Finished

Mark 15:30  Save thyself, and come down from the cross.

John 19:30  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

·        The words “It is finished” form one of the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross.

·        In the Greek language it is just one word, “teleo” or “finished.”

·        This is the greatest word ever uttered by the greatest man who ever lived!

·        In this word lies the consummation of all OT truth and the germination of all NT truth.

·        Explaining the wealth of meaning in this one word is like trying to catch the wind in your hand or trying to pick up the ocean in a sieve.  Its magnitude and majesty are staggering.

·        It is this word that terrified Hell and sent a thrill running through Heaven – “finished!”

·        Jesus had been awake now for over 30 hours.  Arrested the night before in the garden of Gethsemane, he had been held prisoner all night as the Sanhedrin decided his fate in an illegal trial.  Sent from Pilate to Herod and back again, his weary body had been beaten by soldiers and whipped at the whipping post.  His beard had been plucked, his clothing stolen, his face spat upon.

·        He has been on the cross for six hours now.  From 9:00 to 12:00, the crowds have come by to mock him, but since 12:00 he has hung there alone, save for a few friends and some soldiers.  The crowds have fled to their homes because of a strange darkness that has covered the land.

·        There are no photos of Calvary; God would not allow us to see it!  It is as if God has hung his robe over the sun; He does not want men to observe as His Son becomes corruption for them.

·        Theologians debate “How could God become man?” – that question is sometimes hard to answer

·        But ask yourself “How could God become SIN?” – that question is almost impossible to answer!

·        It is during this time that Jesus cries, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?”  God’s Spirit, which cannot dwell with sin, turns away.  The MAN Jesus hangs on Calvary alone!!

·        A historian in Egypt at the time wrote:  “In this awful midday that has become midnight, either God is suffering or somebody He loves is suffering.”  That was a pagan testimony!

·        This was the most momentous moment in history!  Hell had feared this moment for centuries, for millenniums, ever since creation!  For out of the darkness at 3:00 came the cry, “finished!”

·        What happened when Jesus cried “finished”?

o   Psalm 85:10  Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

o   Hebrews 2:14-15  14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

o   Colossians 2:14-15  14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

o   THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE WAS RENT TO SHOW THAT THE OLD COVENANT WAS “FINISHED” THROUGH THE WORK OF THE CROSS, AND THAT A NEW COVENANT WAS NOW “OPEN TO ALL.”  THE EARTH QUAKED AS HELL ITSELF TREMBLED!

·        In our finite minds, we ask the question “How could God allow His Son to be put to death?”  What we don’t stop to realize is that God allowed HIS OWN BODY to be put to death!  Why?  Because it was the only way under God’s law to redeem us from death!  He took the sin of the whole world for all time – no wonder He stumbled!  But Heaven didn’t go into mourning when Jesus died!  Heaven is built on the foundation of God’s Word, which said Jesus’ body could not remain in the grave!

o   Acts 2:23-24  23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 24 Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.  (AMPLIFIED: “retained by it”)

·        The place that went into mourning when Jesus died was Hell!  Can you imagine the devil’s panic when he looks up and sees that Heaven is NOT mourning?

o   1 Corinthians 2:7-8  7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

·        Satan was expecting “I am finished!” – instead, he got “It is finished!”  He then knew that “he was finished!”  Through orchestrating the crucifixion, he had unwittingly fulfilled the Bible’s first messianic prophecy:

o   Genesis 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

·        “Finished” is the language of earth.  In Heaven they never say “it is finished” because “He shall reign forever and ever”!  But wait a minute – they never say “it is finished” in Hell either.  There will be people in Hell a billion years from now; no one will ever say “your judgment is finished.”

·        Your eternal destiny is decided NOW by what you do with the FINISHED work of Calvary!

·        No wonder Satan had tried for years to destroy Jesus!

·        He made King Herod so envious that he had every male child under two massacred.

·        He tempted Jesus in the wilderness to “take a short cut” to gain the kingdoms of the world.

·        He whipped up a storm on the Galilee in an attempt to drown the sleeping Jesus.

·        He incited angry townspeople to try and throw Jesus off a precipice.

·        He stirred up the hatred of the Pharisees and Chief Priests until they were successful in orchestrating the crucifixion.

·        He even entered one of Jesus’ own disciples and used him to betray the Master!

·        In his final attempt to “short-circuit” the Incarnation, Satan comes to Jesus one last time through the voices of His enemies:  “Save thyself, and come down from the cross!”

·        But Jesus resists the temptation to come down off the cross, even as legions of angels stand ready to do his bidding!

o   Matthew 26:53-54  53  Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

·        Only by staying on the cross and giving His life could Jesus’ work be “FINISHED.”

·        But Jesus is not the only one delivered unto death.  We also have to bear our cross!

o   2 Corinthians 4:10-11  10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

·        Why does God allow this in our lives?  Because he knows that we have to “die to our flesh”!

·        When Paul said “I die daily,” he wasn’t talking about physical death!  Every time his followers saw him, he had new bruises, injuries and broken bones from the persecution he endured.

·        At one point, he told Timothy that “all they which are in Asia” – his converts – had turned away from him.  They probably asked, “Paul, where are the promises of God in your life?  All you have are trials!”  Paul would say, “I don’t understand it either!” and then just keep on serving God!!

·        When Christians go through trials, they have more observers than they realize!

o   1 Corinthians 4:9  For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

·        Three realms (human, angelic & demonic) watch with interest as we fight our “life-and-death” battle against the flesh.  God allows us to “die” because He knows that – like Jesus – death can’t hold us!

·        The devil doesn’t want you to die to your flesh!  That is why he still comes to us and cries, “Come down from the cross and save yourself!  There is an easier way!”

·        But for those who “stay on the cross” there will soon be a moment when another “shout” is heard!  (1 Thessalonians 4:16)  Whatever the actual words, the Lord’s shout will say “FINISHED!”