“It Is Finished”

With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Mark 15:37-38 (NIV)

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30 (NIV)

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When Jesus died on the cross, his work of redemption was complete. Matthew, Mark, and Luke say he gave out a loud cry as he died, but John adds the detail of what Jesus said in that moment: “It is finished.”

Jesus, a carpenter most likely familiar with buying and selling, used a business term that could be rendered, “Paid in Full.”

It is finished. It is paid in full.

Jesus completed the work required to bring us back into communion with God. No other work is required. We cannot do anything to further the work of Jesus, and, even if we somehow could, there is no need to do so.

The picture is this: Jesus, having completed his mission, gives a victory shout. It’s a shout emerging from his joy – not an “I’m glad this is over” but more like a good and faithful son hearing his father say, “It’s done, well done!”

Jesus responds with this glorious shout, “It is finished!” The victory is won; the captives are free to come home.

Then to signify that this singular path to peace with God was now open, the “curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Mark 15:38, NIV; see also Matthew 27 and Luke 23).

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:19-20, NIV).

What does this mean?

· It is finished – The work of Jesus Christ was complete and finished on the cross. There is no other redemptive work required to make peace with God.

· The father heart of God – My focus in the “Jesus in Hell” devotional was on the father heart of God. God loves you from the bottom of his heart, and his heart is bottomless.

· Separation from God – The gospel writer, Mark, reported “at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’—which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (Mark 15:34, NIV) From this, it would appear Jesus was, briefly, separated from the Father. If you believe in the reality of hell, as I do, or if you see it as a figurative expression, the real horror is eternal separation from God. The work of Jesus created a bridge across that separation, allowing us to make peace with God and to cross into eternity with him (Colossians 1:19-23).

· Jesus holds the keys – The Bible says Jesus descended into the place of the dead, most likely to proclaim his victory over death and sin (Matthew 12:40). On the morning of his resurrection, Jesus told Mary, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17, NIV). He later told John, “I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Revelation 1:18, NIV). Jesus, and Jesus alone, holds the resurrection power that bring us into eternity with God.

· Prayer for Devotionals – God is leading me to spend more time in prayer over these devotionals. As you think of it, would you also pray that I say only what God wants me to say, and that I write in such a way that God’s truth is always clear? My desire is to be a faithful teacher of biblical truth in order to push us, myself included, closer to the heart of God.....Jon Walker