Why did Jesus die?
Most Christians have heard the same explanation their entire life:
“Jesus was punished by God in our place to pay the penalty for our sins.”
This idea is often called penal substitution.
And one of the theologians most responsible for popularising it was the 16th-century reformer John Calvin.
Calvin wrote:
“The guilt that held us liable for punishment has been transferred to the head of the Son of God.”
— John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.16.8
According to this view, God's justice demands punishment for sin.
God cannot simply forgive sin unless someone is punished.
So the argument goes like this:
Jesus stepped in, took our punishment, and paid our sin debt.
Now I’ll be honest.
I have stood directly against Calvin’s theology for years.
But recently I had to ask myself an honest question:
Why did Calvin come to that conclusion?
Is there any biblical truth behind what he was saying?
To answer that question, we need to go somewhere most Christians rarely look when discussing the cross.
We need to go to the books of the Law.
Israel’s Justice System
Under the Mosaic Law, justice was very specific.
The tribe of Levi was not given land in Canaan like the other tribes.
Instead, they were given 48 cities scattered throughout Israel.
Six of those cities were called cities of refuge.
You can read about them in Numbers 35 and Deuteronomy 19.
These cities served a very important purpose in Israel’s justice system.
If someone accidentally killed another person, they could flee to a city of refuge and receive a fair trial.
But if someone was found guilty of murder, the law required a serious consequence.
Numbers 35:33 says:
“So you shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.”
— Numbers 35:33
In other words:
Innocent blood polluted the land.
And the only thing that could cleanse that bloodguilt was the blood of the murderer.
If the murderer was proven guilty by two or three witnesses, he was handed over to the avenger of blood — a relative whose duty it was to execute justice.
This was Israel’s legal principle:
“A life for a life.”
It was not about revenge.
It was about purging bloodguilt from the land.
Jesus’ Warning to Jerusalem
Now fast forward to the ministry of Jesus.
In Matthew 23, Jesus confronts the religious leaders of Jerusalem.
And He makes a shocking statement.
He says:
“That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias.”
— Matthew 23:35
Then He says something even more striking:
“Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.”
— Matthew 23:36
Think about what Jesus was saying.
He was accusing that generation of bloodguilt.
The blood of the righteous — from Abel onward — would come upon them.
Why?
Because they were continuing the same pattern:
persecuting and killing God’s messengers.
Jesus even tells them:
“Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.”
— Matthew 23:32
And historically we know what happened next.
Within forty years, Jerusalem was surrounded by Roman armies.
During the Roman-Jewish War (AD 66–70), the city was destroyed and the temple burned.
According to the historian Josephus, over a million Jews died during that catastrophe.
Jesus had predicted it.
Luke records Him saying:
“When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh…
For these be the days of vengeance.”
— Luke 21:20, 22
The language is clear.
Days of vengeance.
Justice for bloodshed.
Jesus Bore Israel’s Sin
So what role did Jesus play in this story?
Peter tells us:
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree.”
— 1 Peter 2:24
Jesus bore the sin of Israel.
He became the one treated as guilty under the law.
Why?
Because the Mosaic system required a life for a life.
And Jesus died under the law.
Paul explains this in Galatians:
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”
— Galatians 3:13
Paul is quoting Deuteronomy 21:23, which said that someone executed and hung on a tree was under God’s curse.
Jesus endured that curse.
Not because the Father hated Him.
But because He fulfilled the law’s requirements.
Calvin saw this principle, and he wrote:
“Christ stood in our place and bore what we deserved.”
— Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.16
But here’s where I believe Calvin extended the idea beyond the original context.
He applied it to all humanity for all time.
Yet the scriptures consistently connect this judgment with that generation of Israel.
The End of the Law’s Curse
The Mosaic Law demanded punishment.
But the New Covenant operates differently.
Paul writes in Romans 8:2:
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Through Jesus’ death, the covenant system that condemned Israel was fulfilled and brought to completion.
Now righteousness comes through something entirely different.
Not through law.
But through the Spirit.
Through faith like Abraham’s faith.
The Avenger of Blood
There is another fascinating connection.
In Israel’s law, justice for murder was carried out by the avenger of blood.
Now listen to what Paul says about Jesus:
“The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God.”
— 2 Thessalonians 1:7–8
Who was persecuting the church Paul was writing to?
Acts 17 tells us plainly.
It was unbelieving Jews who were moved with envy.
They stirred up mobs and attacked the believers.
At the same time, the book of Revelation shows the martyrs crying out:
“How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood?”
— Revelation 6:10
Eventually the answer comes.
Revelation 19 describes Christ as:
“Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire…”
— Revelation 19:11&12
In other words, Jesus is not only the one who bore Israel’s sin.
He is also the ultimate avenger of righteous blood.
The True City of Refuge
There’s one final connection that is absolutely beautiful.
In Numbers 35:5 the Levitical cities were measured carefully.
They formed perfectly balanced spaces, two thousand cubits on each side.
Now look at what John sees in Revelation.
The New Jerusalem.
He writes:
“The city lieth foursquare… the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.”
— Revelation 21:16
Perfect symmetry.
Just like the cities of refuge.
Except this city is not merely physical safety.
It represents spiritual refuge.
A covenant kingdom where people find life through Christ.
In other words:
The New Jerusalem is the ultimate city of refuge.
Final Thought
So why did Jesus die?
Not because the Father needed someone to punish.
Not because God was trapped by His own justice.
But because Jesus came to fulfill the law, bear Israel’s covenantal sin, and bring the old system to its completion.
Through His blood, a new covenant was established.
A covenant not based on condemnation…
…but on the Spirit of life.
And today, anyone who walks in that Spirit enters the true city of refuge.
The kingdom of God.
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