Did Jesus Have to Die?

"Jesus is the temple to end all temples, the priest to end all priests, and the sacrifice to end all sacrifices." - Tim Keller

When something comes up more than once in only a few days and from two entirely different sources, I generally pay attention. I'm not a big believer in coincidences. 

So, when an old friend called me up out of the blue to talk about the meaning of atonement, after I had just been looking at the same thing while finishing up the chapter in my Bible study on the Jewish sacrificial system, I paid attention.

And began to do more in-depth research.

Atonement means "reparation for a wrong". In Christianese, it refers to reconciliation with God, which of course implies we need reconciliation. We need it because our relationship with Him is broken.

I saw a meme on Facebook sometime back which thoroughly disturbed me. It basically implied God sent His Son to save us from Himself. In other words, to save us from something He Himself had imposed upon us.

It took me a while to wrap my head around that. In the end, though, I had to disagree.

Think about Adam and Eve in the garden. They were tempted to eat from the fruit of the forbidden tree because they doubted God had their best interests at heart. They wanted to do things their way, not His. They thought their way was better. They wanted to be in control.

Who of us has done any differently?

We give Adam and Eve a hard time, but honestly, I think eventually we all would have made the same choice. I believe this because I see it all the time - in myself, in my kids, in my neighbors, all around. We want to do things our way. We don't want to submit to someone else, not even to God.

Going our way breaks our relationship with God. 

C.S. Lewis* quite famously declared that God doesn't send anyone to Hell. People choose Hell. They choose it because Heaven means submitting to God's reign forever, and people still want to do their own thing. 

The Bible has a lot to say about sin. The Old Testament word for sin is literally translated as "to fail or miss the goal". It's rebelling against God, breaking His laws, or offending Him. It's doing our own thing. And the Old and New Testament consistently say we have all sinned.

We have a problem.

In the Old Testament law, the Jewish people are instructed to have a Day of Atonement once a year: "Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites" (Leviticus 16:34b). This was the only day of the year that the High Priest would enter the inner sanctum of the temple. He would bring in with him the blood of the sacrifices. This was the Most Holy of Holies - the area where the Arc of the Covenant sat and where God's presence dwelled. If anyone else were to enter, they would die, because God's presence there was so strong. 

The sacrifices on the Day of Atonement would cleanse the people of sin and restore their relationship as a community to God. There were other sacrifices that could be made throughout the year - some with blood and some without - for various reasons. Some for forgiveness of sin, but some to show gratefulness, or to ask for favor. 

Since the law specifically says sacrifices can only be made in the temple, there were no sacrifices in between the first and second temple and haven't been any since the Romans destroyed the second temple not long after Jesus' resurrection. Instead, the focus of religious Judaism over the centuries has shifted to finding atonement through acts of obedience such as prayer, fasting, charity, and repentance. We see examples of this in Scripture, too (such as the people of Ninevah who prayed, fasted, and repented in order to receive God's grace).

Does that mean sacrifices were never needed for forgiveness in the first place? This is what many people argue. Let's dive deeper.

The root of the word "sacrifices" in Hebrew means "to draw near". Sacrifices were about drawing near to God, and, in order to do that, since God is Holy, sin has to be dealt with. Sacrifices involving the death of an animal helped emphasize how seriously God takes sin. It was a vivid portrait of the price of sin, as the animal became a substitute, bearing the punishment the people deserved.

The very act of bringing a sacrifice assumed people believed in God's mercy. They believed He who was without sin, who detests sin, would forgive their sin, and accept the substitutional payment. It also assumed repentance - yes, we see how serious this is, we will submit to God's reign, try to do better.

When sacrifice became a religious ritual rather than a sign of commitment and repentance, God got angry (see Isaiah 1 for example).  They were doing the ritual, but still living however they wanted. They weren't taking the sacrifices seriously. They didn't understand the importance or the weight of how seriously God saw sin. The atonement was incomplete, because it was merely empty actions, with no heart engagement.

As Christians, we talk a lot about Jesus as our atonement. The sacrifice to end all sacrifices. 

But, is that all His death meant? Or, could there be more to it?

There are certainly Bible verses supporting the idea of Jesus as our atonement. Consider:

Isaiah 53:5 – “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

Hebrews 9:12 - "He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption."

1 Peter 2:24 - "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness."

1 John 2:2 - "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world."

(I tend to believe the New Testament writers - considering most of them knew Jesus, were there when He rose from the dead, and spoke to Him afterward.)

And yet, how often do we commit the same error as the people in Isaiah 1? Saying we've accepted His sacrifice but then living however we want. Doing whatever we want. Not taking His sacrifice for us seriously and thinking that it won't matter in the end.

I suggest it will matter. I suggest it will matter a lot. 

I keep thinking about this idea of sacrifice as a way "to draw near". I am reminded of how when Jesus died, the curtain in the temple tore from top to bottom. This was the curtain that separated the people from the Most Holy of Holies. It separated people from the presence of God. The fact that it tore from top to bottom makes me picture God, or an angel perhaps, ripping it with their bare hands. 

There was no more need for separation. 

God's presence would no longer kill us - because of Jesus.

Jesus was our ultimate sacrifice, yes, but also our High Priest (Hebrews 8), the only One who could be in God's presence, but not just once a year - all the time. And since He is there at the right hand of God, He both offers the sacrifice and is the sacrifice to cleanse us from sin and to restore our relationship with God. It is He who draws us near.

The perfect... atonement.

It is also important to consider how Jesus' death and resurrection broke the power of death. Before Adam and Eve sinned, they were set to live forever. Their sin condemned them to die (Romans 5:12). Jesus, described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 as the second Adam, broke the curse of death. Revelations 1:18 says He holds the keys of death. In Him, we have passed from death to life (1 John 3:14). He was the "first fruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20), paving the way for believers.

I also wonder... Jesus' disciples thought He was there to bring about the Kingdom of Israel. To kick out Rome and re-establish Israel as a true, free state. Jesus disputed this many times, and yet, they kept bringing it up. When He told them He was going to die, they argued with Him about it - because in their minds, that would mean His purpose wouldn't be met. He wouldn't be king of a newly founded Israel if He was dead.

Unless... unless the point wasn't to reestablish an Earthly kingdom. It wasn't about re-building Israel and bringing about a free state. It was about something bigger, greater, more important than they could understand.

Perhaps in that sense, He had to die in order for them to see.

It wasn't about them.

It wasn't even about Israel.

It was about God, and His Kingdom, and love, and being a light to the whole world.

After He died but before He rose, the disciples were hiding in a small room with a locked door. Terrified. Questioning. Uncertain. What does this mean? What does this mean for our people?

After He rose, after they saw Him and touched Him and ate with Him, then they understood.

This is about more than just us.

And they went out and changed the world.

Does Jesus' sacrifice for us move us to do the same? Or are we also holding onto these ideas of building our own kingdoms, or an American kingdom, or living our own ways and doing our own thing, and hoping that our empty actions will be enough to receive atonement?

Maybe some self-examination is required. Maybe the Church should do some self-examining, too.

In summary, Jesus had to die. But thank God, death could not hold Him. As Paul wrote, "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins" (1 Corinthians 15:17). But "Christ has indeed been raised from the dead"! 

And that is good news indeed.

*If you haven't read it, his book, "The Great Divorce", which is an allegorical story of Heaven and Hell, is well worth the read.