"Why Did Jesus Have to Die?" - A Rebuttal

One of our users, Tyler Walkden (2nd_Adam) has written a strong rebuke against a paper that we have posted in our "Featured Articles" section. The paper in question is "Why Did Jesus Have to Die?" written by myself and edited and expanded on by Donna Haerich.

In the spirit of openness and friendship, and to show our visitors that we regards everyone's opinion equally, we agreed to post Tyler's rebuttal paper as he requested. It must be noted that HeavenlySanctuary.com disagrees with Tyler's conclusions, but, we cherish his willingness to share his perspective. You can read his article by clicking on "read more"...

A Response to: "Why Did Jesus Have to Die?"
By Marco Belmonte & Donna Haerich

Written by Tyler Walkden

I had the opportunity to read your paper, "Why Did Jesus Have to Die." What I had intended as a simply gleaning and reply turned into something of greater length. I am not too sure where to begin in my response, there are so many points brought forward that demand a response. Perhaps I will begin by pointing out what I do agree with. I agree that the cross is one of the clearest expressions of the love of God towards mankind. Through the cross, much more is revealed of God than without the cross.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ" by grace you have been saved" and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephes. 2:4-7).

The immeasurable riches of his grace were made known by the cross, and will be revealed all the more in the coming age. His mercy, kindness and love will be more unfolded when we physically raise and be seated in heavenly places by way of the cross.

In some sense I gather that you are thinking that your view upholds the glory of God in the greatest sense (I don't agree), but do agree that the cross is where God is glorified the greatest. Jesus said at the eve of the cross "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you," (John 17:1). Both the glory of the Father and Son are seen at their height at the cross.

There is more I disagree with than what I agree with in what you wrote, but if you where to write a more panoramic view I am sure I would find greater grounds of similarity. However, regardless of how similar our views may be, we do disagree on something very central to our faith, the cross. And what Christ's death accomplished.

The cross is where all things are reconciled onto God, "according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." (Ephes. 1:9-10). God dealt with several issues in order to bring us to himself. Some of these issues could be summarized in the first three verses of Ephesians 2. i) Sin ("you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind,"). ii) The worlds influence ("following the course of this world"). iii) Satan's influence ("following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience"). iv) The Law (which isn't in this portions of scripture, and an issue I will address in a moment. It isn't acceptable to Paul to mention simply sin, the world, and Satan. He had to focus on how all these stood in opposition to God, and how it steered the heart of God to the place of wrath, viewing us by nature as "children of wrath, like the rest of mankind," (Eph 2:3). Everything must be measured before God and not apart from him, he is the ultimate standard. Only God can reveal how truly hurtful and damaging sin is to his glory and his people. So let us worship the "blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords," (1 Tim. 6:15) let us glorify him for his:

dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done? (Daniel 4:34-35).

Let me deal with the law, before I speak more specifically about God's judgment and wrath. Since the law is "holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good," (Romans 7:12), God demands that the law judge all people who transgress the law. The law isn't something that is apart from God but is within God's very nature, so by upholding the law he upholds himself, and by judging the world through the law, "for the law brings wrath," (Romans 4:15) he is judging the world through himself. But fortunately Jesus came to save us from the penalty of the law, when "the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law," (Galatians 4:4-5). Jesus therefore cancelled "the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross," (Col. 2:14). Notice that it was not the law he nailed to the cross, but the "record of debt." The law was fulfilled in Jesus because we couldn't do it ourselves. If there was one thing the sermon on the mount was designed to do, it was to reveal to us that we are supposed to uphold the law (do not kill, do not commit adultery) but lack the ability to do so. The sins that we didn't commit with our hands we committed with our hearts, "everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart," (Matthew 5:28). This is in light of the fact that we are to "be perfect, as [our] heavenly Father is perfect," (Matthew 5:48). So how does our "righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees," (Matthew 5:20)? It isn't through our obedience, because we don't have the ability to fulfill the law (if we did we would have saved ourselves) but we were weak, incapable of giving perfect obedience, but Christ could, "for God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us," (Romans 8:3-4). Therefore, "by the one man's disobedience [1st Adam] the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience [2nd Adam] the many will be made righteous." (Romans 5:19). So the end analysis it this, that we "know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified." (Galatians 2:16). These are those who are the Christians, the true Jews, "a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter," (Romans 2:29). Do not mistake this for antinomianism.

I see God's wrath is slightly different from his judgment. I see God's judgment as the mallet dropping and Gods wrath as him following through with the execution. The bible indicates that God is a Judge, "Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!" (Psalm 82:8). Abraham before Sodom interceded by saying, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" (Genesis 18:25). God's judgment and following wrath where quite apparent in the Old Testament. Adam and Eve had to leave the garden, God flooded the world, destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, punished the Egyptians, and ordered the killing of those who worshiped the golden calf. In the New Testament we find Jews being judged for rejecting Jesus "the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him." (Matthew 21:43-44). The Jews are also judged for preventing the spread of the gospel "by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved" so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God's wrath has come upon them at last!" (1 Thes. 2:16). Herod was killed because of his self-righteous pride, "immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last." (Acts 12:23). We all know what happened to Ananias and Saphira for lying to the Holy Spirit. So essentially "those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury," (Romans 2:8).

Jesus said that people have already been judged, sentenced as condemned for not believing on him. They are simply waiting for the day of wrath. "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already," (John 3:18) and "whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him," (John 3:36). Yes their judgment can be turned around if they only trust in Jesus. To trust in Jesus means repentance, turning from there sin towards the person of Christ, "unless you repent, you will all likewise perish," (Luke 13:2). Jesus is not content with saying repent or parish but describes the judgment in more detail "Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."" (Luke 13:2-5) (emphasis added). Jesus warned people of this coming wrath, "Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people," (Luke 21:23). In fact on his way to the cross he couldn't help but turn to some women and remind them of this, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, 'Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us,' and to the hills, 'Cover us.' For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?" (Luke 23:28-31).

Wrath, indicates to me God's anger or holy indignation towards something. God's wrath points out to me that God is intimately involved with the condemnation of people, not withdrawn. Yes, it is totally true that one of the ways that the "wrath of God is revealed from heaven," (Romans 1:18) is by him withdrawing from humankind. In these instances he removes his grace which sovereignty upholds all people from falling into greater depravity and sin. "God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts," (Romans 1:24.), "God gave them up to dishonorable passions," (Romans 1:26), "and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." (Romans 1:28). BUT, to act as though this is the only way God judges is to ignore the rest of scripture and to inflate one truth of judgment at the expense of others.

When I look at the cross I do see the Father withdrawing his presence, but I also see the Judge bringing forth his wrath. When Jesus was at Gethsemane, what produced his blood like sweat, what made him cry, ""Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will." (Mark 14:36). What is this "cup" that Jesus asked his father to remove? Is it the cup of sin or the cup of Satan. NO, it was "the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath," (Rev. 16:19). Either, Jesus drinks this cup of wrath or we ourselves drink it, so chose who you will glory in ""if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb," (Rev. 14:9-10) (emphasis added).

In the PRESENCE of the Lamb! This is very important because we see that God's wrath is not solely passive (him removing his presence) but active (bringing forth his presence). A little example of this is when Peter "fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord,'" (Luke 5:8). So when Christ revealed more of himself, Peter was convicted in his heart. One day people will call "to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,'" (Rev. 6:16). At the cross, Father God may have turned his face but God the Judge did not hide his face. Within the presence of God who can stand? "his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead," (Rev. 1:16-17).

What is crucially important is that the Judgment on the cross is equal to the judgment at his Second Coming. Perhaps the thief on the cross spoke with more wisdom than what he thought when he said to the other thief "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?" (Luke 23:40).

Of course, each person will be judged for the sins in which they have done, and for the original sin of Adam, "but because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed." (Romans 2:5). The main difference between the cross judgment and the seconded judgment is that at the second judgment Jesus comes to judge but at the first judgment (the cross) it was the Father. But if the Father didn't judge the son, then who did? If you say sin kill Jesus, I would ask what kills sin? We must see that "it was the will of the Lord to crush him," (Isa 53:10). It was the Lord who "laid on him the iniquity of us all," (Isa 53:6) it was the Father who "made him to be sin who knew no sin," (2 Cor. 5:21). I know that the cry from the cross was not, "My God, My God, why are you beating my up," (Marco & Donna), but we do say that we "esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted," (Isa 53:4). BY GOD, not by sin or Satan. He was "cut off out of the land of the living," (Isa 53:8) and "stricken for the transgression of my people?" (Isa 53:8). Stricken means, God's presence is there, his face was there, his hand is in motion, Christ takes the blow of death because sin laid on him, not by sin itself, and "out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied," (Isa 53:11). Yes, it is "a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:31).

You can hide within those wounded hands, or be wounded by those hands, "when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus." (2 Thes. 1:7-8). Christ is present at judgment, you cannot mistake him because of his attire "clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength." (Rev. 1:13-16). Jesus is not dressed for anything else but judgment, and he brings wrath into the world by his coming not his leaving, "then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God,"" (Rev. 16:1).

Are we to fear God? You tell me that Jesus "died to show us that God is not to be feared," (Marco & Donna). While if we deliberately carry on sinning, and deny Christ, I would say yes, there is "a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume [you]." (Hebrews 10:26-27). You tell me that if I was in Christ on the cross and God didn't judge me in Christ, I am not to fear anything. In fact, I fear even more. If I (old nature, sin etc.) wasn't condemned on the cross by God, I will be condemned at Christ's return. The cross would be ineffective in saving me, God would be a liar for saying "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," (Romans 8:1). Unless, you believe that God will not judge people at his Second Coming? (think about the weight of scripture I gave above before answering this question). If you believe there is no active wrath to come, you are one step away from being a Universalist (saying all will be saved). Surely you wouldn't say this, oops look, you did, "No one will ever die at the hands of our gracious God." (Marco & Donna). My intention is not to be mean, but to work out your logical implications and survey your thoughts in the light of biblical texts. Surely Satan likes this interpretation of the gospel. God is conveyed as unjust. Not wanting to call sin SIN, and certainly not desiring to judge it. Satan blinds people from the very power of God that drove him out of heaven, his justice. An unjust God is not a God at all!

You tell me that Jesus wasn't a sacrifice for sin, at the hands of the Father. "God values our freedom, even the freedom to reject him. He will honor our choice. We will die horribly and miserably and alone but not at the hands of God," (Marco & Donna). When I see Isaac on the alter, I do not see Abraham at the bottom of the mount. I do not see him waiting for Isaac to die. I do not see the withdrawal of Abraham as the death of Isaac. Nor Isaac's sin consuming him. Where is Satan, he is not there. In this story, the only focus that God wanted to convey was Isaac dying at the hands of his Father. As a sacrifice, as a propitiation. So Abraham would understand the heart of God the Father. You reduce that great "atonement" to something as fickle as "alonement" or loneliness. Do you not know that a "little leaven leavens the whole lump? (1 Cor. 5:6). I must say that I am "astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel,"(Galatians 1:6).

Your gospel, I cannot help but note begins with man's sinful psyche (conscious/unconscious fear of God) and not with God's heart (desire to glorify himself while uphold his justice in the act of saving people). The best way to contemplate salvation is downward, from what God reveals to us of his perspective; not up-ward what men would like to think. Your focus is on man's happiness, not God's holiness, it places healing as central, not repentance (which recognizes the law being broken and sin being committed). The reverent fear of God is reduced to mutual respect, and the Glory of God is shared with man in a way that dignifies him where it should humble him. Your heart is "right," in desiring to bring many to the Saviour, but it is "wrong" if it doesn't raise to the level of God's Lordship and glory.

I have tried to let the scriptures speak for themselves. I am aware that I have drawn a fearful picture of God but it is one that is worthy of him. I narrowed my focus to exactly what you said God does not do, actively judge people on Christ. I am afraid that this picture taken alone without the whole view of God in mind, is like a man with one long leg, simply going in circles. I have brought forward more of the justice and less the mercy of God. Truly I have "neglected the weightier matters of the law: ...mercy and faithfulness," (Matthew 23:23). I would like to write again sometime, to balance the above view, to focus on the fact that he "desire mercy, and not sacrifice," (Matthew 12:7).