Who did Christ die for?
Who did Christ die for? Without looking into this question at all my mind initially says everyone. I talked with both of my parents about this and they as well both said everyone. But what does the Bible say? In Matthew 26:28 it says “This is my blood of the[a] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” So Jesus didn’t say that He died for ALL but for many. Who are the many? What else does scripture say about who Christ really died for? John 17:9 says, “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.” Does that mean he only cares for the people who are ‘God’s children’ then? Once again that brings us back to who are God’s children or the many He talks about.
So now that we know that Jesus’s death wasn’t for everyone but for many, how can we be a part of the many He talks about? Well Romans 10:9 states, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” So is it then the saved that He died for? Because it is also said in John 3:16 that, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” But if we use this verse to prove the point that those who are saved Jesus died for, then we need to look at the first half of this verse as well and keep it in context. The first part of John 3:16 says “for God so loved the WORLD….” Not many but the world, doesn’t that conflict what was stated in the verses above?
Where I stand is that God sent Jesus to the earth to die for the world, knowing that in the end not everyone will confess that God is lord, making the people Jesus actually dying for not be everyone but many. Making both John 3:16 stating that Jesus died for the world and Matthew 26:28 saying that Jesus died for many, true.
What did Jesus death actually do?Romans 4:25 states, “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” That is plain and simple he died to deliver us from death. But looking into it deeper, why did he have to die? In the old testament during Passover God’s people were to make a sacrifice of a perfect lamb, to keep the angle of death out of their home. Exodus 12:5 is where it is found, saying, “The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.” focusing on the words without defect, a perfect animal. In the New Testament it is to say that Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice. Jesus being a man with no sin, without defect, He would be the only one who could step in to be the ultimate sacrifice, making it the only way He could deliver us from death and save the many people God knew about. John the Baptist knew of this too, shown in the verse John 1:36 “When he