“It Is Finished”

John 19:30

30   “So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”

Several weeks ago we  celebrated the passion of Jesus as we celebrated Good Friday through Easter when we remembered the things that happened to Jesus over 2000 years ago and we need to remember what He accomplished for you and me.  That week was the culmination of the reason He came to Earth and was born.  He was born to die!

What He suffered Thursday through Sunday was to complete His mission and having restored everything that had been lost in the garden of Eden He had established a “new covenant” in His blood and He cried out “IT IS FINISHED !”

Imagine looking at Leonardo da Vinci’s famous Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre museum. Would you think of adding more brush strokes to it? Of course not! It was done by a master, so what could you possibly add to the painting to improve it?

In the same way, that is how we are to look at the work of Jesus on the cross. He cried out, “It is finished!” You cannot complete a completed work. You cannot finish a finished work. Our salvation is won – it is a finished work. Our sins are all forgiven – that too is a finished work. We are made forever righteous by His blood – this too is a finished work. Christ paid completely and perfectly for our total forgiveness, righteousness and every blessing!

In fact, these three words, “It is finished”, come from one Greek word “teleo”. In the days of Jesus, a servant would use it when reporting to his master: “I have completed the work assigned to me.” (John 17:4) The word means, “It is finished, it stands finished and it will always be finished!” Perhaps the most significant meaning of “teleo” is how it is used by merchants: “The debt is paid in full!” When Jesus gave Himself on the cross, He met fully the righteous demands of the law. He paid our debts in full!

Today, it is not our works that will bring us the blessings. It is Christ’s finished work. Christian living is not about doing, but believing in His finished work. Under the law, we must do. Under grace, it is done!

Maybe you are faced with overwhelming odds today. Jesus promises, “It is finished!” You are not going to be delivered because you have already been delivered. You are not going to be healed because you are already the healed! God healed you 2,000 years ago! Isaiah 53:5 declares, “By His stripes you are healed!” You are already pregnant with healing. Keep resting in His finished work and it will manifest!

My friend, the work is finished. The victory is won. Our blessings have been bought by His blood! Live life knowing that there is nothing for you to do — only believe! It is finished!

THE MOST AMAZING TRUTH EVER RECORDED IN HISTORY

We just passed the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus with a day we call Easter Sunday which is probably the most celebrated of the religion called Christianity.  Yet most people have no real understanding of what that day truly represents to us.  Actually, for the Christian, and even more important day to celebrate and bring to remembrance would be the previous Friday that we call Good Friday.  Why would I say that, because on that day the most amazing truth ever recorded in history occurred and most preople do not really undeerstand what occurred on THAT day. THAT day was the day Jesus cut and established the blood covenant that we humans could enter into by faith.  Let me take a few minutes of your time to explain what I mean so that you can see this amazing truth.

Romans 6:23 — “For the wages of sin is death.”

Hebrews 9:22 — “And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.”

John 1:29 — “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Behold the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world.”

There were actually two parts to the substitution that Jesus performed on the cross.

PART I — HE PAID THE PRICE FOR OUR SIN

No matter how much we have difficulty believing it, God’s penalty for sin is death, or seperation from God,  yet every human being commits sins because of our fallen sin nature. We have inherited the  sin nature of our forefather, Adam. Sin, in essense is the rebellion against God’s right to rule in our lives.  Adam’s nature was corrupted when because of his rebellion he severed himself from the life of God and by living in Satan’s kingdom of darkness he deteriorated and devolved into a being like his new master, Satan. Because of this every human born after Adam and Eve inherited this sin nature. Remember the scripture says in Romans that we are slaves to whoever it is we obey – either Satan or God.

Romans 6:23 — “For the wages of sin is death.”

God knew this and because of His great love toward mankind He did make a way for this sin problem to be dealt with — cover it with blood so He didn’t see it.

Remember that under the Old Covenant Law they had the Atonement in which an animal would be killed in place of a human and that blood was a substitute for the humans that had the sin. Instead of someone dying to pay the penalty for the sin a lamb was substituted so that the human could go free.

It was the job of the High Priest to, once a year on the Day of Atonement, take the blood of a lamb for the people and present that blood to God as a sacrifice to cover, or pay for, the penalty of sin. The people were required to bring a sacrificial lamb as perfect as possible to be killed as a substitute in their place.

When John saw Jesus in the scripture above he called Him the Lamb of God that had been prepared to shed His blood as the sacrificial lamb of God for the human family. He was to be our substitute to pay the penalty for man’s sin. Keep in mind that Jesus did not just “bear our sin” on the cross, He BECAME SIN and that caused the Father to actually turn His back on Jesus and reject Him from fellowship.

2 Corinthians 5:21 — “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Matthew 27:46 — “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

This had to be the most painful event any individual has ever experienced throughout all of eternity. It literally broke the heart of Jesus so that He had to cry out in agony.

How could anyone love so much as to give up his life in such a gruesome death as the crucifixion for someone like the human race that hated him so much? That demonstrates the incredible love that God has for us.

Romans 5:8 — “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

1 John 3:16 — “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us;”

PART II — THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT

The second part of the reason for Jesus’ death on the cross was the actual cutting of the blood covenant. The spilled blood of Jesus is called the “blood of the everlasting covenant”.

The new covenant that was made on the cross was a little different than the covenants prior to it because there was only one person involved — Jesus. Let me explain because this is incredible.

When making a blood covenant there were always two two individuals that were “representatives” or “covenant heads” that actually made the covenant on behalf of themselves, or as a “substitute” on the behalf of a group of others. This is amazing because it was the reason Satan could not understand what was happening on the cross because it was a “mystery” to him. If he had known what was happening he would never had Jesus crucified. He would have tried to kill all the people who were trying to kill Jesus so that Jesus could not have shed His blood, but Satan didn’t know what was actually happening on that cross.

1 Corinthians 2:7-8 — “but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;”

In Scripture, Jesus was called both the Son of Man and the Son of God. He was born of a virgin birth to a human mother — so He was human. He was also the Word of God that was sent to be wrapped in flesh — so He was God.

John 1:1 — “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John 1:14 — “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Luke 1:26-38 — the foretelling to Mary of the divine conception of her son Jesus

THEREFORE, JESUS WAS THE “REPRESENTATIVE” AND THE “SUBSTITUTE” OF BOTH THE HUMAN FAMILY AND GOD IN THE SAME BODY.

He was fully man and He was fully God.

When the blood of Jesus was spilled on the cross the blood of the human family and the blood of God were spilled and mingled together establishing the everlasting new covenant in His blood. It sealed the covenant between two formerly hostile parties: God and the human race.

No other event in the history of the universe has had the significance of this event.

For more understanding of what really occurred for us on Good Friday and Easter get my book at Amazon:  http://www.the-covenant-kingdom.com/#link_2694945