Why Jesus came?

And in the fullness of time, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, came into the world to secure both of these goals. He came for the vindication of his Father’s glory, and for the salvation of his Father’s children. And he did this by dying on the cross and rising from the dead.

The night before he died, in great distress he said, “What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again” (John 12:27–28). Christ died for glory-belittling sinners to show that God does not sweep the dishonoring of his name under the rug of the universe. He died to vindicate the worth of his glory (Rom. 3:23–26).

And he also came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). He said, “The Son of Man came . . . to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). A ransom from everlasting misery to everlasting joy—“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11; cf. 17:13). And at the end of the age, when all the peoples are gathered before Jesus, those who have received him as their treasure will hear the words, “Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:23). This is why he came: to purchase by his blood the joy of the peoples in the joy of their Master.

Jesus died for this: the glory of his Father, and the gladness of his people. Frontier missions is an extension to the nations of Jesus’ mission to the world. He came for the glory of the Father and the gladness of the peoples. So the chief end of missions is the supremacy of God and the joy of all peoples.

But not just and, rather in. The aim of history, the aim of Christ in dying for sinners is the glory of God in the gladness of the nations. The chief end of missions is the supremacy of God in the joy of all peoples.

Piper, J., & Mathis, D. (2015). Cross: unrivaled christ, unstoppable gospel, unreached peoples, unending joy. Nashville: B&H.