Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

Because we live on the other side of the cross, because we know that Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected on the third day, we look to that prophecy with amazement. God is in control. He chose to sacrifice himself on the cross for a people that he loved. When the prophet Isaiah recorded these words, he knew that he was prophesying God’s truth.

Today’s message is about another prophecy, this time from an unknowing speaker. Here a prophecy is given about Jesus eternal purpose by someone who did not believe for Jesus to be the Saviour of the World. Instead this un-intending prophet’s main concern was eliminating Jesus as a national threat by any means possible.

Text is John 11:45-53

The question that we want an answer to is, “Why Did Jesus Have to Die?”

If we were to pose that question to Joseph Caiaphas, High Priest of Israel from 18 - 36 AD, we could paraphrase his answer like this.

Jesus had to die to save Israel from the power of Rome.

Israel was not a free country. Instead, they were an occupied nation. Their taxes went out of their country to Caesar. There were Roman soldiers who could always be called on to quench any sort of revolt or uprising.

Rome had decided to let Israel have some authority of its own to rule its nation. This authority was granted to a ruling body called

The Sanhedrin

“Sanhedrin” is a Greek word for Council. The Sanhedrin would predominantly have power and influence over religious matters, but could also make some decisions over prosecuting crimes. They had a police, they could arrest and put citizens on trial, and they even had punishment that they could inflict on their accused.

It seems like the High Priest would be the Chair of the Sanhedrin. We might think that the High Priest would be chosen in a religious setting, but this is not the case. Under the authority of Rome, a roman official would decide who the High Priest was. The political maneuvering of this individual played a great role into how long their career as High Priest would be.

Joseph Caiaphas

Joseph Caiaphas was appointed as High Priest in 18 AD and held that position until 36 AD. 18 years is a long time, and it is safe to think that he was very skilled politically to hold on to this position of power for so long.

What was the main political concern for the High Priest?

It was to preserve as much freedom from Rome as possible. The main threat to freedom was revolutions and revolutionaries. Any time that anyone tried to rebel against Rome, the army would show up, demonstrate Rome’s power and reassert their rule in every possible way.

Joseph Caiaphas held on to his position of High Priest, because he was good at dealing with Rome, and at keeping Israel under control.

It was in a meeting with the Sanhedrin that Joseph Caiaphas was to make his un-intentional prophecy about Jesus. He had his own motivation for “Why does Jesus have to die”. He wanted to save Israel from the oppression of Rome.

What was the concern with Jesus?

Caiaphas saw Jesus as a huge problem because Jesus was attracting huge crowds. The people of Israel were starting to piece together that Jesus just might be God’s promised Saviour. Israelites saw the miracles that Jesus did. They heard him teach with authority, clarity and power. They came from near and far to be healed and to learn.

Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin are worried that once this momentum takes off, the Romans will dispatch their army to come once again and maybe this time, Rule Israel without the help of a Sanhedrin. Maybe this time Rome will come and use a massive show of force, destroying people and sacred buildings to make the point.

Jesus had just performed a miracle that was so spectacular that everyone would soon be talking about it.

What had Jesus done? He had raised Lazarus from the dead. This was especially fantastic because Lazarus had been dead for four days. Standing at the mouth of tomb, Jesus commanded a dead man to walk out, and out came Lazarus.

What happens next is that the people respond in two different ways.

John 11:45–46 HCSB

Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what He did believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

There are two responses to the miracle. One group, which is many of the Jews, came and believed in Jesus. But some of them instead of believing in Jesus went to the Pharisees and told what Jesus had done.

John 11:47 HCSB

So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do since this man does many signs?

John, the Apostle and author shows throughout the book how Jesus had been doing many signs. John could have used the word “miracle” instead of signs. So why does he keep using the word signs? We see the answer in John 20:30-31

John 20:30–31 HCSB

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.

These signs throughout the Gospel of John are signs of life, signs of hope, signs of God demonstrating his saving power to people who could never save themselves.

These signs, which are proof of Jesus divinity also served to put much worry and concern into the High Priest and the Sanhedrin in general. “What are we going do since this man does many signs?”

They didn’t even deny that the signs were happening. They didn’t try to explain away the miracles, how could they?

But they recognized that everyone could see the signs, and that people were starting to place their hope in Jesus.

John 11:48 HCSB

If we let Him continue in this way, everyone will believe in Him! Then the Romans will come and remove both our place and our nation.”

This is what it really comes down to. Israel’s status as a nation as at stake. Rome is no joke. When they come, they come with power. The Sanhedrin would do everything within their ability to make it so that Rome would not come.

It was fear and self-interest that governed the Sanhedrin, not the will of God.

They were fearful of Rome. They were fearful of what it would do to their position of power inside of the nation. Rome could take that power back in a moment.

Imagine how different things would have been if fear and self interest had not ruled their minds.

We need to learn to trust God even when we are afraid.

There are all sorts of unknowns in life, things that we cannot control. If we act in fear, we either shrink back from our obligations or overstep our responsibility.

The Sanhedrin was not permitted to kill anyone. So what could they do with Jesus, who they assumed to be starting a national revolution.

I wonder what different ideas were presented? What did they discuss? We aren’t told about the general discussion, what is recorded is the words of Joseph Caiaphas.

John 11:49–50 HCSB

One of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! You’re not considering that it is to your advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.”

It is not difficult to follow the logic. It goes like this.

Rome will crush any rebellion. We don’t want Rome to do that, so we crush the rebellion by killing the leader ourselves.

That’s the logic: Kill Jesus. Stop Rome. Save the Nation.

That is the thought pattern of this Accidental Prophet. Joseph Caiaphas had no idea of the significance of his words. He did not have the faintest idea that his words were being used by God Almighty to the significance of the willing sacrifice of Jesus the Christ.

John 11:51–52 HCSB

He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children of God.

The Apostle John is writing these words to show that God is over all. Caiaphas had a position of Power, and that power was on loan from Rome, the super power of the world at that time. But God was overall Caiaphas and Rome and the Devil.

How did the Sanhedrin respond to the proposal?

John 11:53 HCSB

So from that day on they plotted to kill Him.

The Sovereignty of God over the Plans of the Devil

The way that things were unfolding would make it seem like the Devil was winning. A plot was being devised to kill Jesus.

The Devil must have thought that killing Jesus, killing God, would be his greatest victory. As Jesus is being arrested, mocked, accused, whippped and crucified, the Devil is relishing the DEATH that he is imposing.

What a fool. To think that any force, any power or any authority could outsmart and overpower God. For in carrying out his greatest attack against Jesus, God achieved his greatest victory.

God takes the devils biggest plans and uses them for good.

This gives all Christians great hope. We know that no matter what schemes are devised against us, nothing can take us from God’s plan.

We know that our tests can become our testimonies. We know the hardship, loss and sorrow are never wasted. God is over all, he is in charge, and his best is what will happen.

That doesn’t mean that every time we go through pain we will have a promotion. It doesn’t mean that when we go through financial loss we will have “double for our trouble”.

It means that God is continuing to work in our lives for the ultimate goal of knowing Christ, knowing his saving power, and being found complete in his righteousness.

God is overall.

The Sanhedrin plotted to kill Jesus. But this was no surprise to God. Nothing that he had to quickly react to. God’s perfect plan with perfect timing was at work, just as it always will be.

We remember his sacrifice on Good Friday, but we declare his victory. We are confident that not a single detail was left to chance. Not a single moment outside of the control of Christ.

There was an evil plot to kill Jesus, but it worked inside of God’s plan of Salvation.

So if it worked inside of God’s plan, why was it God’s plan for Jesus to die?

Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

John, interprets the statement by Caiaphas through the lens of God’s plan of Salvation.

John 11:51–52 HCSB

He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children of God.

Why did Jesus have to die?

Christ died for our sins.

Jesus death was to pay the penalty for our sins. The penalty for sinning is death.

Jesus never sinned. He is righteous. That means death was not a penalty that he deserved. He was taking on the penalty of sin in our place.

2 Corinthians 5:21 HCSB

He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Isaiah prophesied,

Isaiah 53:5–6 HCSB

But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds. We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.

Some people ask, isn’t there another. Could God have found some other solution rather than having Jesus die?

This person who asks this question agrees that we have a problem with sin. But they don’t see the need for a sacrifice so great as Jesus gave on the cross. This people say, we want to be forgiven, but isn’t there another way. “Why did Jesus have to die?”

The first answer to this is that it was not necessary for God to save any people at all. There is no way to force God into anything, and that includes saving people from.

This means that we might need to refine the question to “Why did Jesus have to die in order to save people?”

The answer is that

There is no other way for God to save us than for Christ to die in our place.

-Wayne Grudem

Here is where that comes from.

In the Garden of Gethsemane just hours before Jesus will be arrested, he is in prayer. He knows the horror that he is about to go through. Here is the prayer of Jesus.

Matthew 26:39 HCSB

Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

Jesus is fully God and fully Man. He knows the law inside and out. He knows what it is to fulfill that law. If there was another way, he would have known it, he would have taken it. But no other way was possible. There was only one path that would lead to our salvation.

This is reaffirmed in Luke 24 which takes place on Resurrection Sunday on the Road to Emmaus. There Jesus is walking with two disciples, but they don’t know that it is Jesus. They are very sad about the crucifixion, they are not even aware that Jesus has risen from the dead, even though he is walking with them.

Jesus says to them...

Luke 24:25–26 HCSB

He said to them, “How unwise and slow you are to believe in your hearts all that the prophets have spoken! Didn’t the Messiah have to suffer these things and enter into His glory?”

Jesus had to die in order to fulfill God’s good plan to save a people who were lost in sin.

The Sanhedrin saw all of the signs that he was doing, and put a plot together to kill him.

Jesus death and resurrection has become his greatest sign.

Look to Jesus and believe in him. See his signs proving that he is the Son of God, the one who has come to take away the sin of the world.

Today, we step back from our joy to reflect on the great price that Jesus has paid because of our sin. Today we thank God for his faithful kindness to save us, for we can never save our-selves.

Why did Jesus have to die?

Jesus died because it was the only way that God could save sinners from the power and consequences of sin.

He rose from the Grave showing that not only can he forgive sin, but he has power over sin as well.

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