“From that time began Jesus to show unto his disciples, that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.” Matthew 16:21

This is not the first time that Jesus had spoken about His purpose for coming into the world, but it is the first time He spoke with such clarity and force about it. In rather veiled language, He had said earlier, as recorded in Matthew 9:15, “Can the sons of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast.”

A bit later, as mentioned in Matthew 12:39, 40 and 16:4, when the scribes and Pharisees were seeking a sign from him, He told them there would he no sign given them, but the sign of Jonah, and that the “Son of man shall he three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

But now, without any figurative language, Jesus begins to speak forthrightly about His coming death and resurrection. It is becoming more and more clear that the great redemptive plan of God, made from before the foundation of the world, was going to be implemented in every detail. The human agents to be involved are here mentioned, implying the full responsibility that would rest with them for all their actions; and yet, behind it all, there is this divine imperative of God‘s Sovereign plan, “he must go to Jerusalem . . . .”

Of course, He must go!

His suffering and death were no accident. It did not just happen that He was accused of blasphemy, falsely arrested, cruelly mistreated and then put to death. He did not die as a martyr for a good cause.

But He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, in order to satisfy the demands of the law.

We are the guilty ones. For our sake these things must happen to Him, not by the quirks of political shenanigans, but by Divine fiat! In perfect fulfillment of prophecy and in perfect obedience to His Father’s will, He must go to Jerusalem to pay the penalty for His people‘s sins.

And that He did willingly: “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep.” He brought a sacrifice to God for our sins, and what a tremendous sacrifice it was! For “him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (II Cor. 5:21). He must go to Jerusalem, and these things must happen to Him, or there is no forgiveness for us, no gift of eternal life.

The disciples heard what Jesus said, but they didn’t really understand. Peter, in fact, openly and blatantly objected to this prediction of Jesus, and he earned a rebuke from the Master.

We have the advantage of living after the fact has occurred. The prediction has been fulfilled, and the record of it is clearly written in the Bible. In faith we can look back on redemption accomplished, while at this point in faith they had to look ahead. But let that not detract one wit from the awesomeness of the prediction that He must go, by divine order, and in fulfillment of divine prophecy, in order to set us free from sin‘s penalty.

Does it not follow that there is a divine imperative also placed upon us who have been the recipients of such a tremendous gift of salvation?

Redemption is free indeed, but not cheap!

The cost was high, though we paid not one penny for it! But Jesus did not shrink from speaking about the cost of discipleship. “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever would save his life shall Jose it: and whosover shall lose his life for my sake shall find it” (Matt. 16:24, 25).

As we think about the suffering and death of our Savior in this season, let us not only remember the divine must that directed Him to Jerusalem to make that supreme sacrifice for sin, but let us also be reminded of the equally divine must of an obedient life in response to such a great gift. Without a shadow of doubt, the message of the Bible is: “for by grace have ye been saved through faith : and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory” (Eph. 2:8, 9). But with equal force and clarity, the Bible sounds this message: “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only” (Jas. 1:22). He must go; we must hear and live and obey!