Updated:- Saturday, November 4th, 2023
Why Was It Important For Jesus To Suffer?
The question we are investigating is not why Christ suffers but why he must suffer. Nobody could have suffered for him. Why?
Three Sabbath days Paul reasoned out of the scripture on these three topics. First, he alleged that Christ “must needs have suffered“.
Second, that Christ must have risen from the dead, and finally that Jesus is Christ.
The Law and the Prophets foretold these things.
In this Bible study, I shall expound to you why Christ must suffer and even though he did not want to, yet he did.
Additionally, do you realize that everything that the Scripture prophesied about the suffering of Christ came through?
Today we are going to continue with our Book of Acts Bible study series. We are going to explore the main reason Christ must suffer.
Apostle Paul and his group continued on their second missionary trip. They moved farther and farther into Macedonia.
They had left Philippi and passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia and they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.
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Now let us resume our Bible study.
He Debated With Them From The Bible
I started a new Chapter, so, I will begin Acts Chapter Seventeen and Verse One. Now let us start this scripture reading as I always do.
I read only from the King James Version of the Bible. I am a huge fan of the King James Version.
If you ask me, I believe it is the true Word of God. Here is a link to a Bible Study that I did on it.
So we are going to read according to the King James Version from Acts 17:1.
“Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.”
Acts 17:1
When Apostle Luke wrote “they”, (in the verse above), he is talking about Apostle Paul, himself, and his contingent of Believers.
These include other Christians like Silas and all the others who were with him.
“And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures.”
Acts 17:2
Risen Again From The Dead?
So for three days, Paul reasoned with them out of the scripture. Now what did he reason about, the next verse tells us.
“Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead.”
Acts 17:3
For the love of me, I cannot understand why the Scripture says here, “and risen again from the dead,” because Christ died once.
But this is something I have been searching the Scripture for, for many many years and I have not yet found an answer to it.
I probably have not devoted enough effort into it really, but I do not understand why the scripture says, and risen again from the dead when Christ died once.
But I promise you, this is something I will answer on this channel.
“And that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.
Acts 17:4
And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few.”
Why Must Christ Suffer?
So that is the ending of our scripture reading from Acts 17:1-4.
Now let us get on with the main question, why must Christ suffer?
He must suffer, that is what Paul debated out of the scripture for three Sabbath days, that Christ must suffer. That is one of his topics and that is the one we will look at today.
So in the following weeks, I shall investigate the remaining two topics. First, why Christ had to rise again from the dead, and second, why Jesus is Christ.
Those are the two topics that I will investigate in the coming weeks.
Jesus himself declared that, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” this is what he explained to us in Matthew 5 verse 17.
He had to suffer to ensure that the Word of God remains immutable and that the scripture be not broken but fulfilled.
Generally, that is why Christ had to suffer. So, all events in our lives occur to accomplish the Word of God.
Therefore, everything that we encounter in life happens to us because the word of God must be true.
Isaiah, the prophet of God, foretold the suffering Jesus Christ would endure. We read this in the Scripture.
It is essential for us to have a Biblical understanding of it. I know many people misunderstand this when you talk about biblical understanding.
Why did Jesus Suffer in the Garden of Gethsemane?
I do not mean that you put your own opinion and ideas and interpretation to the Scripture.
What I mean is that you allow the Scriptures to explicate themselves. Don’t interject your opinions unless you explicitly say this is what I think.
But, we do not want to hear what you think; we want to hear what the Scripture says about this topic.
We need to do this because; it is the only route, the only way, that we will unlock the spiritual benefits from God that he has hidden in his Words.
Consequently, we must correctly answer three crucial questions as we read this Word of God.
We are going to read Isaiah’s prophecy that Christ must suffer and as we read this, ask yourself three questions, who is speaking, to whom is he speaking, and of what is he speaking, and we should answer these correctly.
Let us go to Isaiah 53, this will explain to us why Christ must suffer, in part. Starting at verse 1, it says,
“Who hath believed our report? [Not everybody will believe our report] and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?”
Isaiah 53:1
In the first place, not many people understand what is the arm of the Lord. They have not had the revelation yet.
We are not going to look at this today.
However, Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane because it was God’s plan for him. It didn’t include you and I but Christ alone.
The second verse says:
What Is The Significance of Jesus Suffering On The Cross?
Without it, he would disobey his Father. Humanity would remain in perpetual sins and unreconciled to God! His sufferings on the Cross achieve all this and more.
“For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, [now remember I told us that we need to ask three questions, the first one, who is speaking here?
Isaiah 53:2
Above, who is “he” and “him”?
“He shall grow up before him as a tender plant.” The Lord is speaking and of course, and he is using Isaiah.
Isaiah 53:2
First, he refers to Christ and he refers to the Lord, “and as a root out of a dry ground.”
“He”, meaning Christ, “hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”
Isaiah 53:2
Listen to that! Yet many times when we see pictures or artistic renditions of Christ, he is a very handsome man.
But the scripture tells us that there is no comeliness nor beauty in him, somebody you probably may not look at twice, so the Scripture says.
So we know who is speaking, to whom is he speaking, and of what is he speaking. Keep these other two questions in mind as we continue. He is despised, and it continues to tell us about Christ.
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Isaiah 53:3
Why Must Christ Suffer? – To Maintain The Unbroken Nature of God’s Word!
So to whom is this scripture speaking? To humanity, to all of mankind. It says we hid as it were our faces from him.
This could apply to everybody in the world. We hid our faces from the Lord, and this is talking about the suffering he endured just before his crucifixion.
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:4
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5
Here is something important about this scripture. It is speaking in the past tense, yet it has not happened yet.
At the time of this writing, it had not yet happened but it was in the past tense because the Lord is looking at it as if it is already done.
But, by now, 2,000 years later, it is now in the past tense but when it was written it was written in the past tense. God is wonderful.
The Real Question Is Not – Why Did Christ Suffer?
But why he “must” suffer? Christ must suffer because he is the Only Begotten Son of God. There is not another. God chose him to bear our sins.
“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him [Jesus] the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearer is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment.”
When was Christ ever in prison? He was never imprisoned, so what is this talking about? Later on, I will refer to this.
“And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut out of the land of the living.”
Of course, he was because he died and went to hell for three days.
“For the transgression of my people was he stricken.”
And I am going to pause right here with this scripture. So you can continue to read Isaiah 53, I stopped at verse 8 but you can continue on to verse 12 on your own.
Why Must Christ Suffer – It Was The Divine Plan of God?
So this is the prophecy of Isaiah that Christ must suffer, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shearers dumb, so he was quiet, the chief rulers and the elders accused him before Pilate, he said nothing. That is what the scripture is talking about here.
So Matthew explained the fulfillment of it here. In Matthew 27:12-14 seen at 27:26 he says, “…then release he Barabbas unto him.” This was immediately before the crucifixion of Jesus, it was before Pilate and when ‘he’, meaning Pilate, had scourged Jesus, meaning he had flawed Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
“Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.
And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed their knees before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
And after they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put on his own raiment on him, and led him away to be crucified.” Matthew 27:27-31.
So Christ had to suffer to ensure that the scriptures be not broken. Isaiah prophesied about it and Matthew told us the fulfillment of it. Christ must experience all the things that the Lord spoke about in his word that would befall Christ, he must experience it.
Why Must Christ Suffer – To Reconcile Us To God
They knocked a crown of thorns on his head. They “scourged” or whipped him. The Roman soldiers spat on him; they hit him in the head with the reed, they boxed his cheeks, then they crucified him.
Jesus was aware that he came to suffer for the people. He informed his disciples of this when he said,
“And [Jesus] said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.”
Luke 22:15
How Did Christ Suffer?
So Christ’s ultimate suffering was his crucifixion on the cross and why did this happen? They pierced his hands and feet and side.
He must suffer because he took our place on the cross.
The word of the Lord foretold this. The scripture says that the wicked is taken in place of the just, but in this instant the just for the unjust, and this is the only time in the scripture when you find the just given for the unjust because it’s a representative of God and humanity.
Jesus is a just man. The Lord gave him for the unjust or sinners of the world, you and I. For Christ also at once suffered for us, once, that’s why I said you won’t find this anywhere else in scripture but this one time.
The just for the unjust that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but quickened by spirit.
So we were alienated from God by the sin of Adam, separated from God. But Christ had to die to reconcile us and bring us back to God.
“By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.”
Remember in Isaiah 53 I told you he was taken from prison and now Peter is telling us that by the spirit, the same spirit that quickened Christ, he went by that same spirit and preached unto the spirits in prison.
Why Must Christ Suffer – To Provide Us An Example To Follow
I did a Bible study before which explained that the spirits in prison are the spirits in hell. Hell is a prison for the immortals.
However, Christ by the Spirit of the Lord, went there and released all those spirits that were there, because righteous people were in hell too, and they did not deserve to be there.
But because the devil had the keys of death and hell, Christ had to go there, redeem it from him, change the structure of hell and free all those righteous people and preach the gospel to those who never heard it.
All those people who died from Adam right up until the death of Christ, who did not hear the Gospel of Jesus. Jesus had to preach to them in hell so they are on level ground with the people who were on earth at the time, because everybody must hear the gospel, both living and dead.
Christ is the only one who has preached to both living and dead through all eras and we have no excuse because we have all heard the Word.
Why Must Christ Suffer – To Reconcile Us To God?
Christ has preached the word. He has preached the word, so there will not be one person that could stand before him on the Day of Judgment and say, oh I did not hear about you.
Everybody would have heard because Christ made sure that he went to hell and he must have died and suffered in order to go to hell to preach to them, to give them an opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
So that’s it, and bring us all back to God, reconcile us to God.
My question to you is, how have you responded to the suffering that Jesus endured for us?
He suffered for you. He suffered for me. So, he was afflicted for you but how have you responded to it? Have you neglected him or have you accepted him, have you believed in him as the only begotten son of God?
Many people feel that their belief in Jesus Christ is latent and passive.
Not true! Not true at all, the only real proof that you believe something or you believe in Jesus Christ, is what you do with that belief.
Because once you believe something you will not be silent, you will not stay still. Just think about your everyday life and you will realize that it is true.
Why Must Christ Suffer
King David, a man after God’s own heart, when speaking of Jesus says:
“Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.
For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” Psalm 116:7-9.
This was David praying, but he was not praying for himself but for Christ. Above, David believed that Jesus after his burial and his only visit to hell would walk again on the earth. So he says I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. Consequently, he informed us, I believe that I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living, “therefore have I spoken, I was greatly afflicted.” Psalm 116:10.
Therefore, Apostle Paul speaking of the Faith of Christ in David confidently proclaims, we have the same spirit of faith.
The same spirit of faith that David had, who said, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. He spoke that by faith.
Now Paul picks up this and he is comparing the faith that David had with the faith that they had at the time. He says, we have the same spirit of faith according as it is written, meaning Psalm 116.
“I believe and therefore have I spoken. Now Paul is saying, we also believe and therefore speak.” 2 Corinthians 4:13.
“Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.” 2 Corinthians 4:14.
Therefore, if you believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, you will not only speak about it but you shall take some actions.
You will take on his name and the only biblical way to accomplish this is through water baptism. I also did a video about this and I will leave a link to it in the description below this one.
We are called by the name of Jesus only when we have put it on by baptism.
Conclusion
In closing, today I encourage you to get baptized by calling on the name of Jesus Christ. Put on Christ. You cannot be called by Christ if you have not put him on.
Demonstrate that you believe him by taking on his name unto yourself and Jesus must suffer so that we do not have to suffer for our own sins.
He paid the price once with his life that we may be free from sin and live in him forever. He must suffer to reconcile humanity to himself, to preach the gospel to all who died before his death, to give them a chance of eternal life.
To make the playing field level for all, Christ must suffer to reconcile all to God. Christ must suffer to destroy the works of the devil, to snatch the keys of death and hell from Satan because he had it.
He had to suffer to do all these things to restructure hell and to release the prisoners that were in hell, some of them illegally. Christ must die to reconcile falling humanity to God and free all the souls from prison.
The scripture says for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him, you must believe, you don’t must believe, if you believe, if you believe you will have eternal life but if you don’t, I don’t know if you don’t woe unto you.
