Encouragement

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Why Did Jesus Have To Die by Bob Pruitt July, 2005


After the movie The Passion came out in 2004 I heard the questions “Why did Jesus have to die?” and “Why did Jesus have to bleed so much?” asked by a lot of people. As a layman, I am not what you might call scholarly or qualified to answer these questions. However, as a born-again believer and one that has read through the Bible a number of times in my short ten years as a Christian I have come across some truths that leads me to believe God has provided some insight to these questions.

IN THE BEGINNING

In the Old Testament we find an enormous amount of scripture regarding the sacrifices and shedding of blood for the atonement of sin. There was the ‘burnt’ offering, the ‘grain’ offering, the ‘fellowship’ offering, the ‘sin’ offering and the ‘guilt’ offering. The ‘sin’ and the ‘guilt’ offerings both entailed the shedding of blood and a lot of it, whether bull or lamb or goat or doves. Why did God need us to shed so much blood for these offerings?

I contend that it goes back to Genesis. We are all familiar with the story of Adam and Eve and the serpent. After Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:7), the Bible says that they realized that they were naked so they sewed fig leaves to make coverings for themselves. Later, as God was walking in the garden He called to them and they hid themselves. After they revealed themselves to God and he saw that they had attempted to hide their nakedness with fig leaves, He took it upon Himself to clothe them in real clothing that would last for some time instead of the fig leaves that would evidently not survive more than a day as their attire. In Genesis 3:21 it says “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.” It was the first shedding of blood in the world’s history. We do not know what kind of animal God decided to use to provide the skins for their clothes, but we do know that some animal had to die so that Adam and Eve could be clothed. So, because of their sin, blood had to be shed to pay for the covering of their nakedness (sin). That established God’s requirement for the shedding of blood to cover sin. To this point also it might be noted that it was God himself that shed the first blood in this world’s history.

WHY JESUS?

So, why did Jesus have to die? God had established that blood would be the atoning covering for sin. He had also established all sorts of offerings and occasions for the shedding of the blood for the covering of all sin. However, He knew that this was a

never-ending requirement that would go on for all eternity if He didn’t have a better solution. The blood of any of the animals that were required by God’s law would only cover a certain amount of sin for a certain amount of time. This is attested to in Numbers

28 and 29 where God sets up all the remembrances through sacrifice, including The Day of Atonement in Numbers 29:7-11.

As it was, God had a plan from the beginning. That plan was to send His son to die once for all (1 Peter 3:18NIV). In Hebrews 10:1-10 it also states that it is ‘impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.’ It goes on to say that ‘sacrifices and offerings were not desired by God, but the law required them.’ Whose law? God’s own law! Then in verse 10 it states “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.’

Still, though, why Jesus? Bear with me a moment. If you want to check to find out who

the father of a child is you test the blood. Once again, I must state that I am no authority in all of this, but from what I have read and comprehend, the blood of the father is the only blood that has contact with the child. Once that child is conceived in the womb it has no contact with the mother’s blood.

When Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb it was the blood of God delivered by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 2:18-21, Luke 1-35). Therefore, Jesus was growing up into a man and if at any time someone had conducted a blood test on Him they would have found that his blood was not that of Joseph, but the blood of God, Himself. I am not trying to be blasphemous or anything like that. I am just trying to make a point. If Jesus had bled at any time in his life here on earth it would have been Holy blood that He was bleeding.

When Jesus was taken by the Romans, they began the process of shedding His blood by floggings and beatings. We know now that the Romans were very adept at brutalizing a man to within an inch of his life through the use of various whips with barbs at the end to rip the skin and cause deep gashes that bled profusely. By the time that Jesus was at the top of Golgotha, He had bled so much that it is a miracle in itself that He was still alive.

Once He was on the cross, His side was pierced and even more blood was shed.

BUT, WHY?

Since God was the first to spill blood to cover sin, it is only fitting that it be God’s blood that is shed to cover sin once for all. Jesus bleeding and dying on the cross is God, Himself, shedding his blood for all mankind for all eternity. Only His blood could be good enough to cover all sin forever.

BUT, WHY SO MUCH?

God had a plan from the beginning. Even before He created the worlds and all that is in it, He knew exactly who would be saved, when and where. He also knew exactly how much blood would be needed to cover all the sins of the world for all time. I thank God, personally, because if there had been one drop less shed by Jesus, I might not have had my sins covered.

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