Why did Jesus Christ suffer and die? Based on the best-selling book Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die, this tract explores 10 things that Jesus accomplished through his death on the cross.
Full Text:
Why did Jesus Christ suffer and die? I believe that is the
most important question of the twenty-first century. Here are ten
answers from the Bible.
Jesus came to die…
#10) To destroy hostility between races
The
suspicion, prejudice, and demeaning attitudes between Jews and non-Jews
in Bible times were as serious as the racial, ethnic, and national
hostilities today. Jesus died to create a whole new way for races to be
reconciled: he “has broken down…the dividing wall of hostility…making
peace…through the cross” (Ephesians 2:14-16).
It is impossible
to build lasting unity among races by saying that all religions can come
together as equally valid. God sent his Son into the world as the only
means of saving sinners and reconciling races. Only as the races find
this reconciliation will they love and enjoy each other.
#9) To give marriage its deepest meaning
God’s
design was never for marriages to be miserable, yet many are. That’s
what sin does…it makes us treat each other badly. Jesus died to change
that. He knew that his suffering would make the deepest meaning of
marriage plain. That’s why the Bible says, “Husbands, love your wives,
as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians
5:25).
God’s design for marriage is for a husband to love his
wife the way Christ loves his people, and for the wife to respond the
way Christ’s people should. This kind of love is possible because Christ
died for both husband and wife.
#8) To absorb the wrath of God
God’s
law demanded, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). But we
have all loved other things more. This is what sin is—dishonoring God by
preferring other things over him, and acting on those preferences.
The
seriousness of an insult rises with the dignity of the one insulted.
Since our sin is against the Ruler of the Universe, “the wages of [our]
sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Not to punish it would be unjust. So God
sent his own Son, Jesus, to divert sin’s punishment from us to himself.
God “loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation”—the
wrath-absorbing substitute—“for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
Then God publicly endorsed Christ’s accomplishment by raising him from the dead, proving the success of his suffering and death.
#7) So that we would escape the curse of the law
There
was no escape from the curse of God’s law. It was just; we were guilty.
There was only one way to be free: someone must pay the penalty.
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for
us” (Galatians 3:13).
The law’s demands have been fulfilled by
Christ’s perfect law-keeping, its penalty fully paid by his death. This
is why the Bible teaches that getting right with God is not based on
law-keeping: “A person is not justified by works of the law but through
faith in Jesus Christ” (Galatians 2:16).
#6) To reconcile us to God
The
reconciliation that needs to happen between man and God goes both ways.
God’s first act in reconciling us to himself was to remove the obstacle
that separated him from us—the guilt of our sin. He took the steps we
could not take to remove his own judgment by sending Jesus to suffer in
our place: “While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death
of his Son” (Romans 5:10). Reconciliation from our side is simply to
receive what God has already done, the way we receive an infinitely
valuable gift.
#5) To show God’s love for sinners
The
measure of God’s love is shown by the degree of his sacrifice in saving
us from the penalty of our sins: “he gave his only Son” (John 3:16).
When we add the horrific crucifixion that Christ endured, it becomes
clear that the sacrifice the Father and the Son made to save us was
indescribably great!
The measure of his love increases still
more when we consider the degree of our unworthiness. “God shows his
love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”
(Romans 5:8). Our debt is so great, only a divine sacrifice could pay
it.
#4) To show Jesus’ own love for us
The death of
Christ is also the supreme expression that he “loved me and gave himself
for me” (Galatians 2:20). It is my sin that cuts me off from God. All I
can do is plead for mercy.
I see Christ suffering and dying “to
give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). And I ask, am I
among the “many”? And I hear the answer, “Whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus paid the highest
price possible to give me—personally—the greatest gift possible.
#3) To take away our condemnation
The
great conclusion to the suffering and death of Christ is this: “There
is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”
(Romans 8:1). To be “in Christ” means to be in relationship to him by
faith. Christ becomes our punishment (which we don’t have to bear) and
our worth before God (which we cannot earn).
The death of Christ
secures freedom from condemnation for those who believe that Christ has
served their death sentence. It is as sure that they cannot be
condemned as it is sure that Christ died!
#2) To bring us to God
“Gospel”
means “good news,” and it all ends in one thing: God himself. The
gospel is the good news that at the cost of his Son’s life, God has done
everything necessary to captivate us with what will make us eternally
and ever-increasingly happy—namely, himself. “Christ…suffered once for
sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God”
(1 Peter 3:18).
#1) To give eternal life to all who believe on Him
Jesus
made it plain that rejecting the eternal life he offered would result
in the misery of eternity in hell: “Whoever does not believe is
condemned already....the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:18, 36).
But
for those who trust Christ, the best is yet to come. “No eye has seen,
nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for
those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). We will see the all-satisfying
glory of God. “This is eternal life, that they know you the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).
For all
these reasons and more, Christ suffered and died. Why would you not
embrace him as your Savior from sin and judgment, and live with God
eternally?
If you are moved to embrace God’s Son in this way, tell God in words like these:
Dear
God, I’m convinced that Jesus suffered and died for my sins. I
gratefully trust in him now as my Lord and my precious Treasure and the
only way I’ll ever receive your forgiveness and your promise of eternal
life. Amen.
great man of the living God.............!
