Jesus absorbed God's judgments and God's wrath. Through this absorption He extinguished God's burning wrath and put Satan—the one with the power of death—out of job. Meaning, those who do accept Jesus' sacrifice must also accept the fact that He atoned for our sins, which caused God's wrath.
It was not so much us who needed this atonement, but actually God. Dust is just dust, but it changes into a son or daughter when God touches it.