Welcome back on this new week as we pick up with our third consecutive apologetics question on the person and work of Christ. Started last week when we asked, "Even if the Christian faith is untrue, if the cross and resurrection didn't happen, aren't Christians still happier than non-Christians in this life?" That was ABJ 1977, followed by a look at six reasons why Jesus had to leave earth after Easter.

Imagine life on earth if Christ was still here with us. Well, he's not. Why not? That was last time in ABJ 1978. That takes us to today. If the consequences of our sin against the Holy God require eternal judgment, why did Christ suffer for no more than 33 years?

Shouldn't his sufferings also be eternal, if that's what we deserve? Here are two emails. Pastor John, hello to you. My name is Glenn from San Jose. Thank you for your ministry. As with many people, ABJ has been a part of my regular routine and has blessed me and allows me to bless others in return.

That's awesome to hear. I have a question for you about Jesus that I cannot answer for myself. Namely, why did Jesus not spend eternity in hell if this was the awesome and holy price to be paid for sin? Does the Bible tell us why? And this is basically the same question from a listener named Floris.

Pastor John, can you explain why Jesus' payment for our sins was not eternal as it was for sinners? This is an excellent question because it pushes us to take seriously the worth of the death of Jesus, and we need to do that. We don't ponder too often the greatness of the achievement of Christ in paying the debt for millions upon millions of hell-deserving sinners, like the thief on the cross, who before he was crucified had never done one single work of faith in his life, or like you and me, who may have known Jesus all our lives and have fallen short so many thousands of times we couldn't even begin to count them.

Our worship and our love for Christ ought to burn brightly when we contemplate that one man, one God-man, could endure enough in 33 years to provide a sufficient satisfaction in the justice of God for eternal salvation for so many wicked people. This is why we will sing the song of the Lamb, the crucified Lamb, forever, not just the song of the risen King.

The song of the slaughtered Lamb will be sung forever and ever. It was a staggering achievement on the cross. So the question is, how is it possible? Jesus taught us that sinners like us deserve eternal punishment, Matthew 25, 46. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

So the punishment for sin is as long as life is long for the saved, forever. Paul said the same thing. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, 2 Thessalonians 1, 9. So the question Glenn is asking is, if Christ bore our punishment, why then does he not have to endure the same punishment, namely eternal suffering?

And make no mistake, those who trust in Christ are saved from eternal punishment because Christ bore our punishment for us. Colossians 1, 14, "The record of debt against us God set aside, nailing it to the cross." That means through the hands of Jesus. Galatians 3, 13, "Christ became a curse for us." Isaiah 53, 5, "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities." 1 Peter 2, 24, "He bore our sins in his body on the tree." Romans 8, 3, "By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, God condemned our sin in the flesh." Romans 10, 45, "He gave his life as a ransom for many." 1 Corinthians 6, 20, "You were bought with a price." Acts 20, 28, "God obtained the church with his own blood." Christ achieved this substitution for millions of believers, not by suffering eternally in hell but by being obedient in suffering unto death, even death on a cross.

And the question is, how does he bear eternities of punishment in the space of 33 years of life? How does his suffering suffice to cancel the punishment of millions of people who were bound to eternal punishment? Now the Bible does not say explicitly how this works. But just as we learn the demerit of sin by looking at God's appointed penalty for it, namely eternal punishment, so also we learn the merit or the worth of Christ and his suffering by looking at the achievement of it, namely salvation for millions of hell-deserving sinners.

So the question becomes, what is it about the worth of Jesus and his suffering that makes it sufficient to remove the punishment of millions of sinners? Let me read you the answer given by Jonathan Edwards and then say a word about it. This comes from a sermon he preached in 1729 entitled "The Sacrifice of Christ Acceptable." Here's what he says.

Though Christ's sufferings were only temporal, that is, not eternal, yet they were equivalent to our eternal sufferings by reason of the infinite dignity of his person. His blood which he spilled, his life which he laid down, was an infinite price because it was the blood of God, as it is expressly called in Acts 20, 28, the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.

His life was the life of that person that was the eternal Son of God, though it was the life of a human nature. Now upon this account, the price offered was equivalent to the demerit of the sins of all mankind and his sufferings equivalent to the eternal sufferings of the whole world.

Now the principle behind that argument is that the greater the worth or the dignity or the honor of a person, the more insulting and dishonorable and shameful is the innocent suffering of that person, so that the suffering of the Son of God is a greater evil than the suffering of a sinful human.

And since the worth and the honor of the Son of God is an infinite worth and an infinite honor, therefore his suffering had an infinite worth, more than enough to be the punishment for finite human beings. Or to say it one more way, when Christ descended from the position of equality with God, Philippians 2, to the point of forsakenness by God on the cross in agony, that depth of descent was infinitely greater than the descent of any sinful human into the sufferings of hell, indeed all of them together.

So one way of answering the question, how does Christ's 33-year-long suffering cover the sins of millions of people who deserve eternal suffering, is because the infinite worth of his person makes his suffering of infinite worth and sufficient for the covering of all the sins of all his people. So as I said at the beginning, our worship and our love for Christ ought to burn very brightly when we consider that one man, one God-man, could endure enough suffering to cover so many hell-deserving sins.

Amen. God's own blood. You can't really say it any more scandalously than Acts 20, 28 puts it. Thank you, Pastor John, for helping us take seriously the worth of the death of Jesus today. That is what makes such a question worth asking and answering in the first place, because we get to dwell on Christ's all-sufficient sacrifice for us.

Awesome. Thank you for joining us today. If you have a hard question to ask Pastor John, email us at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org. As you can tell, this is a season of some interesting apologetics questions, answering objections, hard questions. And we have another one up. Next time, this one. Does God love us beyond loving himself in us?

Does God love us because he really loves us for us, or does he love us simply because he sees his own reflection in us, and he loves that reflection of himself and not really us? This is such a key question. Actually it's part of nine related questions that I'm going to attempt to serve up to Pastor John in one single episode.

We're going to put him to work next time. I'm your host Tony Reinke. We'll see you on Thursday. 1. Is God's love for us beyond loving himself in us? 2. Is God's love for us beyond loving himself in us? 3. Is God's love for us beyond loving himself in us?

4. Is God's love for us beyond loving himself in us? 5.