Why did Jesus have to die? - Friday Night Genesis, Apr 8, 2011

The death of Jesus on the cross forms the linchpin of Christianity. I don’t think anyone will disagree with that statement. However things get fuzzier when we start asking how and why. Jesus’ death saves us. OK, how does it do that? Why was His death necessary to save us? Jesus IS the answer, but before we examine how He became the answer I think it would be useful to remind ourselves of the question since a solution can only be correctly understood in light of the problem it is trying to solve. Back in September when we began this series we talked about the question. We saw a conflict, a dispute, arise in heaven when an angel called Lucifer brought into question God’s trustworthiness and motives in the way that He governed the Universe. Lucifer, whom today we know as Satan even brought into question God’s fitness to govern the Universe. From the exchange between Satan and Eve in the Garden of Eden, recorded in Genesis 3, we gleaned some specific charges that Satan leveled against God:

1. God lied to you, you cannot trust Him1. You do not need God for life, you can go on living without God. 1. God is a selfish, power-hungry tyrant who will threaten you with death in order to hold you down. 1. God is God only because He grabbed at these special powers first and is jealously holding onto them. You too can be god if you take matters into your own hands.

All of this funnels into one over-arching question that every individual in the Universe needs to answer for themselves: Can God be trusted? God set out to win our trust in the only way possible: allowing the scrutiny of His character and His government over a long period of time and in a variety of circumstances.

Over the last few months we have examined a lot of the evidence. Creation, which showed us where life came from and that God was not a power-hungry tyrant, but a generous, power sharing ruler. We examined God’s laws which called for the rule of love rather than an arbitrary, iron-fisted rule of law. We sought to understand some of the apparent inconsistencies that we find in the evidence as recorded in the Bible and in our own experience as we grappled with the presence of suffering, and some of the seemingly harsh discipline of the Old Testament. And while we can make sense of the evidence, by this point it is not entirely conclusive. Could we potentially go on living without God continuing to give us life? Is God ultimately still saying “love me and obey me or I’ll kill you”? The answers we have found so far give us a lot to work with, but they are not yet beyond reasonable doubt, and therefore the ultimate question can still not be answered with absolute certainty: Can God be trusted?

And it is here that Jesus’ life, death and resurrection becomes THE answer. No one but God Himself could put these questions beyond any reasonable doubt. God in the person of Jesus revealed His true character to us. Just before He headed out to His death on the cross Jesus spent part of His time with the disciples in the upper room praying. John recorded this prayer, and in John 17 this is what Jesus said: “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do…. (and what was that work? Drop down to verse 6) "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world.” (John 17:3-6) According to verse 3 to know God is eternal life. You can only get to know a person by interacting with that person. God could not have sent an angel to accomplish this. If I sent my best friend in my place on my dates with Kelley so that she could get to know me better, how well would that work?! She might have found out a good deal about me from what my friend might have told her, but she never would have really gotten to know me. In the same way, only God could fully reveal His character to us. God Himself had to come down and interact with us in person so that we could really get to know Him.

But then what happened on the cross? Jesus was providing answers. He was providing conclusive answers about life and death, about sin and it’s consequences and ultimately about His own character. Did God lie in the garden of Eden when He said - if you reject me and try to live independently you will die? Notice that in Genesis 2 God didn’t say “do it and I’ll kill ya”. But the question still remained: what was God’s involvement in the consequences of sin? Are the consequences of sin intrinsic, are they an inherent reaction to our actions or are they imposed by God?

To find the answer, we go to the cross and observe. 2. Corinthians 5:25 says: “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us…” Jesus was treated as a sinner, so that the entire Universe can observe what the consequences of sin are, and what God’s involvement was. When Adam and Eve sinned they were afraid of God, they felt their relationship had changed, even though God hadn’t changed or hadn’t yet even interacted with the pair. Jesus now took the full brunt of the awfulness of sin, and He too felt a marked change in His relationship to the Father. Do you remember how long Jesus was on the cross? It was 6 hours. And in the beginning He could see Himself coming out at the other end, because He said to the thief: “You will be WITH ME in paradise.” (Luke 23:43) But as time wore on He too felt that change until He finally cried out: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!” (Mark 15:34) His experience was described in more detail in Psalm 88:3-5 “I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death. I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am like one without strength. I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care.“ Jesus felt that He was losing that life-giving connection with His Father

and that He may never get to see Him again. Satan, never shy about kicking people when they are down, pressed Jesus hard at this vulnerable moment. Throughout His ordeal there was one message that was constantly held before Jesus: “save yourself”. It seems like Satan wanted to drive home the point: “If you go through with this demonstration, you will never see your Father or the glories of heaven ever again - this is it for You, Jesus! And for what, for who? For this rabble?! Save Yourself!” And yet even at this crucial point, Jesus was willing to give it all up in order to give us the opportunity of salvation. Drawing on all that He knew about His Father He finally committed Himself into His Father’s hands and died a lot sooner than someone hanging on the cross was expected to die. Paul later looked at this evidence and he says conclusively in that famous verse in Romans 6:23: “Sin pays it’s wages and the wage is death. But the gift of God is eternal life.” On the cross Jesus was treated as a sinner, and it was plain for all to see: sin causes separation from God and without God there is no life. God has given us life, we saw that at the very beginning, at the creation. But when we sin, when we choose to act in a self-centered way where we want it all and need no one, the stark reality of it all is - God is the only source of life. There can be no life independently of God. The intrinsic, inherent consequence of sin, of that separation from God, the source of life, is simply death. God did not lay a finger on Jesus. God did not even walk away from Jesus. But bearing the sins, Jesus experienced complete separation between Him and His Father, and it killed Him. Jesus took our place, that is, instead of letting us demonstrate to the rest of the Universe what the consequences of sin were, He died, so that we too would have the opportunity to know the truth. Besides, with the death of a mere creature, a shadow of doubt would always remain about God’s involvement in the death. Only God Himself in the person of Jesus could provide evidence beyond any reasonable doubt.

We now have definitive answers to the question the whole Universe was asking: Can God be trusted? (put up slide of the 4 questions from the beginning, hold for entire paragraph) 1. On the cross Jesus showed us that God had told the truth. 2. God was the only source of life, independently of Him there could be no life. 3. God gave us the gift of life, and He was not the One actively doing the killing if we chose to reject Him, and by extension reject His gift of life. Our choices have intrinsic consequences. 4. And finally - God really is Holy. He is in a category all of His own and we as creatures can never become God. We do not have life in and of ourselves except the life that was given to us by God. Only God has life in Himself that He can give to others and it is this that makes Him - God.

So how does all of this affect our salvation? Would you mind if we had a look at a bit of Greek from the Bible? Don’t worry, you don’t have to learn Greek to be saved, but it does provide for some exciting insight. In John 11, we find a story where Jesus and the disciples are traveling when the message arrived that Lazarus had died. When Jesus announced to the disciples that Lazarus had fallen asleep, the disciples said: Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” (John 11:12)

The Greek word that in this verse is translated as “get better” is “Sozo” and it means: to save, i.e. deliver or protect (literally or figuratively):--heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole. This word “sozo” is the same word usually translated “to save”. So for example in Matthew 1:21 when God says to Joseph: “She (Mary) will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” in this verse “He will save” is that same word “Sozo”! So salvation is healing. Now put this alongside another famous text this time from the Old Testament, from Isaiah 53:3-5 “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” We thought the consequences of our sins were a punishment from God, but in His death Jesus showed us that it was us and our choices that were causing the pain, suffering and death. And the realization of this truth brings peace, and healing in our relationship with God, and a healing inside of us. Knowing that God had told the truth from the beginning, knowing that God always had our best interest at heart heals the rift that sin brought between us. It enables us to trust Him and be open to receive the gift of life from Him once more.

2. Corinthians 5:19 beautifully sums up Jesus’ mission on the cross: “God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” In Christ God was restoring, healing our relationship and in the process also healing our selfish hearts, because it is difficult to stay indifferent when faced with such selfless love. As you see Jesus extending to you His nail-scarred hand of friendship, do you feel compelled to accept His hand and say that you are sorry for mistrusting Him and rebelling against Him? Don’t you want to be reconciled with Him? It is very compelling isn’t it? As Apostle Paul often likes to say: it is the power of the gospel.

But it goes far beyond that. Have a look at this astonishing text in Colossians 1:19, 20: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” The cross wasn’t just for us sinful creatures on this planet. If you remember at the very beginning we looked at the text in Revelation 12 where we were told about a war up in heaven. The cross, that ultimate demonstration of the truth, was to bring peace and reconciliation both on earth and in the heavenly places. Believe it or not, Jesus also died for the sinless angels. We have all been involved in this. We have all asked the question: Can God be trusted? In order to bring lasting peace to the Universe, God had to provide satisfactory evidence to everyone, whether we have chosen to openly rebel against Him, like we have, or if we had questions, but decided to stick with God regardless, as many of the angels did. Jesus paid the

ultimate price to provide conclusive answers to the questions pointed at Him right at the beginning of this conflict. And the answers that we got that Friday afternoon 2000 years ago is what brings healing, what brings salvation, what brings reconciliation between us and our Creator.

(not spoken, only on slide. Hold until Kelley calls for final song) “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:24, 25)