It Is Finished

by Merchant, Paul | Category: Voice From The Cross | Sept 1996

How often are the things we start not finished? How often can we honestly say that what we set out to do has been finished to our satisfaction? Too often, the house repair is not finished off, the letter not replied to, the debt unpaid, the car fault not fixed, the promise easily spoken and then easily forgotten.

In stark contrast to all our grand plans or small tasks left unfinished, the Lord Jesus shouted with conviction from the Cross at the end of His life 'It is finished'(1). He had spoken to His Father earlier, 'I have brought You glory on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do' (2) That completed work reveals to us His patience during those years in Nazareth, His wisdom in exercising His healing ministry, His faithfulness in teaching, His self-control when opposed, His discipline under temptation and His resolve as He approached the events of Calvary. And on completion of His Calvary work of reconciliation of man to God, He proclaimed to those standing at the Cross that His work was accomplished. His suffering for sin was finished.

The Lord had almost come to the finish of a life on earth that is a perfect human example to us all. But what He had just finished at Calvary was not only on a human scale but on a vast, cosmic scale. Calvary was the time and place when Satan and all his forces engaged in battle to destroy God's provision of a way of salvation. It was the battle of light versus darkness, life versus death, good versus evil, the God of creation versus the Devil of destruction. God and His Son won the victory; '... our Saviour, Christ Jesus ... has destroyed death and has brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel(3). He disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the Cross' (4) This word from the Cross is spoken in the perfect tense and means 'It has been and will for ever remain finished'. As a result '... the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God' (5) When the Cross is seen in this magnificent perspective, as the Lord saw it, the victorious shout 'It is finished' captures the achievement of His life's work.

'Father, into Your hands':

Jesus' last words from the Cross were called out with a' loud voice, 'Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit. When He had said this, He breathed His last'(6). Knowing that all things had been accomplished, the Lord chose the moment of His own death. He returns to the familiar title 'Father' when addressing God, thus indicating the intimacy of Father and Son had resumed after Christ was sacrificed once to take away sins. The Lord reveals how His mind is soaked in Scripture, for even as He draws His own life to a close, He quotes the Psalms, 'Into Your hands I commit My spirit' (7)

Response:

The words of our Saviour are jewels of comfort for the elderly Christian. For the Lord spoke with assurance when He committed His spirit into His Father's hands. We wait, as at a closed gate in a high wall surrounding a lovingly, well-kept walled garden in summer, into which we cannot yet see. This is the prospect of life with our heavenly Father, alter death, when He opens for each of us the gate and welcomes us into His walled, fragrant, abundant garden into which we can enter and have rest. The Lord's words nourish our Christian hope.

(1) John 19:30; (2) John 17:4 (3) 2 Tim. 1:10; (4) Col. 2:15; (5) Rom. 8:21 (6) Luke 23:46; (7) Psalm 31:5.

Biblical quotations from NIV

Merchant, Paul | Sept 1996
Voice From The Cross