I posed this question of why Jesus had to die and got a variety of answers. The number one answer was that He died to forgive our sins. Someone pointed out that Jesus forgave sins during His ministry, so why did He have to die? I believe there are three significant answers to this question. Out of thirty-three responses, only four people answered correctly for the first reason, and only one had a response that came close to the third reason. Why do so few understand the necessity for the death of the Messiah? Let’s look at what some people believe (from their responses) and what the Bible says about the necessity for the Messiah’s death.
The New Oxford American Dictionary defines necessity as “the fact of being required or indispensable; unavoidability.” Merriam-Webster says ‘of necessity’ means “in such a way that it cannot be otherwise.” So, when it comes to the necessity for the Messiah to die, it has to be for a reason that there could be no other way. God forgave sins in the Old Testament. Jesus indeed told people their sins were forgiven. The Scribes sought to kill Him for blasphemy because only God could forgive sins. Ten people responded by saying that Jesus died to forgive our sins. But if He could forgive sins before His death, then forgiveness of sins is not the necessity for His death. To be clear, and before anyone deems me a heretic, His death did indeed provide the perfect sacrifice that forgives us of our sins. We see that throughout Scripture. I am focusing on the necessity of His death. The three answers to this question can only be because there was no other way other than for Him to die. As we will see through the responses, His death was not necessary to accomplish those things.
Rather than posting the responses in their entirety (because several are very lengthy), I categorized and tallied them. The tally total is more than 33 because some responses had more than one answer. Here’s the list:
10 – to forgive sins
06 – to fulfill prophecy
05 – so we could return to God
04 – so divorced Israel could be reunited with God
03 – to be the ultimate sacrifice
02 – to pay the penalty for sins
02 – so that more people (Gentiles) could receive salvation
02 – to reestablish man’s dominion over the earth
01 – because the people wanted Him dead
01 – for a blood covenant
01 – to defeat death
01 – to prove His Messiahship
Number two on the list is to fulfill prophecy. This answer is akin to circular reasoning. I mean, if the prophets never mentioned anything about the Messiah dying, would that mean that He didn’t have to die? If the necessity of His death was only to fulfill prophecy, then His death would only be to prove that God is not a liar. There are plenty of other Scriptures to show God’s faithfulness.
Number three is so that we could return to God. Jesus didn’t have to die for this. Many times in the prophets, God says to return to Him and obey His commandments, and He will heal the people and their land, among other promises. Again, God is faithful to His Word. He didn’t say that they would have to wait until the Messiah died before they could return to Him.
Number four is the answer to reason number one. We’ll get to that.
Number five on the list is to be the ultimate sacrifice. This one could actually fit in with the number one answer to forgive sins. I only separated it because the responses added more details from Hebrews about Jesus being the sacrifice better than the recurring sacrifices on the Day of Atonement, along with other Scriptural support about the atoning blood, etc.
There are three tied for number six. First, Jesus died to pay the penalty for sins. This is a very correct answer. It’s more accurate than just saying that Jesus died to forgive sins. The difference is that forgiving sins could be done without death, as has been noted. However, the penalty for sins IS death. As the Law says, there cannot be forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. But the animal sacrifices involved death. If God wanted to, He could have continued to accept animal sacrifices for our atonement. Yes, we know that the Messiah’s sacrifice was the better, more perfect sacrifice, once and for all, but if God can forgive before the crucifixion, then He could still forgive without the Son dying. His death was not a necessity to forgive sins or pay the penalty for sin.
Second in this group is that Jesus died so that more people could receive salvation. There were Gentiles who joined the family of God throughout Scripture. Rahab and Ruth are two famous ones from the Old Testament. Jonah went to Ninevah to preach repentance. And the New Testament mentions the Godfearers, those who believed in YHWH and even attended synagogues. Israel was to be a light to the nations and lead them to God. So, the death of the Messiah was not necessary to bring Gentiles to God. Peter’s vision before visiting Cornelius was to show Peter that Judaism had abandoned God’s plan to bring Gentiles in.
Third in this group states that Jesus died to reestablish man’s dominion over the earth. Dominionism is a false teaching. Nowhere in the Great Commission does Jesus say to take dominion over the earth again. On top of that, this earth will be destroyed by fire and replaced with a new earth at the end of the age.
Coming in at number seven are four responses receiving only one vote each. The first of which is that Jesus died because the people wanted Him dead. The will of the people is not incumbent on the will of God. He didn’t have to die out of necessity because of the will of the people.
Second on this list is that Jesus died for a blood covenant. Yes, covenants are cut with blood, but the New Covenant prophecy did not say that it had to be cut with the Messiah’s blood. It was a promise from God and that promise could have been fulfilled without human blood. The blood covenant YHWH made with Abraham was with animals. The New Covenant could have been likewise. It is not necessitated on the Messiah’s death.
Third on the list is the one that is close to the third reason the Messiah had to die. We’ll come back to this one.
The final response was that Jesus died to prove His Messiahship. This one is another circular reasoning argument. The argument is that Jesus said the only sign He would give to prove He was the Messiah was the sign of Jonah, to be buried for three days and rise again. But He didn’t have to say this. He didn’t even have to prove anything to them. So, it wasn’t necessary for Him to die just because He said He would.
So Why Was It Necessay For Jesus To Die?
The first reason why His death was necessary was the fourth answer above, coming in with four votes. His death was necessary because God had divorced the Northern Kingdom of Israel, also known as Ephraim. The New Covenant prophecies say that God would make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah (Jeremiah 31), and God would put His Spirit into the hearts of the House of Israel and gather them from the nations (Ezekiel 36), and God would join the stick of Judah with the stick of Joseph, or Ephraim (the House of Israel) and gather them from the nations where they’ve been scattered (Ezekiel 37). Both Jeremiah and Ezekial prophesied after the Northern Kingdom had been divorced from YHWH. How could the divorced House of Israel be reunited with YHWH? Paul explains in Romans 7:1-3. “Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the Torah—that the Law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.” The husband has to die for the woman to be able to marry another. The House of Israel is lost to God unless He dies to set them free from the divorce. God the Father cannot die, so the Son came to die and release the House of Israel from the curse of divorce. This shoots a hole in the idea that Jesus is not God. If He is not God, then the New Covenant prophecies joining Israel back to Judah would be a violation of God’s Law. God cannot sin by violating His Law. There is no way around it. It was a necessity for Jesus to die because it was the ONLY way to reconcile the House of Israel back to God.
I’m going to skip the second reason for now since the third reason has already been mentioned. Jesus died to defeat death. In other words, Jesus died so we could be resurrected back to life. His resurrection was necessary so we could obtain resurrection. And of course, it was necessary for Him to die so He could be resurrected. You can’t have one without the other. And Paul explains why the resurrection was necessary in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19, the crux of which is in verse 17. “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” That is not to say that the resurrection forgives sins. It’s His blood that atones for sins. But if there is no resurrection from the dead, then what is the point of being forgiven? The wages of sin is death and we are all appointed to die and face judgment. Being forgiven doesn’t negate our coming death. We need to be resurrected to enjoy the benefits of our salvation. That’s why Paul says in verse 19, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.”
Reason number two for why the Messiah’s death was necessary is because of the Torah. Some sins cannot be forgiven through animal sacrifices. Murder and adultery are two sins that have no forgiveness. The only remedy for those sins is death. Acts 13:38-39 says, “Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man (Jesus) forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by Him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.” This reason brings it full circle back to the number one answer that Jesus died for the forgiveness of sins. But that answer is incomplete unless you understand the full extent of what it means to be forgiven of sins through Jesus.
If the Law of Moses could forgive sin except for those sins where there is no forgiveness, then why is the Messiah’s death necessary for those who haven’t committed those unforgivable sins? Jesus explains in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:21-22a “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Jesus explains that the standard for holiness is higher than just committing the physical act. James puts it this way in James 2:10-11, “For whoever keeps the whole Law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the Law.” In this example, James uses two sins that cannot be forgiven through the Law. But what if he compared stealing with committing adultery? Theft is forgivable under the Law and doesn’t require the death penalty. But as James said, if you keep the whole Law but just fail at one point, you have become guilty of all. That means if you only fail to keep the commandments that are forgivable, you are still guilty of breaking all of the commandments, which means you deserve the death penalty. That’s why the wages of sin always result in death. There is no way around the death penalty for our sins. That is why His death was necessary. He is our Passover Lamb, the substitutionary sacrifice that pays the death penalty for us. So that we can be forgiven.
Passover is tomorrow. Let us celebrate the Feast with the rememberance that is was necessary for Him to die to free us from the sins that could not be forgiven by the Law of Moses. Drink the cup and eat the bread, and remember His sacrifice.
