Monmouth Methodist Church

Why Did Jesus Die?

God said to Adam, “From the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die”.

Adam lived and had children after he had rebelled against God.

What looks like a contradiction in the Bible is actually the key to understanding: WHY DID JESUS DIE?

We have 3 dimensions –

Physical body - the physical house we live in.

Soul - the mind, emotions, will, conscience. The soul is indestructible (it will exist forever).

Spirit – ‘non-physical eyesight’ to experience God and have fellowship with Him.

Biblical meaning of death = SEPARATION (not ceasing to exist)

Physical death = separation of soul from body. The physical body then decays.

Spiritual death = separation of the spirit from God - physically alive, but not with God.

Real Love = freely given out of choice. We want people to choose to love us, not forced into it. God created man free to choose to love Him in response to His love for us.

Expressing Love to God = choosing to obey Him. If God did not forbid anything, we could not CHOOSE - there would be no rules to disobey.

God gave Adam a choice through asking him not to eat from the tree. Adam had never before chosen good or evil. Obeying would continue his personal relationship with God. Disobeying led to an experience of evil. Adam died spiritually. He chose to break his intimate relationship with God.

“The wages of sin is death”

Wages = what you deserve. Not a gift or a punishment. When you work, you expect to be paid – it is a fair result.

Spiritual death = the result of our choice to be separate from God’s will. It is a permanent choice – Adam could not fix his spiritual eyes after he had poked them out himself! IT IS NOT A PUNISHMENT IT IS A NATURAL RESULT.

· Why can’t God restore the relationship?

… Because that would cancel out our free will. God has to honour our choice of disobedience. Otherwise, we would not be free to choose rebellion.

· Why did Adam’s sin cut off everyone from God?

… Because his sin was so great the damage passed through the generations (like radiation). We are all born physically and soulishly alive, but spiritually dead. Even if we weren’t – we’d soon choose to cut ourselves off – we all choose to do things we know are wrong.

· Why did Jesus say “My God, Why have you forsaken me?” when he died?

Jesus had never done anything wrong - he was spiritually alive and connected to God. On the cross, he experienced the spiritual death of every human being past, present and future. He experienced spiritual hell as He was cut off from God. He cries out in the pain of this separation. He died spiritually (rather than physically) in our place.

· How could Jesus take the place of everyone for all time and still rise again?

Jesus is actually the INFINITE GOD. He has ETERNAL LIFE. Infinity = goes on forever and ever and ever. In giving up infinite life, he generated enough spiritual death to pay for everyone.

Infinity x anything = infinity

Jesus giving up his eternal life x 3 days = an infinite number of eternities.

· Why did God need a human sacrifice – why could He not just forgive us?

God respects our free will to choose to love Him – or to choose to reject Him. If He took away our choice, He would be a dictatorial God using force.

· If Jesus already did this, why are we still separated from God?

In sending Jesus to die for each of us, God has sacrificed Himself to pay for our sins – and we can choose :

EITHER to go back to Him, forgiven, to experience a new spirit and relationship, complete in mind body and spirit. For these people, physical death is no threat as their souls are promised eternal spiritual life.

OR we are free to refuse His gift and remain separated in spiritual death for eternity.

Would you like to thank Christ for taking your spiritual death and ask Him to come into your life?

All it takes is a simple prayer to be accepted, something like the one below:

Lord Jesus, thank you for taking the spiritual death that I deserve. I am sorry for all the wrong things I have done. Please come into my life and give me back a spirit so I can really know You. Give me the strength to obey You every day. Amen

What next? If you have prayed this prayer – you are now a new person. Now you need to grow spiritually.

To do this – Read the bible, pray and listen to God and meet with other Christians (Come to Christian Union, Links Youth Fellowship and join a church.)

www.becomingachristian.com gives you some more guidance.

www.linksmonmouth.org.uk gives you information about Christian activities for young people in Monmouth