It Is Finished
CCCAG December 16th, 2018
Scripture- John 19-20
John 19:30- It is Finished
Some of you might remember this event from the news.
On May 1st, 2003 a Navy S3 Viking aircraft started its final approach to land on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. That’s not unusual as normally this aircraft is used to detect and destroy enemy submarines that might be approaching the carrier group. However, on this day it had a special designation, and that was Navy One because it carried the president of the United States which at that time was George W Bush.
President Bush was landing on the aircraft carrier to congratulate them on returning from the Persian Gulf where they had participated in the longest deployment of any aircraft carrier ever, in this case supporting the Iraq war. Many of us remember the banner that flew above President Bush as he gave a speech that said mission accomplished. It was on that day that President Bush said that all major military operations had ceased in the nation of Iraq.
Although traditional ground operations had indeed ceased by that day, now began a protracted insurgency that led to urban combat and a guerrilla war against US and coalition troops.
There is a miscalculation on the part of that president's administration on how the Middle East would react to the fall of Iraq and its dictator Saddam Hussein.
The bible records a similar statement in John 19:30 in Jesus saying “It is finished”- it was HIS mission accomplished statement, but this time it turned out to be absolutely true.
Today we're going to look at what Jesus meant by saying it is finished.
Let’s start out with Prayer
Prayer
This morning we are going to look at several questions that will help us understand the implications of Jesus’ statement of victory from the cross in saying “It is Finished”.
The first question we would ask is-
I. Who was Jesus speaking to?
In order to understand exactly what Jesus was saying we have to first determine who he was speaking to. I believe that every word that Jesus spoke and specially those words he spoke from the cross were very intentional and specific as to their meaning and who he was speaking to.
So I would submit to you today that the first and primary person he is speaking to at this point is
A. The Father
Those three words, “It is finished” come from one Greek word tetelestai.
During this time in history, the word tetelestai was a common word used by various people in everyday life. The primary way it was used was a servant in reporting to his or her master, “I have completed the work assigned to me”
If you were to look up the word in a Greek dictionary, the definition would be as Jesus used it- “It is finished” and depending on the tense it was used, it can also mean- it stands finished, and it always will be finished!”
These words specify not the end of Jesus’ life, but the completion of His task. The verb tense is perfect. “It is finished!” The purpose of His life has been completed, and the consequences of His work are enduring.
Any of us have been in the military knows that when we were given an order to do an assignment or a mission, we say yes Sir or yes ma'am and then do our best to go and follow those orders to completion. However, that is only one part of following that order. The second part of following in order is to report back to the person who gave you that order that it is finished.
That is the reason that Jesus uses this particular word in the Greek to express to his Father that his mission and work here on earth is done .
Jesus is saying “father it is finished, it stands finished, and it will always be finished!” There is nothing to add, there is no cleanup, and there is nothing left to do that will make this any better.
Jesus paid it all!
While Jesus was speaking primarily to the father, his words echo into the spiritual realm and were heard by a completely different audience and that was
B. The forces of darkness
I would imagine that if hell could throw a party, they were having a good time at this point. They think they have won the war. They are hanging a mission accomplished banner over the top of their meeting Hall. They actually believe what French philosopher Frederick Neichzie would declare 1800 years later that God is dead. If a fallen spiritual being can experience any amount of pleasure or joy they were experiencing it at that moment.
They are about to have a rude awakening when they learn that death has been swallowed up in victory.
More about that in a few minutes because there was one other audience that were hearing Jesus’s words and that was
C. His Followers
When Jesus said these words, I believe God had tears in HIS eyes, but his heart was still full of joy for what his Son had accomplished.
When Jesus said these words His followers on earth lost all hope and thought everything, they had lived for almost 3 and a half years was over.
Although Jesus said “It is Finished”, the understanding of what he meant would not come until much later. In fact, even after his resurrection and Jesus being seen by hundreds of people, most of his followers still did not understand what he meant.
It wasn't until the Holy Spirit came and after the Apostle Paul started writing his epistles- teaching the church exactly what Jesus did for us did for us in his suffering, death, and resurrection did they truly understand the fullness of what He is saying.
You and I have something that even the early church didn't have and that is the complete revelation of God as seen in our Bible today and because of that we are blessed. We are blessed to know that not only is it finished but what was finished.
And that is what we're going to look at next
II. What Was Finished
Max Lucado has a great way of summarizing exactly what Jesus was saying here when he wrote
“The history-long plan of redeeming man was finished. The message of God to man was finished. The works done by Jesus as a man on earth were finished. The task of selecting and training ambassadors was finished. The job was finished. The song had been sung. The blood had been poured. The sacrifice had been made. The sting of death had been removed. It was over.”
One of the most significant things that happened upon the death of Jesus that showed us exactly what was finished, and we see it in Matthew’s Gospel
“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:50-51a).
Jewish historians tell us that this curtain in Herod’s temple was about 60 feet high and 4 inches thick. Josephus, the most famous of Jewish historians, said that you could have attached teams of horses to each side of the curtain pulling in opposite directions and they would not be able to rip it. That curtain is what separated the holy place from the most holy place.
The most holy place was to be where God's overwhelming, tangible, and terrible presence would reside. No one could approach that room without immediate death coming upon them except for one time a year where the high priest would offer a sacrifice for the sins of the people.
That curtain represented the sin of humanity separating us from God’s presence.
The length and breadth and height of that curtain was a formidable and physical reminder to anyone who sought God that there was no human way to get to THE Father- That curtain wasn't penetrable through any effort that we could make.
That is until Jesus said it is finished.
I have said before that I like to create mental images in my head of things that I read in the Bible. I have the picture in my mind of Jesus taking his last breath and as he gave up his spirit our Father reaching down to that curtain, through the tears, through the emotion that he had to be feeling at that point and ripping that thing in half as the exclamation point of Jesus saying it is finished.
Not only did Jesus remove the barrier that separated us from God, but HE gave us 4 additional benefits.
A. Atonement (payment) for Sin
Christian Author and theologian Warren Wiersbe, writes, “None of the Old Testament sacrifices could take away sins; their blood only covered sin. But the Lamb of God shed His blood, and that blood can take away the sins of the world.”
The Lake front of Kenosha is lined with large borders that serve as an erosion breakwater against the waves that come in from Lake Michigan. When I was growing up in the 70s and 80s all the boulders and chunks of concrete that line the Lake were covered in graffiti. Most of it was harmless somebody loves somebody, the Packers rule, or occasionally some really cool looking artwork. However, over the years some of it was also pretty profane.
A new mayor got elected and decided to clean up the lakefront and assign city workers to paint over the graffiti with white paint. After it was done it did look a lot better but then winter came. A combination of weather coming off the Lake, and snow and ice beat against that new layer of paint and tore it right off, revealing the graffiti underneath it.
The local government had underestimated the problem, so they came up with a different solution- replacing much of those breakwaters with new rock and then increasing patrols and limiting public access to them so that they could remain clean.
Prior to Jesus saying it is finished, all the ceremony, all the sacrifices, all the ritual, and all 613 laws did was paint over the graffiti. Once you stepped outside the temple and the winds of life or the rains of conflict or the storms of temptation hit you, the sin underneath the whitewash would become obvious again.
That is why the atonement isn’t just a whitewash- it’s the blood of Jesus washing the sin away and creating a new heart in its place.
The second benefit of it is finished is-
B. Jesus’ Death Conquered Sin and Death
1 John 1:7 - 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
“cleanse” Gr.katharizo, (catharsis) “to declare clean, make clean, purify”
Biblical Greek Scholar Kenneth Wuest says, “And while we are having this fellowship with Him, the blood of Jesus, His Son, keeps constantly cleansing us from sins of omission, sins of ignorance, and sins we know nothing about in our lives because we have not grown in grace enough to see that they are sin. These would prevent our fellowship with God if this divine provision of the constant cleansing away of the defilement of sin in our lives was not taken care of by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Heb.9:14 - 4 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
In conquering sin, Jesus also conquered the consequence of sin- death
Hebrews 2:9 - 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
John MacArthur, writes in his commentary on Hebrews: “We see the extent of Christ’s humiliation in His death. Angels cannot die; but Jesus came to die. He went so far beneath angels that He did something that they could never do. His death was not easy or costless. It was a suffering death. Christ’s exit from the land of the living was not calm and peaceful, but was accompanied by outward torture and inner agony. The death He tasted was the curse of sin. What Jesus felt while dying on the cross was the total agony of every soul in hell for all eternity put together, suffered in a few hours. All the punishment for all the sin of all time—that was the depth of His death. He was guilty of no sin, yet He suffered for all sin.”
Amen
God sent His Son, and His Son willingly came, to die to redeem man. “But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law” (Gal. 4:4–5). Jesus Christ in His death purposed to die as a substitute for everyone. And it is only by the Son tasting death as a man for man that we are free from death.
Historically, kings have had someone taste their food to protect them from possible poisoning. The cup of poison that belonged to us was drained to the dregs by Jesus Christ. He substituted His own death for ours and released us to live with God.”
Hebrews 2:14-15 - 14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Once we were free from the power of death, we get to live in the fullness of life that Jesus provides for us.
1 Cor.15:55-57 – 55 “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The 3rd thing that was finished was
C. Jesus’ Death Causes Reconciliation to God
The Apostle Paul writes
Romans 5:8-11 - 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
“Reconciliation” Gr.katallasso, definition- “to return to favor with, to receive one into favor.” “To put someone into friendship with God.”
The Apostle Paul knew his job- to proclaim that which had already been done. Jesus is the one who got to say “it is finished”. Paul does not conceive it as his or our task to reconcile God to us. God has attended to that himself. God did all the work.
Eph 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
Jesus is our reconciliation. He brought the God’s justice and God’s love together and created a way for us to escape the punishment we rightfully deserve by taking it upon Himself.
What a friend we have in Jesus!
Amen?
The last thing I want to look at today goes back to where we started-
III. Mission Accomplished
Mission that Jesus speaks to being finished began not at the arrest of Jesus, but in Nazareth
It began with an Angel talking to a young teenage girl. It started with Mary believing that the word of God to her was true.
Compare that to Eve who didn't believe the word of God and look what happened.
Mary believed and from her came the Savior of us all.
The mission also started with a man who was feeling deep emotional pain and betrayal thinking that his fiancé had been unfaithful. He also believed and the word of God to him.
Compare that to Adam who didn't trust the word of God and look what happened
This initial obedience led them both to a little town called Bethlehem, to a stable, and to a Manger.
Of all these things we've been talking about today, this is where it started. Jesus saying it is finished was him describing his mission from his enunciation to where he is right now- giving up his spirit to God after fulfilling his mission on the earth.
Last weekend Harvest Home Farms did their living nativity. The theme of that nativity is a script that Dr. Larry Gunthrie wrote called “One Silent Night”. It is a script that leads people through the entire Christmas story. We see the shepherds, we see the wise men, we see Joseph and Mary holding the baby Jesus. All the elements of the Christmas story are portrayed by dozens of volunteers.
But the Christmas story is incomplete unless you consider where it ends up. This morning I'm going to read from the script, that me is one of the innkeepers, act out to those who come to visit.
From script
I initially have people face me, but at this point I change position so that they have a view of a lighted cross on a hill and say this-
“It is hard to believe that such a tiny baby would have been sent on such a mission. His tiny hands and feet would grow only to be pierced through and into the rugged planks of a blood stained cross. That God could love someone like me that much is hard to believe. But He does love me that much and he loves you that much. This baby that was born one silent night demonstrated the love of God.
“For God so loved the world, He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in HIM will not perish but have ever lasting life.”
Do you believe?
Jesus said it is finished. He has done all the work for you.
Your only responsibility is to accept the gift he has given you and believe in him as your Lord and savior.
Do you believe?
Altar Call
