Born to Die

Sunday, 18th May 2008

Yesterday, I blogged about why Jesus had to become a man.

Today, I will blog about why Jesus had to die.

For that, we have to go back to the Old Testament also.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the glory of God that was covering them was removed. They then took fig leaves to cover their nakedness.

God then made them garments with the skin of animals (Gen 3:21) -- and for that, innocent animals were killed.

And that put into place the principle that sin had to be punished, and punishment was that blood had to be shed. Paul says in Rom 3:23 that the wages of sin is death.

We see this principle being carried down through the years. Abel offered an offering. Noah offered an offering. The Israelites had to kill a lamb and smear its blood on the lintel and doorposts of their home so that the angel of death would passover their place. The Levites and priests had to offer the blood of bulls and goats so that God would spare their nation. All these were types and shadows that would point to the ultimate sacrifice when the Son of God would shed His blood for the forgiveness of sins, once for all.

And that is why Jesus had to die. So that the wages of our sin would be paid by Him. So that He could take upon Himself all our unrighteousnesses, and in exchange for that, we could take upon ourselves His righteousness.

Modern nativity scenes would show the baby Jesus lying in a manger made of straw and hay. But the real manger that Jesus was laid in looks more like a tomb, like the picture shown on the right.

Furthermore, He was wrapped up in swaddling cloth, like the grave clothes that Lazarus' body was wrapped in (Jn 11:44).

Rick Warren wrote a book entitled "The Purpose-Driven Life". If such a book was written about the earthly life about our Lord Jesus, then the purpose that He came to earth as a man was to face death.

He was born to die.

And it is through His death that we have inherited eternal life. Hallelujah!

Tomorrow, I will blog about why Jesus had to die -- on a cross.