We began
last week to look and ponder, Jesus’ final words while he hung on the
cross. Traditionally called “the Seven
Words”, these are seven statements Jesus made from the cross.
His
first words were for various people: “Father, forgive them; for they know
not what they do” – to the Jews and Romans who are crucifying him. “Truly I say unto thee, This day you will
be with me in paradise” – to one of the thieves hanging next to him who
asks Jesus to remember him in Heaven.
And finally, to his mother, and the disciple John, who Jesus chooses to
care for his Mother, Mary – “Woman, behold thy son! and Behold thy mother!”
Then Jesus’ words express his deep suffering,
and he speaks to His Father quoting from Psalm 22, which both expresses his
pain, but also speaks of his triumph – “My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me?”. He is humanly
expressing his suffering and follows that with a simple statement – “I
thirst”.
It is
very near the end of Jesus’ suffering, and there are two words left. Today we want to ponder those two words,
which I believe are spoken simultaneously – “It is finished”, and,
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”. The Apostle John is standing at the cross with
Jesus’ mother, Mary, and Mary Magdalen. Although they were most likely spoken
together, I’ll take them separately today and tomorrow. John
records the first of these words that Jesus said:
“A jar
full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a
hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine,
he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John
19:29-30).
When
Jesus said “It is finished”, he was speaking of the fulfillment of all
the work the Father had given him to do – it was completed, fulfilled,
finished. God had spoken to Adam and Eve
in the garden after their Sin that he was going to send one who would “he
shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15b). God’s
promise to the first parents was being fulfilled. Jesus is bruised, terribly bruised, but he
has a bruised heel, while the enemy, Satan, is forever bruised and Satan’s
power is rendered obsolete.
The
words “it is finished” demonstrate that Jesus is not a passive victim, but was
offering himself as the sacrifice – the paschal sacrifice – to the Father for
the Sin of the world. Jesus bore the
ugliness and treachery of Sin, and his blood was shed, as the Paschal lamb was
killed. There is one sacrifice for Sin
that could fulfill the everlasting need for a “once and for all sacrifice”.
“For
Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of
the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God
on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest
enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would
have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is,
he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:24-28).
As Jesus
hung on the cross, he saw all that this accomplished. Jesus’ death for the Sin of the World was death
to death! Indeed, Christ Jesus said it
before it all occurred: “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw
all things to Myself” (John 12:32).
What did
Jesus see from the cross? He saw a world
that was about to change, and God’s Kingdom, his Church, would spread out over
the whole of the world, and instead of feeling shame for Jesus’ death on the
Cross, the Church would “boast” of God’s redeeming grace for those who turn to
the Cross and put their faith in Jesus’ finished work for them.
Redemption
is Christ’s finished work. Atonement is
the gift of His life born of love and mercy.
It is a gift from God that was given to us – the very best gift we could
ever hope to receive!
Peace
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