Sunday Sermons
The Last Words of Christ - Part 3
Part III
The Word of Triumph
"When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished!' And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit" (John 19:30).
We should first of all note that this is not a cry of despair, that is, "I am finished, I have failed". "One preacher said, 'Just before Jesus expires, He reviews His brief ministry and says in effect, 'Well, I did what I could. Whatever it is it is. It's too late to do anything about it now. It is finished'. But that is exactly the reverse of its significance" (The Incomparable Christ, J. Oswald Sanders, p. 192).
The three English words, "it is finished", are the equivalent of a single Greek word, tetelestai. "It means, 'it is finished, it stands finished, and it always will be finished'" (Jesus' Seven Last Words, Warren W. Wiersbe, p. 58). This was a word used by servants when they had completed some task given them by the Master. It was a word used by artists when they had completed a painting or sculpture. It was also a word used by merchants when a transaction had been completed and the debt fully paid.
When Jesus was about 12 years old He said, "Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?" (or, about My Father's business) (Luke 2:49). As He grew older we find Him making the following statements as well, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work" (John 4:34), and "I have glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do" (17:4). Finishing the work that the Father had given Him was the overriding concern in Jesus' earthly life. Even though He is in tremendous pain, Jesus surveyed all the types, shadows and prophecies in the Old Testament, and knew that there were no loose ends and that nothing had gone unfulfilled. After His resurrection He would say, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled" (Luke 24:44); "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished" (Luke 18:31); "And when they had carried out all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the cross and laid Him in a tomb" (Acts 13:29). "All of the prophecies that referred to Him and His work on the cross were finished. Beginning in Genesis 3:15, God had promised that a Savior would come and defeat Satan. All of the pictures in the tabernacle, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the furnishings — all of these were completely finished and fulfilled. The types and prophecies were finished. The veil of the temple was torn in two, and man was able to enter. God had opened the way of salvation!" (Wiersbe p. 64). This equally means the Law of Moses was finished as well (Colossians 2:14-16). One more reason why I believe Jesus is the Messiah is the fact that His life alone fulfilled everything written in the Old Testament about the Messiah. I am not going to listen to anyone else as the final authority because their life has not even fulfilled one prophetic passage about the Messiah.
Triumph!
It is so easily to lose sight of the fact that God's eternal plan has continued and that all the powers of evil and the efforts of unbelieving men and women have been unable to stop God's plan. We often hear so much discouraging news that we forget:
-
Evil could not prevent the arrival of Christ
-
Evil could not prevent the death, burial and resurrection of Christ
-
Evil has been unable to get rid of or corrupt the Scriptures
-
Evil could not stop the establishment of the church, for the church of Christ still exists not only in America, but around the world to this day
-
Evil cannot stop honest hearts from being baptized and living for Christ
-
Evil has not been able to stop the spread of the gospel
Unbelievers have had thousands of years and tremendous resources in their attempt to "suppress the truth" (Romans 1:18), yet today there are millions of bibles on the planet in all sorts of languages and with one or two clicks of the mouse anyone on the planet can find the truth.
My Life and "It is finished"
What work do I need to finish? God has given all of us a realm of service, which often includes:
-
Finishing our parenting; seeing that our children are prepared to take on the world
-
Finishing our relationships, including marriage; ending our marriages at death with memories full of kindness, peace, faithfulness, patience, and love
-
Finishing our Christian walk; fighting the good fight right up until the very end (2 Timothy 4:6-8).
-
Using our talents, which may include finishing strong as a teacher, as an encourager, as a personal worker, as a deacon or elder.
-
In your life, is there a magnum opus, your greatest work that still remains unfinished?
The Word of Confidence
"And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into Thy hands I commit My Spirit'"(Luke 23:46)
Death for the Righteous
"As the spirit of Christ was poising itself before it departed to the Father, it saw before no dismal abyss, no gulf of darkness, no footless chaos, but hands, even the hands of the Father" (Sanders p. 198). Death for the believer is not some leap into the dark; but rather, one is immediately received and welcomed. When Lazarus died the text says, "and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom" (Luke 16:22). Commenting upon death, Paul noted, "For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Corinthians 5:1). "Our Lord obviously entertained no thought that death ended all. Already He had assured the penitent thief of a place with Him in paradise. Now He speaks as though 'He was making a deposit in a safe place, to which, after the crisis of death was over, He would come and recover it. Such is the force of the word. Who would be afraid of death when it means that our spirits are in His hands? How safe and strong they are!" (Sanders p. 199).
He Died Voluntarily
He allowed Judas and those with Him to find Him, He allowed them to arrest Him (Matthew 26:46-56). In John 10:17-18, Jesus said, "I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again". We could also add that this verse makes it clear that He died actually, rather than just passing out on the cross. His death was real and His resurrection was real.
No More Interruptions
"The communion He had enjoyed from eternity with the Father is now restored, never again to be interrupted" (Sanders p. 198).Compare with John 17:5. And the faithful Christian can die in like manner, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit" (Acts 7:59). I like the idea of heaven, being a place of "no interruptions". Another way of looking at passages such as Revelation 21:4, is that evil, sin and temptation with all their consequences and problems, will never affect us again. For eternity we will be free of their unwelcome interruptions. No matter how hard we try in this life, sin does interrupt us continually. Not only our own sins, but the sins of those we love and the sins of complete strangers. Yet do not get discouraged, the time is coming when there will be no more interruptions. We can deal with such things for now without giving up, because the time is short and soon it will all be over and forgotten.
He Died the Way He Lived
The expression, "Father, into thy hands I commend My spirit" is a quotation from Psalm 31:5. In fact, at least three of the statements on the cross are tied to Scripture. When Jesus prayed that the people in the crowd be given a chance at forgiveness, He was fulfilling Isaiah 53:12, which says, "He made intercession for the transgressors". When He cried out, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" — He was quoting Psalm 22:1. "Our Lord Jesus lived by God's Word, and if you live by God's Word, you can die by God's Word. Someday you are going to die. Usually people die just the way they lived" (Wiersbe, pp. 69,72). Jesus is our example (1 Corinthians 11:1) and I want to be able to die like He died. He died confidently, He died willingly, He died without any regrets, He died victoriously, He died with His mind fixed on the Father, He died seeking to obey Scripture, and He died knowing that His work was finished.
Triumph and not Tragedy
Various secular and religious writers view Jesus' death to be a great tragedy, yet Jesus did not view it this way. In like manner, even when someone rejects the gospel, this is not a defeat, for God's word always accomplishes something, even when spurned by an unbeliever (Isaiah 55:11). Thus, it might be said that the faithful Christian never experiences a true defeat, for all things work together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28).
