Why did Jesus die?

(Hebrews 2:5-9 – Why did Jesus die?)

Jesus came to the earth to preach the good news of salvation and the kingdom of God. He walked the earth for about thirty three years and all of His teaching was done in the last three and a half years before He was cruelly put to death.

Jesus was the Son of God and His message would lead people to a better life now, and eternal life in the future. So, it is fair to ask why did Jesus die? And even more than that, why did Jesus die as He did when He could have avoided such a death?

We gain some insight into these and similar questions as we study these few words from Hebrews 2:5-9. We gain understanding and insight into the mysteries of God and how He planned our salvation and redemption through Jesus Christ’s death. So, let us look at why did Jesus die and begin to unravel these mysteries.

Jesus had power so why did Jesus die?

In the gospels we see evidence of the power Jesus had through the Holy Spirit. He was able to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, walk on water, and so much more.

He also made the point as He was being arrested, that He could have called the spiritual hosts of angels to fight and defend Him.

52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53 Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” (Matthew 26:52-54)

So, given all of this power, why did Jesus die? If He had lived surely there was much more He could have done?

But Jesus had to die. It was one of the reasons He came to the earth. And we see clues in these scriptures that explain these things.

Why did Jesus die Bible Verse

The are many bible verses that speak about His death and explain why did Jesus die. The one above is a classic example. It shows that even though Jesus could have called upon twelve legions of angels to protect Him, that would not have fulfilled the will of God or the prophetic scriptures that spoke of His death. And the scriptures had to be fulfilled.

The verse that I am looking at today shows another part of the mystery of why did Jesus die.

5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere, “What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou carest for him? 7 Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one. (Hebrews 2:5-9)

We see two key points that explain why did Jesus die in this bible verse.

Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for sin

First, it tells us that when He came as a man He was made a little lower than the angels. But in His death He was crowned with glory and honour as He obeyed the will of God, His Father, through the suffering of death.

Jesus did not have to die because He had never sinned. Death is the punishment man receives for committing sin. We saw it in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve first sinned that they “earned” death. And it has been the same ever since. We all “earn” the right to die because we sin.

But Jesus never sinned. He did not have to die, and because He never sinned. Death could not hold Him and He was able to re-take His life and be resurrected from the dead. And in His death He became the perfect sacrifice for sins. His blood was offered to take away the sins of any who would believe in Him. This offer was given to man by God the Father.

Jesus died to give us life

The second point relates to this because this offer of God’s grace is available to all. Jesus tasted death so that we could escape the bonds of sin and receive eternal life.

Why did Jesus die? To give us the offer of salvation and eternal life. This came through the grace of God to all who believe.

And it wasn’t just this one gift, even though that would have been sufficient. When we look at all of the the answers to the question, why did Jesus die, we find many gifts that were given through His death. Here are a few “Why did Jesus die” bible verses.

• Jesus died to take away our sins. He did not just forgive our sins, but removed them completely (John 1:29, Romans 11:27, 1 John 3:5)
• He also died to set us free from the law. By doing this He takes away the ability to sin in the future. When we enter the death of Jesus we die to the law (Romans 7:1, Romans 7:4, Galatians 2:19, Hebrews 8:12-13)
• Why did Jesus die? So that we could receive the Holy Spirit (John 16:7)
• In His death we also receive the free gift of righteousness by faith. God declares those who believe that Jesus died and was raised from the dead to be righteous. (Romans 4:23-25)
• Through His death we have entry into the kingdom of God now, when we follow His words and are baptised in His name (John 3:1-6)
• And finally, Jesus died to make us new creations as we are born again (2 Corinthians 5:17-19, Galatians 6:14-15)

So, why did Jesus die? To give us these gifts which together are the offer of salvation and redemption from the evil of this world. We are all born into the darkness of sin. But by accepting the free gifts of God that come through the death of Jesus Christ, we are saved to eternal life with Him.

How do we receive these gifts?

This is a good question. If these gifts are offered by and through the grace of God, how does a person receive them.

There are three key parts to this answer.

First, there is faith. Everything and every good gift that we receive from the Lord comes through faith. Faith is at the foundation of all that comes from God, and He set it up this way so that everyone has the same opportunity to receive the gifts of God.

He based it on faith because everyone has the capacity to believe and find faith. Our station in life has no bearing on our ability to receive God’s gifts. We can all believe and so receive the gifts of God. And that is a truly marvelous thing as it makes us all equal.

Baptism in water

The second key is baptism. When we are baptised into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we die with Him. We die as we go down under the water. Then we are resurrected with Him as a new creation, born again to a new life in Christ as we are raised out of the water. And we MUST believe that this is what has happened. We must believe that as God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, we too have been resurrected to a new life through our baptism. And when we do believe this, God reckons us righteous and gives us the free gift of righteousness by faith.

It is in baptism that our sins are washed away and we die to the law. It is also in baptism that we enter the kingdom of God as new creations and we receive the free gift of righteousness by faith. And all of this is received because we believe these things to be true in God and in Jesus Christ. We believe that God said it was so, and accept His word that it is so.

Receiving the Holy Spirit

The third and final step is to receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was not poured out and available to ALL mankind until after the death of Jesus. But the gift of the Holy Spirit is available now to everyone who seeks to receive the Spirit.

We receive the Holy Spirit by first asking God in prayer to give us the Spirit. Secondly, spirit filled people can lay hands upon us to ask the Father to give His Holy Spirit to us.

Receiving the Holy Spirit is critically important. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ. His work is to bring us to perfection by giving the victory over the passions, lusts, and desires of the flesh that lead us to sin. Our sins have been taken away in the death of Jesus Christ. But the things that cause us to sin have not. They still exist in our flesh, but the work of the Holy Spirit in us is to remove those desires so that we no longer are driven by human passion, but we live in the will and love of God.

Matthew 5:48 says: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” As humans we do not know or understand the perfection of God. We cannot comprehend what it means to be perfect in the sight of God. If we MUST be perfect, then we need a guide and a teacher to help us.

This is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is His role to perfect us by transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. Then we can be perfect as God is perfect.

Why did Jesus die – a summary

All of these things relate together to answer the question as to why did Jesus die. And there is still more that could be added. This is a brief summary of the things that we need to know to begin this journey of salvation in Jesus Christ.

In His death, Jesus laid the foundations of salvation. He made it possible for us to begin the journey that would lead to life. This is why we need to learn to walk with Him and walk in His ways. Entering His death and resurrection through baptism is just the start of the process. To carry us through to the end of this journey He gives us His teachings and the Holy Spirit as a teacher and guide.

But in a nutshell and to answer the question, why did Jesus die? It was to give us life. If we take hold of it through faith, believing that Jesus died and was raised from the dead by God.

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