Three Reasons Why Jesus Knew He Had To Die

We are about a week into the season of lent. This means that we are thirty seven days away from Good Friday and forty days away from Resurrection Sunday. This year more than ever before, I want to immerse myself in the meaning of Jesus’ cross. I still cannot wrap my mind around why Jesus would go to such a length for a sinner like me. There was absolutely nothing good in me that He would need to die for me. And yet He did.

Specifically, what did this pivotal event in history accomplish in my life personally? This is what I want to study deeper and see clearer. I want to trace the path Jesus took that ultimately led him to that old rugged cross. To guide this process, I have been reading this book. I want to share with you today from it. Here are three reasons why Jesus knew he had to die:

1. First, he knew he would die because of the hostility of the Jewish national leaders. It appears that this was aroused quite early during the public ministry. His attitude to the law in general, and to the sabbath in particular, incensed them. When he insisted on healing a man with a shriveled hand in a synagogue on a sabbath day, Mark tells us that “the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus” (Mk 3:6). Jesus must have been aware of this. He was also very familiar with the Old Testament record of the persecution of the faithful prophets. Although he knew himself to be more than a prophet, he also knew he was not less and that therefore he could expect similar treatment. He was a threat to the leaders’ position and prejudices. According to Luke, after his reading and exposition of Isaiah 61 in the Nazareth synagogue, in which he seemed to be teaching a divine preference for the Gentiles, “all the people in the synagogue were furious. . . . They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff.”
Luke adds that “he walked right through the crowd and went on his way” (Lk. 4:16-30). But it was a narrow escape. Jesus knew that sooner or later they would get him.

2. Second, he knew he would die because that is what was written of the Messiah in the Scriptures:“The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him” (Mk 14:21). Indeed, when referring to the Old Testament prophetic witness, he tended to couple the death and resurrection, the sufferings and glory, of the Messiah. For the Scriptures taught both. And the Lord was still insisting on this after he had risen. He said to the disciples on the road to Emmaus: “‘Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Lk 24:25-27; cf. Lk 24:44-47).

3. The third and most important reason why he knew he would die was because of his own deliberate choice. He was determined to fulïŹll what was written of the Messiah, however painful it would be. This was neither fatalism nor a martyr complex. It was quite simply that he believed Old Testament Scripture to be his Father’s revelation and that he was totally resolved to do his Father’s will and ïŹnish his Father’s work. Besides, his suffering and death would not be purposeless. He had come “to seek and to save what was lost” (Lk 19:10). It was for the salvation of sinners that he would die, giving his life as a ransom to set them free (Mk 10:45). So he set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. Nothing would deter or deïŹ‚ect him. Hence the reiterated “must” when he spoke of his death. The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected. Everything that was written about him must be fulïŹlled. He refused to appeal for angels to rescue him because then the Scriptures would not be fulïŹlled which said that it must happen in this way. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer before entering his glory? He felt under constraint, even under compulsion: “I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am [RSV “constrained,”literally “hemmed in”] until it is completed!” (Lk 12:50). So then, although he knew he must die, it was not because he was the helpless victim either of evil forces arrayed against him or of any inïŹ‚exible fate decreed for him, but because he freely embraced the purpose of his Father for the salvation of sinners, as it had been revealed in Scripture.

What dominated the central mission of Jesus was not his living but rather his dying. He was born to die, in my place — for my sin. The gravity of this truth inevitably humbles me.

Question: What about the above, regarding Jesus knowledge of his impending death has intrigued you the most? Please share with the rest of the community in the comments below.  

 


Comments

4 responses to “Three Reasons Why Jesus Knew He Had To Die”

  1. He planned it for our salvation long time ago! All the things that the Jews did and tracing back to Adam and Eve – they were suggestions about his work for our salvation. Moses was lifting up the snakes, Manna from heaven, Water from rock – all lead to Jesus and the way how did he die. He is bread falling from heaven for us. He is the rock from whom the living waters came, he unlocked the gates of death for us. He did not plan to live long life on earth – he knew he would die! But he chose the time and place. they wanted to kill him since he was a baby. He knew he needed to die to save our souls.

    1. Amen Ivan, good points!

  2. Onjelina Ombrella Avatar
    Onjelina Ombrella

    Man you have missed Jesus’s message totally. The ‘devil’ has succeeded with you if you think nothing good is inside of you- Jesus said the kingdom of God is within and everything he did was b/c of the spirit inside. I will pray for you to wake up and really see.

  3. Onjelina Ombrella Avatar
    Onjelina Ombrella

    Jesus came here to show us death doesn’t exist yet you all kill him every year; there is no such thing as separation and God is both female/male. Adam and Eve are the same as each other and Eve did not come from Adam’s rib- the original bible which was pagan in nature was written in code but you all have written your own rules now and shamed the female into a whore, a weaker, lesser mind. However it was man who got caught up in his own image and betrayed and forgot the woman. When you forgot the kingdom of God was inside and looked for it on the outside. I bet as you read this you are holding a gun- so scared, so disconnected from your true source, you actually believe in fear and the devil. God is love and since it is all encompassing it has no opposite. Fear is an illusion and you try to kill to make it go away but you actually create the very thing you hate by believing in it. Jesus was not Christian- the church and state used to be one and wanted control and you are puppets that forgot your truly self. You are the God you search for and if you truly accepted that, you would never allow anyone to go without food, or label people or kill people or make up a devil. You have an ego- an individualized mind of the one great mind that works with God every second of every day whether you are aware of it or not and you are God’s dream and God the dreamer so you are very useful to God. We all wanted to leave Heaven to feel Heaven- God doesn’t feel any degree of its self- God is whole so it could not feel anything. The illusion of lack is what we are doing in this time space reality and its all good. Everything. If you want to cure all pain and fear and suffering, stop creating it. Jesus’s message was simple truth yet you complicate things b/c you are a sleep in your own dream that turned into a nightmare when you actually believed it was real. Every time you pray and ask you are coming from lack, when Jesus already told you you would do greater things than he, therefore you have everything inside of you. The unseen is real. We are energy and water, not dust. All animals and nature knows these divine rules and lives by them yet many humans are still in the dark. You are a co creator like God and you are God. A pastor isn’t a more direct channel to God. Anyone can know God when they know themselves and you do this by going home- with meditation- the direct source. All expressions of life are good- there is no such thing as right or wrong. Man and Woman are just extreme opposites of the same thing- there is no gender, God is not a judge- an ego is. An ego what you call the devil, isnt that bad like a devil is; its here to take in information, sort and decide what it wants to keep permanent or temporary. We all have our own experiences in life, thus expanding God. The only way God can know itself is through all life forms. God still loves you and you can continue to stay on this path as you may not be a seeker of real truth, however you are really the only one standing here right now- b/c everything and everyone is a projection of what is inside of you like a mirror- so you are responsible as I am to show each other our lights and wake up.

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