"It is Finished"

 

“He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30). 

“‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed His last” (Luke 23:46). 

My life, my hope, my reason for living and my expectation when dying, rests upon these words of Jesus Christ. 

The Tree of Life becomes the Tree of Death which will once again become the Tree of Life. If the Grain of Wheat does not fall into the ground and dies (John 12:24), I have no hope and neither do you.

But He does die, and He declares that “It is finished!” He says to the Father, “I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). In dying and in rising a New Man, a New Race, a New Generation, a New Seed, comes forth from the earth (Psalm 22:30; Isaiah 53:8,10; Hebrews 2:9 – 13).

We cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). We are now the heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, no longer sinners but daughters and sons of the Living God (Romans 8:16 – 17; Galatians 4:7).

Mystery of mysteries, as darkness covers the land the Lamb is sacrificed and the Divine Transaction occurs, veiled from the eyes of sinful man, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). 

The veil is rent, the Holy of Holies is open for us to know intimacy with God our Father (Luke 23:44; Hebrews 10:19 – 22). God invites us to come and know Him, to live securely in Him with joy and peace. 

Jesus is both our High Priest and our Sacrificial Lamb. He is the Priest who offers Himself, the Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11). As our High Priest and Lamb, Jesus “sanctifies us through the offering of Himself once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). As our Sacrificial Lamb and High Priest Jesus has “perfected for all time those who are sanctified [made holy, set apart for God]” (Hebrews 10:14).

Note the phrases “once for all” and “for all time.” Jesus cries on the Cross “It is finished” because His work is complete, which means that we are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). Jesus is indeed the “Author and Finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). 

Since we are secure in our Lord Jesus Christ, since we are indeed the daughters and sons of God, we can take up our cross and follow Him (Mark 8:34 – 38), loving God with all that we have and all that we are, loving our neighbor as ourselves, and laying down our lives for our brothers and sisters (Mark 12:29 – 30; John 15:12 – 13; 1 John 3:16). 

Because Jesus has delivered us from the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14 – 15; 2 Timothy 1:8 – 11), we can now freely give ourselves to Jesus and to others, learning what it is to share His sufferings, learning what it means to be His Presence, His suffering and gracious Presence, in the lives of those around us (Philippians 3:10; Colossians 1:24; 2 Corinthians 4:12). 

May our prayer and desire be this Easter, that others will behold the Crucified and Risen Jesus Christ within us; within us as individuals, as husbands and wives, as families, as congregations, as the Church of Jesus Christ. 

Amen and amen.