Why Jesus Had to Die

People die every day, funeral ceremonies are held all over the world each week. It is said that over 150,000 people die every day across the globe. Some of you have experienced the pain of death by the death of a loved one. So what makes the death of Jesus Christ of over 2,000 years ago significant even until today? 

Today we want to understand the reason why Jesus had to die. We can't talk about the death without talking about the reason why He had to come. Why do we die? Let's pay a visit to the book of Genesis for a minute. Genesis chapter two talks about how God instructed Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil - Genesis 2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Adam and his wife later disobeyed God and ate from that tree and so it is the rebellion of man against God that causes death. God called the disobedience, sin. The word sin in the new testament Greek and Hebrew simply means to "miss the mark", and it is the same word as rebellion in Hebrew.

So if God is this mighty that He could create the whole universe and created all things, why couldn't He have saved us without coming to earth to die? Let's not forget also that "God is a Spirit:...- John 4:24" and that the only legal entry requirement for staying on this planet is to have a body made of dust and not spirits. If God is a spirit and made man in his image (also a spirit living in a body) the only way we could relate to the love of God and to feel his redemption power is when He "converts" Himself into one like us (Jesus Christ) and to die and shed his blood (...and without shedding of blood is no remission - Hebrews 9:22) to redeem us from the consequences of our rebellion - death

Therefore Jesus had to come to restore and reconcile us back to the creator - our Father because He loves us so much that even while we were still in our sins, He came to rescue us. My brothers and sisters, God really loves us because there is no greater love than this that God who created us still thinks well for us even when we have rebelled against His words. Many of us would have given up. Parents have disowned their children because of this same act of disobedience and yet Jesus decided to come and die for in our place so that we can have eternal life. 

It is helpful to establish a definition of death. Death according to Biblical understanding consists of the basic idea of SEPARATION. We can identify 3 types of death according to the Bible. Let us briefly look at the 3 types of death. 

• Spiritual death: Genesis 2:17 - But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Adam did not leave his body that very day when he rebelled against God but he was SEPARATED from the presence of God. In Genesis chapter 1, God called things into being - when he wanted the fishes, he spoke to the waters and so for the fish to be alive, it has to be connected to where He called it from. When God wanted trees, He spoke to the soil and so the trees have to stay connected to the soil to live. And when God wanted to create man, He spoke to Himself and so the very day God's presence leaves us, we are dead spiritually. King David knew this that was why he prayed - "Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me."

• Physical death: Remember the Biblical view of death is not cessation, suspension, or an end. but a separation. 
  The second death is what many people are aware of. It is the separation of the soul and the spirit of man from his body and this separation is makes you illegal on earth. Once you and your soul are separated from your body, you'll have to leave. "And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it." - Ecclesiastes 12:7. 
  The physical death is important because it ends all opportunities, chances and time to repent and to be reborn from spiritual death. Daniel 12:2(KJV) And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 

• The second death: The phrase the second death was used four times in the Bible all in the book of Revelation: 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8.    Rev. 20:14 identifies the Second Death as “the lake of fire.” Rev. 21:8 adds “the lake that burns with fire and brimstone” (sulphur). Second Death is a ghastly extension of Spiritual Death. Man is to go and stay forever with his maker, however, the devil and his demons through deception are causing many to die without repenting and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and hence causing many to die the second death which is the separation of the soul of man from his maker and father. 

Beloved, God loves you. He loves you so much that He came to die for you. Jesus came to die already, we don't have to die for our sins anymore, neither are we required to sacrifice goats and sheep to cleanse our sins. Jesus is calling you But now is the time. Never forget the warning, “Today if you hear God’s voice speaking to you, do not harden your hearts against him, as the people of Israel did when they rebelled against him in the desert.”- Hebrews 3:15 (LTB). Give your life to Him who gave His life to save yours. 

We argue that if God is so loving and so kind, why would He want to burn humans in the lake of fire?

Your answer is this: Why would anyone want to go to hell even though God is trying every day to save him/ her and has provided an escape route for him/her through Jesus Christ? 

"Today if you hear God’s voice speaking to you, do not harden your hearts against him"