Why Did Messiah Have to Die?

Hello my adorable Thinkers!

Today’s topic might step on some toes so please keep in mind that these are my opinions from what I see in Scripture and not what I think everyone should do. If God has led you in a different direction or to a different conclusion, that is between you and Him.

I also want to be clear that I am not going to address why Messiah had to die the way he died or proving that Yeshua is the Messiah. I am only going to be talking about why Messiah had to die at all.

Numbers 35 outlines that when the Children of Israel enter the land God is giving them, they are to set aside cities of refuge so that anyone who kills someone unintentionally will be protected within the city. If their trial reveals that they indeed did not intend to kill the other person, they must stay within the walls of the city of refuge until the High Priest dies. Because of the sin they have committed, they are as if they were dead. If they leave the city of refuge any time before the High Priest dies, they are taking their life into their own hands. The kinsman redeemer can kill them if he comes across them. They are not able to offer any sacrifices, celebrate the pilgrimage holidays, or observe the Shmittah or Yovel. When the High Priest dies, it frees everyone in all these cities so that they can leave at their will.

The Children of Israel were protected in the city of Goshen from the famine that was throughout the rest of the world. (Genesis 47:4-6) It was later that the Children of Israel became enslaved and thus could no longer come and go at their will. In Exodus 12:3-7, 13, & 21-23 God has each Israelite household kill a lamb. Then they are to spread the blood on the door posts. As the firstborn through Egypt are killed, those who have the blood on their door posts are protected. It was through the death of this lamb, and the obedience of the children of Israel that they are released from not only Goshen, but from all of Egypt. (Exodus 12:31-33)

There is a parallel between the cities of refuge that God establishes in Israel and the city of Goshen in Egypt. In both of them the people can not leave without risking their lives. There is also a death that is not a sacrifice that frees them from the cities. The only way the death frees them, however, is if the people accept that since a death happened, they would not die when they leave. In the case of the city of refuge, the high priest dies so that those who have unintentionally killed someone do not have to die. In the case of the children of Israel, the lambs die so that the firstborns would not die. This is what ultimately grants them their freedom.

In Ecclesiastes 7:20 and Psalm 143:2 it says that everyone has sinned. Then in Ezekiel 18:4 it says that the soul who sins will die. If everyone has sinned and all those who sin will die then we are held in a similar state as those who are in the cities of refuge. We are as if already dead because of the sins we have committed. We are not able to enter the rest that God has for us as mentioned in Psalm 95:11. If we are in sin, we are not able to partake in the rest and inheritance (Psalm 37:9) just as those who are in the city of refuge cannot partake in the inheritance God has given them. So then comes the reason for Messiah dying. Messiah died so that we may be free from the death that comes from sin and enter the inheritance that He has for us.

So Messiah’s death was not a sacrifice like the sacrifices mentioned in Leviticus 4. Instead the reason he had to die was to release us from dying because of our sins. Similarly to how the people in the cities of refuge were only free if they accepted the fact that the High Priest had died, we are only free from the punishment of our sin if we accept the fact that Messiah died.

Thank you for reading and until next time! ~The Pondering Panda

I would like to say thank you to my Father, Mother, Sister, and one of my Best Friends for helping me hash out what it is that I actually believe and listening to my frustrated mental breakdowns when I was stuck. They also encouraged me to pray about this and not post it until I was confident that what I had written was what I believed. Your encouragement is what helped me shape this to be what it is now.

I would also like to give credit to Paul and the writer of Hebrews. They accumulated some of these verses in their arguments which made it easier to find them. These are the references for the verses I used. Romans 3 & 8, 1 Corinthians 15, and Hebrews 4.