THE GREAT GLORIOUS CRY OF VICTORY.
Today we will look at the sixth of the seven sayings of Jesus from the cross.
– Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.
– Today you will be with Me in paradise.
– Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother.
– My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me.
– I thirst.
– It is finished.
– Father into Thy hands I commend My spirit.
No one can give up their spirit and die of their own volition. Only Jesus could do that, but we will look today at the words IT IS FINISHED.
At that very moment, the eternal purpose of the Godhead—which the Triune God planned from eternity past—was completed to every last detail. Every aspect of prophecy was fulfilled. All the types and shadows were fulfiled. So the Victor cried out: It is finished!
THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION IS COMPLETE
Redemption means to buy back.
God has claimed His people back for His own. He has paid the ransom price.
“There is a redeemer, Jesus, God’s own Son. / Precious Lamb of God, Messiah / Holy One. [Keith Green] ”
Many scriptures speak of this redemption, and here are some of them.
– “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” [1Pet 1:18-19]
– “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” [Eph 1:7]
– “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” [Col 1:13-14]
– “He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” [Heb 9:12]
– “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” [Rev 5:9]
This redemption cost us nothing, but it cost Him everything. This redemption is complete and eternal. Jesus said that it is finished. No more sacrifices and no more human high priests. The ransom price was paid by Christ and it was accepted by the Father. The redemption is complete.
THE PLAN OF PROPITIATION IS FINISHED
The Lord Jesus took the punishment that was to fall on the elect of God, and the Father took His wrath and poured it out on His Son. The word ‘propotiation’ is a dreadful word but it is a blessed word at the same time.
– “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt . . .” [Isa 53:6, 10]
– “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. . .” [Rom 3:24-25]
– “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” [1Jn 4:10]
Jesus was saying that His punishment for our sin was complete. So we will not be punished even for a single sin, because He took the punishment for every last sin.
“Great Is The Gospel Of Our Glorious God, / Where Mercy Met The Anger Of God’s Rod; / A Penalty Was Paid And Pardon Bought, / And Sinners Lost At Last To Him Were Brought.”
It was all done, and now He could dismiss his spirit.
THE POWER OF SATAN, SIN, AND DEATH IS FINISHED
This was promised from the very beginning in Genesis, that Jesus would deal a fatal blow to the devil. “He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” [Gen 3:15] And true to His word, that Seed of woman came. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.” [Heb 2:14].
All of us were destined for hell. There was no way of escape until Jesus came. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” [2 Cor 5:21] And so, everything changed, and we have this sure hope. “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. / O death, where is your victory? / O death, where is your sting?” [1Cor 15:54-56] For millennia, people of God have gone through suffering. But a day is coming when we will look death in the face and say: where is your victory now? For on that day, “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” [1Thess 4:16-17]
So when Jesus said, “It is finished,” He was clearly declaring that the enemy of the believers’ souls was defeated for time and eternity. And then He committed His spirit to God and died, but on the third day, He rose from from dead.
Up from the grave He arose; / with a mighty triumph o’er His foes; / He arose a victor from the dark domain, / and He lives forever, with His saints to reign.
His resurrection confirmed, without a doubt, that all His work of redemption was finished.
Does that work include you? When Jesus bore the sin of the elect, did He bear your sin? What have you done with the crucified One? Have you made Him into a puppet of your making or have you come to Him for your salvation. As the poet put it:
What will you do with Jesus? / Neutral you cannot be; / Someday your heart will be asking, / “What will He do with me?”
Are you assured that His blood has cleansed you from all sin. We need to be sure, as we do not want to be among that tragic number who said: ‘Lord, Lord, did we not do this and that for You,’ only to hear God answer, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”