• That death discharged in full the mighty debt which sinners owe to God and threw open the door of life to every believer.
• That death satisfied the righteous claims of God’s holy law, and enabled God to be just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly.
• That death was no mere example of self-sacrifice, but a complete atonement and propitiation for man’s sin, affecting our condition and prospects.
• That death solved the hard problem, how God could be perfectly holy, and yet perfectly merciful.
• It opened to the world a fountain for all sin and uncleanness.
• It was a complete victory over Satan and spoiled him openly.
• It finished the transgression, made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness.
• It proved the sinfulness of sin, when it needed such a sacrifice to atone for it.
• It proved the love of God to sinners, when He sent His own Son to make the atonement.

Never, in fact, was there, or could there be again, such a death. No wonder that the earth quaked when Jesus died in our stead on the accursed tree. The solid frame of the world might well tremble and be amazed when the soul of Christ was made an offering for sin. (Isaiah 53:10.)

• J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 27:45-56.