Why was it necessary for Christ, the Redeemer, to die?
Since death is the punishment for sin, Christ died willingly in our place to deliver us from the power and penalty of sin and bring us back to God. By his substitutionary atoning death, he alone redeems us from hell and gains for us forgiveness of sin, righteousness, and everlasting life.
(New City Catechism)
The price:
that life must be kept outside,
a tree whose roots do not touch us
and we all languish,
rootless…
The price:
that Life must go outside
the city walls and mount a Tree,
and, hanging, languish,
breathless.
The price
for life: that Life has died
and lives again. The Tree of Life
invites us, anguished,
lifeless…
The price
of life is paid, and I
and you may climb the Tree He climbed
and eat its fruit now,
sinless.
The Consolations of Writing 