Why Did Jesus Die on the Cross?

There are several reasons why Jesus died on the cross. There were social, religious and even political reasons that eventually led Jesus Christ to be crucified on the cross.
For example, the Jewish leaders and Pharisees despised Jesus and viewed Him as a social and religious threat to the power and authority they had gained over the people. Furthermore Christ’s doctrine exposed the hypocrisy and false teachings of the religious leaders, and so these leaders plotted the crucifixion of Christ as the only way to supposedly silence Him. (Read: Why Was Jesus Persecuted?) and (Read: Who Killed Jesus Christ?)

However the most important reason for why Jesus died on the cross is a spiritual reason. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was part of God’s plan for the salvation of mankind.
So what men planned for evil, by plotting to kill Christ for their own selfish and wicked reasons, God Himself was very much in control because Christ’s death was part of God’s master plan since the time Adam & Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden.

So why did Jesus die on the cross?

The sin of mankind is what brought Jesus to the cross.
The Bible says that we are all sinners (Romans 3:23) and that because we are sinners, we all deserve eternal punishment in hell because “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
Sin has the power of separating us from God and preventing us from having a true relationship with God. For example Isaiah 59:2 says: “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.”

Our own works or our own personal effort to earn a place in heaven are fruitless because we cannot save ourselves from the consequences of sin. Isaiah 64:4 says that “our righteousness are like filthy rags” before a just and holy God.

Therefore Jesus died on the cross to reconcile us with God (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
Because of the death of Christ on the cross, every person has direct access to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 2:5 says that there is “one mediator between God and men, the Man Jesus Christ”. Therefore Christ alone is our mediator who gives us direct access to God so that we may have a personal relationship with Him.

Christ also died so that we may be eternally forgiven from our sins.
Without Christ’s sacrifice and the blood He shed on the cross, there can be no forgiveness of sins for mankind.
Hebrews 9:22 says: In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

Jesus also took the punishment that we deserved when He died on the cross.
He died in our place when He was crucified on the cross. Jesus became our Substitute. It took the blood of a sinless Person to pay for the sins of the unrighteous. 

2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT says: For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

1 Peter 3:18 NLT says: Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but He died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but He was raised to life in the Spirit.

Hebrews 9:27-28 says: And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, 28 so also Christ died once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people.

Jesus also died on the cross because we cannot pay for our own sins through our own personal effort or works.
Since Christ became our Substitute by paying our debt for sin on the cross, then our salvation is received as a free gift which is made available by grace through faith or total trust in Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9  not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Jesus died on the cross because of the love of God.
Love is what motivated God to send Jesus to become the Saviour of the world.
John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world,  that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

1 John 2:2 NLT says: He Himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.

Therefore salvation is available to everyone who is willing to make a decision to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Jesus Christ did not die for a few people, but He died for the whole world so that whoever believes in Christ can be saved.

Conclusion
Isaiah 53:5-6 NLT says: But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.

The perfect and sinless blood of Christ was necessary to ensure that mankind could be offered the chance for forgiveness and salvation. It had to take God to come in the form of a Man to die and save His very own creation (John 1:14).

Salvation is a free gift from God and we receive it by trusting in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour because of the sacrifice He freely paid for our sins on the cross.
Have you accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour?