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Plainly Speaking
with Karl J. Forehand
It
is Finished
by Karl J. Forehand
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished,
in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I am
thirsty." A jar full of sour
wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a
branch of hyssop, and brought it up to His mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said,
"It is finished!" And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit. (John 19:28-30)
The
cross was a very barbaric way to die.
Although it is a means of execution, we still wear images of it around
our necks. We still hang replicas of
it on our walls. We do that because
of the man that was executed upon one of them – Jesus Christ. We remember the cross because of what
Jesus did.
On the
cross, He uttered seven sayings (or seven words):
“Father, forgive them; for
they do not know what they are doing."
"Truly I say to you,
today you shall be with Me in Paradise."
“Here is your mother."
"My God, My God, why
hast Thou forsaken Me?"
"I am thirsty."
“It is finished”
"Father, into Thy hands
I commit My spirit."
Just
before He breathed his last breath, He said “It is finished.” The Greek word, teletestai, means,
“It is finished, it stands finished, and it will always be finished.” He was saying, “I am finished;” but “IT is
finished.” It wasn’t similar to the
cowboy movies where the hero utters his last words and then dies. Jesus was saying “with a loud voice,”
victoriously, “It is done.”
The word teletestai
was used of a servant to his master.
When he finished the job, he would say this word to indicate “I have
completed the work you assigned me to do.”
A priest would use the word to indicate that a sacrifice was good
enough. An artist would complete a
picture or a writer a manuscript, and proclaim “It is finished.” All of these illustrations could relate to
Jesus’ statement, but the best example is that of a merchant or tax
collector. Papyri have been found
with is word, telestestai, written upon them to indicate “Paid in
Full.” What was Jesus exclaiming upon
the cross? He was claiming
triumphantly, “Paid in Full.”
Hebrews 9:24 expresses this:
For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the
true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for
us; nor was it that He should offer
Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with
blood not his own. Otherwise, He
would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now
once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself. (Hebrews
9:24)
The evangelist, Alexander
Wooton, was once asked, “What must I do to be saved.” He responded “It is too late.”
The person became insistent,
“What do you mean?”
He responded, “It is too late –
it has already been done.”
Jesus finished the job assigned
to Him. It IS finished.
- All things are
accomplished
In John 17;4, Jesus said, “I
glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast
given me to do.” He completed all the
work God gave him to do. I would like
to be able to exclaim that for just one day.
I would like to say that, just for this day, I have done everything
God asked me to do. Jesus said that
about His whole life. He did
everything God asked Him to do.
Most of us waste our time
looking for a “new” word from God. We
say “God give me something exciting – give a new command – give me some new
insight – give a new task.” I believe
God asks us “Have you done the last thing that I asked you to do?” We have problems with obedience that cause
us to seek for new adventures. We
need to be like Jesus and complete the assignment He gives us today.
- Prophecy is fullfiled
When proclaimed that He was
thirsty, He fulfilled yet another of the final prophecies. All in all, He fulfilled 300 prophecies
about His life, death, burial and resurrection. How significant is that?
For one man to fulfill eight of the prophecies is a probability of 1
in 100,000,000,000,000,000. For a
single man to fulfill 48 of the prophecies about Messiah would be 1 in 10 (or 1 with 157 zeros). To complete all 300, it becomes almost
impossible for one man to fulfill them all.
Jesus
even prophesied about Himself. In
Luke 18:31-33, He said, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things
which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be
accomplished. “For He will be
delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon,
and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He
will rise again.”
With all
these prophecies, we sometimes still doubt that He can have an impact in our
lives.
- The debt is paid
Jesus’
death was not an accident – it was a divine appointment. It was not an example – it was an
atonement. It was not an execution –
it was an offering once and for all.
What is
our response to the finished work of Christ?
We must understand there is a separation.
Because of our sin, we are separated from God.
as
it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one; (Rom. 3:10)
for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Rom 3:23)
All of
us have missed the mark of God’s standard.
Romans 6:23 says that the wages of that sin is death
(spiritually).
We must understand there is a sacrifice.
God intervened to provide a sacrifice.
But God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8)
"For God so loved the
world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
When
Jesus said “It is finished,” He meant the sacrifice was offered once and for
all to solve the problem of our sin.
He became the perfect offering and sacrifice for us.
We must accept the sanctification.
Jesus satisfied God’s wrath and provided a way of atonement.
For
as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. (I Cor. 15:22)
Truly, truly, I say to you,
he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and
does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. (John 5:24)
We are
made right with God when we believe (put our trust) in Him.
It is
finished! Do you believe that? If you do, have you surrendered your heart
to Him? Have you surrendered you
life?
Karl
J. Forehand, 2002
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