The fact of Jesus’ death & Why did Jesus have to die?

Theme of Matthew: “Behold your King is coming to you” (Zech.9:9; Mt.21:4-5)

CHARTING THE COURSE FOR THIS EVENING

Ø The Fact of Jesus’ death

Ø Why did Jesus have to die?

How could Jesus pray for something He knew was not the Father’s will? (v.39)

THE FACT OF JESUS’ DEATH

A. The Qur’an denies that Jesus died on the cross:

And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger - they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain.
But Allah took him up unto Himself. Allah was ever Mighty, Wise (Sura 4:157-158).

B. Some Muslim apologists “rewrite” the Bible based on the presupposition that it never originally taught Jesus was crucified. Ahmed Deedat argues in “Crucifixion or Cruci-fiction”:

1. Jesus “leads his platoon, in the middle of the night, to Gethsemane”

2. “They went to the Garden so that they might be in a better position to defend themselves!”

3. “Jesus does not take the eight with him to pray. He positions them strategically at the entrance to the courtyard; armed to the hilt, as the circumstances would allow…”

4. “Where is he taking Peter and John and James now? Further into the Garden! To pray? No! To make an inner line of defence — he had put eight at the Gate, and, now these zealous Zealots (the fighting Irishmen of their day), armed with SWORDS, to "wait and watch " — TO KEEP GUARD!”

C. If there is one thing history, all Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox agree upon: it is the death of Jesus by crucifixion.

1. Josephus (Jewish historian born around 37 AD and died 100 AD) refers to Jesus’ death (Antiquities 18.3.3).

2. Tacitus (AD 55-120), a renowned historian of ancient Rome wrote around 115 A.D. that Christ was “executed” by Pilate (Annals 15.44).

3. The early enemies of Christianity (e.g., Celsus and Lucian), also conceded that Jesus was put to death.

4. The Jewish Talmud states, “On the eve of the Passover Yeshu [Jesus] was hanged [or crucified]. ... Since nothing was brought forward in his favor he was hanged on the eve of the Passover” (Talmud, b. Sanhedrin 43a).

5. “Apart from a few on the lunatic fringe who have denied that Jesus actually existed, nobody in our time has attempted to deny that Jesus died on a Roman cross” G. B. Caird, New Testament Theology [ed. L. D. Hurst; Oxford: Clarendon, 1995], 353).

6. “That Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate is a statement of historical fact” (A. E. Harvey, Jesus and the Constraints of History [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1982], 11).

WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE? WHY DIDN’T THE FATHER LET THE CUP PASS FROM JESUS?

The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience, and sacrifice of Himself, which He through the eternal Spirit, once offered up unto God, hath fully satisfied the justice of His Father; (Rom. 5:19, Heb. 9:14,16, Heb. 10:14, Eph. 5:2, Rom. 3:25–26) and purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those whom the Father hath given unto Him. (Dan. 9:24,26, Col. 1:19–20, Eph. 1:11,14, John 17:2, Heb. 9:12,15) (Westminster Confession of Faith VIII:5)

What is death?

In what sense will Christians never die? (John 5:24; 8:51,52; 11:25-26)

In what sense must a person die if they are to follow Jesus? (Galatians 2:20)

What was Jesus afraid/grieved about in the Garden of Gethsemane?

Has anyone tasted death in its fulness other than Jesus? (Hebrews 2:9)

Christ’s death was substitutionary (Isaiah 53:6-8; Romans 5:8; Galatians 3:13)

What do we mean when we say that Christ’s death was substitutionary?

What does this mean for us? (Romans 6:3-6,11-14)

We identify with Christ against the practice of sin because we have already identified him as the one who took our place under sentence for sin. We enter upon the life of repentance because we have learned that he first endured for us the death of reparation. The Christ into whom we now accept incorporation is the Christ who previously on the cross became our propitiation — not, therefore, one in whom we achieve our reconciliation with God, but one through whom we receive it as free gift based on a finished work (cf. Rom. 5:10); and we love him, because he first loved us and gave himself for us. http://www.the-highway.com/cross_Packer.html

Christ’s substitution must be qualified as penal (Romans 1:18-3:26; 5:8-10; 1 Thessalonians 5:9,10[1])

Catholic liberal John Dominic Crossan called the penal substitutionary theory of the atonement, “the most unfortunately successful idea in the history of Christian thought.”

What do we mean by penal substitution?

Propitiation (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4;10) - The substitutionary suffering of Christ upon the cross which satisfied the wrath of God and His justice. Propitiation is a turning away of divine wrath. “‘Propitiation’ is a reminder that God is implacably opposed to everything that is evil, that his opposition may properly be described as ‘wrath’, and that this wrath is put away only by the atoning work of Christ” (Leon Morris, New Bible Dictionary [3^rd edition]).

‘for all the sins of all those for whom he made satisfaction, by undergoing that same punishment which, by reason of the obligation that was upon them, they were bound to undergo. When I say the same I mean essentially the same in weight and pressure, though not in all accidents of duration and the like . . .’ (John Owen)

JESUS FULFILLED THE OATH GOD SWORE TO ABRAM IN GENESIS 15.

A. The Hebrew word for Abram’s belief is אָמַן (āman). It’s the same word we get “Amen” from. At the heart of the meaning of the root of “Amen” is the idea of certainty.

B. Abram’s “Amen” is a demonstration of his faith in God (Hebrews 11:1-3).

C. If Abram “believes” in Gen.15:6, then why does he ask for reassurance in 15:8? Was Abram’s belief in verse 6 something less than certainty?

1. Abram does not doubt God’s Word.

2. God has not yet made a ____________ with Abram.

a. “Now the LORD said to Abram” (12:1)

b. “So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him” (12:4)

c. “The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land” (12:7)

d. “The LORD said to Abram” (13:14)

e. “The word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision” (15:1)

f. “And He said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it” (12:7).

3. When Abram says in 15:8, “O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?” he is asking for a ________________ (Genesis 15:17-18; cf. Nehemiah 9:7,8).

Was Jesus afraid of death?

[1] 1 Thess.5:10 ties God’s wrath with Christ dying for us, “9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us…” The idea seems to be that of substitution. Jesus took upon Himself the wrath that we deserved. “In this verse [10], the death of Jesus is inextricably linked with deliverance from wrath and obtaining salvation (v. 9), which is further defined as living together with him” (Green, G. L. The letters to the Thessalonians. The Pillar New Testament Commentary, p.243).