Why Did Jesus Have To Die? (Evangelism, Part 4B)
Series: Evangelism (Part 4B)
Author: Dr. Steven L. Childers
Title: Why did Jesus have to die?
Message of Christ’s Saving Death
One of my theological mentors, and my primary advisor for my doctoral dissertation was a Systematic Theologian named Roger Nicole. I’ll never forget him saying to me and many others, “Dear brother, hold dear the biblical concept of Jesus Christ’s substitutionary atonement because it is at the very heart of the nature of the Gospel.”
So far, we’ve looked at Jesus’ active obedience for us. Now we're looking at what's traditionally, historically, and theologically called his passive obedience for us, his laying down his life under God’s just wrath in our place.
Isaiah writes, “He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him and by his wounds, we are healed.”
When John Stott was asked, “What is the most succinct summary of the Gospel? He said it's the good news of “God's self-satisfaction, through God’s self-substitution.”
The dilemma, the profoundest of problems, was solved. You know how it was solved? God satisfied his own justice by substituting himself. That is the mystery of the gospel.
And Stott says that is the heart of the gospel.
In the gospel we not only see the volitional intent of the eternal Son willingly taking on humanity and laying down his life to take on himself the just punishment we deserve.
We also see the volitional intent of the father. Hear the good news: In Romans 8:32 we read “He (the Father) who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
Understand Paul’s reasoning here. He’s asking the question, “How will the God who satisfied himself by substituting his one and only Son, for whom he had the deepest, incomprehensible, eternal love, and on whom he poured out the fullness of his wrath, how would he do that for you and somehow not give you something else you greatly need, like enough money, or somehow leave you hanging, or somehow not be coming through for you?”
Do you see the power of that? That good news has power and will change your whole life. That's the transforming power of the gospel.
Notice the Father did not spare him, but even more than that, he actively, intentionally gave him up for us. This is the good news of the Father in the gospel. Jesus didn't just give himself up. The Father didn't just allow him to die for us. The Father intentionally gave him up so that the curse that fell on him would then be literally and actually impossible to ever fall on you. That’s astonishing grace. That’s radical love.
This is why, for you to think that when you're in Christ, that you're also under God’s curse, is an affront to the very work of Christ for you.
It's in this context where we need to understand the absolute fury of God's just wrath. In the garden, Jesus knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.”
Throughout the Old Testament, the cup was the imagery of the fullness of the wrath of God. And to drink from this cup was an existential picture of willingly, intentionally taking this hot coal to your chest.
To drink the cup to the dregs would be to have the fullness and the fury of the wrath poured out on you. Notice that even the thought of it, just the thought of it, caused Jesus’ dramatic reaction in the garden that included him sweating drops of blood.
Try to imagine the actual reality. You can't. It's beyond comprehension.
This is why I have serious problems with Mel Gibson's movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” The movie was trying to show us the depth of God's love by how much Jesus was willing to suffer under the wrath of the Roman government of his day, not under the infinitely far greater wrath of the Father.
People were weeping in the theaters as they saw the character of Jesus whipped and as nails go through his hands and feet, and as he's spit on and tortured. The message of the movie is “Behold, this is the love of God for you in Jesus!”
Do you realize that what you see in the most grotesque of all the movie scenes of Jesus suffering under the wrath of the Romans means almost nothing in comparison to the wrath of God? This is only the wrath of man on Jesus. It’s what took place in the darkness, following the wrath of man, that should make us weep.
After incurring the wrath of man, Jesus experienced the unparalleled fury that makes physical torture look like absolutely nothing. He experienced the outpouring of a level of unparalleled fury we cannot comprehend. This is what should make people weep.
And the Father did this intentionally, on purpose. The Father didn't just let sinful people do this to Jesus. The Father offered him up and poured out the fullness of his wrath on Jesus that you and I deserve so it would actually be impossible for him to ever pour out his fury on you.
Never forget that God cannot change. God cannot lie. God cannot be tempted. God cannot be God and not be God at the same time. And the good news is that God cannot punish you if you are in Christ. He cannot. He does not have the ability to punish you because he has already poured out the fullness of all the wrath you deserve on Jesus in your place. If he punished you now, that would be double jeopardy.
When the depth of that amazing grace begins to sink in, the response will be “Why would I ever disobey the one who loves me this much? I want to give him everything I am and do, not out of fear of punishment, promise of reward, or due diligence, I want to love him and love others out of the love he has showered on me in Christ.”
Then you've got the gospel.