My dear readers,

It is Finished

John 19:30: “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”

The following are the seven sayings of Christ on the cross according to chronological order:

Luke 23:34: “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”

Luke 23:42-43: “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. ⁴³And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

John 19:26-27: “When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! ²⁷Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.”

Mark 15:33-34: “And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. ³⁴And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

John 19:28: “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.”

John 19:29-30: “Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. ³⁰When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”

Luke 23:46: “And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.”

Jesus was concerned for the ones who participated in His persecution and crucifixion, knowing very well that it was because of the sins of the world that He became the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. He was also concerned for the salvation of all sinners, even those who had a few hours left to live, like the malefactor who received Christ as his Lord and Saviour at the last moment. Next was His concern as a son for His mother of whom He entrusted John to care for after He returned to heaven. Then He focused on His heavenly Father’s decision to “forsake” Him, i.e. to not deliver Him from the physical pain and suffering and to die on the cross. Before completing His mission at death, Jesus made sure that future nay-sayers could not deny the reality of His suffering because “Thirst was one of the most distressing circumstances attending the crucifixion. The wounds were highly inflamed, and a raging fever was caused, usually, by the sufferings on the cross, and this was accompanied by insupportable thirst.” [Albert Barnes Notes on the Bible] Near the final moment of His perfect life of humble obedience to the heavenly Father’s loving will, Jesus declared that His mission was finished, i.e. completed successfully. Finally, before He died, He commended His spirit to His Heavenly Father, i.e. commended His human spirit that He received when He became man, revealing to us that all who die in Christ will have their spirit commended to God the Father, too.

The phrase “It is finished” is in the Perfect Passive indicative. The perfect tense means the impact of an action that occurred in the past continues into the present. The finished work of Christ at Calvary’s cross continues to have the salvific power to deliver all sinners till the day of Christ’s return, when salvation will end and God's judgment will begin.

What was finished?

• God the Father’s prophecies – Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:15 was the first prophecy on the first coming of Christ. Many more prophecies followed through the hundreds of years of God’s progressive revelation. All of them were fulfilled precisely according to God’s prophetic revelation. An example is Bethlehem-Ephratah, the birthplace of Christ, which was prophesied in Micah 5:2. Micah’s ministry began around 750 years before the birth of Christ. The fulfilment of God's prophecies emphasises the truth that God always keeps His Word; and all that He prophesied about the future, His children must believe and know that He has the power to bring them to pass.

• God the Son’s heavenly mission – John 3:16-17: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ¹⁷For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” The mission from God the Father was to take on flesh and blood, and suffer and die for the sins of the world as the Lamb of God. Christ must live a perfect life according to God's laws in order to succeed. When Jesus said, “it is finished,” He declared that He had succeeded and completed and fulfilled all that God the Father required Him to do to save all sinners from the bondage of sin in their lives and to remove the penalty of sin, which is death and hell. God raised Him from the dead to demonstrate unequivocally to man that Jesus accomplished His mission victoriously.

• Man’s Need to overcome the sting of death – 1 Corinthians 15:55-57: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? ⁵⁶The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” God’s divine justice demands that all who sin must die. Man is conceived and born in sin because of the sin of Adam, who represented humanity. Romans 5:12,18: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned … Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” That is the reason why some babies may die when they are born or even when inside the mother’s womb, not because they have committed any wilful sin but because they were conceived and born in sin. Because of Christ’s death in removing the sting of sin, we know from the Holy Scriptures that these babies who die before the age of accountability will be found in heaven. When God saves them in Christ at the point of death, God removes the imputed sin of the first Adam from them and imputes in them Christ’s righteousness, the same way He imputes Christ’s righteousness on anyone who sincerely believes in Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour. Christ’s death at Calvary removed forever the sting of death in every believer’s life so that he does not need to fear death.

• Man’s eternal home in heaven – Revelation 21:1-3: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. ²And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” By Christ’s finished work at Calvary, Christ gained for sinful man more than what Adam lost for all mankind at the Garden of Eden. Adam lost perfection when he sinned and plunged all humanity into depravity, to be condemned to hell if they were to die in their sin. However, Christ’s finished work on the cross not only delivered believers from death and hell, but also opened the pearly gates for them to enter heaven as their new eternal home in the presence of God in glory, never to die again.

• Destroy the Devil -- Hebrews 2:14-15: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; ¹⁵And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” God’s divine justice must be fully satisfied so that man can enter heaven after being delivered from death and hell. In the Garden of Eden, the devil’s evil work deceived Eve, and after

Adam ate the fruit given to him by Eve (after God warned him not to eat or he would surely die), it led to the fall of man. To destroy the devil and his evil work, Jesus Christ had to come and die on man’s behalf so that man would not need to die for his own sin and be cast into hell. Jesus’ finished work at Calvary’s cross accomplished that for anyone who would believe in Him.

Have you experienced the finished work of Christ at Calvary?