Why did Jesus have to die? Why did Christ’s blood have to be spilled? Why did our Lord have to give his life? Was there no other way to save sinners? If you have ever asked this question, you are not the first. The twelve men who were called by Jesus, followed Jesus, and learned from Jesus also struggled with the idea that his demise was unavoidable (Matt. 16:21–22). Similarly, Israel’s leaders, those who supposedly most anticipated the Messiah’s arrival, took Jesus’s death as proof that he was not he for whom they waited (Luke 23:35). Even Paul admits that the seemingly oxymoronic message of “Christ crucified”—that is a dead Deliverer—is “a stumbling block” to some and “foolishness” to others (1 Cor. 1:23).
So, did Jesus have to die? In the second half of Hebrews 9, the author addresses this question, celebrating the necessity of Christ’s death and the life-shaping difference it makes for Christ’s followers of all eras.
