Why Did Christ Die?

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Why did Christ die? To those who belong to Christ, the answers seem obvious? Christ died to redeem sinners, reconciling them to God. Christ died that we may have life more abundantly. Christ died so we may have the hope of an eternal home in Heaven. Surely, Christ died for these reasons, but what is the overarching reason for Christ to die?

Prior to leaving the splendor of Heaven, Christ said to His Father, “I delight to do Your will, O my God; yea, Your law is within my heart” (Ps.40:8; Heb.10:7). The cord woven through every work of Christ is His commitment to fulfill His Father’s will. The food which sustained Christ was His Father’s will. “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to accomplish His work” (John 4:34).

It was Christ’s commitment to His Father’s will which led Him to die. “I seek not mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (John 5:30). Jesus reiterated this conviction, saying, “I come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 6:38).

Every deed, every word, every intent of Jesus’ heart was to do the will of the Father. Likewise, we should be compelled to pattern our deeds, our words, and our wills after Christ, for just as we sing, “He the great example is and pattern for me.”

Sweet are the promises, kind is the word;
Dearer far than any message man ever heard;
Pure was the mind of Christ, sinless I see’
He the great example is and pattern for me.

As we strive to be imitators of Christ, we ought to imitate His mindset of having His Father’s will as His highest priority. May we follow the pattern of Christ, purposing our lives as Christ purposed His own.

Certainly, it was an incomprehensible burden when Christ completed the will of His Father by bearing our sins at Calvary. Recall the night before when Christ prayed in the garden, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me, yet not as I will, but as You will” (Mt 26:39).

Do we see the pattern? No matter the trial, no matter the sacrifice, Jesus sought only to do His Father’s will. In so doing we, indeed, can have redemption; we can be reconciled to God. We have, through Christ’s selfless submission to the Father’s will, the hope of Heaven. May we, in similar selfless submission, pattern our lives after Christ. And, may we also say like Christ, “I delight to do Thy will.”