We are in our fourth week of asking, “Why did Jesus Die?”. His entire life had been moving to this point of His death. This was the reason why He came. In our first week asking this question, we saw that Jesus didn’t just die, He was killed. In our second week, we saw that Jesus wasn’t simply killed, He was laying down His life. Last week, we saw that Jesus wasn’t just laying down His life, He was fulfilling Scripture. It was all according to plan. This week, we peel back another layer of the onion, and we are going to see that Jesus was not simply fulfilling Scripture, He was taking our place. On that cross, He was bearing the punishment that we deserve. We saw this hinted at at the end of our episode last week in those famous verses from Isaiah 53. “5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” In some way, this death was for our transgressions. For our iniquities. For our sin. He was taking our place. We’ll see how this works today in a few different passages, but we will start in Matthew 26:36-46.