Have you ever wondered whether Jesus’s death on the cross is enough to save billions of people from their sins? Afterall, it is one Person’s death. Quite a few people have died for the sake of another, including mothers for their children, soldiers for their country, and many brave souls who died for other people. So why is Jesus’s death so special and how is it different from other sacrifices that people have made? And was Jesus’ sacrifice enough for all mankind?
1. Perfect sacrifice: Sinless and righteous
One of the differences between Jesus and other people is that Jesus is without sin, while other people have committed sins. The Bible says clearly that Jesus has never done anything wrong. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) This requirement for perfect innocence pretty much eliminates any human who has ever lived to be worthy enough to do what Jesus did for us. Afterall, how can someone who has sinned ever be able to fully pay the penalty for other people’s sins?
2. Infinite God suffers eternal punishment
Not only must the sacrificial Lamb be innocent and pure, but He must also be infinite and all-powerful. Because the punishment for sin is eternal, it takes an infinite God to take on such a punishment on our behalf. Someone finite, having a beginning or end, cannot do this for us. This rules out all created beings. The Bible states that Jesus is God and He is infinite. Before He came to earth, He was with the Father in heaven.
“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe.” (Hebrews 1:1-2)
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being.” (John 1:1-3)
“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.'” (Revelation 1:8)
“Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.” (Psalm 90:2)
Because Jesus is infinite and all-powerful, He was able to take the punishment for us on the cross. It takes an infinite God to take upon Himself the eternal punishment of billions of people.
3. Hell on the cross
Jesus’s third distinction as our perfect sacrifice is that He experienced hell on the cross. In other words, Jesus not only was physically killed, but He was spiritually killed. To understand this, let’s explore what is heaven and what is hell first.
By the Bible’s definition, heaven or eternal life is knowing God. “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3)
In contrast, separation from God is hell. “These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power…” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Notice from this verse that in hell there is separation from God and destruction of soul/spirit.
a. Separated and forsaken
Why is separation from God considered hell? The reason is that God is the source of every good (James 1:17). He is light (1 John 1:5), He is peace (Ephesians 2:14), He is joy (Psalm 43:4), He is pleasure (Psalm 16:11), He is wisdom (Psalm 147:5), and He is love (1 John 4:8). Without God, there is no good, no light, no peace, no wisdom, and no love. A place without God is the opposite of pleasure; it is filled with pain and loneliness. Without the creative and constructive power of God, there is destruction.
Jesus experienced this separation from God, because He took our sins upon Himself on the cross and became our substitute. No wonder, when Jesus was on the cross, He said, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). God the Father and the Holy Spirit were separated from Jesus the Son, when Jesus took the punishment of our sins.
Jesus became our substitute so He took our sins upon Himself. And He became the representation of sin for us. How could the Father not separate Himself from sin? So Jesus felt His God had left Him. This separation brought so much more pain than the physical pain of the cross, because a complete separation from God’s presence is hell.
Even people who don’t believe God, enjoy God’s goodness on earth. For example, there is food, water, air, and shelter. The beauty of nature surrounds all of us, and there is a portion of joy, love, and peace on earth, all of which ultimately come from God. So no one on earth has experienced full separation from God. “‘Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?’ declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 23:24)
Yet Jesus suffered hellish punishment on earth, because He was forsaken by God and completely separated from Him on the cross (Matthew 27:46).
b. Destruction and anguish of soul
“Just as many were appalled at you, My people,
So His appearance was marred beyond that of a man,
And His form beyond the sons of mankind.” (Isaiah 52:14)
Moreover, Jesus experienced destruction and anguish of soul beyond that of any man. That means He was marred beyond even burn victims. How is that possible since He was crucified and none of His bones were broken (John 19:36)? Jesus must have suffered on the cross beyond what we can understand.
“As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
For He will bear their wrongdoings.” (Isaiah 53:11)
Jesus didn’t just suffer physically but He also suffered in His soul.
The terrible extent to which Jesus suffered is something we are not able to fully comprehend. But this much is true: the righteous, infinite, almighty God suffered hellish punishment for unrighteous humans and Jesus’s sacrifice is enough to bring us eternal life.
c. When did Jesus experience hell and for how long?
“Now this expression, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.” (Ephesians 4:9-10)
Scripture says Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth. But Jesus was never buried underground. After the crucifixion, His body lay in a cave carved out of rock: “And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away” (Matthew 27:60).
So when the Bible says, “He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth” (Ephesians 4:9), it means Jesus suffered hell in His spirit. The reason He suffered hell is so that He could take punishment the same way mankind would experience, because the punishment of hell is for the spirit after the body has died.
Jesus experienced hell at the same time His body was dying on the cross. And Jesus experienced spiritual death at the same time as physical death. Because He obeyed the Father by lowering Himself to suffer spiritual and bodily death for all mankind, He also ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10).
Jesus experienced hell until He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30) and “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46). So Jesus did not suffer in hell after He died on the cross, but while He was on the cross. Then He committed His spirit to the Father, which means Jesus’s spirit immediately went to the Father in heaven. In the same way, like Jesus, we can also go directly to the Father in heaven after we die bodily.
The Bible says: “…Concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption” (Acts 2:31 NKJV). So Jesus’s soul was not left in Hades after the cross, because He went immediately to the Father in heaven. And Jesus’s body did not undergo decay, because He resurrected bodily three days after the crucifixion (Matthew 28).
d. Death is both spiritual and physical
Some might argue that Jesus only died physically but did not die spiritually. However, as the wages of sin is death, the sinner dies both physically and spiritually. Jesus died so that He could redeem both our bodies in the resurrection and our spirits. Therefore, He had to have died both physically and spiritually as well.
Summary
Jesus died physically and spiritually on the cross. He was separated from the Father, and He experienced hellish punishment. When Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), He completed the punishment for all mankind so that all who believe in Him can have eternal life. After the cross, Jesus’s spirit went to the Father in heaven. Then three days later, He rose again bodily. In this way, He fulfilled God’s requirement for justice for all mankind by paying for our sins on our behalf.
Furthermore, He became an example to those who believe — that we too will go to the Father in heaven after we die and our bodies will also be resurrected.
Knowing these things, for those who have believed, we should conduct ourselves “in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Philippians 1:27), and learn to do good and stop sinning.
Read Isaiah 53 in the Bible.
To learn more about Jesus, see Prophesied Messiah.