Why Was it Necessary for Jesus to Die?

Why was it necessary for Jesus to die?  And why was it necessary that He should die in such a painful way?

Jesus prayed – “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.  Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

So why was His awful death necessary?

To cover the sins of the world — “…and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Not only would Jesus offer pardon…but He paid the debt.  He could have just pronounced forgiveness…but that would not have paid the debt. 

And that was a debt too great for any human to pay.  We owed a debt we could not pay – Jesus paid a debt He did not owe.

It took God…through His Son…to pay the debt.