Jesus Paid the Price for Our Sins

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

(Matthew 12:38-40)

In the previous section, we saw that although Jesus lived a sinless life, the time eventually came for Him to take upon Himself the sin of the world. The moment that happened, He incurred spiritual death and became separated from the life of God.

Once this occurred, God’s plan of salvation required that His Son be crucified on the cross to redeem us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; as it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).

After Christ’s death on the cross, He still had to pay the price for the sins of the world which He now carried. For that reason, Jesus was taken down into the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. In other words, He was taken into the pit of Hell, which He Himself referred to in this passage as “the heart of the earth.” There, for three days and three nights, Jesus endured the full measure of God’s wrath for the sins of the world.

You have laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the depths. Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and You have afflicted me with all Your waves.

(Psalms 88:6-7)

From the passage above, we clearly see that it was the will of God the Father that His Son be taken down to the lowest pit of Hell to suffer His divine wrath. The reason Jesus had to endure the wrath of God was because He had taken upon Himself the sin of the entire world. Consequently, He had to bear the full penalty of God’s righteous judgment for every sin—as though He Himself had committed them.

The suffering Jesus experienced on the cross was therefore only part of the total price He paid. The full measure of His suffering was endured in the lowest pit of Hades, where He bore the wrath of God for three days and three nights.

Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised because of our justification.

(Romans 4:23-25)

In this passage, the Apostle Paul declares that Jesus was “delivered up because of our offences” and “raised because of our justification.” Finally, at the end of the three days and three nights, every sin had been accounted for. Justice had been fully satisfied, and God could now raise His Son from the dead—because the price for the sins of the world had been completely paid.

Michael E.B. Maher

Resurrection of the Dead

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