The Wednesday Word

 It Is Finished!

by D.G. Miles McKee

 
Here is the greatest declaration ever heard in human history … “It is Finished.”
-John 19:30

These are our Saviours dying words and what powerfully important words they are.
 
It is reported that when Queen Elizabeth I of England lay dying she said, “My God, my God it is over.  I have come to the end! In her wardrobe, she had 2,000 costly dresses and gowns yet she called out, “All my possessions for just one more day.”
 
Pathetic words of a dying Queen!  How wonderful then, by contrast, are the words of the dying Savior who declares from the cross—"IT IS FINISHED!”  Salvation has been completed, accomplished and perfected. Notice, there is not a hint of worry, anxiety or despair from the Master.  How unlike the words of the dying English Queen who says, “My God My God it is over, I have come to the end.”
 
See how Christ’s words “It is Finished”, are filled with glorious victory. They mean, ‘It is done, It is completed’
 
What is completed? Redemption is completed. He is saying that salvation has been obtained and accomplished!  You see, this little sentence, ‘it is finished,’ is not in the original Greek. It is just one word: ‘FINISHED!’
 
But how was Redemption finished?  By the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.  He finished and fully completed the work He had been sent to do!
 
When we look at the tense of the Greek word ‘Finished’ we discover that it is in the perfect tense which means that although the action has been completed in the past, the results continue into the present.  So, when Jesus cried out “It is finished,” he meant, “It was finished in the past, it is still finished in the present and it will remain finished in the future.”
 
Listen to Paul as he tells the Hebrews of the Christ who finished His work, “Who being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” Hebrews 1:3.
 
It is finished!
 
It is finished!  That means, Justice was satisfied and still is.
It is finished!  That means, the Father was satisfied and still is.
It is finished!  That means, the righteous demands of the law were satisfied and still are. 
It is finished!  That means, the Old Testament sacrifices were finished and remain so.
 
‘It is Finished ‘--- what a wonderfully grand and glorious statement by the God-Man, the young Prince of Glory!
 
When a work is Finished, it is Finished … there is no need to add anything to it!  Neither man nor angel needs to augment it.  It is finished. 
 
And a good thing too.  Wouldn’t it be just dreadful if our salvation were based on any of our efforts? We can’t rely on our efforts … they at best are incomplete. We can’t rely on our service … we haven’t served God perfectly. We have left things undone.  There’s so much we should have done but haven’t and the clock is racing against us.
 
However, the Lord Jesus left nothing of our salvation incomplete! It Is Finished!
 
He did not partially save or partially ransom … It is Finished. Everything He did for us, He did perfectly ... It is Finished.
 
There is no one like Christ Jesus in any of the world’s great religions.  This one expression … IT IS FINISHED explodes and shreds every other religion on earth! They are all fakes. They are all useless. With respect, Mohammed did not complete redemption for his people.   Buddha did not atone for his people  … only Christ Jesus ransomed, redeemed and reconciled us back to God.
 
It is Finished.
 
And that’s the Gospel Truth!

 

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