Tuesday: “It is Finished”
Read John 19:1-30. What is the crucial message to us in Jesus’ statement, “It is finished”?
Finally, the crucial moments for Christ, for humankind, and for the whole universe had arrived. With deep agony, He struggled against the powers of darkness. Slowly He made His way through the Garden of Gethsemane, through His unfair trials, and up to the mountain of Calvary.
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
Evil angels were trying to overcome Him. While Jesus was hanging on the cross, the chief priests, the scribes, and elders mocked Him, saying, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him” (Matthew 27:42, NKJV).
Could Christ have come down from the cross and saved Himself? Yes, He was able but not willing to do so. His unconditional love for all humanity, including those mockers, did not allow Him to give up. Actually, “the mockers were among those whom He was dying to save; and He could not come down from the cross and save Himself, because He was held, not by the nails, but by His will to save them.” — Alfred Plummer, An Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to S. Matthew (London: Elliot Stock, 1910), p. 397.
Here, in the suffering of Christ, Jesus was defeating the kingdom of Satan, even though it was Satan who had instigated the events that led to the cross, including Judas’s betrayal (John 6:70; John 13:2, John 13:27). “Somehow, in a way the Evangelist does not try to describe, the death of Jesus is both an act of Satan and an act in which Jesus wins the victory over Satan.” — George E. Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, rev. ed. (Cambridge, UK: Lutterworth Press, 1994), p. 192.
Crying from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30), Christ implied not only that His agony had come to an end, but especially that He had won the great cosmic-historic controversy against Satan and his evil forces. “All heaven triumphed in the Saviour’s victory. Satan was defeated, and knew that his kingdom was lost.” — Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 758.
It’s hard to grasp the amazing contrast here: in the utter humiliation of the Son of God He had won, for us and for the universe, the greatest and most glorious victory.
| Think about how bad sin must be that it took the death of Christ to atone for it. What should this truth teach us about how useless our works are for attaining merit before God? After all, what can we do to add to what Christ has already done for us? Bring your answer to class on Sabbath. |
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I like to think of Jesus' death on the cross using the mathematical construct - a singularity. For those of you who did maths at school and actually listened and did the exercises, you would have learned that when you draw graphs for functions like:
There is a point, in this case x = 2 where the function is undefined. You know what the function does as x increases towards 2 and you know what happens as x increases after reaching 2. But at x = 2 there is no corresponding value for f(x). That does not mean that the point where x = 2 is unimportant. In fact, we go to great lengths to find singularities in functions because they can have great meaning. And, it is not just something that is of theoretical interest to pure mathematicians. I mention focal lengths for lenses as a practical application.
I suggest that in the history of the battle between good and evil, the crucifixion is like a singularity. We understand the events leading up to the cross and we understand what happened after. But what happened at the cross is a singularity. We know it happened, but we don't really understand the mechanics.
I have used the singularity illustration because all too often, I am subject to long discussions describing the mechanics and they are often at odds with one another. And then the battle is on as to who has the biggest, clearest, most appealing, logical description of what happened. The "It is Finished!" moment goes beyond our ability to explain, but well within our capacity to appreciate. God died on the cross and at that moment gained the victory over sin, reclaiming creation as his own.
I like singularities in maths. They are defining points in functions. The cross is the singularity in history - its defining point.
The pre-incarnate Word: Jesus came into creation to overcome Satan, Sin and Death, and I believe he did all this, that opened the way for that overcoming perfected life work in me/us, just as the Spirit of God brought order to disorder/chaos in creation.
Genesis 1:2
1 John 1:1-3
However, I'm sure I and you will not die the type of death Jesus endured.
Did Jesus have to die this type of torturous death ?
Let's remember in Job that God allowed Satan to trouble Job with all types calamities but told Satan not to harm him.
Job 1:12
Obviously Jesus had to overcome death for us, as this is our nature (mortality). But I believe Satan made this very difficult for Jesus as he gave him a cruel death, through his influence on the Jews and Rome, and subsequently shot himself in the foot, as he killed the author of LIFE himself, and subsequently HIS.
Acts 3:15
May we not crucify Jesus any further. Forgive me, My Lord, give me strength not to crucify you or yours.
Hebrews 6:1-12
Shalom
🙏
Christ did not simply die because of our sins. He did that to prove to the whole Universe that God is LOVE! While Lucifer tried to convince his companions that God was a tyrant, giving no choice to His creatures, not only God had already a plan, but He allowed our first fathers to freely choose evil and the ONLY way that He Himself established to reconcile humans with the Divine was through His own death! The salary which was supposed to be ours! God died because He loved us first! And this was overexplicit at the cross! Now, evil blames others always. Evil does not assume responsibility for his acts, in total opposition of God, Who did not deserve, but assumed all the responsibility of our bad choices! What an amazing answer to evil, nailed at a cross, a physical action signifying the all time spiritual deliverance for a whole fallen planet! May God be worshiped, and Jesus, our purest sacrifice be crowned as the King of the Universe! Because He truly deserves it! LOVE is the atonement for us, God's creatures who are free to choose evil and even blame the Creator as being a tyrant! Thank God because we still have the opportunity to choose Christ TODAY!
We really can’t do much more than what Christ did. He made that ultimate sacrifice that no amount of animal sacrifices, done in times past, or sacrifices we would or could ever do in present, would ever equal what Christ has done for all of mankind.
I humbly accept that I have no power in myself, but through Christ ever to be acceptable before God. It is in my best interest then, to ever stay in Christ, have him before, behind, above, and below.
I am in awe at the love which Christ has for me and you, to make such a sacrifice for His creation.