Jesus says, “It is finished!”
Not sure how much you dive into the whole machine of March madness. One particular game this year, between Duke and University of North Carolina, was replete with confirmation that these were two equally matched teams. The contest was undecided down to the final seconds of game; clearly it is not over until it is over. UNC and Duke were in a relentless battle to take the lead muscling back and forth at least a dozen times in the final minutes. Would Duke win? Now UNC is on top! Who will rise to claim victory? This insecurity raises blood pressures and causes coaches, players and fans extreme amounts of anxiety. UNC won in the end but with every player and every fan not sure until that final moment.
Golgatha was the stage of an even more epic contest between God and darkness. From every human angle, it appeared as if darkness had stolen the day. This hill of death had the pretense of defeat. Jesus comes to this point, physically exhausted and emotionally riddled with jeers and taunts; with divine superiority his human frame crumbles yet accomplishes everything necessary and He delivers the winning goal: “it is finished!” And Jesus comes out the winner - but so do we.
Jesus’ condition - completely spent
This looked like defeat, but it had to. It had to be a display of severed flesh and loss of blood. This mountain and the cross itself had to be riddled with the dreadful contortion of His limbs. Wounds covered His entire body, some penetrated deep into His bones! In places the skin flapped open to the atrocious wounds created by the Roman machine of justice and corporal punishment. Wrongs must be punished; but whose wrongs?
This is the necessary payment for disobedience. This is the justice for our crimes. This is the severity of pain for thoughtless insurrections, false narratives and tyrannical movements. This bloodshed was mandatory because of human indifference, hate speech, ad hominems, and faulty logic. His precious blood was shed from multiple wounds inflicting horrific pain - because of me.
Can you say that (“because of me”) and believe it? Can you see the requisite payment which was demanded of your flesh - but covered by His transaction of death?
His Precious Blood was shed as a fountain for our relief. As God, still powerful and omnipotent, He surrendered His sacred humanity to the Father, and all was accomplished for the eternal destiny of the human race.
This was not the final word of someone who was backed into a corner, subjected to horrible mutilation and overcome - powerless to act. One of Jesus’ own actions in the Garden of Gethsemane proves that this was well within His pay grade to avoid. This was something which Jesus had the ability to ignore or turn away from or extinguish all together. But He went into this horrific killing, subjected Himself to human failures and proceeded as guilty under the wrath of God.
These were the final words of our Savior, declaring that He has reached the summit, He has ascended to heaven with full payment for our debt. He went, on that insane day, to the very throne of God, the judgment seat of God, and handed over the remittance for all injustices ever thrown into the face of the holy God.
“It is finished” declares to God and to us that the bill is paid in full!
Jesus’ words - the challenge
It is Finished!” We understand that Jesus says, “I have fulfilled what is required, in order to give them life!” It is finished!
As sad as His death is, His words speak something else. They speak beyond sorrow and sadness to a point of victory, and even joy. Now, in His maxim, is the declaration of extinguished guilt and concealed shame - forever removed. His words confirm in us the truth that bitter division from the source of Life is over.
But can my heart accept this truth? Watch for your pride to rise up, even a little, and declare that there must be something added to His finished work. The challenge of “It is finished” is that it is far to beautiful to be easily believed. It is beyond belief.
Here Jesus say this to your fretting soul: “It is finished!”
I want you to know that there is nothing left for you to complete. I want you to know that there are no hitches, hurdles or obstacles to your salvation - it is finished. It is available for your enjoyment. It is complete and ready. But I also want you to know that your heart will wrestle against this fact; it will doubt this truth. Your human spirit is driven to accomplish but in this realm of God’s justice, you will see something you cannot accomplish and could never accomplish. Your heart needs to know.
Your heart will fight against belief. Because nothing is free in this world. Nothing is given to you without a cost or the pull of pennies and dimes from your own pocket. There is no real free lunch. There’s always a catch.
Not with the gospel. Not with this good news. “It is finished,” may be one of the hardest sentences to believe because of our human pride, our human drive for accomplishment, our human understanding of how things get done. To the most successful this will be, at times, difficult to grasp.
To those who have failed it will become such an unbelievable beauty, such an unbelievable opportunity. What did the thief on the cross think of Jesus’ promise that eternity was now his? Paradise was opened to every criminal who would ever believe Jesus’ words - he now resides in eternal joy, in Paradise. Unwarranted and unearned yet freely given. My human heart needs to know that this is accomplished.
Be at peace - all was accomplished for you. “It is finished!”
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