D. Scott Meadows

Do you know why Jesus Christ died on the cross? There are many true answers to this question: 1) His preaching was hated by powerful religious leaders, 2) His claims to a king were considered subversive by the Roman government, 3) A fickle crowd was whipped into a frenzy to prefer the criminal Barabbas to be released instead of Jesus.

But I wonder if you know, more specifically, what was God’s purpose in Christ’s death? What did God intend to accomplish, and actually accomplish by it? Many people have a vague idea, even in the church, but they cannot really explain it well. Let’s think about a great verse in Scripture that presents some of the most important reasons.

For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit (1 Pet 3.18).

TO SATISFY GOD’S WRATH AGAINST SINS

“For Christ hath once suffered for sins.”

The word “once” is not used like “once upon a time,” but rather “once for all,” of a definitive, historic act, never to be repeated. Once was enough!

“Suffered” refers to His “Passion,” the sufferings He endured leading up to and including His crucifixion and death.

“For sins” in the Greek means “to take away” and/or “to atone for” sins. This idea assumes a larger biblical understanding.

Scripture teaches us that God is perfectly holy. He is righteous and He requires righteousness of us. But we have failed in this; we have become guilty of many sins. God’s commandments not only spell out His reasonable demands, but also the punishments for law-breakers, which include humiliation, suffering, and death (Ezek 18.4; Rom 6.23). These penalties express God’s righteous anger about sin.

From earliest times, our compassionate God began teaching us that His wrath provoked by sin could be appeased by offering up animal sacrifices, and He prescribed sacrifices to be offered. But all these were intended to point forward to that time in human history when Christ would come into the world as the Lamb of God, and by His self-sacrifice on the cross He would effectively satisfy God’s righteous wrath. Christ’s death was a propitiation, that is, a sacrifice that satisfies and turns away the wrath of God on account of sin.

Peter tells us that a second and related reason Christ died was . . .

TO SUBSTITUTE HIMSELF FOR THE GUILTY

“The just for the unjust.”

This means that Christ who is just or perfectly righteous, died for a group of people who are unjust or unrighteous, that is, sinners. He died “for” them, that is, “in their behalf,” or “for their sake.” The righteous Christ died to benefit unrighteous sinners. The word “for” here can even mean “in the place of,” that is, instead of them, and as a substitute for them.

The Bible teaches that God intended Christ to die in the place of specific sinners. They were the guilty ones, and He the One who alone is innocent and righteous, and when the wrath of God was speeding toward them, He steps between and absorbs it in His own body and soul on that dark day when He cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me?” God the Father temporarily forsook Christ because He was legally guilty of other people’s sins that He Himself never committed. “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa 53), and He, accepting the mountainous guilt, suffered justly for it.

TO SAVE SPECIFIC SINNERS

“That he might bring us to God.”

“That” indicates a statement of purpose, i.e., “in order that.” Peter is answering the question very definitively, “Why has Christ once-for-all suffered for sins, as the just for the unjust?” And the answer is,

The idea is that our sins have made us far from God, and that Christ died to bring “us” back to God where we belong. “In order to lead you [Christian readers] to God,” it has been translated. The death of Christ for specific sinners insures their recovery for God. God’s purpose in Christ’s death, with respect to all who become Christians, is their personal and particular salvation (Luke 19.10).

HIS RESURRECTION: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

“Being put to death in the flesh (bodily), but quickened (made alive) by the (Holy) Spirit.”

This announces Christ’s bodily resurrection from the tomb where He lay dead on Good Friday, and on Saturday, and into early Sunday morning. Then His disciples found the tomb empty, and soon the living, walking, breathing Lord Jesus Christ appeared to many of them—even more than 500 people on one occasion (1 Cor 15). His rising from the dead proved that Jesus really is the Christ, and that God accepted His sacrifice, and that the mission of His first coming was completely accomplished.

So Christ died to satisfy God’s wrath against sins, in the place of specific sinners, in order to bring them back to God. This is the good news called the gospel. Scripture promises that whoever hears about Jesus’ sacrifice, and relies on it for acceptance with God, shall be saved. All your sins will be instantly forgiven and you will be reconciled to the God from whom you were estranged. May God grant that all of us will be saved. Amen.