IT IS FINISHED
When Jesus said, “It is finished” He must have meant: all is completed, my work is done, the price of sin is fully paid and my mission accomplished. Nothing is left to add but gratitude and praise. When Jesus made this statement, it was an expression of accomplishment, fulfillment and satisfaction. It all started on a Thursday when Jesus went to pray at Mount of Olives as was His custom and His disciples went with Him. While charging His sleeping disciples to pray hard so that they do not fall into temptation, a crowd of men led by Judas, one of His twelve disciples arrived. Judas approached Jesus and kissed Him with the kiss of betrayal. Jesus was arrested, mocked, beaten and appeared before the council; Pilate and Herod respectively. Jesus was questioned: are you the Messiah, the Son of God and the King of Jews? He answered: You said I’m and so you say. The Next morning Jesus was brought before Pilate. Despite the fact that Pilate examined Him and found Him innocent, yet the crowd demanded His death shouting: crucify Him! Crucify him! Pilate then sentenced Jesus to death by crucifixion and released Him to the soldiers and the crowd.
It was another Friday, indeed a Good Friday, a hot April day; death was in the air and word has spread to every corner of the city. That day, the Roman authority and the Jewish elders planned to crucify somebody special, a radical revolutionary; a fool who thought he was God’s son; who called God, his father. One who had caused them sleepless nights and concerns for couple of years? He said, He was the way, the truth and the life [John 14: 6]. His death could be likened to killing by firing squad? A large crowd of people gathered outside the town at the place of the skull called in Hebrew, Golgotha. And it was the place of execution; they brought Jesus there and crucify Him. The horror of crucifixion brought people far and wide to the skull hill to watch the crucifixion of a man called Jesus. He was accused of calling himself the son of God, Most High. The low and middle class who witnessed and were recipients of His miracles and deliverances believed Him, many Jews doubted Him while the Pharisees and Sadducees just hatred Him. The Jewish crowd was excitingly raucous and boisterous but as the crucifixion commenced, the loudness was quieted and overtaken by panic, fears and tears. There came the historic three hours of amazing journey of death; when darkness covered the surface of the earth. From the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour [Matthew 27:45].
The crucifixion started at 9 a. m. [Third hour Jewish time] and the darkness began at 12 p.m. [Sixth hour Jewish] and lasted till 3 p.m. [ninth hour Jewish]. Christians especially those in ministries sometimes face historic three hours, when we seem to feel less of God presence. When there are delays in answer to our prayers and we wonder whether God is still on the throne! Be still and do nothing except to thank and worship God for whom He is and for all that He has already done and shall continue to do. Waiting period has never been easy; it’s the most troubling time in faith journey. Jesus hung in between two criminals. After being battered by the soldiers, He looked so weak like someone who already had passed. However He mustered courage and shouted: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? After that He shouted again, “I thirst.” It became so certain that the hour was near as the death rattled in His throat. Surprisingly, He managed to breathe out another sentence, “It is finished.” It means, it has ended, completed, accomplished, fulfilled and satisfied. It was a successful end to a particular course of action; the deed is done. It was the savior’s final cry of victory. Little wonder its called Good Friday. He died and left no unfinished business behind. Jesus shouted it is finished; it also means the price of sin has been paid in full.
Why Jesus had to die? It’s easy yet pertinent to ponder and ask: why did an all knowing, all powerful and all loving God allowed His son to be murdered on the cross of shame just to redeem guilty sinful people? It may not have made any human sense. Again, since God is both all powerful and infinitely gracious, why didn’t He simply forgive anyone who apologies for his/her lapses. However, it makes Spiritual sense that because God is a God of justice and righteousness and fairness, His justice demands that every sin must be punished; no matter how little or small. The scripture says, “For the soul that sins, it must die” [Ezekiel18:20]. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” [Romans 3:23]. If God would not punish sin and just forgive it, it would cease to be a just and holy God. The price has to be paid; since it took one person’s sin to bring condemnation to everybody, it also took one person’s righteousness to save and restore mankind back to God. In a book, Bible Reading for the home, it says, it was to redeem us that Jesus lived, suffered and died. He became a ‘man of sorrow’ that we might be made partakers of everlasting joy. But this great sacrifice was not made in order to create in the Father’s heart a love for man, not made Him willing to save [John 3:16].
No human effort but Jesus Christ, the son of God could pay the price of sin, fulfilled and accomplished God requirement for our redemption. Christ came into the world to save sinners and that you and I may be saved [1 Timothy 1:15]. It was impossible for us, of ourselves to escape from the pit of sin in which we were sunk into. Our hearts are evil, and we cannot change them or help ourselves. Only Jesus could pay the price and open the gate of heaven and let us in. “Behold the lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world” [John 1:29]. This is how John the Baptist, described Jesus to his followers, when he saw Him passing by. In An Anchor for the soul, Ray Pritchard wrote God’s holiness and righteousness demands that sin must be punished and God’s grace provides the sacrifice; what God demands He supplies. Thus salvation is a work of God from first to last. It’s conceived by God, provided by God and applied by God. What sin is keeping you from God, right now? Is it Anger, lust, hardness of heart, unbelief, unforgiveness, and uncontrollable temper? Or could it be cheating, gambling, hate, stealing, adultery, pride or greed. The good news and the truth is that it does not matter because it has been fully paid for [It’s finished]. When you come to Christ, you discover that all your sins have been stamped by God with this phrase: Paid in full. Through the blood of Jesus, the name of Jesus and the word of God, the price for our sins have been paid in full.
Ray Pritchard tried to sum up the phrase; it is finished in two simple statements:
a] Since Jesus Christ paid in full, the work of salvation is now complete. It is finished means: the debt was paid, the work was accomplished, and the sacrifice was complete. This is what Christians talk about when they say the “finished work of Christ.” What Jesus accomplished by His death was so awesome, so total, so complete that it will never be repeated or reversed.
b] Since Jesus Christ paid in full, all effort to add anything to what Christ did on the cross is doomed to failure. If Jesus paid in full, you don’t have to pay anything. That’s why Church membership, keeping Ten commandments, educational attainments, good works, beauty, alms giving, sacraments and moral reformation, etc; as good as they are, cannot be equated or add any value to Jesus accomplishment on the cross. It could turn out to be a snare or organized religion or culture or earthly achievement.
God is offering us salvation free of charge; Jesus had already paid in full so you do not have to pay anything. Jesus left no unfinished business behind. God is a God that completed or finished His work [Genesis 2:1]. Whatever He starts in us, He brings it to completion. Little wonder Apostle Paul wrote, “I have finished the race” [2 Timothy 4: 7]. The prayer of Jesus in John 17: 4 says, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” Jesus brought this to fulfillment in John 19:30, when he said, “it is finished.”Because of what Jesus did on the cross, we shall finish our race here on earth. We shall meet our destinies and fulfill our course. Nothing can stop us except ourselves. Jesus had completed our redemption: It is finished.
Reach: Evangelist Ogbonnaya, Godswill at: weefreeministries@yahoo.com or P. O. Box 720035, Houston, Texas, 77272.