Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

In this episode we will consider the question: “Why did Jesus have to die?” In asking this crucial question we inevitably reflect on the holiday known as “Good Friday.” On the surface, it should be very odd that we commemorate the torture and slaughter of Jesus Christ and call that day “good.” So what makes “Good Friday,” good? To answer that question we must ask the question initially poised. Only then, after considering the necessity of Christ’s death, can we reflect on Christ’s crucifixion, the greatest evil ever committed against any man, and call that day “good.”Watch VideosVisit the Website Follow on InstagramFollow on Twitter

Hey folks, my name is Johnny Erdovanis and this is Dial In. Because it's Passion Week, the week in which we remember the death of Jesus Christ and then celebrate his resurrection, I want to, in this episode, highlight the various reasons why Jesus Christ had to come to earth to die. Truly, our worship of the risen Savior can only go as deep as our understanding of the reasons for which he died. With that in mind, let's dial in. Each year during Passion Week, we commemorate the death of Jesus, and then we also celebrate the resurrection.

This is the highlight of the Christian faith. And in the first century, thousands upon thousands of first century Jews changed their day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. Why? Because on Sunday, Jesus Christ rose from the grave. We're going to talk about that more in the next episode. But for now, it is important to note that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that the resurrection is not only the crux of the Christian faith, it is important to note that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 that the resurrection is not only the crux of the Christian faith, it is the pinnacle of history. The resurrection of Jesus was the validating proof that Jesus was in fact God.

That's what Paul says explicitly in Romans 1. He says that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God with power because of the resurrection. Now, let me ask you a question. In order for Jesus to rise from the grave, he first had to what? He had to die. In our Christian calendar, we love to celebrate Jesus' birth. Christmas is the most celebrated day of the year. Additionally, the most attended Sunday of the year for churches is Easter Sunday. This is a joyous occasion, and rightfully so, because on Easter, we remember that the one who came and was born in a manger also rose from the grave and conquered death. Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me

will live even if he dies. This is the Christian's hope. In reality, and I want you to think about it this way, every single Sunday is Resurrection Sunday. That's why we as Christians gather on the first day of the week. This is the practice initiated by the early church. Every single Sunday we gather, we remember that Jesus Christ, our Savior, our King, has conquered death and has promised us a living hope because He Himself is a living Savior. Now with that being said, in this episode, I want to focus on the events that we will remember this Friday. That is known as Good Friday, the day in which we remember the crucifixion, the death of Jesus Christ. I want to try and condense some of the primary reasons why Jesus had to die. And although this is not an exhaustive list, I believe it

encapsulates the main reasons why Jesus had to come to earth and die. Now, before I dive in, I want you to consider the fact that Jesus didn't just come to earth on a Friday, die, and then go back to heaven on Sunday. He first had to live the life we can never live. And I want to talk about this for a moment because it's important for you to understand. Jesus didn't just show up as a 33-year-old man and die. He came as an infant. He came as a baby and he lived 33 years of sinless perfection for a few main reasons that I will give you now. So to clarify, I'm going to provide seven reasons why Jesus had to die in a moment. But before I do that, I want to give you three reasons why Jesus had to live. Number one, Jesus had to live in order to qualify as our substitute. He had to live a perfect, blameless, spotless, and sinless life. In the Old Testament, we learn that the efficacy of a substitute in the Old Testament sacrificial system that was dependent upon the substitute's purity.

Galatians says that the Old Testament law was given so that man would sense their inability to keep the law perfectly. Paul says the law is like a tutor that leads us to Christ because as we try to obey the law, we see our own inability to keep it and we realize that we can never ever earn our way to God. Jesus, however, said that he did not come to abolish the law, but to what? To fulfill it. What does that mean? It means this, that Jesus is the embodiment

of perfect obedience to the word of God. And because he lived a totally righteous life, his righteous life is credited to those who believe in him. He takes our sin on the cross and then he gives us his righteousness. This is what we call in theology, the great exchange. So number one, Jesus had to live in order that he could live the life we could never live.

Secondly, he had to live in order that he might be able to sympathize with our weaknesses. I want you to listen here because this is so important. Hebrews 4.15 says, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who is in every respect been tempted as we are yet without sin. Can I ask you a question? Have you ever been betrayed? Have you ever been wounded? Have you been hurt? Have you been tempted even now recently? Have you been shamed? Have you been despised? Have you been sorrowful or sad or grieving? Jesus became a man so that he would

know the full range of human suffering and sorrow. He is the king of creation, and yet he is not one who is indifferent nor unaware of what it means to be human. He came to live so that whatever season of sorrow or temptation we walk through, we can look at the pages of God's word and hear the voice of Jesus say, I've been there, I've been tempted, I've been grieved, and amidst it all, I've honored, obeyed, I've been there. I've been tempted. I've been grieved. And amidst it all, I've honored, obeyed, and trusted God perfectly. Number three, Jesus had to live so that he might become the perfect high priest that would mediate between man and God. The priest we need needs to

be God in order to represent God to us, but also needs to be man so that he can represent man to God. Do you understand this? This is what Job is crying out for in Job 9. And here's what we read in Hebrews 2.17. This is wonderful. It says this, therefore he, that's Jesus, had to be made like his brethren in all respects so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. You have a mediating presence, a mediator between you and God, and his name is Jesus Christ. Now that's why Jesus had to live, and that was just my intro, so hang in there. But with the remainder of our time, I want to give you seven reasons why Jesus Christ had to die, And we're going to move

through these rather rapidly. Number one, Jesus had to die in order to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. It says in Zechariah 12.10 that they are going to look on them or look on him whom they have pierced and they will mourn for him. This is the prophecy of the Old Testament. Jesus is going to die. The Messiah is going to come and he is going to die. In Isaiah 53 verses five and six, maybe you're familiar with these verses, but let them be fresh in your own mind and heart even now. It says this, he was pierced through for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities and the chasing for our wellbeing-being fell upon him, and by his scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. There are so many other passages I could go to, but here's the reality. The first prophecy of the Bible in Genesis 3 foretells of the one who is

going to come and crush the serpent that deceived Adam and Eve. And yet in the process, the one who is to come is going to be bruised. He's going to die. Furthermore, for hundreds of years, there was this vivid imagery of the sacrificial system being played out in front of the people of God, and the hope that one day there would be a final Passover lamb. One day the final, perfect, spotless, and blameless sacrifice would come. So Jesus came, number one here, to die. And in dying, he fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy that the Messiah would be killed. Secondly, Jesus died in order to absorb the wrath of God. In 1 John chapter 2 verse 2, it says that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. Now, you may have heard the word propitiation, but may be unfamiliar with what it means. The word the satisfaction of the wrath of God towards sin. Now, listen here. God cannot be holy and indifferent towards sin. Because he is righteous, he rightfully so hates sin. In Psalm

7 verse 11, it says, God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation every single day towards the wicked. All of our sin, every sin on planet earth for all time will be punished. There is not a single sin that will ever go unpunished. The punishment will either be borne by the sinner or by an innocent substitute. In the Old Testament, God implemented the sacrificial system so that the people could see God's wrath being symbolically poured out on a sacrifice. But Hebrews tells us that the blood of goats and rams was never going to take away sin. It was just a symbol that pointed towards the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We are going to talk about Romans 5.8 in a moment, which talks about Jesus' death being the demonstration of God's love.

But few people also necessarily include in their understanding or in their familiarity the following verse, Romans 5.9, which says, Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. Sometimes we use the language, oh, I was saved at such and such a time, at such and such a place. But what are you saved from? Fundamentally, to be a Christian is to be saved from the wrath of God. And Jesus died to save us from God's wrath towards sin by absorbing the wrath of God on the cross. One of the most important realities to come to grips with in this life

is that every single person outside of Jesus is already currently under the wrath of God. Jesus says in John 3, 36, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. You may be asking, how can I escape the wrath of God? The biblical answer is this. The only way you can escape the wrath of God is if you believe in Jesus, who bore the wrath of God on your behalf at the cross of Calvary. Because on the cross, Jesus bore the guilt of our sin, and he took our punishment. Third, Jesus died in order to bear our shame.

Not only did Jesus bear our guilt on the cross, he also bore our shame. This may seem like an overlap, but there's a really important biblical distinction here. Let me put it to you this way. Just because you are forgiven, that does not always mean that you live in the fullness and freedom of that forgiveness. We often still feel the sting of shame. Truly, the chief way Satan works against believers is by accusing them of their sin and by heaping shame upon them.

For this reason, Satan is referred to as the accuser. Satan comes to the believer and says, look at your sin. But the voice of God speaking through his word says, no, look to Jesus. Hebrews 12 verse two says, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Jesus bore the full weight of the shame of our sin. The agony of the cross was more than the nails, the beatings, the bruisings, the whipping, and the thorns.

It was the shame that Jesus bore on our behalf. Now to summarize the last two points, on the cross Jesus bore our guilt and he bore our shame. And what does that mean? It means that Jesus in the gospel offers us the ability to have a clean conscience. This is amazing. Not just a clean heart, but a clean conscience. Hebrews 9.14 says, How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? Can I ask you a question? Do you long for a clean conscience? Look to the cross of Christ then, where Jesus bore your guilt and he bore your shame. Number four, Jesus died in order to demonstrate the love of God. You may know these verses, but I want you to listen afresh and bask in the wonder of their meaning.

Jesus says in John 3, 16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. In Romans 5, verse 8, we read that God demonstrated his own love in this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. In Ephesians 2, Paul says that we are dead in our sin, that we are children of wrath. And then we read in Ephesians 2, 4, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, he made us alive. Why did Jesus die for us? Well, one of the answers is so simple and so beautiful, because he loves us. Do you ever doubt God's love? Then look to the pulpit of Calvary, where God displays and demonstrates his love with convincing proof as his one and only son dies in your place. So often we talk about the love of

God as if it is a thing, but the love of God was manifested at an event. And now that love, Romans 5, 5 says, is poured out into the hearts of believers through the power of the Holy Spirit. I hope so, but I want to ask, have you ever heard God tell you through his word, I love you? Well, this much is true. Jeremiah 31, three says, I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have loved you with unfailing kindness, says the Lord. Jesus died in order to demonstrate the wonderful character of God, his holiness, his justice, and his love. Number five, Jesus died to break the curse, to crush the curse of sin and death.

From page three of the Bible, mankind is subjected to a curse, a curse where in Genesis 5, we read this genealogy. And each time in this genealogy, it says, this man was the father of this man, and then he died. And then this man was the father of this man, and then he died. And then this man was the father of this man, and then he what? He died. The Bible is driving something home right from the beginning, right after the fall.

Death is the product of sin. We are now under a curse and this curse reigns and every single person on planet earth now because of the curse of sin and death has a date where they will die. Paul details in Romans 5 verse 12 that sin entered the world through one man and now every single person inherits the curse brought upon them by their earliest ancestor. However, at the cross, Jesus broke the curse of sin and death for all those who would believe in him. You may be asking, how? How did Jesus break the curse? Well, he broke the curse in Galatians 3.13 by becoming a curse for us.

This is what happened at the cross. Deuteronomy 21.23 details that the man who hangs on a tree is cursed. What's interesting is that the typical Jewish custom for execution was stoning. But Jesus was not killed by the Jews. He was killed by the Romans who executed by crucifixion, by hanging on a cross. The Bible does not say, cursed is the man who is stoned. It says, cursed is the man who hangs on a tree. And that's exactly what happened to Jesus. Jesus bore the curse of sin and death for those who would believe in him. Now the believer is no longer in bondage to sin. They are no longer slaves to sin. They are slaves to Jesus Christ. They fear death no longer because

even though we all still die, we are offered eternal life in Jesus Christ. Number six, Jesus died in order to display the sovereignty of God. Of course, Jesus dying as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy is a demonstration of the sovereignty of God, Of course, Jesus dying as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy is a demonstration of the sovereignty of God, but we must examine God's sovereignty in close detail for a moment. God's sovereignty means that he rules and he reigns. It means that he is in control of all things. Psalm 115 verse 3 says, our God is in the heavens. He does what he pleases. Now, what the Bible teaches is that Jesus's death was according to the sovereign, predetermined plan of God. Sometimes we think about the story of redemption as God's plan B,

as if Adam and Eve messed up God's plan, and now God is trying to scramble to figure out how he can reverse everything that went wrong unbeknownst to him and unplanned by him. But the truth is, before Adam and Eve ever sinned, it says in Ephesians 1 that God knew that he would send his son Jesus Christ to live and to die and to save those who would believe in him. Although Adam was responsible for his sin in the garden, and even though the Jews were responsible for the rejection of Jesus Christ, I want you to notice the language of Peter's sermon

in Acts 2, verse 22 and 23. Watch this. Peter says, Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus, the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.

This man delivered over by, watch this, the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. So here's what Peter says. Yes, you nailed him to the cross, you put him to death, but watch. All of it is happening in the scripture

according to the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. In 2 Timothy 1.9, we read, God, Jesus Christ, has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity. Did you catch that? This means that God knew that he would dispense and display his grace before he had ever created any people that would be dependent and in need of his grace.

Jesus Christ was given to us in 2 Timothy 1.9. His grace was given to us before eternity. The plan of redemption was according to the perfect plan of our sovereign God. Sometimes the sovereignty of God is a difficult subject to grapple with when we are going through trials and difficult times, and yet we are compelled to remember, as we remember the gospel, that it was according to the sovereignty of God that he sent his own son to rescue us from our sin and from death. The greatest evil in human history, the death of Jesus Christ, accomplished the greatest good because in the sovereignty of God,

he sent his one and only son to die. Now the seventh reason, and we're going to focus on this more in our next episode, the seventh reason Jesus had to die is so that he might rise from the dead. I'm going to talk about this in greater detail, but the resurrection is the validating proof that on the cross, God's wrath was truly satisfied and his resurrection is the promise of your own if you believe in him. Now, I would be presumptuous to assume that all the people that listen to this podcast all over the world have trusted in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. So can I ask you, have you ever placed your faith in the one who dies in your place? Have you ever looked upon the one who hangs on the cursed tree?

And have you ever found these lyrics to be true for you? The lyrics of the hymn that say, I hear the Savior say, thy strength indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and pray. Find in me thine all in all. Lord, now indeed I find thy power and thine alone can change the That's why Jesus died. He died to take your sin and make you as white as snow. So why did Jesus die? Well, we've covered seven reasons in this episode. He died, first of all, to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. He died to absorb the wrath of God. He died to bear our shame. He died to demonstrate God's love. He died to break the curse of sin and death. He died to

reveal the sovereignty of God. And he died in order that he might rise from the grave. What a wonderful Savior we have in Jesus Christ. Stay dialed in.