Jesus died in order to destroy sin, death and hell, for the sake of rescuing/delivering/salvaging humanity from (not condemning most [or even some] of humanity to) these three things, which in effect are actually one and the same thing, which all humans experience.
Disclaimer:
I’d be going off on a bit of a tangent if I elaborated into fine points what I mean by the above but I hope to acquire the opportunity to perform such elaboration maybe elsewhere on the forum some other time. It might, however, be important to note that my use of the word hell is more of an [Old] English translation of the Hebrew sheol, the Greek hades and the Latin inferus/infernum, none of which originally meant the cosmic fiery torture chamber that most English speakers have been taught to envision when they hear the syllable “Hell.”
Summary of the Following:
Jesus died as part [the most important part, I would say] of the process of the completion of creation, which culminates in the resurrection/renewal of heaven, earth and, indeed, all things (to which watchman1706 alluded), as promised by the oracle of the prophet Isaiah and reemphasised in Revelation (see also 2 Peter 3:13). By way of simple analogy, the Potter is creating the universe like a clay pot which He shall demolish and put back together after immersing it in fire, as with the house of Israel in Jeremiah 18-19. (Everything will be salted with fire [Mark 9:49] by the One Who comes to plunge us into Holy Wind and Fire [Luke 3:16].) The Potter Himself is actively involved in this process, inadvertently (because the universe is contained within God) dragging the cosmos with Him into [His own] death and bringing it back up again in His return therefrom. The question essentially overlooks the significance and the magnitude of what Jesus does after He dies, even though it is through the death that He becomes the victor.
Longer Version of Response>>
As a matter of fact Jesus did not have to die, just as much as He-Who-Exists [YHWH] did not have to create the universe or to make the sky the colour that it is. But He-Who-Exists did create the universe and did make the sky blue (rather than some other colour, or at least by typical human vision the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum displayed by it has been made to appear the way that it does to human eyes). And Jesus did die, in His own choice and not by some compulsion, according to His own words in John 10:18.
As to what the point of Jesus’ death is, whether for a handful of people or for all of humankind, there are many ways in which to answer this question, but for me the most compelling perspective is that which takes into account that it actually goes beyond mere humanity or it being a band-aid on a project which the Creator completed a long, long time ago only to witness the entire thing botched shortly afterwards by a couple of his tiny, recently finished-off and apparently perfect creatures. The majority of individuals who would subscribe to the idea of “believing in Jesus” have been taught that this is how it happened “in the beginning.” The Maker made us (perfect, some might say) and we, weak (in comparison to him) and finite as we are, messed it up and somehow managed to become less than perfect. Jesus is thus his Plan “B” to perform a patch job on the mess we’re [still] making of things.
According to the witness of the writings which we call the New Testament, however, especially the letters of Paul, Jesus’ death is an act of creation: The Creation of the Cosmos, and, according to Revelation 13:8, it even happens outside of time so that the sacrifice made by the Creator has been, and is, and is yet to be. It is my understanding that without the slaying of the Lamb, the universe does not exist; at least, not this universe, and not because there could’ve been no other way for it to exist but because this is how the Creator chose to bring it into being. It was always His Plan “A,” which He has neither doubled back on nor reconsidered.
Christ’s death is the beginning and the completion of Creation, and the means by which He acquired the Keys of Death and the Underworld [Hell/ Hades] (Revelation 1:17-18).
It is the means by which Adam [Humanity] truly becomes the Son of God, made in His image and similitude, now true, complete and perfect (cf. Luke 3:38 & James 3:9).
Jesus destroyed, defeated and abolished death by Himself dying, not for the sins only of those of us who presently have taken on this paradigm but for the sins of the entire world (1 John 2:2). This abolition is something that Paul promises the Corinthians will happen at some point in future (1 Cor. 15:26) but at the same time which he tells Timothy (in 2 Timothy 1:9-10) has already occurred before the aeons of time (often rendered as “before time began”) so that through the Good News of His appearance He has brought to light the Life and Deathlessness [Immortality] which were already in existence.
And He did this not just for humankind but for the sake of reconciling the entire created order to its Maker, and making peace among and between all things, through His cross’s blood, including even the things in the depths of the Abyss beneath the Earth, whether they creep and crawl or if they can soar in the heavens (Colossians 1:20, Romans 10:7, cf. Genesis 1:20-28; Exodus 20:4, 11; Deuteronomy 4:15-18, 5:8; & Rev. 5:13). According to 2 Cor. 5:19 the Word of this peace treaty, which has been entrusted to us, is that God is not keeping an inventory of the world’s offences.
Jesus died so that Adam could finally rest from his labours and toil, from turning over the dirt and the dust in search of his Bread (Genesis 3:15, 17-19 & John 6:35, 48); so that when he awoke again, he would be not only immortal death-less] but also the Source of Life Itself (1 Cor. 15:22, 45; cf. Gen. 3:20); the old him would be gone, the new would be all that was left, and that new Adam would fill everything, and everything would be contained within him: Christ [complete] in Adam, and Adam [complete] in Christ.
Under the feet of this new Humanity, in an even deeper and wider sense than in Genesis 1:28, Adam’s Father the Creator would place all things; and His new Body, composed of the Out-Called *, which is also His Bride, with whom He becomes (in the past, present and future) one Flesh (Genesis 2:24 & Ephesians 5:29-32) and one Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17, Eph. 2:18, 4:4), would be (in the past, present and future) the completed rendition of Him Who makes whole all in all (Ephesians 1:22-23). It is by this authority which the Eskhatos [Final] Adam has acquired over the entire universe, via His subjugation unto death, that we have been given the mandate to announce this Good Message euangelion, gospel] to every created thing (Philippians 2:8-11 & Matthew 28:18-19).
by St Athanasius.
Agreed. From my perspective, the two questions or reasons are connected in purpose in what I call human divinisation by divine humanisation, or (to get a bit Greeker about it ) man’s theosis via God’s enanthropism. Those ancient Alexandrian dudes Athanasius (“[He Who] Belongs to the Immortal/Deathless” ) and Clement had some kool things to say about this. In Against the Arians Athanasius says of Jesus that
In Peri Enanthropiseos “On the Incarnation” {literally, “On Becoming Human/ On Humanisation”] he says that
In his Exhortation to the Greeks, Clement says that “The Word of God became man so that you may learn from man how man may become God.”*