Who is Jesus? by Caleb Olayiwola - HTML preview

4. Why he needed to die

All men look up to death as an enemy, as a strong foe, as a disaster biding its time to strike, but, if we are to put ourselves in Jesus shoes, we’ll understand that death is not a master of itself but was a subject in the hand of the creator. Death is not all that bad as it seems, although we do fear it greatly.

Jesus feared death too… he cried to the father in the garden of Gethsemane when he was about to be taken by the soldiers. He was sorrowful unto death (Matthew 26 vs 38). He was looking death in the eye, he knew what was about to happen, he knew there was no way of escape. He must face death if he has to conquer it.

Jesus Christ was threatened several times before he finally gets to meet death on the cross. They could have stoned him like Stephen and end his life on the streets of Jerusalem, but someway somehow, they could not touch him. Death couldn’t touch him because he had the power over it.

Jesus was a man that had the power to forgive sin when he was on earth (Luke 5:20-24). Sin couldn’t touch him, so why would death do? The wages of sin is death - but to him that has been declared holy and righteous, death is of no concern. Sin brought death, but Jesus was not a sinner.

Sin is the primary cause of death. All have sinned, so in one way or the other, we are all entitle to die. The blood of Adam (the first man) flow through our veins - the sin is in the blood. It is inherited. Although Jesus was born by a woman, the seed did not come from a man, and the woman was a virgin.

God merely borrowed the womb of Mary and use it as a portal to launch his son to earth. If he must redeem man, he must be man. Spirit does not have blood, which is the primary ingredient for the atonement of sin.

It was through sin that the first blood was shed (Genesis 4:8-11), it must be by blood that the first sin be removed.

The blood that flow through the veins of all men is polluted because we all came from one source, which is Adam. The source of Jesus is not Adam, hence, he does not inherit the sin that resulted to man’s fall. Sin had no claim over Jesus life as it does over all men’s life - he was immune to death.

We must understand that there is physical death and there is spiritual death - the former occurred as a result of the later. Our spiritual death in the garden of Eden (Genesis 2:17) leads to our physical death outside the garden.

Man’s life begins to deteriorate the moment he stepped out of the garden. Yes, Adam lived very long, but he eventually died. Outside the garden, the age of man begins to dwindle down.

There was a time when God cursed man to live shorter (Genesis 6:3), which was also as a result of man’s disobedience. Sin was a mess in the lives of men; it was a stain on our glorified body. It turns our backs to God and it turn God’s back to us. It made God to withhold his blessings - man begin to receive nothing but curse.

However, God is willing to remove the stains on our glorified body and erase all the curses that our blood bears. The blood of no man is qualified to atone for mans sin because all blood came directly from one source, which is Adam. Jesus didn’t come from Adam; he didn’t inherit the blood that flowed through us because his seed did not come from a man.

The blood of Jesus is pure. It is undiluted. God made sure that no intercourse ever occurred and that no blood is transferred during his ovulation. (N.B: sperm comes from blood). He must not be polluted by this world if he has to save it. His birth was a mystery, and it has to be.

If we look clearly, his source determined his strength. All that he is and all that he will ever be had been determined before his birth. He came to the world knowing that one day he will have to shed his blood. His precious blood. His blood made him special; it differentiates him from all men that walked on earth.

The work of redemption started from the birth of Jesus. It didn’t just happen overnight. It didn’t just happen on the cross. It happened from the moment he was conceived. His blood is very important because that is the only blood that can atone for the sin of man.

God made the provision, created the pathway, removed all obstacles, so that one day the blood can be shed.

As I said earlier, Jesus have power over death. Jesus didn’t die because death grabbed him like it does to all men, no. Jesus died exactly when he wanted to die. It is out of his own free will. If he ever wants to save man, he must shed his blood. If he ever wants to conquer death, he must let go of his life.

Can the living fight death? No. He willingly gave up his breath on the cross. Death didn’t choose the battlefield, Jesus did. The whole 33 years of his life leaded him to exactly where he supposed to be - on the cross. All of his 33 years was for this one purpose - to sacrifice himself.

The root of all the problem of men is sin. He could heal several lame and deaf, raise several deaths, but there will always be more.

Spiritual death came as a result of sin. Physical death came as a result of sin. If we are to gain eternal life as he promised, he must cleanse that stain on our glorified body so that God can look at us once more as he does in the garden of Eden - pure and holy.

Salvation is a work planned and fulfilled by God. He used his son as a medium to reach us and to bring us back to himself. God does all the work because he still loves man. We are not totally lost as the devil - we are redeemable, and in us his glory can be revealed once more.