“Why did Jesus Die?”: How would you personally go about answering that question?
On face value the the answer seems easy enough: Jesus died as a sacrifice for our sins!
I think it would be hard for anyone to disagree with that. After all, 1 John 4:10 quite clearly tells us, “This is love. Not the we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins”.
So far so good. Our first answer seems to have hit the nail on the head.
But, at a closer look 1 John 4:10 also seems to be offering us another answer. It appears that Jesus died, not only as a sacrifice for sins, but also as a sign of God’s love for us. Indeed, that well known verse John 3:16 seems to be saying quite a similar thing: “For God so loved the world…”
And so now it appears that there are at least two different, yet right, answers to the one opening question about Jesus’ death.
Could there possibly be a third or fourth way? I think that there are…
For example, the book of 1 Corinthians teaches us that Jesus’ death on a cross demonstrates God’s wisdom in the face of human foolishness (1 Cor 1:18), whilst the letter to the Ephesians teaches us that Jesus’ death on the cross creates peace between Jews and Gentiles (Eph 2:11 – 16).
When it comes to the question “Why did Jesus die on the cross?” you maybe want to think twice about answering it too quickly. Otherwise you might miss out on the other good stuff that God has to say. Take the time to discover the amazing depth, richness and wonder of all that God’s word teaches about Jesus’ cross.