Evening Service, 19 April 2009
What will your thoughts and feeling be if when you are about to die you are given an opportunity to look back over your life; as well as to look onward to what might have been but now won’t be – the things left unsaid, undone?
It is reported that when Queen Elizabeth I of England was dying she said to her lady-in-waiting, ‘Oh my God! It is over. I have come to the end of it – the end, the end. To have only one life, and to have done with it. To have lived, and loved, and triumphed; and now to know it is over! One may defy everything else but this!’
You can feel the pulse of defeat and despair in these words. Despite all the pomp and glamour, all the power and glitter, all she could feel was ‘the end, the end!’
But not so the Lord Jesus Christ when He cried “It is finished!”
His was a life of purpose, and the purpose had been accomplished; a life with a plan, and the plan had been achieved; a life with an aim and that aim had been attained; a life with a task and that task had been completed.
As we look at it this let us note, firstly,
1. Its Force
The idea is completeness.
Jesus indicated in 4:34 that “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work”. Then in anticipation of this moment Jesus had said to His Father “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (17:4). In v.28 where it is translated “accomplished”. It is the same word used each time. It is finished! The idea in this word is that of completeness, of nothing left undone, of bringing a matter to conclusion. It was used in commercial transactions: ‘Paid in Full’.
But the idea is also of continuing effect. The tense of the verb in the original Greek which has the force of ‘that which was accomplished remained permanently effective’.
When I completed my BTh I later found that there was an accreditation problem with the institution I had obtained the degree through. I was told that for me to keep my degree and have it formally recognised I had to do a new ‘paper’. If I didn’t comply or pass this new requirement then the ‘degree’ would be lost! What I thought was complete could yet be nullified and lost by the slash of a government pen.
But not so Jesus. He knew that this was a permanent and unchangeable.
This word was also uttered with power. In the Gospels we are told that Jesus uttered a loud cry just before His death (Matt 27:50; Mk 15:37; Lk 23:46). Two of which also tell us that Jesus was given a drink just beforehand it would seem that this was Jesus’ cry. In other words it was not the last sob of a defeated man, nor a deliberate declaration of one resigned to his fate glad that all this agony was at last over.
It has the force of triumph.
This saying gathers up Jesus’ entire ministry in a triumphant conclusion. Think of what it will be like when you make the last payment on a big debt like a car loan, or especially a house mortgage – all those months and years of activity have led up to that final payment. This of course is nothing compared to the triumphant joy Jesus was expressing in these words: Paid in Full. It is completed, fulfilled, finished. Jesus declared this knowing that a turning point in human history had been reached.
It has the force of satisfaction.
As Jesus uttered these words He knew He had finished the work He had been sent by His Father into this world to do. In this cry He was looking over all of that work with satisfaction – it had been completed and done well. In 17:4 He indicated His motivation was to glorify His Father by saving a people from their sins. With this climatic act He was able to say I have done it, I have done all things well. It is impossible for me to have done it any better. The satisfaction that God had as He looked over the result of six days of creation active is what Jesus is in effect seeing here: “It was very good!”
It also has the force of confidence.
This cry declares Jesus’ confidence that this can never be undone. Christ satisfied God’s justice by dying to pay in full for the sins of God’s people. These sins can never be punished again since that would violate God’s justice. Sins can only be punished once, either by a substitute or by yourself.
This saying, in other words, points to Christ’s death as an achievement not a failure, a victory not a defeat. But what exactly was finished?
2. Its Focus
Surely what was finished was not His life, though Jesus clearly anticipated that here for in a few more breaths that too would happen. Yet there is a greater dimension to this saying, for by it Jesus was also declaring finished:
Prophecies relating the Messiah’s death.
The words in v.28 indicate that Jesus was very much aware of the OT prophecies which pointed at the sufferings of the Messiah, and that now these were all fulfilled. The first of these was given in Gen 3:15, that he would bruise satan’s head, that is inflict a fatal blow on the deceiver, and that He would bruise His heel in the process, which is a reference to His death on the cross. John records the fulfilment of prophecies in 19:24, 28-29, 36, 37.
Symbols and types of the OT.
These were indirect descriptions of what the Messiah would do. Here we should note the fulfilment of the sacrificial system which symbolised the payment of the penalty for sin (what we call atonement) by a substitute. All those OT sacrifices pointed to the death of the Messiah on behalf of others for their sin. These sacrifices pointed to a greater blood sacrifice.
In 1 Cor 5:7 we read that “Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us”. Related to this is also the Temple and its services. In Matt 27:51 we read that when Jesus died the curtain in the Temple between the holy place and the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom. This curtain symbolised that though God was near He was separated from us – but now Christ sees that His work of breaking down that separation has occurred through His death.
The demands of the Law
The moral law of God, summarised in the 10 Commandments, ever exists as a standard of how we are to live before God. It does so because it reflects the character of the Law-giver Himself. But none of us have kept it, as the conscience of each of us confirms and as the Word of God declares (Rom 3:10, 23). It stands against us, condemning us, demanding justice and satisfaction. Unless the demands of the Law are fulfilled on man’s behalf, he must be condemned.
But Christ kept the Law of God perfectly throughout His life, and then in dying fully paid the penalty for its breach, then cried “It is finished!” Through His life the requirement of perfect obedience to the Law was met, and at the cross the debt of sin is cancelled by His death. He fulfilled the law – perfectly and vicariously.
Now the Law no longer holds any terror for us. It now shows its positive face to us as a guide and friend, a gift of love and it has become our delight and comfort.
The power of satan, sin and death.
The cross looked like it was satan’s greatest triumph, but it was actually his greatest defeat (Col 2:15). Colossians 1:13 tells us that the believers are transferred from satan’s to Christ’s kingdom and that sin has no more power over them, nor does satan. We can resist him and we are told when we do so that he will flee from us (James 4:7). Even death no longer holds its terror for us, for its sting was sin but that is gone for believers (1 Cor 15:58). It is finished!
3. Its Fruit – or impact on us today
The promise of salvation.
This saying speaks ‘hope to the hopeless, pardon to the guilty, acceptance to the lost’ (Spurgeon). Christ has taken away all the barriers that were in the Father’s way of loving His people. From that day the Father is pleased to welcome sinners to Himself, to the full enjoyment of His love and peace. These words, if you like, form an invitation. From this side of their utterance they give the invitation of the gospel: it is now ready, come to the banquet – Isa 55:1f. These words tell you that the blood Jesus poured out from a broken heart can wash out and cancel the deepest stain that is on your soul and conscience; it tells you that there is yet room for you to join the thief having expressed humble faith in Jesus was promised “This day you shall be with Me in paradise.”
May the Holy Spirit repeat that invitation and make it effectual to the heart of any who have not till now come to Jesus Christ in faith. Dry your tears, embrace the cross, trust in the finished work of Christ.
The sufficiency of this salvation.
There is nothing left to be done in order to make God propitious towards sinners. There is nothing more to be added to what Jesus has done – indeed to do so is to insult Christ, it is arrogant to think that we can add anything. James Packer describes this as Christian mathematics saying ‘to add is to take away.’ We need no extra sacrifice (hence the destruction of the Jewish Temple and sacrificial system); but also no need to re-sacrifice Christ in our churches or even in our minds. It is a once for all event in time sufficient for all time. We come to God the Father resting solely in that historical, real-world event.
The issue is not how you feel but where are you trusting. Rest not in the words of faith, the depth of sorrow or even the feelings of joy, but in Christ’s death – that and that alone, nothing more nothing less, is the basis of your acceptance with God. Yet such is the proud heart of man that we are very anxious to have some part in our salvation – some preparation for Christ, some humbling of the heart, some repentance, some good works. These are identified and trusted in as that which makes some contribution. But Jesus says “It is finished!”
The gospel is not a do but a done message. Praise God, for otherwise we would ever be in a state of uncertainty as to whether we have done enough. But our hope resides in Christ alone and so our hope and assurance is stable.
The sweetness of this salvation.
There is nothing more wonderful than knowing nothing more needs to be done. Here is the source of the true spiritual experience of the saved: peace and joy. Here is fear removed. Here is silence to the accusations of conscience: “there is no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1), so when satan or a falsely sensitive and accusing conscience attacks that peace we can declare as in 8:33-34. If “It is finished” then I am complete in Him, and can rejoice with unspeakable joy. Whatever I owed to God on account of my sin is now wiped away from His book of remembrance.
But more if the separation between God and I because of my sin is finished then I have access to God – I know He will hear my prayers, I know He will guide and guard me in my life, that Jesus means it when He says “I will be with you always” (Matt 28:20). I see that it also means that the barriers between people are broken down when they are united in Christ, so this salvation is one marked by fellowship, godly friendship with other believers. I am a member of a large and expanding family of love. It means that I can face the last enemy death knowing that Christ has conquered death, that He has taken away the power of death which is sin and therefore its sting. Death is changed and swallowed up in eternal life, so that even if I am separated from this body I am present with the Lord.
How much we owe to Jesus Christ!
How thankful we should be for this words which hold the compendium of truth and love. Here is the sinners answer. Here is the believer’s comfort.
“It is finished!” Is it for you?