When Jesus was tortured, it was the torture that should have been ours. On a very small scale, we all understand this principle. Imagine a young boy at the store counter. He is buying a small piece of candy. The clerk rings it up and it comes to 20¢.
He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a pile of change that fills his small hand and he begins counting, and the clerk helps.
* He has a nickel, that's 5¢.
* He has a dime, that's 10¢ more.
* He has three pennies
* 18¢
You are behind him and reach into your purse and contribute two more pennies to the pile. Everyone smiles. The boy gets what he wants, the clerk gets what he needs, and you have paid the price.
You got no candy, you had no drawer to count, and yet that boy's shortfall, for a moment, became your debt and you paid it. It was your effort and earnings that met the need. You had what he was missing, you provided what he could not.
Our sins require payment to the Judge who holds the balance. Jesus paid that price. Since the cost is an eternal cost, and since we are mortal, we could not pay it, but Jesus could and did.