Believers and skeptics alike often ask the question, “Why did Jesus have to die on the cross?” The prophet Isaiah gives us the answer in the prophecy of the Lord’s Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53:
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1 Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.3 He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!5 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.7 He was oppressed and treated harshly,
yet he never said a word.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
And as a sheep is silent before the shearers,
he did not open his mouth.8 Unjustly condemned,
he was led away.
No one cared that he died without descendants,
that his life was cut short in midstream.
But he was struck down
for the rebellion of my people.9 He had done no wrong
and had never deceived anyone.
But he was buried like a criminal;
he was put in a rich man’s grave.10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him
and cause him grief.
Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,
he will have many descendants.
He will enjoy a long life,
and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,
he will be satisfied.
And because of his experience,
my righteous servant will make it possible
for many to be counted righteous,
for he will bear all their sins.12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,
because he exposed himself to death.
He was counted among the rebels.
He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.
We are the reason for Easter.
Jesus was born, lived, died, and rose again so that we could be free of the chains of sin that bind us. (Romans 6:6-10)
Jesus died so that we may live “in him,” to walk in his ways and to know his peace, his shalom, and his rest while here on earth. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
Christianity is not a death cult. It is not a promise of a good place to hang out when after you die.
The Good News of the Gospel is that through Jesus, was have “Emmanuel,” God with us. (Isaiah 7:14j Someone to go through the storms and trials of life with us. (Romans 8:31-33, Psalm 23, Deuteronomy 31:6) In whom we can, like Peter, walk on water, (Matthew 14:28-29) and like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, withstand the flames of the hottest furnace. (Daniel 3:16-28)
Enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit, God has displaced the power of the enemy in us when we claim Christ’s victory over sin, death, and the grave by putting our faith in him. (1 Corinthians 12:11, Hebrews 9:14, Colossians 1:11-14, Ezekiel 36:27)
This is when we can say, “Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)
For more information on how to find God and claim freedom in Christ, click here.
Read more about Easter.
Photos in the video are of the petition wall in the Way of the Cross exhibit at Salem Alliance Church. Photos taken by Carla Sallee Alvarez on April 17, 2025
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