“It Is Finished!”
John 19:23-30
David P. Nolte
It’s always easier to start something than to finish it. My father-in-law started building a boat. It was about 18 feet long. It was to have an inboard engine. It was to have a small cabin. But he ran out of time before running out of stuff to finish. He had to dispose of the boat when they moved from Gladstone to Turner.
Probably all of us can remember some unfinished project, maybe something we “will get around to completing some of these days.”
People have their own ideas of what “finished” means; for some it is a half-baked , slap-dab job; for others a task is never quite finished because they are such perfectionists.
And people have their own time-lines for completion. When I was about 3 years old, my sister once told me to come to dinner. I told her, “In a minute.” A minute passed, and she said, “Come on. You said, ‘In a minute.’” My response, “A minute is not up ‘til you’re through what your doing.”
One Greek word is translated by three English words. The Greek word is “tetelestai” and the English words are, “It Is Finished.” This was one of seven statements uttered by Jesus while He was on the cross. Let’s check the text:
“Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made four parts, a part to every soldier and also the tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece. So they said to one another, ‘Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be’; this was to fulfill the Scripture: ‘They divided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.’ Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He *said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then He *said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother!’ From that hour the disciple took her into his own household. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, *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. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” John 19:23-30 (NASB).
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Some mistakenly think that when Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant “It’s all come to an end.; I’m done for and it’s all over!” But there is no note of defeat – this is a cry of exultation and victory! When Jesus cried, “Tetelestai!” He was saying three things:
I. HE MEANT “THE WORK IS DONE!”
A. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” John 17:3-4 (NASB).
1. Not a deed left undone.
2. Not a responsibility left unfulfilled.
3. Not a duty neglected.
B. What was that work?
1. He came to work for God’s glory. We read, “As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.’” John 9:1-3 (NASB).
2. Jesus read from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.’ And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’" Luke 4:16-21 (NASB).
3. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10 (NASB).
4. Jesus had a clear purpose and that was to do the will of the Father Who sent Him!
C. In short, He came from Heaven to earth to bring Good News of salvation and freedom and to introduce us to God and to make access to God possible.
D. Let me illustrate the importance of doing your job. Chuck Swindoll wrote, “Let’s play ‘Let’s Pretend’. Let’s pretend that you work for me. In fact, you are my executive assistant in a company that is growing rapidly. I’m the owner and I’m interested in expanding overseas. To pull this off, I make plans to travel abroad and stay there until a new branch office gets established. I make all the arrangements to take my family and move to Europe for six to eight months. And I leave you in charge of the busy stateside organization. I tell you that I will write you regularly and give you directions and instructions. I leave and you stay. Months pass. A flow of letters are mailed from Europe and received by you at the national headquarters. I spell out all my expectations. Finally, I return. Soon after my arrival, I drive down to the office and I am stunned. Grass and weeds have grown up high. A few windows along the street are broken. I walk into the Receptionist’s room. She is doing her nails, chewing gum and listening to her favorite disco station. I look around and notice the wastebaskets are overflowing. The carpet hasn’t been vacuumed for weeks, and nobody seems concerned that the owner has returned. I asked about your whereabouts and someone in the crowded lounge area points down the hall and yells, ‘I think he’s down there.’ Disturbed, I move in that direction and bump into you as you are finishing a chess game with our sales manager. I ask you to step into my office, which has been temporarily turned into a television room for watching afternoon soap operas. ‘What in the world is going on, man?’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Well, look at this place! Didn’t you get any of my letters?’ ‘Letters? Oh yes! Sure! I got every one of them. As a matter of fact, we have had a letter study every Friday since you left. We have even divided the personnel into small groups to discuss many of the things you wrote. Some of the things were really interesting. You will be pleased to know that a few of us have actually committed to memory some of your sentences and paragraphs. One or two memorized an entire letter or two - Great stuff in those letters.’
‘OK. You got my letters. You studied them and meditated on them; discussed and even memorized them. But what did you do about them?’ ‘Do? We didn’t do anything about them.’” (Improving Your Serve, Chuck Swindoll).
E. Jesus came not to consider but to do completely, to the finish, what God sent Him to do.
“It is finished” meant “the work is done!” AND ALSO:
II. HE MEANT “THE BATTLE IS WON!”
A. Jesus triumphed! He disarmed the power of Satan and his minions.
1. “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,” Hebrews 2:14 (NASB).
2. From The Message, “He won't let up until the last enemy is down— and the very last enemy is death! As the psalmist said, ‘He laid them low, one and all; He walked all over them.’ When Scripture says that ‘He walked all over them,’ it's obvious that He couldn't at the same time be walked on.” 1 Corinthians 15:25-27 (MSG).
B. But remember this:
1. Remember that even though Jesus won the war, by rising from the dead, skirmishes by our Enemy, Satan, and his cohorts will continue until he is cast into eternal hell. The Bible says, "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time." Revelation 12:12 (NASB).
2. Remember that even though Satan rages and intimidates, Jesus has made us more than conquerors and gives us the victory!
3. Remember that our enemies are not other believers with whom we may have non-salvational disagreements.
4. Remember that “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm." Ephesians 6:12-13 (NASB).
C. Two illustrations of Christ’s conquest come to mind
1. The first: A medal was struck by Diocletian, which still remains, bearing this inscription, "The name of Christians being extinguished." And in Spain two pillars were raised on which were written the names of several Roman rulers and on the first pillar they were credited for "having extinguished the name of Christians, who brought the Republic to ruin." On the second column the same Roman rulers are listed with this inscription "for having everywhere abolished the superstition of Christ, for having extended the worship of the gods." As Spurgeon observed: ‘Neither in Spain nor elsewhere can be pointed out the burial place of Christianity; the living have no tomb.”
2. The second: Daniel Morgan commanded a unit called Morgan's Raiders during the Revolutionary War. It was his strategy that led to the turning point in the war at the Battle of Saratoga. Morgan told his riflemen, "Forget the poor fellows who fight for six pence a day. Concentrate your fire on the officers. In fact, try your best to hit their epaulets that officers wear on their shoulders." As a result of Morgan's orders, British General Burgoine's officer ranks were so depleted that he surrendered at Saratoga.
D. When Jesus was tempted, and when He was tried, condemned and crucified His battle was focused on Evil's Big Guy.
1. He blew the evil spirits away with a word, and didn’t lose a single battle..
2. But He knew that to destroy the king of demons; was to win the war.
E. Because He took on Satan, and defeated him, the song is right,
It is finished! The battle is over.
It is finished! There’ll be no more war.
It is finished! The end of the conflict.
It is finished! And Jesus is Lord!
Yet in my heart the battle was raging;
Not all poisoners of war have come home.
These were battlefields of my own making;
I didn’t know that the war had been won.
Then I heard that the King of the Ages
Had fought all my battles for me,
And victory was mine for the claiming,
And now, praise His name I am free!
“It is finished “ means that the war is won! And finally:
III. HE MEANT “THE DEBT OF MANY IS PAID BY ONE!”
A. He paid a debt He didn’t owe, because I owed a debt I couldn’t pay!
B. We all were, and are, debtors.
1. God has always been the giver and we the recipients.
2. We have been ransomed, redeemed bought and paid for.
a. “For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:20 (NASB).
b. “You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” 1 Peter 1:18-19 (NASB).
C. One Paid For All!
1. It was not a church council or an army of financiers or a team of bankers who paid our debt.
2. Jesus paid it all – Jesus, not an angel or an apostle or outstanding saint. Jesus alone paid the debt.
3. For all! Not just the good and deserving.
4. Not the righteous, not the innocent.
5. At any rate, none of us is good or deserving, righteous or innocent.
6. It was for us that He paid the debt!
D. Recently Marlene and I were eating at Pizza Hut and when we were finished the server came to us and said, “Your meal was paid for by another couple.” Now, there was only one other couple there and we had no idea who they were. We figured that they noticed us pray before eating and wanted to bless us. For whatever reason, our debt was paid.
1. That’s a picture of grace.
2. That’s “tetelestai:” “it is finished,” it is “Paid in full.”
E. Long before we knew Jesus, or even cared, He knew us and cared; we were on His mind and in His heart and even though He knew us, and our sins and unworthiness, still – the One paid the debt for the many!
Jesus paid it all;
all to Him I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
That’s what “It is finished” means. He did all the work; He won the battle; He paid the debt. The ball is in your court. What will you do with Jesus?
In your life His work is unfinished until by faith you surrender, confess Him, turn from sin and are baptized by immersion. In your life let His work be complete. PRAY.
