Last Words of Jesus, Part Six

Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

John 19:30

In Return of the King, when the one ring is at last thrown into the great fires of Mt. Doom, Frodo, who carried this burden all the way to its end, simply gasps and says, "It's done."  There were no other words to say.  It's done.  The journey was accomplished.  The mission was fulfilled.  The work was finished.

On the cross, at the end of His great work and life and ministry and mission, He shouts, "It is finished!"

What was finished?

First of all, prophecy was fulfilled.  When Jesus declared that He was thirsty, John 19:28 tells us that He did this because all things had already been accomplished.  Everything that the Old Testament said would happen to the Messiah up to that point, had happened.  The Scriptures were fulfilled.  He was born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14) in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).  His parents were of the line of David (2 Samuel 7:16; Luke 2:4).  He was hailed as a prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15-19); He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9); and He was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13). He was rejected (Psalm 118:22-24); He was pierced (Zechariah 12:10); and He suffered (Psalm 22; Isaiah 43).  There are so many more.  As Jesus died, He confirmed God's great plan for the seed of the woman to crush Satan's head (Genesis 3:15), for a descendant of Abraham to bring a blessing to all families of the earth (Genesis 12:3), and for a new covenant to be established with man (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

It was all true.  God kept His promises.  He is loving enough to make the plan, powerful enough to carry it out, and faithful enough to see it all accomplished.

Secondly, Jesus finished the work He came to do.  In Jesus' great high-priestly prayer, He said that the hour had come (John 17:1).  He had accomplished the work that God had sent Him to do (John 17:4).  And what was that great work?  He came to serve and give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).  He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).  He came so that we might have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10).  He came to lay His life down for the sheep (John 10:11).  On the cross, Jesus did just that.  He laid His life down willingly, no man took it from Him (John 10:18). Like a lamb led to the slaughter, Jesus went to the cross (Isaiah 53:7).  And as He died, in His last moments, He declared that the work was done.

Thirdly, the debt was paid.  When Jesus said "It is finished," he used the Greek word tetelastai.  This was a term used in accounting, and it literally means "paid in full." Think about that for a moment.  The great debt of sin that we owed was paid in full.  Because of Jesus' death on the cross, we no longer owe anything.  Our debt is cleared.  Paid in full.  As the song goes, "Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied, for every sin on Him was laid.  Here in the death of Christ, I live."

When we believe on the name of Jesus Christ, we are united with Him in death.  We are justified in Christ by faith.  Justified means to "be declared righteous."  Because of the death of Jesus, our negative account is not just brought back to zero; Christ's righteousness is also deposited.  We go from living under a debt that we could never satisfy, to living with riches that we could never hope to earn.

And when before the throne,

I stand in Him complete,

Jesus died my soul to save,

My lips shall still repeat.

Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe,

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.