‘It Is Finished’ — Seven Sayings, Part Six

‘It is finished’ — John 19:30

These three English words are only one in the original Greek but it’s one of the most reassuring words in the Bible. The word means to fully complete something. It’s the same word Jesus used in His intimate prayer in John 17 where in verse 4 He spoke of His mission on earth as “completing the work you gave me to do.”

Jesus was not an aimless wandering preacher, He was a man on a mission, a mission agreed with His Father (John 6:38-40). The mission was to gather people to eternal life and a certain hope of resurrection. This mission was full of moral and physical danger. Moral, because Jesus’ holiness and integrity were attacked time after time; physical, because at times the crowd wanted to stone him or throw him off a cliff (Luke 4:29, John 8:59). The cross was the pinnacle of this mission and the height of its dangers. The temptation to save himself from the torture of the cross must have been unbearable. Yet here He is at the very end and what’s His verdict? “It is finished” - the mission was done.

His word at the point of death was not a sigh of defeat, not ‘I’m finished’ but ‘It’s finished.’ Before He says this He moistens His parched throat with a drink. He needed to be refreshed to make a strong shout of fulfilment, a shout of victory and rest anticipated.

Jesus’ mission was to restore the world to God, and the cross lay the foundation for this. Our relationship with God does not rest on our efforts or our goodness but this finished work of Christ. He laid down His life as a sacrifice for our sins and through trust in Him we can have lasting peace with God. And Jesus wasn’t delusional when He faced death with peace and hope. Only three days later God raised Him from the dead. It is this hope of eternal life we share through faith, confident because Jesus was the prototype.

Jews did not have this confidence because every year they had to offer God a sacrifice for their sins (Hebrews 10:1-4). The Bible teaches that when Jesus gave up His own life, this was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. Holy, perfect, and complete, His death was sufficient for all of our sins to be laid on Him (Hebrews 10:10). Shortly after Jesus’ shout the Jerusalem temple curtain was ripped in half and in AD70 the temple was completely destroyed. The message? Jesus had finished all His work for God and there was no more need for the Temple and its regular sacrifices.

From these three words, enjoy the certainty that Jesus succeeded in His mission and give thanks to God for the confidence this gives us as we face a challenging world.