Why did Jesus die?

WHY DID JESUS DIE?

This question is of vital importance because your eternal destiny depends upon your answer to it. Do you know why Jesus died? If not, this article will tell you.

SIN BRINGS DEATH

In God’s Word, the Bible, we learn that death came into the world because of sin. "Wherefore … by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," Romans 5. 12. "The wages of sin is death," Romans 6. 23. You and I die because we are sinners: "All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," Romans 3. 23.

Human Achievement.

Human Achievement

Most of us love to boast of what we have accomplished and draw attention to the effort and sacrifice we had to make; the expense and time we were prepared to invest. Some projects have been possible only by physical effort, toil and labour to the point of exhaustion and human endurance beyond imagination. Their completion involved blinding sweat, aching muscles, straining sinews, weary limbs and in some cases resulted in death. Hundreds of miles of road and rail have been laid by intense labour.

Other projects were the result of engineering skill, architectural flair and the ingenuity of brilliant minds: bridges spanning deep chasms or miles of ocean; tunnels carved through solid rock; Alpine roads snaking tortuously down mountain sides; ornate buildings which have drawn admiration from tourists and visitors for many decades; skyscrapers and towers rising to dizzying heights, competing with others to be the tallest in the world.

Yet others feats could not have been achieved without staggering amounts of money and incredible wealth being provided; their completion depended on colossal cash injections stretching to millions or billions of pounds or dollars.

Many of these great feats of scarcely believable human achievement are listed in books such as "The Guinness Book of Records".

Personal Reflections

In the Bible the apostle Paul, who wrote a sizeable portion of the New Testament epistles, did not often speak about himself. In fact he wrote, "we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord" 2Corinthians 4.5. However, when he wrote to his close companion Timothy, in the final days of his life, he did refer to himself a number of times and some of these references are introduced with the expression "I am". I would like you to think of three of these expressions.

The first is in 1Timothy 1.15 and is a confession: he says, "I am chief". We may ask, "Chief of what?" Note the unmistakable language, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." This man described himself as the chief of sinners. You may say, "I’m not a sinner", but God’s Word states, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" Romans 3.23; "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" Romans 5.12. There is no way of evading these statements; we are all sinners and thus are facing eternal banishment from God.

Golden Weddings

The traditional gift for a 50th Wedding Anniversary is gold. Gold is a metal that is durable so I suppose that the symbolism is that of something that has lasted fifty years, is very valuable and has survived the ups and downs of life and is still standing and hopefully in good condition. There are not many things that increase in value over the years but a good marriage does, as does gold.

Life by its very nature is moving towards days of decline. Over time we lose strength, we are not quite as sharp as we used to be and one day life will ebb away and the question is, what then? One of the reasons I am a Christian is because the Lord Jesus Christ has given me eternal life. The biblical definition of eternal life is twofold. 1. It is the spiritual life that a person gets the moment their sins are forgiven and they have made their peace with God plus 2. It is the guaranteed prospect of existing forever in heaven (with a new body at the resurrection) in a place where death, sickness, sorrow and the effects of evil can never touch the people who are there.