Why Did Christ Have to Die

Without the shedding of blood is no remission. — Hebrews 9:22

As we draw near to the Lenten season, a familiar question rises again—one so foundational that it deserves fresh reflection every year: 

Why did Christ have to die?

Most of us instinctively answer, “For our sins.” And that is true. But if God is all-powerful, couldn’t forgiveness have come another way? Couldn’t He have simply declared us pardoned?

Scripture gives us a sobering and beautiful answer:

The Unalterable Truth of God’s Way

From the earliest pages of the Old Testament, God established a pattern: sin cannot be removed without the shedding of blood.

This wasn’t a symbolic idea—it was a divine decree.

Think back to Egypt, when a spotless lamb was slain and its blood brushed on the doorposts. That blood didn’t just mark a home; it marked a covenant. God Himself set the terms, and He does not break His own word.

If forgiveness requires atonement, then humanity stands hopeless—unless Someone steps in.

If God’s law demands blood, then only one question matters:

Whose blood will speak for me?

No moral life, no generosity, no patriotism, no admirable personality can bend the rule.

We are all equal at the foot of the cross—equally needy, equally unable to save ourselves.

There is only one blood that carries the power to atone:

the blood of Jesus, whom God set forth as the perfect sacrifice.

So we must ask ourselves honestly:

Am I trusting in Him alone? Has His atonement been applied to my heart?

Those who rely on rituals, good works, or religious performance often struggle to understand the joy believers have when they say, “My sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake.”

Their ceremonies give them little comfort because they are trying to find remission without blood, peace without Christ, salvation without surrender.

But There is only one place to run.

Fly to Jesus. 

As Lent approaches, may this truth settle deeply within us:

Christ did not die because God lacked power.

Christ died because God keeps His word—and because His love would not leave us without a way home.