The effect of Jesus’ death was to deliver us from divine wrath. That is a penal atonement. He died to pay the penalty we deserve for our sins. It is clearly a death that has the effect of taking wrath away from us. We know very clearly from the Bible that that wrath fell on the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul says this:
Richard D. PhillipsHe died for us.He died in our place. He offered himself as a substitutionary sacrifice. We deserve to die, and he willingly took our place. So great is the love of the Son of God for us who have believed. We’re not saved, my friends, by having our hearts warmed by the demonstration of God’s love on the cross. Oh, the cross is a demonstration of God’s love, but we are not saved by that demonstration. We are not saved by receiving the cross as an example for us to love others. Oh, it is such an example. We are saved because, though the penalty ought to have gone to us—it deserved to go to us—Jesus took our place. He was the substitute, the Lamb of God who bore the penalty we deserve in our place.1
9 Car Dieu ne nous a pas destinés à la colère, mais à la possession du salut par notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ,