Why Did Jesus Die?
Jerry Wilhite, author I have written this study in other ways, but the Lord led me to write it as follows in hopes that those who read it and are not striving for the one on one relationship they should and can have with God, do so after reading this study. When you accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour you are saved from death, Hell and the grave. Romans 8 When we are saved our spirit is connected again with the Spirit of God, and we are one again. We then should spend time daily with God, listening having a one on one relationship. The shame is there are so many verses that tell us this, and still we talk to Him but do not give Him the time to talk to us, and that was one of the biggest reasons Jesus died for us. Matthew 16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Matthew 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Remember in our study on Christ, Christ is a Greek word which in English means "The Anointed One" (Luke 4:18, Is 10:27)
Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Jesus told Peter here that he did not understand or come to know the Christ (The Anointed One) by mental knowledge, or being there with Jesus. It was revealed (a revelation) to him by God; so Peter had a revelation in his spirit.
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Here is where Jesus named Simon as Peter and in Greek the word is Petros;
Strong's Number: 4074-GSN
Transliterated: Petros
Pronounced: pet'-ros
a primary word; a (piece of) rock (larger than
3037 GSN); as a name, Petrus, an apostle:
KJV--Peter, rock. Compare 2786 GSN.
As you notice it is a piece of the rock, not the rock. Jesus is the cornerstone, but the rock is revelation knowledge from God via the spirit of who Jesus is as the Christ and Son of God.
Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Now the Greek word for rock here is petra;
Strong's Number: 4073-GSN
Transliterated: petra
Pronounced: pet'-ra
feminine of the same as 4074 GSN; a (mass of)
rock (literally or figuratively): KJV--rock.
Which as you can see is the rock. So what is the rock (petra) Jesus is referring to? It is not Peter, because Peter is a piece of the rock. Jesus said, "upon this rock". Well, He was just talking about the revelation Peter had. So the church is built upon the revealed (revelation) knowledge from God of Jesus as the Christ and true Son of God. "Jesus" translated is "salvation". So if you are of Jesus you have salvation, and when you are of Christ you are of the Spirit of God, in, on and through you. The Son of God refers to our inheritance in God's kingdom. So we are the church as far as the revealed knowledge goes, but we are not the church. The church is when we are connected to God through he spirit, and operating in the revealed knowledge of Christ. From that revealed knowledge we learn what Christ is.
"Christ" is a Greek word that means "The Anointed One and His Anointing". Anointed means being rubbed in and on. Jesus told us that being anointed was having the Spirit of the Lord upon Him:
Luke 4:18
"The Spirit of the LORD {is} upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the good news (gospel) to {the} poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to {the} captives "I Cor. 1:24
"but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, The Anointed One and His Anointing (Christ) the power of God and the wisdom of God."We are told that Christ, or the Anointed One and his Anointing is the power and wisdom of God. In Is. 10:27 (KJV) we are told that the anointing removes burdens and destroys yokes. A yoke is anything that weighs you down, like sin, sickness, debt, etc...
All through the Old Testament times the Jews were told of a coming of the Anointed, and how when the Anointing came it would bring yoke destroying, burden removing power. Remember what I Cor. 1:24 says, "Christ (The Anointed) the power and wisdom of God." Who else could destroy yokes? God, of course! So the Jews were looking for the "Messiah" which is Hebrew for the "Anointed One". The Jews admit Jesus was a prophet and a teacher and that He did great works; they just don't admit He was the Christ (the Anointed One).
So the first step is we are called, we are called by God, some refer to this as the many are called but few are chosen.
Matthew 20 16. So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
The reasoning is this, that God calls all unto salvation, but not all accept. There are even those who profess they are saved and are not. So how do you know that you are saved?
Romans 8
When we are saved we are connected via the Spirit and then we learn we are His children, not from someone telling us we are, but from God Himself telling us we are His child.When this happens no one can ever steal or confuse you about your salvation, but there is more. The next step happens only because of the relationship we have with God. As we grow He shares with us who Jesus is as the Christ and true Son of God. This starts our growth in the area of revelation knowledge. Then we realize we need more, we need His Spirit not just in us, but we need His Spirit in, on, and through us. We need to be anointed with the Spirit of God in our life.
What is the anointing? Of course it is the English translation of Christ. To understand the anointing better, think of a dry sponge placed in a bowl of water. What happens to the sponge in the bowl of water? The sponge absorbs all the water it can and then some, to the point it is dripping water, in, on and through the sponge. When we are of Christ this is how we should be with the Spirit of God, dripping with the Spirit of God, in, on, and through us.
We learn in I John 2:27 and John 14:26 for two verses that we are to be taught by God, not man. Man should teach us how to hear from God so we can go to Him and learn from Him.
1 John 2
27. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
John 14
26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Why are we not taught all or any of the above? For those of you who have not been taught any of the above there are only 2 reasons.
What were they afraid of then and now? They were afraid they would lose their postion in the comunity and the church.
Matthew 23
13. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
14. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
16. Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
17. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
18. And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
19. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20. Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21. And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
22. And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
23. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
24. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
25. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
28. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
30. And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
32. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
34. Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
35. That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
The idea in the days of Jesus was that if they gave any credance to Jesus and who He was, then they (scribes and Pharisees, etc) would lose their first place in lines, best seats, fine clothes, and good food, and their imagined status among the general poulace. To some degree pastors and ministry leaders today are afraid of the same thing. Do not get me wrong I am not saying all. I can only say based on the 7 letters sent to the 7 churches in Revelation. So not by my own mouth or words do I say this, but by scripture itself, many will be judged by their own words.
Then there are those who have no idea it is or should be any different. No one ever taught them that there is a difference. That is why many are called, but few are chosen, but I tell you now the only thing that matters is your relationship with God. I do not mean just by His word, but a one on one relationship like the one you had here with your biological father.
We are to be raised by parents who are good, and as we grow up the father passes us off to our Spiritual Father, who will be our real Father the rest of our life. The only way this can happen is if we are hearing from God, listening to Him and being obedient to Him.
So seek the Lord as your saviour, then seek the revealed knowledge that only comes from God, and then seek the anointing of His Spirit in, on and through you, and finally be obedient to His guidance and you then are only answerable to God.
In the following verses hopefully you will see where some past intrepretations were wrong.
Matthew 7
15. Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17. Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Most people think the verse above is only referring to fruits of our labor. So if not works what is it?
Galatians 5
22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Fruit of the Spirit, if it is fruit of the Spirit all else will fall into place including that which is labor.
So as you can see it is not what you do, as much as who you know, and how well you know God that counts in the end.
To answer the question that is the title of this study, why did Jesus die?
He died to re-unite us with God.
He died so we would have life eternal with God.
He died so we would be more than conquers in this life.
He died so we could overcome death, Hell and the grave.
But He died mostly so we could have a one on one relationship with God.
3-3-4 H.O.M.E.