The Bible tells us that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead on the Sunday after Passover. The risen Jesus met with and spoke with people for 40 days following that, including up to 500 people at a time (1 Corinthians 15:6). At the 40 day mark, He ascended to heaven, as His disciples watched. Ten days after that, on the day of the Jewish festival of Pentecost, one of His disciples preached about the risen Jesus to thousands of people. In that sermon, Peter spoke of Jesus as the one, “…Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it” (Acts 2:24). Many years ago, that phrase caught my attention, and I am still amazed by it: It was not possible for Jesus to remain dead in the tomb. He had to rise. In the season of Easter and Resurrection, it’s good for us to think deeply about how Jesus had to live, had to die, and had to rise again.

Here are a few thoughts on why Jesus had to rise from the dead. It’s a short and incomplete list – feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments.

Jesus had to rise from the dead to fulfill the promises of the Old Testament.

The resurrection of the Messiah was described in the Hebrew Scriptures in Psalm 16:10 and spoken of in a prophetic sense in passages such as Hosea 6:2 and Jonah 1:17. Another example is the scenario in Genesis 22 where Isaac, as a picture of Jesus, is “raised” on the third day of their journey, at the beginning of which Abraham had reckoned his son dead.

Jesus had to rise from the dead to fulfill His own promises.

The promises Jesus made that He would raise from the dead are recorded in Matthew 16:21, 17:23 and 20:19 and in many other passages. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then He and His promises were lies. It was impossible for the One who is the way, the truth, and the life to remain dead.

Jesus had to rise from the dead to prove that the price was paid at the cross.

The price was paid at the cross, just as He said with His last word before giving up His spirit: It is finished, which could also be understood as paid in full. Yet, every payment needs a receipt. The empty tomb was the evidence that Jesus remained God’s Holy One (Acts 2:27), through the whole ordeal of the cross. God had to raise His Holy One from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus proved that He bore our sin without becoming a sinner.

Jesus had to rise from the dead to make certain of our resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:20 says that Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection that is promised to all His people. He was the beginning, and if it was real for Him, it will be real for all who have put their trust in Him. Romans 8:11 says it beautifully: “He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Jesus had to rise from the dead to show that death was defeated.

If death could not hold Jesus in the tomb, it proved that death had no power over Him. If death was defeated for Jesus, then it is defeated for all those who put their faith in Him who are identified with His death and resurrection. No wonder Paul could almost taunt death by saying, “O Death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55)

Jesus had to rise from the dead to bring hope and security to His followers.

Because of the victory Jesus won through the empty tomb, His people don’t have to live in fear of death or anything in our future. Hebrews 2:15 says that one aspect of the work of Jesus at the cross and resurrection was to release those who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For Jesus’ people, the fear and torment of uncertainty is gone.

Jesus had to rise from the dead to demonstrate the greatness of God’s power.

In Ephesians 1:19-20, the Apostle Paul prayed that believers would know the greatness of God’s power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:20). This is ultimate power, the power to give life to that which is dead. This is the power that God gives to us in Jesus Christ, and power for us to know and live in.

During this season of Easter and resurrection, think deeply on why Jesus had to rise, and especially all that His resurrection brings to those who repent and put their faith in Jesus. It’s something to not only know, but to live.

We believe there is a plan and a destiny for every life, but that was true of Jesus in a way unlike anyone else. As Jesus taught, made disciples, healed, confronted corruption, and performed miracles, He lived a life like no other. Yet, the life of Jesus was directed towards one goal greater than any of those remarkable things He did: His destiny was to die in obedience to His God and Father. The work of Jesus on the cross becomes the center of all history. Everything before it looked ahead to what God the Son would accomplish on the cross. Everything after it looks back to the work that had to happen. In the season of Easter and Resurrection, it’s good for us to think deeply about how Jesus had to live, had to die, and had to rise again.

Here are a few thoughts on why Jesus had to die and die on the cross. It’s a short and incomplete list – feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments.

Jesus had to die to fulfill all the types, promises, and prophecies of the Old Testament.

From God’s promise to provide a sacrifice (Genesis 22:8-14), to the prophecy that the Messiah would be cut off (Daniel 9:26), to almost innumerable promises and prophecies in-between, it all had to be fulfilled in the death of Jesus. Even the way Jesus would die was prophesied hundreds of years before it happened (Psalm 22:11-18, Zechariah 12:10).

Jesus had to die to finish all the sacrifices and ceremonies of the priesthood.

Everything that Israel’s priests did pointed to the perfect atonement that Jesus would accomplish in His death on the cross. Every animal sacrifice the priests of Israel offered was like a bank check that would be paid out at the cross.

Jesus had to die to completely identify with humanity.

Man is born to trouble (Job 5:7), and that trouble ends in death. As children of Adam and Eve, we are born to die, and death has spread to all (Romans 5:12). Through His life, Jesus identified with the misery of humanity. He was born in danger and humility, lived most of His life in obscurity and hidden obedience, and Jesus experienced the temptations and challenges we all face. When He voluntarily laid down His life at the cross, He tasted death for all humanity (Hebrews 2:9).

Jesus had to die to complete His perfect obedience.

Jesus lived His entire life in obedience to God the Father, but it was important for Him to remain faithful unto death. In John 12:27-28 Jesus said shortly before He went to the cross: “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.”

Jesus had to die to satisfy the justice of God.

All the sin of humanity made a debt greater than any mere man or woman could pay. It took the God-Man, Jesus Messiah, to pay the price of our collective and individual debt to God. Just before He gave up His life on the cross, Jesus cried out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) – which has the sense, paid in full. Jesus paid every obligation that God’s justice requires.

Jesus had to die to defeat the power of Satan, sin, and death.

Humanity’s debt of sin may be our greatest problem, but it isn’t our only problem. We also face the adversary of Satan, the power of sin and death, and the bitter reward of sin. The work of Jesus disarmed Satan and his evil associates (Colossians 2:15), triumphed over the power of sin (Romans 6:10-11), and defeated death (2 Timothy 1:10).

Jesus had to die to demonstrate the love of God.

God’s love is written on every page of the Bible, yet the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross is the ultimate demonstration of God’s love (Romans 5:8, John 3:16). Alexander Maclaren said this about the necessity of Jesus’ death: “He must die because He would save, and He would save because He did love.”

In light of the greatness of God’s love demonstrated at the cross, we should not ask God to prove His love for us – He already has, and He can give us no greater proof. It’s fine to ask God for fresh demonstrations of His love, but the greatest proof was given once and for all. Now we can, “… Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma” (Ephesians 5:2).

Strange and important events fill the pages of history and our individual life. Sometimes, we think about great events and wonder, “Did that have to happen?” Could the crime have been stopped? Could the accident been prevented? Could the good thing that came to us worked out a different way?

The Christian has peaceful confidence in God’s hand on history. When we think about the events in God’s plan, we know they had to happen. It is especially true when we think about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

In the season of Easter and Resurrection, it’s good for us to think deeply about how Jesus had to live, had to die, and had to rise again.

Here are a few thoughts on why Jesus had to live, and live among us. It’s a short and incomplete list – feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments section below.

• Jesus Had to Live Among Us Because God Promised to Send the Messiah.

Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, we read God’s promise to send a deliverer, a conqueror, and a savior. Starting in the Garden of Eden and going all through the Old Testament, this promise remained. At some point in time, it had to be fulfilled, and it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Can you describe some of the highlights of God’s great plan?

• Jesus Had to Live Among Us So Man Could Meet God.

Jesus perfectly revealed to us the nature of God. Through history, there have been thousands – probably millions – ideas of what God is like. Jesus settled every question about the nature of God. We don’t have to wonder what God is like; we see Him perfectly displayed in Jesus of Nazareth. Have you met God in the Person of Jesus Christ?

• Jesus Had to Live Among Us to Fulfill God’s Law

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 that He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. One of the ways Jesus fulfilled God’s Law was in His perfect obedience. Every man and woman before Jesus and every one after Him has disobeyed God in some way or another. Yet Jesus was and is the One who did what Adam and the whole human race was not able to do: perfectly obey God. Do you look to Jesus as the fulfillment of the Law?

• Jesus Had to Live Among Us to Bear Witness to the Truth

Jesus told Pontius Pilate that this was why He came (John 18:37). Jesus came to both tell us the truth and to be the living Truth among us – the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). This truth was so important that God brought it in Person. He used messengers before and after Jesus, but Jesus was more than a messenger – He was and is truth itself. Do you believe and receive the truth of Jesus?

• Jesus Had to Live Among Us to Seek and Save the Lost

Jesus said that He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). In our separation from God, Jesus did not just wait for us to seek Him. He came to earth and lived among us as living proof of God’s heart to seek after the lost and troubled. Have you let Jesus find you and rescue you?

• Jesus Had to Live Among Us So the Price Could be Paid

Regarding the cross, Jesus said for this purpose I came to this hour (John 12:27). In Going to the cross and paying the price for guilty humanity, Jesus fulfilled His purpose. Do you look to Jesus as the payment of the price you owe?

• Jesus Had to Live Among Us to Divide Humanity

Jesus said that He came to divide humanity (Matthew 10:34-35), between those who accept Him and those who reject Him. Are you on the right side of that divide – on the side of those who accept and trust in Jesus? The life of Jesus is God’s great gift to the human race and all creation. Yet the value and goodness of that gift depends on our receiving it. Let the life of Jesus – the life He had to live – have full effect in your life.