April 3, 2026 -- Matthew 27:50 -- Why Did Jesus Die?

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And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
Matthew 27:50 ESV
 
The question must be asked, why did Jesus die? He had not sinned in any way. Hebrews teaches “He learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:8-9 ESV). It is one thing to be obedient to God when everything is going well with you and life is easy; it is another thing entirely to be obedient when you suffer, when you are hounded and hated, serving faithfully though hard pressed on every side. Jesus though hounded and hated, served faithfully in every moment of His life and was confirmed as sinless.
 
All the way back at the start of the Bible, in Genesis, God told Adam and Eve if they ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and evil, they would die (Genesis 2:17). It is an emphatic statement; you shall surely die. When Adam and Eve ate of that fruit they violated the clear command of God, the boundary He’d set up which was supposed to confirm their life-long obedience. Had they had been confirmed in obedience He would grant them everlasting life. They failed. They rejected God. They had the blessedness of knowing God, walking with Him, living in Eden, and they chose death.
 
The magnitude of the sin is hard for us to comprehend. We are so mired in sin. So used to the stench of it. So used to dire consequences of it. Swimming in the cesspool of our sins we can hardly begin to know what purity is. The concept of holiness is elusive, no, it is completely foreign to us. God is just, He completely right, in demanding the complete obedience of the people He’d just created. But the mercy of God, oh, that great and incredible mercy, that He cursed Adam and Eve with death, but delayed the sentence of death, giving to Adam and Eve, and all their descendants life, children, abundance.
 
The sentence of death, the stipulated punishment for humanity’s sin, was fully measured out upon the Person of Jesus Christ. His death appeased the wrath of God. His death is the full and final answer to God’s demand of death for the sinner. His death had been pictured, foretold in all the sacrificed animals of the Old Testament. By the sacrifice of Jesus, His death, we are reconciled to God. Every Old Testament figure who believed in the promise of God offered in Jesus through sacrifice, from Adam and Eve to those in Jesus’ day who died before the death of Jesus, were reconciled to God in Christ. All who believe in Jesus Christ, are reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus, His Son. No wonder this day, when we remember the death of Jesus, is so awe-inspiringly amazing, so humbling, and draws from our lips such gratitude. What is the sign that you truly believe Jesus is the reconciling sacrifice? It is faith that bears the fruit of obedience to Jesus, and this fueled by the power of the in-dwelling Spirit.
 
https://youtu.be/aoMhT5zBkdE?si=vVMEhDcE0MQsyI5n Redeemer
 
 
O FOUNTAIN OF ALL GOOD,
Destroy in me every lofty thought,
break pride to pieces and scatter it to the winds,
annihilate each clinging shred of self-righteousness,
implant in me true lowliness of spirit,
abase me to self-loathing and self-abhorrence,
open in me a fount of penitential tears,
break me, then bind me up;
thus will my heart be a prepared dwelling for my God;
then can the Father take up his abode in me,
then can the blessed Jesus come with healing in his touch,
then can the Holy Spirit descended in sanctifying grace;
O Holy Trinity, three Persons and one God,
inhabit me, a temple consecrated to thy glory.
When thou art present, evil cannot abide;
in thy fellowship is fullness of joy,
beneath thy smile is peace of conscience,
by thy side no fears disturb,
no apprehensions banish rest of mind,
with thee my heart shall bloom with fragrance;
make me meet, through repentance,
for thine indwelling.
Nothing exceeds thy power,
nothing is too great for thee to do,
nothing is too good for thee to give.
Infinite thy grace, glorious thy saving name.
Let angels sing for
sinners repenting,
prodigals restored,
backsliders reclaimed,
Satan’s captives released,
blind eyes opened,
broken hearts bound up,
the despondent cheered,
the self-righteous stripped,
the formalist driven from the refuge of lies,
the ignorant enlightened,
and saints built up in their holy faith.
I ask great things of a great God.
THE GREAT GOD. THE VALLEY OF VISION. Page 8
 

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