Why Did Jesus Die?

People die every day, funeral ceremonies are held all over the world each week. It is said that over 150,000 people die every day across the globe. Some of you have experienced the pain of death by the death of a loved one. So what makes the death of Jesus Christ of over 2,000 years ago so significant even until today? 

We can't talk about the death without talking about the reason why He had to come. Why do we die? Let's pay a visit to the book of Genesis for a minute. Genesis 2 talks about how God instructed Adam not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil - Genesis 2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Adam and his wife later disobeyed God and ate from that tree and so it is the rebellion of man against God that causes death. God called the disobedience, sin. The word sin in the new testament Greek and Hebrew simply means to "miss the mark", and it is the same word as rebellion in Hebrew.


So if God is this mighty that He could create the whole universe and created all things, why couldn't He have saved us without coming to earth to die? Well legal entry requirement for staying on this planet is to have a body made of dust and not spirits. If God is a spirit and made man in his image (also a spirit living in a body) the only way we could relate to the love of God and to feel his redemption power is when He "converts" Himself into one like us (Jesus Christ) to be able to save us and to redeem us from the consequences of our rebellion - death.

Therefore Jesus had to come to restore and reconcile us back to the creator - our Father because He loves us so much that even while we were still in our sins, He sent His Son to save us. There is no greater love than this that God who created us still thinks well for us even when we have rebelled against His words. Many of us would have given up. Parents have disowned their children because of this same act of disobedience and yet Jesus decided to come and die for in our place so that we can have eternal life. 

You may be wondering, if Genesis 2:17 is true, why then are we still alive even after committing sin?

It is helpful to establish a definition of death. Death according to Biblical understanding consists of the basic idea of SEPARATION. We can identify 3 types of death according to the Bible. 

• Spiritual death: Which is when we are seperated from God's presence although we're still present in our physical body. "Genesis 2:17 - ...for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Adam (spirit) did not leave his body that very day when he rebelled against God but he was SEPARATED from the presence of God. In Genesis chapter 1, made things out of their sources - when he wanted the fishes, he spoke to the waters and so for the fish to be alive, it has to be connected to where He called it from. When God wanted trees, He spoke to the soil and so the trees have to stay connected to the soil to live. And when God wanted to create man, He spoke to Himself and so the very day God's presence leaves us, we are dead spiritually. King David knew this. That was why he prayed - "Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me."

• Physical death: Remember the Biblical view of death is not cessation, suspension, or an end. but a separation. 
   The second death is what many people are aware of. It is the separation of the soul and the spirit of man from his body. Once you and your soul are separated from your body, you'll have to leave. "And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it." - Ecclesiastes 12:7. 
   The physical death is important because it ends all opportunities, chances and time to repent and to be reborn from spiritual death. Daniel 12:2(KJV) And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 

• The second death: The phrase the second death was used four times in the Bible all in the book of Revelation: 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8.    Rev. 20:14 identifies the Second Death as “the lake of fire.” Rev. 21:8 adds “the lake that burns with fire and brimstone” (sulphur). This is when you are separated from your maker forever. 

 "Today if you hear God’s voice speaking to you, do not harden your hearts against him"