The sacrificial and vicarious nature of Jesus’ act of love led to His death, but it was not just any death. The Bible does not teach that Jesus merely died for us. The emphasis of the Bible is that Jesus “suffered” for us. Suffering involves and necessitates (1) a capacity to experience feeling and strong emotion and (2) undergoing evils and afflictions. Jesus suffered deeply!
He predicted that He would “suffer many things” (Mark 8:31; 9:12; Luke 22:15). Rather than characterizing His demise only as a “death,” Jesus chose His words specifically, “It was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead” (Luke 24:46). A key word in the book of First Peter is “suffer,” and Peter emphasizes how “Christ suffered for us” (2:21; 4:1).
Walk with Jesus through His anguish-filled prayers in Gethsemane, through His betrayal and denial by close friends, through His falsified trials, through His violent scourging, through His vicious crucifixion. He suffered horribly! For us! Stop. Meditate. Give thanks.