Thank you for asking about Jesus’ sacrifice and making me think about it more.
You did not answer the latter question, but went on as if God is just Santa Claus with no coal available. Justice involves judgment, and penalty if there is guilt, and that probably involves some kind of coercion.
There is also the matter of sinning against a righteous and loving King, and if we think that such a One as he cannot execute fair judgment, we should maybe consider skeptical theism. And if we deserve the death for spitting in his face willfully (or ignorantly) because we do not recognize him a King, then we need to be rescued and saved from that verdict! A previously used analogy was calling a good queen a whore to her face. Immediate arrest (physical coercion) and penalty should be expected!
The short answer is that Jesus bore our punishment in our stead, if we will just but accept that gift at no cost to us except our pride.