temple services restored, and local government established (Daniel 9:24-27; Ezra 7). However, this work was done only with much difficulty and hindrance from neighboring chieftains. It was not until Nehemiah arrived in 445 bc that work on the wall was resumed in earnest and finished in fifty two days (Nehemiah 6:15).

    “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Daniel 9:27).
Daniel gave the exact time when Messiah would begin His ministry (Daniel 9:25), and when the sacrificial system would meet its fulfillment (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 27:50, 51). Isaiah 53 prophesied in detail His suffering and death. These prophesies were well known, but the Jewish leaders ignored what they did not want to believe. They clung to their concept of salvation through the sacrifices and ceremonies written in the law of Moses and to their lineage from Abraham. They hoped for an earthly messiah to take the earthly throne of David and restore the lost glory and influence they had in the past.

The disciples shared in this general misconception. They often strove among themselves as to which of them should be the greatest in the kingdom. At the crucifixion, all these false hopes were dashed to the ground. When Jesus joined the two travelers on the road to Emmaus, He pointed out that the crucifixion was not a failure, but a great victory. Everything had happened exactly as prophesied (Luke 24).

   “Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
    “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-27).
It was only after the resurrection they were finally ready to hear, but it did not come easily. As they stood on the Mount of Olives, they had one last question for Jesus: “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). With tact and love Jesus told them that it was not for them to know the times or the seasons.

As Jesus ministry neared its climax, momentous events came in rapid succession. Lazarus was raised from the dead. The Jews now had their sign! A person who was undeniably dead had been resurrected. Instead of believing, the Pharisees and the chief priests had a council to plan His death. See John 11.

Then Simon the Pharisee had a feast for Jesus and the disciples. At this feast Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with spikenard, extravagant in amount and cost! Judas objected at the extravagance, saying that the money used should have been given to the poor. Jesus immediately commended Mary:

7 “Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
8 “For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always” (John 12:7-8).
Judas took offense at Jesus’ rebuke (Matthew 26:14-15). He went to the Jewish leaders and arranged a secret betrayal for thirty pieces of silver. The Jewish leaders were afraid to arrest Jesus openly because of the people. Judas would provide what was needed.

Six days before Passover, Jesus made a triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He cleansed the temple but did not leave immediately as He had the first time. He taught daily in the court (Luke 19:45-47). He did not permit any activity that was not in accordance with Mosaic law (Mark 11:16). All this was done at great acclaim by the people.

For several days, He held possession of the Temple. Jewish leaders were terrified, they expected Him to take the throne of David. But Jesus had other plans. With sorrow He left the Temple precincts for the last time. “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate” (Luke 13:35).

The Last Supper

Jesus and the disciples had a quiet, special Passover supper. See the story as told in Matthew 26:17-29. The atmosphere was heavy. The disciples knew of the evil designs of the chief priests.

    “Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee” (Matthew 26:31-32).
Jesus talked with the disciples at length, as recorded in John chapters 13 to 16. He washed their feet. They partook of the food. Jesus prayed His special prayer for unity (John 17). The disciples learned that He would be betrayed by one of their own number. It was a time of sorrow and foreboding. Jesus had become to them not just teacher and Messiah, but a much loved Friend. As they partook of the food and drink, Jesus invested the supper with special meaning. This was to be the “new Passover,” a memorial of Him, of His death, and a promise of reunion in the hereafter.

     “And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.”
     “After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come” (1 Corinthians 11:24-26).
In this simple ceremony, Jesus showed a side that needs to be seen. Jesus was human. He craved love and friendship just like the rest of us. He didn’t just want to be Messiah, teacher, and healer. He wanted to be loved as a Friend. Jesus was touched in a special way when Mary broke the box of costly ointment and anointed His feet. It was a rare act of love that helped sustain Him in the ordeal of the Cross. Christians show their love every time they take part in this service.

“The new testament in my blood:” In these few words is bound up the New Covenant, the Everlasting Covenant, the meaning of the sacrificial services and the Everlasting Gospel which would be their message to the world. All this and more was possible only because Jesus went to the cross for us!

Example and Command

Another aspect of this event is that the ceremony of the Lord’s Supper was definitely and formally established. Christians are to “shew the Lord’s death” whenever they have the Lord’s Supper. Baptism by immersion was also given to remind us of His death and resurrection. “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

The ceremonies of the Lord’s Supper and of Baptism were important enough that Jesus established each by His example and by His command. Did Jesus change anything else? Did He change the law? Of the day of worship? The Jews kept the seventh-day as the Sabbath. Jesus did not change the law or the day of worship. If He were to make these changes, He would have given us His example and His command, just as He did with the Lord’s Supper and Baptism.

The original purpose for the seventh-day Sabbath was as a memorial to Creation. To change the day would destroy this meaning. We are His by Creation and by Redemption. It is upon the truth of Creation that the story of the fall of man and his need for a Redeemer rests.

There is no question Jesus’ resurrection was a pivotal event. Without His resurrection, our faith is vain. But, He did not set apart the first day of the week for a memorial, nor did He change the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day. The Lord’s Supper and Baptism are based on solid admonition in the Bible. Nothing was said about a “first day sabbath.”

After the supper, they sang a hymn and then went out into the mount of Olives and the garden of Gethsemane.

Gethsemane

The crucial event in Gethsemane was the struggle Jesus endured to accept all that the sacrifice entailed. From Old Testament times instructions and rituals had been established to maintain the purity of God’s people, and to help them to tell the difference between clean and unclean, holy and unholy. See Ezekiel 22:26; 44:23. Jesus knew that sin separates from God. He knew that sin was extremely offensive to God.

    “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).
    “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he” (Habakkuk 1:13)?
Jesus came to this earth to live as a man. His ministry and His miracles were all performed through faith in the power of God, the Father. Now the time had come to “bear the iniquity of us all.” As a man, a human being, Jesus did not know but that sin was so offensive to God, that their separation would be eternal. But Jesus came to show us that in the plan of God, we don’t wait till we “know for certain.”

He knew the promises of the covenant. He knew the plan and purposes of God. He remembered the divine affirmations he received as “My beloved Son,” the refreshment of hours spent in prayer, and the prophecies that the Redeemer would be victorious over evil. After a terrible struggle, faith won the battle and He accepted the will of the Father.

This is the faith of Jesus, a faith that holds onto God even when everything is black and you cannot see to the other side. Jesus’ victory is ours. “Strengthened by the angel, Jesus goes forth to meet the mob” (The Desire of Ages, 693-4).