by ProfDave, ©2021
(Mar. 29, 2021) — Why did Jesus have to die? It is clear from all four gospels that Jesus had expected to die on a Roman cross from the beginning. While his followers stubbornly refused to believe it, he was certain the prophets had foretold it centuries before. He did nothing to avoid it. That he was a wanted man in Jerusalem because of his clashes with the religious elite and his claims to divinity were common knowledge. But he resolutely “set his face towards Jerusalem,” and did everything possible there to force a decision: was he Messiah and God incarnate or a blasphemer and imposter? By the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the Palm Sunday procession, the clearing of the temple, the week of confrontations with priests and scholars, he forced the Pharisees and Temple leaders to either accept His claims or find a way to do away with him. He knew from the beginning what their answer would be. He orchestrated the whole thing, to his last breath at 3:00 Friday afternoon.
But why? Why is the death of Jesus essential to Christianity and my eternal life? The following is what I gleaned from Rev Dan Whitney’s profound 2016 Lenten series on the Atonement. Some call it At-One-Ment. Earthly words cannot describe heavenly things fully. When we say “Jesus died for us,” it means more than we can imagine. Scripture gives us a series of pictures: sacrifice, ransom, revelation, rescue and reconciliation. None is complete without the others.
In the first picture, Jesus died as a sacrifice for my sins, and those of the whole world. The Bible is full of the imagery of blood sacrifice, beginning with the animals that died to clothe Adam and Eve, the ram who took the place of Isaac in the sacrifice of Abraham, and the exacting system of the Law of Moses. “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.”
These ceremonies are symbols, rehearsals, of the real thing. Jesus is the Passover lamb, “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” whose blood stands between his people and the angel of death. Jesus is both the Yom Kippur goats: the one whose blood opens the way into the Holy of Holies – the presence of God, and the second, the Scapegoat on whose head is placed the sins of the people and driven into the wilderness (Whitney, 3/20/16).
What is sin? At its most basic, any separation from God. Everywhere we look in the cosmos we see balance and precision. Even apparent freedom and chaos operate under strict laws and infinitesimal tolerances, expressing the intelligence and nature of God. No matter how high you jump, you will come down. Effect always follows cause, and “the wages of sin is death.” Every crime, every error, every deviation from His perfect nature must be resolved. The infinite goodness and justice of God demands it. No exceptions. Jesus, the infinite love and righteousness of God in human flesh, paid that death, so that God could forgive the sinner without violating his justice. The dissonance is resolved. The balance of the cosmos is preserved.
But do not mistake. This was no celestial child abuse. An angry, distant Zeus did not banish his child to torture and death. It is revealed to us in the Christian gospel that Father and Son are One. “The Word became flesh” and God Himself came down and humbled Himself voluntarily to the death on the cross – a sacrifice for my sin and yours.
Our sin is a problem to God. He cannot just allow it, because, as Sovereign of all things, it reflects on His holiness and justice. He is responsible. It would make Him evil and unjust. Jesus is not just deflecting the anger of an angry God. He is that God, bearing the unbearable.
Sacrifice is not the whole picture. We are too comfortable with our sin and too condemned to ever be forgiven. Jesus died to pay our ransom, to purchase our release, paying a debt we could not pay. By the first century counterpart of bankruptcy, we and our families are sold into slavery. Unless someone else intervenes. It is the national story of Israel, ransomed from Egypt, with a twist. God Himself provided the means of release. Israel didn’t pay Pharaoh anything. Jesus didn’t pay Satan either (as if God could owe Satan anything), but His death provided release from our bondage to evil and its eternal consequences.
Jesus died to give us freedom from the world order of debt. By His death we have freedom from the need to keep score, from the power of sin and death. We see God’s love and His righteousness in a new way. Not because of an external purity we achieve by our efforts, but an internal purity He gives as a gift. We don’t pay; He did. And it changes us from the inside out (Whitney 2/21/16). I am ransomed, are you?
We have seen how Jesus died as an atoning sacrifice to balance the justice of God. In so doing, He also paid the ransom for our freedom: a freedom from moral bankruptcy, from the power of sin and death, and from much more. Jesus also died to rescue us from the dominion of darkness. We are free to leave Egypt, but we don’t even know who we are and what our condition really is. Unless we understand our need, nothing will change. Things are not supposed to be the way they are! Jesus’ death on the cross turns on the light (John 1). He rescues us by revelation.
The cross reveals the truth about God and about ourselves. All the “gods” demand sacrifice – appease the gods! Burn your firstborn for good crops! Even the “modern” gods of self, money, power and sex demand unnatural sacrifices of family, health, serenity and human dignity – but our God saves us from that delusion by sacrificing Himself (!) to rescue us. God is FOR us! “I love you” written in blood! The cross also reveals the truth about ourselves – just how bad we are. Man’s worst confronting Heaven’s best. Human nature is not a pretty sight. Just watch the news. There is a fatal darkness hidden under the veneer of civilization, and it isn’t limited to a time or a place, a nation or a class or a party. There are no good guys. We love the darkness that hides our evil hearts (John 1:19). We often react violently to the light that exposes our dark deeds and motives. Jesus exposed our hatred, greed, lust and hypocrisy, so we crucified Him. And His followers, to this day!
Ah! But Sunday is coming. Resurrection shows the way forward, demonstrating our future: the ability to rescue us from the thing we dread the most and the power to not only expose our darkness but rescue us from its power – from ourselves – so that we can walk in the light (I John 1:7). (Whitney 2/28/16)
David W. Heughins (“ProfDave”) is Adjunct Professor of History at Nazarene Bible College. He holds a BA from Eastern Nazarene College and a PhD in history from the University of Minnesota. He is the author of Holiness in 12 Steps (2020). He is a Vietnam veteran and is retired, living with his daughter and three grandchildren in Connecticut.