People have a wide range of opinions on how Jesus viewed his own death and resurrection. But it’s important to listen to the Gospels themselves on this topic. They give us eyewitness testimony to Jesus that can be traced back to authoritative apostles.

The Gospels also requires us to consider carefully the Old Testament background for his teaching.

Let’s consider three ways Jesus speaks about his death and resurrection in the Gospel of Mark. We’ll see that Jesus speaks about his death in multifaceted ways, but he memorably describes his death as a substitutionary ransom for many.

Necessary According to Scripture (Mark 8:31)

The death and resurrection of Christ was necessary according to Scripture: “[Jesus] began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things and to be handed over by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and to be killed and after three days to rise” (Mark 8:31, author’s translation).

After Peter confesses Jesus as the Christ at Caesarea Philippi (vv. 27–29), Jesus begins to teach his disciples more of what it means for him to be the Messiah. He is the Christ, the anointed son of David who will reign over David’s kingdom forever. However, Jesus teaches that this kingdom will come not through military victory but through the death and resurrection of the King.

The Greek word we translate as “it is necessary” (dei) refers elsewhere to what’s necessary according to Scripture (see Luke 24:26, 44). Jesus also speaks in Mark 14:21 of his death as according with what was “written of him” in Scripture. This aspect of Christ’s death is closely related to his kingship—and, indeed, Jesus brings about his permanent kingdom by means of his death and resurrection. But there’s more.

Ransom for Many (Mark 10:45)

Jesus describes his death as a ransom for many, echoing scriptural language: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). One scholar has called this the most remarkable statement in Mark. Jesus, the Son of Man, describes his death as substitutionary. Several features of the text point us in this direction.

First, a “ransom” is something (or here, someone) given in place of someone else. The life that Jesus gives as a ransom is his own life—referring to his death on the cross. Second, the phrase “for many” is substitutionary. The preposition anti (“for”) in Greek points to something given in place of something else. Third, Jesus’s language “for many” echoes similar language in the Suffering Servant passage of Isaiah 53 (see v. 12). The Servant is pierced for the people’s transgressions (v. 5), and the Lord places on the Servant the iniquity of the people (v. 6), echoing the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16:21. This Servant is killed like a lamb led to the slaughter (vv. 7–9).

Jesus teaches that this kingdom will come not through military victory but through the death and resurrection of the King.

The death of the Servant, like that of a sacrificial lamb, is the means by which the Servant bears iniquities, so that many sinners will be counted righteous (v. 11). Yet in the end, God will vindicate the Servant (52:13; 53:10–12).

So when Jesus speaks of giving his life as a ransom for many in Mark 10:45, he, the Suffering Servant, speaks of giving his life unto death to redeem his people from sin. This was necessary according to Scripture.

Blood of the Covenant (Mark 14:22–25)

Jesus also talks about the purpose of his death in the words of institution at the Last Supper (Mark 14:22–25). Before he dies, he gives his disciples a perpetual picture of the purpose of his death: the bread is his body broken for them, and the wine is his blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins (see Matt. 26:28; Luke 22:19–20). Jesus’s death isn’t accidental. He has a purpose for it that’s evident in these words. His blood is the blood of the new covenant.

It’s no accident that Jesus dies at the time of Passover. He enters Jerusalem at just the right time. His death fulfills what Passover represented, and the imagery of Passover must inform the way we understand Jesus’s death. His death accomplishes not only the deliverance from sin in a new exodus but also the forgiveness of sins that the Passover lamb represented (see John 19:36, citing Ex. 12:46). The Israelites killed the Passover lamb and sprinkled its blood on their doorpost so that God would spare the death of their firstborn sons (Ex. 12:21–23).

The good news of the gospel teaches that God saves us from our sin not ultimately because of a lamb but because of the precious, efficacious blood of Jesus Christ, the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). He’s the reality to which all previous Passover lambs pointed. Jesus dies that we might live.

God saves us from our sin not ultimately because of a lamb but because of the precious, efficacious blood of Jesus Christ.

Jesus’s actions at the Last Supper anticipate his death on Good Friday. His body is broken, and his blood is poured out for us. On the cross, Jesus truly dies (Mark 15:37). He’s buried (vv. 42–47) and remains under the power of death for a time (16:1–6). It’s significant that Jesus dies publicly, as someone officially condemned. His condemnation is a legal verdict (though it’s unrighteously administered), and this is good news for us. Jesus’s death shows us the horrors of what our sin deserves—it takes the death of the holy Son of God to pay our penalty. God doesn’t simply overlook the sins of his people; their penalty is truly paid by Christ.

The further good news is that Christ’s death isn’t the final word in the Gospel of Mark. Had Jesus not been raised, we’d still be in our sins. But—thanks be to God!—Jesus rises from the dead, overcoming the penalty of death. The resurrection is also a legal verdict (1 Tim. 3:16). Jesus’s resurrection is the vindication of his unjust death, and this benefits all who trust in Christ. Jesus was handed over for our sins and raised for our justification (Rom. 4:25).

Jesus’s death is multifaceted—it’s the way his kingdom comes, but it’s also the way he pays for our sins and how we can therefore participate in that kingdom. For indeed, it’s a kingdom that calls for faith and repentance (Mark 1:14–15). And the King himself provides the way for us to be citizens of this kingdom.