A number of years ago John Piper wrote “Fifty Reasons Why Christ Suffered and Died” (The Passion of Christ [Wheaton: Crossway, 2004]). During these days it is important to ponder the reasons for Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, and also the accompanying blessings we experience in and through Him.

As you read, ponder and pray over these biblical truths (take time to read the Scripture texts), may the Holy Spirit enable you to give praise and thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation, and may it lead to worship in Spirit and truth of our great God, a foretaste of the worship we will participate in our glorified states around the throne forever and ever!

Christ Suffered and Died . . .

1. To Absorb the Wrath of God (Rom. 3:25; Gal 3:13; 1 Jn. 4:10)
2. To Please His Heavenly Father (Isa. 53:10; Eph. 5:2)
3. To Learn Obedience and Be Perfected (Heb. 2:10; 5:8)
4. To Achieve His Own Resurrection from the Dead (Heb. 13:20-21)
5. To Show the Wealth of God’s Love and Grace for Sinners (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 5:7-8; Eph. 1:7)
6. To Show His Own Love for Us (Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:2, 25)
7. To Cancel the Legal Demands of the Law Against Us (Col. 2:13)
8. To Become a Ransom for Many (Mk. 10:45)
9. For the Forgiveness of Our Sins (Matt. 26:28; Eph. 1:7)
10. To Provide the Basis for Our Justification (Rom. 3:24, 28; 5:9)
11. To Complete the Obedience That Becomes Our Righteousness (Rom. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 2:8; 3:9)
12. To Take Away Our Condemnation (Rom. 8:34)
13. To Abolish Circumcision and All Rituals as the Basis 0£ Salvation (Gal. 5:11; 6:12)
14. To Bring Us to Faith and Keep Us Faithful (Jer. 32:40; Mk. 14:24)
15. To Make Us Holy, Blameless, and Perfect (1 Cor. 5:7; Col. 1:22; Heb. 10:14)
16. To Give Us A Clear Conscience (Heb. 9:14)
17. To Obtain for Us All Things That Are Good for Us (Rom. 8:32)
18. To Heal Us from Moral and Physical Sickness (Isa. 53:5; Matt. 8:16-17)
19. To Give Eternal Life to All Who Believe on Him (Jn. 3:16)
20. To Deliver Us from the Present Evil Age (Gal. 1:4)
21. To Reconcile Us to God (Rom. 5:10)
22. To Bring Us to God (Eph. 2:13; 1 Pet. 3:18)
23. So That We Might Belong to Him (Act 20:28; Rom. 7:4; 1 Cor. 6:19-20)
24. To Give Us Confident Access to the Holiest Place (Heb. 10:19)
25. To Become for Us the Place Where We Meet God (Jn. 2:19-21)
26. To Bring the Old Testament Priesthood to an End and Become the Eternal High Priest (Heb. 7:23-27; 9:24-26; 10:11-12)
27. To Become a Sympathetic and Helpful Priest (Heb. 4:15-16)
28. To Free Us from the Futility of Our Ancestry (1 Pet. 1:18-19)
29. To Free Us from the Slavery of Sin (Heb. 13:12; Rev. 1:5-6)
30. That We Might Die to Sin and live to Righteousness (1 Pet. 2:24)
31. So That We Would Die to the Law and Bear Fruit for God (Rom. 7:4)
32. To Enable Us to Live for Christ and Not Ourselves (2 Cor. 5:15)
33. To Make His Cross the Ground of All Our Boasting (Gal. 6:14)
34. To Enable Us to Live by Faith in Him (Gal. 2:20)
35. To Give Marriage Its Deepest Meaning (Eph. 5:25)
36. To Create a People Passionate for Good Works (Tit. 2:14)
37. To Call Us to Follow His Example of Lowliness and Costly Love (Phil. 2:5-8; Heb. 12:3-4; 1 Pet. 2:19-21)
38. To Create a Band of Crucified Followers (Matt. 10:38; Lk. 9:23)
39. To Free Us from Bondage to the Fear of Death (Heb. 2:14-15)
40. So That We Would Be with Him Immediately After Death (2 Cor. 5:8; Phil. 2:21-23; 1 Thess. 5:10)
41. To Secure Our Resurrection from the Dead (Rom. 6:5; 8:11; 2 Tim. 2:11)
42. To Disarm the Rulers and Authorities (Col. 2:14-15; 1 Jn. 3:8)
43. To Unleash the Power of God in the Gospel (Rom. 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:18)
44. To Destroy the Hostility Between Races (Eph. 2:14-16)
45. To Ransom People from Every Tribe and Language and People and Nation (Rev. 5:9)
46. To Gather All His Sheep £rom Around the World (Jn. 10:16; 11:51-52)
47. To Rescue Us from Final Judgment (Heb. 9:28)
48. To Gain His Joy and Ours (Heb. 12:2)
49. So That He Would Be Crowned with Glory and Honor (Phil. 2:7-9; Heb. 2:9; Rev. 5:12)
50. To Show That the Worst Evil Is Meant by God for Good (Acts 4:27-28)