He said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and released his spirit. John 19:30
The cross was the goal of Jesus from the onset. His birth began the intended journey to Golgotha’s hill. The incarnation was for our atonement. He was born to die so that we might live. And on that horrific and necessary moment in history, the world became dark and silent as He accomplished the purpose for which He came.
John 19:17 gives but a glimpse of our Lord carrying the brutal weight of our sins as His walked to the place of His death: “they took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.” He was treated as a criminal: “At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left” (Matthew 27:38). But Jesus looked at His executioners, and even while He hung on the cross slowly and painfully dying, He said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). And, looking further into the faces of those who witnessed His death, Jesus saw His mother and the beloved disciple, and Jesus placed her in John’s care: “Woman, behold, your son,” And then He said to John, “Behold your mother” (John 19:26-27).
There were other statements Jesus declared from the cross. Among them were statements of His own physical thirst, His love and forgiveness for the criminal beside Him, and His love and obedience to the Father. But before He breathed His last, there was one statement unlike the others. This statement was not only about the moment of His death, but about the change His death would bring for all eternity. This statement was a declaration of divine accomplishment. In the most unimaginable agony, under the physical duress of the brutal beatings, while torturously nailed to a wooden cross and feeling the loss of the Father’s presence because of our sins, Jesus cried out at just the right moment, “IT IS FINISHED.”
And from His horrible death came undeniable victory and unending life – the glorious wonder of our salvation.
In Greek terminology, “finished” (tetelestai) was a common word written on documents of business transactions to indicate an amount had been fully paid. Such transactions or receipts were often written with the world “tetelestai, “paid in full.”[1] The connection would have been unmistakably clear to John’s Greek speaking audience: Jesus died to pay for our sins completely. In His declaration from the cross, Jesus demonstrated that He knew the relation of His death to redemption.[2] And, this was announced with, “it is finished.” or, “it is accomplished.”[3]
So, what was finished? Finished and completed was the work the Father sent the Son to accomplish (John 17:4). Jesus made possible the only way that the debt of sin could be paidonce and for all (I Peter 3:18). Never again would Jesus have to bear the sins of the world. This was fulfilled and made complete.
Also, fulfilled and “finished” were the prophecies spoken long ago. From Genesis to Malachi, there are over 300 specific prophecies specifying the coming of the Messiah – the anointed One, all fulfilled by Jesus. (Examples of this are “the seed who would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15), and a description of the suffering servant (Isaiah 53).
Most significantly, the power of sin was finished (defeated). Satan’s stronghold on humanity no longer has the authority. Through faith in Christ you no longer need to live under the power of sin and death (I Corinthians 15:55-57). It is finished. You can know freedom from sin’s grip and the undeniable joy of being a child of God. John’s Gospel reminds us that, “as many as received Him, as many as believed on His name, He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). That right was secured by Jesus when He said, “it is finished.”
But many have ignored or have forgotten the reason for the cross. Many have forgotten how necessary it was for Jesus to die. In a message Billy Graham preached in a crusade in Los Angeles years ago, he said,
“Sin affects your will (whoever commits sin is a slave to sin, John 8:34). There is something you are guilty of but you can’t break the habit; you would like to but you have no power to do so.”
I am always astonished at how sinisterly and treacherously the devil will entice individuals with allurements of this world to simply lead someone away from God and into the deadly grip of sin. When I reflect on Dr. Graham’s words, I am reminded that I myself was once trapped in sin. And, oh how incredible it was when God’s love broke through. Sin is indeed a trap. A relentless habitual trap that can cause one’s heart to grow cold and indifferent to the greatest love we can know- the love displayed on the cross. But today I preach the cross because I know from the truth of God’s Word and from my own life’s journey that there is no way to know joy, peace, forgiveness, and abundant life except by way of the cross.
So, today, have you come by way of the cross or simply by way of religion. There is a monumental difference. Religion instructs, “do good things.” The cross beckons, “the only way to a relationship with God is through faith in Jesus and His sacrifice for your sins.”
So, today, if you have come by way of the cross (meaning faith in Christ), pause on this day to thank God for what He has accomplished for you through the sacrifice of His Son. If you have never come by way of the cross, and religious activity is all you have embraced, then respond to that beautiful invitation of John 1:12. Receive by faith the forgiveness of sin through what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and believe that Jesus truly died for you, and on the third day rose again (Romans 10:9,10).
Remember the cross of our Lord. Make certain that you have come by way of the cross. There is no other way.
Blessings,
Ken
[1] Moulton and Milligan, Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, 630.
[2] Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, 304.
[3] George Beasley Murray, Word Biblical Commentary, 352.
