The Book of Isaiah, written ~740 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, prophesied Jesus's coming and also his death.
Because Jesus died for our sins, we have a connection to the Most-High God through Jesus, our high-priest. And we were blessed with the Holy Spirit who dwells within Christians.
But why was it necessary for Jesus to be killed for these two things to happen? I'll describe a few common reasons given and then dive deeper into the question.
Reasons why Jesus had to Die
1. God's Ways are Above Our Ways
As Christians, we worship The Most High God, whose wisdom far exceeds ours. His planning and timing take into consideration a multitude of factors; we experience the results of this optimal decision-making even if we aren't always privy to the rationale behind them (Romans 11:33–34). We trust in God and His decisions.
2. Sin Must be Punished
God has punished sin from the days of Adam and Eve (banishing them from the Garden of Eden), to causing a Great Flood to wipe out humanity due to the totality of man's sins. God disciplined the Israelites for railing against Him by sending serpents to bite them. By Jesus' time, man's sin had once again accumulated and Jesus was chosen to pay the price.
3. Perfect Sacrifice Needed - Parallel to Jewish Lamb Sacrifice on Passover
Exodus 12 describes Passover, where God struck down the firstborn child of all in Egypt, except the observing Israelites who sacrificed a lamb in order to avoid God's judgment. One couldn't sacrifice just any lamb. There was a specific requirement:
Similarly, the New Testament tells us that the sacrifice of Jesus for man's sins was necessary because Jesus was the only human without 'defect'; he lived a perfect life without sin.
Only Jesus' sacrifice would meet the requirements so that mankind could avoid God's judgment.
4. It was Foretold by Divine Revelation
Not just the Book of Isaiah but throughout the Old Testament there are numerous references pointing to Jesus' coming, even his crucifixion (Psalms 22:16), and resurrection (Isaiah 25:7–8).
While this does not provide a reasoning (just like #1 above), it does show Jesus' coming and death was a long time in the making; not a random set of events decided by chance but scripted by God well in advance, according to His design.
Exploring the Question Further
A recent sermon at the Table Church in San Francisco along with a church study group session motivated me to explore this topic further.
Let me preface this by clarifying the nature of my inquiry. This is not a case where I am questioning God's judgment nor would I. Like anyone else I have my moments of presumption, but I would not presume as a mere human to question the perfect judgment of a Creator who fashioned the universe. As the Book of Isaiah eloquently says, “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him...Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’" (Isaiah 45:9)
Nor is it a situation where I would try to evaluate the facts and logic of the events of Jesus' death and see if they meet my "own criteria of sufficiency" as though I would be fit to "fact-check" God himself. Instead, being hungry for the word of God, the Bible helps me understand God's ways. To that end, I aim to better understand the Bible to better know God.
In that vein, what could be contributing factors to understanding why Jesus had to die?
Was There a Larger Point God Wanted to Make with Jesus' Death?
Sometimes God effectively scripts a sequence of events, by influencing those involved, to impart a larger lesson on people. When God freed the Israelites from Egypt, he actually hardened the Pharaoh's heart so as to try to prevent Moses and the Israelites from leaving.
If God supported the Israelites' escape from Egypt, why would he influence Egyptian leadership against that very thing? In the Old Testament, we don't have to guess because God spells it out clearly (unlike the New Testament where God the Father is mostly silent).
The purpose is clear. The Pharaoh's obstinacy, influenced by God, allowed God to demonstrate His vastly greater power over even the most powerful human ruler- the Pharaoh. God devastated Egypt with 10 plagues from destroying their crops, to afflicting people with painful boils, to finally causing the death of firstborns in Egypt. If upon hearing Moses' cry of "Let my People Go", Pharaoh said "Fine, get out of here" and the Israelites just left, how would the world learn that God was in fact God, whose power was unrivaled?
We can say certain events are stage-managed by God to instill a larger point in the people. Could there have been a larger message God conveyed in the death of Jesus?
"Human Will" Gone Awry and the Need for Submission
We know God made us to have free will because of the first scene with humans in the Bible, Adam and Eve. They were the first humans made by God, and we see them free-wheeling, making their own (catastrophic) decisions, ignoring God's commandments.... and facing the consequences of those free-will choices.
God could have made us to be obedient slaves. He seems to have that kind of power. We see Him control people at certain times- influencing Joseph's brothers (to sell him into slavery in Egypt) in Genesis (45:5-8) or controlling the decisions of Kings of nations (Proverbs 21:1). But God does this selectively; it's not a permanent feature.
Throughout the Bible, man often exercises the free-will God gives him....to rebel against God. One loses track how often the Israelites are guilty of this (Today we are guilty of the same thing). But mankind takes this to a different level altogether when they kill God's only son in the person of Jesus Christ. There is no better historical incident that shows how catastrophic, irresponsible, destructive and reckless man can be when following his own will.
Could the death of Jesus have been necessary to instill the urgency of submission to God's will? We see not only man's destructive path when going his own way, we also see in contrast God the Son's selfless sacrifice and God the Father's powerful act of forgiveness in not punishing mankind for this deed.
As part of receiving the Holy Spirit and a connection to God the Father after Jesus's death, we are taught to submit our will to God. That is a voluntary act but one we do so willingly, perhaps not just because we know God's ways are higher than ours, but because we see what a massive tragedy man perpetrates when following his own will -- with the murder of God's son as the most powerful example. We have clear indication that this path is unsustainable.....
....Continued in "Why Jesus Had to Die" (Part 2)
