It’s Finished!

It’s Finished!
John R. Petrilli

What do you do in your spare time? I enjoy building model cars. Recently I became aware that I was quickly running out of shelf space to display my growing collection. I decided to design and construct my own see-through, dust-proof display case. The project consumed 40 hours of labor and $240 in materials, but was worth it all as I stood before the beautiful piece of furniture. I was so excited I phoned some friends to announce that the job was finally completed. There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of finishing a job.

Roughly two-thousand years ago another job was finished. This job was way bigger than a household project or hobby endeavor. As a man hung on a cross He declared with a mighty shout, “IT IS FINISHED”! What did he finish? And why? This article will answer these questions, and perhaps provide fresh insight into what actually transpired on the day we call “Good Friday”.

THE FINISHED WORK OF THE CROSS WAS THE DRIVING FORCE IN JESUS’ LIFE.

“Jesus said, ‘The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, FINISHING the work He started.’ ” John 4:34

A more unlikely encounter between two people couldn’t be imagined. A devout Jewish rabbi striking up a conversation with an irreligious, immoral woman. Yet there they sat, talking about everything from well water to eternal life. As these two finished their discussion the disciples came back from their trip to the local market. They offered Jesus some food, but He declined. He hungered for something else as He looked out across the fields. Bread staves off the physical appetite, but would never satisfy His spiritual appetite to see needy people find salvation. Although harvest season was still four months down the road, the harvest season for Samaritan souls was right then. He couldn’t be worried about food when lost people all around Him needed to hear the gospel. The drive to finish the Father’s work dominated Christ’s life. He later explained that He never stopped laboring because His Father, likewise, was always at work (John 5:17). What’s the driving force in your life this Easter season?

THE FINISHED WORK OF THE CROSS WAS THE EXCLAMATION POINT ON A LIFE OF PERFECT OBEDIENCE.

“Father, the time has come. Give glory to your Son so that the Son can give glory to you. I FINISHED the work you gave me to do.” John 17:1, 4

As a former employer once reminded me, “The only perfect individual died 2,000 years ago”. Perfection is something many pursue but few ever actually achieve. We award medals and honors to individuals who reach the zenith of their professions. They’re about as close to perfection as a human get. But, no matter how close to flawless we get, we all fall far short when it comes to moral perfection. Man may come up with a geometrically “perfect” diamond, but he can never claim the same for his personal ethics. We all fall short here.

What if someone morally perfect did show up? Would we recognize them? What would they look like? While some may find it impossible to believe, one such person did show up. This person successfully obeyed every moral law ever instituted by God. He never missed! He never lied about anything, never cheated anyone, and never stole anything. He never even considered doing anything wrong. His moral perfection was possible because he possessed a unique sinless nature. Unlike us, who were born with a natural bent toward sin, this man had no such bent. Doing the right thing came naturally for him, even though that obedience caused intense suffering. “Although He was a son, Jesus learned obedience from what He suffered.” (Heb. 5:8).

When the time came to wrap up his term of service here on earth He prayed a beautiful prayer. That prayer reveals that He had not only glorified God in His life, but, most eminently, would glorify God in His death on the cross. His sacrificial death on the cross emphatically concluded an entire life of flawless obedience to God.
While we’ll never achieve perfect obedience to God, it’s certainly worthwhile this Easter season to consider how we can improve our “O.Q.” (Obedience Quotient).

THE FINISHED WORK OF THE CROSS ACCOMPLISHED CHRIST’S TOTAL VICTORY OVER SIN AND DEATH.

“Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty’. The soldiers soaked a sponge in a jar of vinegar. Then they put the sponge on a branch of hyssop plant and lifted it to Jesus’ mouth. Jesus tasted the vinegar. Then He said, ‘It is FINISHED!’ He bowed His head and died.” John 19:30

The old adage, “Things aren’t always what they appear to be” was never truer than on Good Friday. To the onlooker at the foot of the cross it was a total wash for Jesus and His followers. He was dead - clinically dead, as the blood and water flowing from His spear-pierced side conclusively proved. It was all over.

Or was it? The Greek word for ‘finished’ here is a loaded term. It means not merely ‘to terminate a thing’, but ‘to carry out a thing to the full’. That’s how thoroughly the death of Jesus took care of our sin. What happened on that cross looked like a total defeat, but it was actually the means by which Christ gained our total victory! As A.T. Robertson puts it, “A cry of victory in the (very) hour of defeat.” Things that day on Calvary were by no means what they appeared to be. The death Jesus died was the very means by which our sins were paid for. His death made it possible for us to go free!

I like the depiction used in Mel Gibson’s film, “The Passion of the Christ”. As Jesus dies, a drop of blood falls down from His head and splashes onto the ground. Then a hellish scene shows Satan wildly screaming as he celebrates what he thought was his defeat of God’s Son. Nothing was further from the truth. Three days later things would be looking a whole lot different. Turns out, while the cross temporarily bruised the Savior. it delivered a fatal blow to the devil. This Easter season please don’t make the mistake of seeing Jesus as a “dead man who did good”. Instead, see Him for who He really is … the crucified, risen, living Savior!

THE FINISHED WORK OF THE CROSS COMPLETED GOD’S REDEMPTION STORY.

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets. Now in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son. The Son made people clean from their sins. Then He sat down at the right side of God, the Great One in heaven.” Hebrews 1:1-3

The cross was by no means an afterthought in the mind of God. He foreshadowed its pivotal role in redemption as soon as man had fallen (Gen. 3:15), and reiterates this at history’s close, stating that the cross was planned before time began (Rev. 13:8). The writer to the Hebrews explains how God systematically unfolded His plan of salvation year after year, generation after generation, century after century, millennia after millennia. Jesus substitutionary death for our sins is the whole theme of the Bible. He can be seen in most every book of the Bible, if not by direct reference, then by clear inference. The pair of disciples who encountered the resurrected Christ on their way to Emmaus were blown away as He revealed how passage after passage of Scripture consistently and comprehensively pointed to His death and resurrection (Luke 24:24-27).

Jesus IS redemption’s story. Now that he’d come and fulfilled all that was foretold of Him, the Hebrews (and us) need no further message from God. Why not let Him begin writing your redemption story for the first time as your personal Savior? Or a new chapter each day as you follow Him as Lord?

THE FINISHED WORK OF THE CROSS PERMANENTLY CANCELLED-OUT A MOUNTING DEBT WE COULD NEVER REPAY.

“Every day the priests stand and do their religious service. Again and again they offer the same sacrifices. But those sacrifices can never take away sins. But Christ offered one sacrifice for sins, and it is good FOREVER. Then He sat down at the right hand of God. With one sacrifice He made perfect FOREVER those who are being made holy. Hebrews 10:11-14

Our nation is experiencing unprecedented problems in the area of unsecured debt. Government agencies, corporations and individuals are struggling to pay back monies borrowed. Imagine if someone came along and erased all that debt with one payment? People would literally dance in the streets! While such a solution does not appear on the immediate horizon, there’s a much more serious debt problem that does have such a solution. God has set some moral standards for us. Each time we break one of those standards, we’re indebted to God. The Bible calls such violations “sin”. What’s more, we break God’s beneficial rules because we have an inborn disposition that naturally chooses the wrong way. The Bible calls this our “sin nature”. Being perfectly just, God has to punish each and every sin. And the payment for each and every sin is death. Spiritual death, permanent separation from God.

The great news of the gospel is that our personal sin debt has been cancelled at the cross. There Jesus chose to assume all the debt our sins incurred. All of it, for all time. But we must cash in by simply accepting God’s forgiveness of our debt. By turning from sin and receiving Christ into our lives, we become debt free! “We owed a debt because we broke God’s laws. That debt listed all the rules we failed to follow. But God forgave us that debt. He took away that debt and nailed it to the cross” (Col. 2:13-14). Now that’s what I call debt-free living! At Easter the cross shouts out, “Get out of debt!” Are you there yet?

THE FINISHED WORK OF THE CROSS MARKED THE FINISH LINE IN JESUS’ RACE OF FAITH.

“Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and FINISHED this race we’re in. Study how He did it. Because He never lost sight of where He was headed – that exhilarating FINISH in and with God – He could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now He’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.” Hebrews 12:2,

“Winners never quit, and quitters never win.” We’ve all heard it a million times, yet it’s so very true. My first semester at Bible college exposed me to the fiercest series of trials ever. When the semester ended and I returned home for Christmas vacation I vividly recall the words of a generous supporter who’d help pay my schooling expenses. “It’s always good to finish what we’ve started.” I never looked back and with God’s help, graduated with academic honors.

Perseverance marked the life of Jesus, and it’s just what we need most when the going gets really tough. If you’re growing discouraged by the hardships of the Christian life, now’s a good time to recall the kind of stuff Jesus went through all His life. Hounded by devil, demons and every kind of human enemy, our Lord stuck to His guns. I wonder if His words, “It is finished!”, also expressed a sigh of relief. The cross towards which He’d set His face like a flint marked the end of His courageous race (Isa. 50:7; Luke 9:51). It was the finish line He longed to cross. And cross it He did! By recalling how Jesus finished His race we can draw encouragement and strength to begin (or continue) running our own race of faith. Happy Easter!