JOHN 19: 28-30
THE VICTORY ACCOMPLISHED
[Matthew 27: 51-52]
When I approach the Cross of our Lord Jesus and attempt to understand it, I increasingly feel inadequate, baffled by a mystery so vast, so deep, so high, so wondrous, that it seems impossible to fully comprehend it. Along with that increased realization of the cross importance and mystery there grows in my heart an increasing sense of its necessity, its perfection, and its eternal glory.
It is now afternoon and God has darken the sky. Jesus has uttered, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani." "My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" We continue standing before the cross in the heavy darkness until Jesus proclaims, "It is finished!" Though it will take and eternity to reveal all that happened when Jesus Christ died on the Cross let’s briefly look at the Christ culminating His earthly work and ministry [W. Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Com. Vol. 1, 385].
I. SCRIPTURE AFFIRMED, 28.
II. SUFFERING ACKNOWLEDGE, 29.
III. SALVATION AVAILABLE, 30.
As Jesus life draws to a closing climax He voices the realization that He has fulfilled His work and Gods Word in verse 28. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, "I am thirsty."
"After this" signifies a short interval. There was a little time between this statement and the last. Jesus fourth of His seven sayings from the cross was, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" is not recorded by John (Mt. 27:46; Mark 15:34). John alone recorded the fifth saying of the Cross, I am thirsty.
Having already spoken the first four sayings of the Cross, Jesus knew that the end was at hand and His earthly work for others was now done. [The grammar makes it is unclear whether to fulfill the Scripture applies to the preceding knowing that all things had already been accomplished or with the following "I am thirsty." It can and certainly does applies to both. [Morris, NIC, 1971, p 813.] Yet there is no doubt that the wording in John 19:28 indicates that Jesus was fully conscious and was aware of fulfilling the details of prophecies (Pss. 42:1-2; 63:1). ["Knowing" is a perf. passive ptc.]
Jesus is fully cognizant of the fact that the work He has been sent to the world to do has been accomplished [tetelestai, finished, completed, done]. He had revealed the Fathers name, gathered those given to Him, and exhibited Gods love and revealed His Word. All is accomplished. He also knows that these things are a fulfillment of Gods plan; the cross is the final portion of the work God has sent Him to finish.
Jesus had hung on the cross for six earthly hours, but into those hours an eternity was compressed. He has just emerged from three hours of darkness during which He was separated from God the Father undergoing the unparallel suffering of the wrath of God against sin so that He might deliver His people from it. With His mind clear and memory unimpaired, He looked over the whole scope of messianic prediction and saw that only one prophetic Scripture remaining for Him to fulfill during His first advent.
The Saviors mind had turn to Scriptures so constantly in His life that they were in His mind and heart at His death. He indeed live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. [Pink, Best of Arthur, p. 366 - see 361 for Scriptures fulfilled.]
Now that the need of mankind had been meet, He could look to His own need. The utterance "I Thirst" leaves His parched lips expressing His true physical and spiritual condition. Thirst is one of the severe agonies of the crucifixion.
Psalm 22:14 declares that Jesus was "poured out like water." See Prov. 17:22 & Ps. 32:3-4; 42:1-2. Most see the thirst of Jesus fulfilling the prophecy in Psalm 69:3, 21-22.
The paradox of the One who is the Water of Life (John 4:14; 7:38-39) dying in thirst is striking. A cry of thirst is remarkable from the one in whom rivers of living water run (7:37). Jesus had said, "Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst" (4:14). The source of living water now thirsts! Elsewhere when John uses the language of "thirst" it refers to His work as the One who can satisfy all thirst (4:13 15; 6:35; 7:37). So to satisfy the thirst of who so ever would come to Him and drink, Jesus here suffered this burning thirst. Perchance the spiritual aspect of this thirst is best reflected in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:20. Remember that it was by His suffering that the Messiah was perfected (Heb. 2:10; 5:7ff).
[Other Paradoxes of the Passion
He who is the Light of the World was cast into outer darkness.
He who is sinless was made sin.
He who is the Righteousness of God was made the unrighteousness of man.
He who is the living water was make thirsty (Jn. 7:37 & Jn. 19:28). [We partake of him will never thirst again said I thirst.
He who is life, died.
He was separated from God that we might be eternally united with Him.]
II. SUFFERING ACKNOWLEDGE, 29.
Jesus loss of blood, His stressful work, and His expose to the elements had generated a raging thirst. The thirst that was the consummation of Jesus suffering work is addressed in verse 29. "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."
Giving Him "wine vinegar" (oxos), fulfilled Psalm 69:21. Putting the vinegar-soaked sponge on the end of a hyssop plant stalk seems odd. Perhaps this detail points to Jesus dying as the true Lamb at Passover. Hyssop was used at the Passover to brush lambs blood on the lintels and door posts of Israelite homes (Ex. 12:22). Is this another direct allusion linking Jesus with Passover, indicating that He is the Passover sacrifice? Hyssop was also used in purification rituals (Num. 19:18; Ps. 51:7). The blood of the true Passover Lamb of God is the only effective means of inward cleansing. [The reed of the hyssop bush would only be three to four feet long. This is the only hint we have as to the height of His cross.]
There was nothing Jesus could do to get a drink to His parched lips and throat. He must trust God for that, all He can do is utter His distress to the bored soldiers who were waiting for this event to be over. This vinegar wine that Jesus drank is what the soldiers where drinking while on this hot dry duty. This drink is not to be confused with the wine mixed with myrrh which, according to Mark 15:23, Jesus refused when it was offered to Him at just before His crucifixion. That sedative drink was provided by charitable people in Jerusalem to dull the senses of the victim and to relive some of their agony. Jesus had resolved to face life and death with an unclouded mind. [ FF. Bruce. The Gospel & Epistles of John. 373.]
In SIGRID UNDSETS historical novel Kristin Lavransdatter, Kristin confesses her sexual sin to a monk."Brother Edvin," she says; "we could not help ourselves."
Are we really helpless victims to our passions? It seems that we are if we ask the alcoholic, the "foodaholic," the drug addict, or if we are honest with ourselves about our own weaknesses.
Jesus gives us a different answer. Throughout His life, He yielded all His physical desires to one overriding passion-that of pleasing His heavenly Father and doing His will. Thats why He said when offered the wine mixed with myrrh; which would have deadened His pain (Mark 15:23). He chose to be fully conscious when He bore the punishment for our sins. Later, however, He quenched His overwhelming desire for refreshment after His Work was done and He was about to die.
Physical desires are not wrong in themselves, and it is normal to want to ease pain and suffering. But sin deceives us and we often say yes when we should say no, and no when we should say yes. Pleasing the Lord must become the greatest passion of our lives.
Whatever our thirst, Hell help us control it. [DJD. Our Daily Bread] Man calls sin weakness. God calls it willfulness.
Jesus, help us to control our desires. May a thirst for knowing You and a longing
to please You become our strongest passion, like it was for Mary Frances Housley.
Let me tell you a true story. MARY FRANCES HOUSLEY was born October 12, 1926 in Knoxville, Tennessee. She grew up in Fountain City and attended Central High School where she was a member of the Bowling Club, Science Club, and Glee Club, and a member of the honor society. She attended the University of Tennessee for one year but left to get married. She was soon divorced, then worked as an office assistant for doctors in Jacksonville, Florida. In 1950, she applied for a job as a stewardess, and was hired the next day. She and another stewardess, Peggy Egerton, found an apartment in Jacksonville. Mary Frances had acquired the nickname Frankie by now. Peggy recalled how Frankie was loving life and loving people. She truly was a loving person!
Frankie Housley was like Jesus. He loved us and showed it!
On Saturday, January 13, 1951, Frankie called Peggy from the Jacksonville airport and said, "Ive got to work. Some girls were sick." On Sunday, January 14, she was on Nationals Flight 83, a DC4, from Newark to Norfolk with an intermediate stop in Philadelphia. Rain and snow swirled around the slushy runway as they approached the Philadelphia airport. The 25 passengers and three-person crew landed on the 6,000-foot runway but overran it and plunged through a fence. The left wing was severed, high-octane fuel tanks ruptured and the fuel ignited. Frankie Housley wrestled open the cabin door and looked down at the ground 8 feet below. Women and children were screaming behind her. Down there was safety and Frankie could have been the first to jump. Instead she went back to her passengers. Working swiftly she released the seatbelts of frantic passengers. She had no thought for herself, only for her passengers. She was absorbed in seeking their good and welfare.
Frankie Housley was like our Lord Jesus. Even in the hour of death, He had no selfish concern for Himself.
Frankie made 10 trips from the door into the cabin, guiding frightened passengers to the door and urging them to jump. Some were reluctant and she shoved them. The pilot and the co-pilot were out, unscathed and unburned, as were most of the passengers.
She had not fail to do what had to be done for the good of her passengers. Jesus, despite the pain of judgment, did not fall short of what He needed to do either.
III. SALVATION AVAILABLE, 30.
Jesus had wet his parched throat, mouth, and lips so He could say something loud enough to assure its being heard, not only by those there that day but by us here tonight. The word of suffering is followed by the word of victory and confirms His statement in verse 28 that He knew all things had now been accomplished. Verse 30 states that Jesus once for all sacrifice for sin has been accomplished. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
With the sixth word or saying the Lord Jesus ended His work and suffering on the cross of Calvary. He proclaimed "It is finished!" This word on Jesus lips was significant. In the original language in which John recorded these words, only one single Greek word is spoken by the Lord Jesus-tetelestai. Not three words but one-finished [perf. pass. of tele ] His complete work has been accomplish and is now the basis for faith. When He said, "It is finished" (not "I am finished"), He meant His redemptive work was accomplished. He had been made sin for people (2 Cor. 5:21) and had suffered the penalty of Gods justice which sin deserved. Papyri receipts for taxes have been recovered with the word tetelestai written across them, meaning "paid in full." [Walvoord, John; Zuck, Roy. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983, S. 340]
Until this cosmic event, a complicated system of sacrifice had atoned for sin. Sin separates people from God, and only through the representative sacrifice of an animal, a substitute, could people be forgiven and become clean before God. But people sin continually, so frequent sacrifices were required for sin, culminating in the annual sacrifice a representative Passover lamb on Yom Kipper, the Day of Atonement when one innocent lambs blood was shed and applied to the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies for the forgiveness of the nations sin.
Jesus now becomes the final and ultimate sacrifice for sin. Jesus finished Gods work of salvation (4:34; 17:4). He paid in full the debt, the penalty for our sins. With His death the complex sacrificial system ended because Jesus took mans sin upon Himself. Now we can freely approach God because of what Jesus did on the cross for us. Those who believe in Jesus life, death and resurrection can live eternally with God and escape the penalty that comes with sin.
Tetelestai, it is finish, was the cry of consummation, the cry of victory and of completion. In this one word, the Savior declared a fact, a truth so wonderful that Satan has been busy ever since trying to hide from the minds of men and women the meaning of Jesus last triumphant cry.
As a result, there are millions of earnest, sincere, seeking souls who long for peace and rest but have not yet realized that salvation is an accomplished work. There is nothing more to be done. Yet these dear souls work and sacrifice, doing things they feel will merit for them the favor of God.
Stand with me once more before that cross. In that deep darkness when God hid His face, hear the Saviors powerful cry, "It is finished!" At that moment the earth shook, the rocks were split, and the graves were opened (Mt. 27:51-52). His work of salvation was complete. Arent you glad you can say, "Praise God, it is finished for me!" [M. R. De Haan]
Lifted up was He to die, "It is finished," was His cry; Now in heaven exalted high: Hallelujah, what a Savior! -Bliss
When He was on the cross Jesus did what had to be done to save us. "It is finished!" That means the job had been accomplished. Nothing remained undone. The price had been paid in full! That means Gods will had been fully carried out in every detail.
Nothing remains unfinished in Christs work of atonement. We cannot, and must not, add anything to it! Not law, circumcision, baptism, Sabbath keeping, dietary regulations or ritual, religious observances. Not personal effort: doing kind deeds, acts of generosity, and services which we think would earn heaven for us. Christs blood and His blood alone is sufficient.
Notice that even in the moment of His death, Jesus remained the One who gave up His life (John 10:11, 14, 17-18). So He bowed His head (giving His seventh saying, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit" [Luke 23:46]) and dismissed His spirit. This differs from the normal process in death by crucifixion in which the life-spirit would ebb away and then the head would slump forward. His death was voluntary. He willingly dismissed His spirit. This final act came from the consciousness that all things had been accomplished by Him, and that He had done His lifes work.
John indicates this when he uses an unusual verb here, which does not mean "give up." The Greek paradidomi means to "hand over," [and nowhere in Greek literature is paradidomi to pneuma used as a reference to death.] Thus he bows his head, looking directly at those most loved, those ideal disciples at the foot of the cross and we recognize them as the recipients of His gift. [Burge, Gary. " NIV Application Commentary, John, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, © 2000, 538.]
Lets get back to the story of Frankie Housley. Frankie Housley had made 10 trips into that burning plane... to help passengers get out. Then a passenger on the ground screamed, "My baby, my baby!" Somehow this passenger had left her baby behind on the plane. Flight attendant Frankie Housley turned back into the plane to find the baby, and that was the last time anyone saw her alive. When the debris cooled they found Frankie Housleys body over the 4 month-old baby she tried to rescue. TIME magazine captioned her picture with these words, "She could have jumped." Saving lives in a burning airplane is a job for strong men in asbestos suits, not for pretty 24-year-old girls. But Mary Frances Housley went back into the flaming wreckage 11 times. [Frankie Housley, Wikipedia]
What made her do it? Simple! She thought about the needs of others instead of her own. What about you. Who are your attempting to rescue from the flames of Hell?
CLOSING:
Salvation and eternal life are now freely available because Jesus thought about your desperate need instead of His own.. What will you do with what Jesus did for you on the cross? Nothing else will provide for your forgiveness! Nobody else can stand before the Father on your behalf. Only Jesus is adequate. The finished work of Salvation cannot be earned; it must be received.
Dont push Him aside or neglect Him for anything or anyone else. When He was on the cross, He secured forgiveness of sins. When He was on the cross He accomplished redemptions work. When He was on the cross He died to provide eternal life, for you and me.
