Why Did He Die?

WOULD nothing else suffice to save me from the wrath to come? Must I have been forever banished from God’s presence, had not Jesus died? Could no one but the Son of God Himself — the Word made flesh — have been my Redeemer? Was no one able to bear my load of sin and guilt, and expiate it all before the eye of God, but His only begotten Son? And must the unutterable sorrows of Calvary have been gone through, ignominy, desertion, wounding, bruising, and death itself — even the death of the cross? Oh, yes. No one but Jesus could accomplish the work of my redemption; no one else pass under all the waves and billows of Jehovah’s bruising; no one but “the Prince of Life” could die such a death; no one but “the Lord of Glory” endure such shame. And death itself, death too as the bearer of sins, and substitute for the ungodly who believe, death under divine judgment when “God condemned sin in the flesh,” He did suffer, that we might live forever, and be forever with Him and like Him in glory. “The wages of sin is death,” and its wages He fully met for us when He bowed His head in death upon the cross. Had He not died, all must have been lost; not one of Adam’s race could have been in glory with Jesus; and this the loving Saviour fully knew. He said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” (John 12:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24).) No words could more fully teach the absolute necessity of the death of Jesus for the salvation of sinners. And in richest, divine, perfect love, He willingly laid down His life. “He suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” He “came into the world to save sinners.” He “died for the ungodly.” And now “to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Romans 4. 5.) What ground of praise and worship, then, is the death of the Son of God! Bless the Lord, O my soul!
But He who was dead is alive again. God raised Him from the dead, and thus publicly shows how fully Jesus had atoned for sin, how completely He had finished the work, how thoroughly He had vindicated God, glorified God, satisfied all the infinitely-holy claims of God, magnified the justice of God, and endured the judgment of God for us when sinners, so that God is just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
But more then this. Jesus is ascended. He has entered into heaven itself with His own blood. He lives for evermore. He is crowned with glory and honor. He is enthroned at God’s right hand; and now, in Him, and through His precious blood, all that believe are made nigh to God, have eternal life, are made the righteousness of God in Him, and shall never perish. It is “in Christ Jesus” the believer now stands, in Christ he is preserved, in Christ he is complete, in Christ he is accepted and blessed, and ever appears in Christ before the eye of God. All this, yea, all our present and eternal blessings are founded on the blood-shedding and death of the Son of God. As to forgiveness of sins, we read, “without shedding of blood is no remission.” (Hebrews 9:2222And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Hebrews 9:22).) As to peace, He “made peace by the blood of His cross.” (Colossians 1:2020And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:20).) As to reconciliation, “we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.” (Romans 5:1010For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (Romans 5:10).) As to justification, we are “now justified by His blood.” (Romans 5:99Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:9).) As to sanctification, “Jesus, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.” (Hebrews 13:1212Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. (Hebrews 13:12).) As to redemption, it is “through His blood.” (Ephesians 1:77In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7).) As to communion and worship, we have “liberty to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” (Hebrews 10:1919Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, (Hebrews 10:19).) Well may our hearts rejoice in the Lord always, and by Him offer unto God continually the sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.!
Well might an old writer, when contemplating the death of Jesus the Son of God, exclaim―
“If I were lost in misery,
What was it to Thy heaven and Thee?
What was it to Thy precious blood
If my foul heart called for a flood?
What if my faithless soul and I
Must needs fall in
With guilt and sin?
What did the Lamb that He should die?
What did the Lamb that He should need,
When the wolf sins, Himself to bleed?
If my base lust
Bargained with death, and well-beseeming dust,
Why should the white
Lamb’s bosom write
The purple name
Of my sin’s shame?
Why should His unstained breast make good
My blushes with His own heart’s blood?
O my Saviour! make me see
How dearly Thou haat paid for me.
That lost again my life may prove,
As then in death, so now in love.”