Since Jesus took our punishment, why didn't He need to go to hell forever?
That’s a question that has been raised many times in church history because the punishment for sin is eternal damnation, and even that’s not adequate. Our rebellion is against God, who is of infinite worth and value so that our sin is of an infinite variety. Even if we suffer eternity in hell, that can’t really justly fulfil the measure of punishment that is our due. Obviously, Jesus did not spend eternity in hell. The argument that has been given and advanced throughout church history is that Jesus’ atonement was of infinite value. Being of infinite value, it could cover and satisfy the demand for eternal punishment. Though the atonement was only temporal, the value of the Son of God suffering in our place for our sins—even for five minutes—was such that it would be accepted by God as a sacrifice to pay for the penalty that was our due. The only way that I know to work with that is to look at it in terms of the value of the sacrificial atonement that Christ made. Is that what is meant...