Sep 6, 2020
Throughout Jesus’ life and ministry, he talked about dying; which was surprising for a healthy, 30-year-old male. Yet, he didn’t just talk about dying, but about what kind of death he would undergo (Matt. 16:21; 17:22, 23; 20:17-19). This kind of death would be a slow, brutal, humiliating, public crucifixion and was one of the surest ways of knowing someone died. Jesus didn’t have a ‘death wish’; he wished to honor God with his death (John 3:16, 17). This obedience meant God accepted punishing His perfect son in place of punishing sinful humans, called ‘penal substitution’. This atonement satisfied the wrath of God against sinners (Rom. 3:25; 1 Cor. 15:3; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Pet. 3:18; 1 John 2:2; 3:5). Jesus couldn’t just live a perfect life, he had to die the perfect death. While his physical death was minorly valuable, his spiritual death was eternally valuable. The worst death is not how you physically die in this world but where you spiritually die in the next (Matt. 10:28; 25:41, 46).