"Salvation is of the LORD." -Jonah 2:9

It is Finished  (Part 3)  by D.G. Miles McKee   If you want to be effective as you serve the Lord Christ, never tire of hearing and applying the gospel.  In the light of the cross, we can learn to agree with the old Puritan preacher, John Flavell, who, when speaking of Jesus, declared,   "The condemnation was Thine, that the justification might be mine. The agony was Thine, that the victory might be mine. The pain was Thine, that the ease might be mine. The stripes Thine, that the healing balm issuing from them might be mine. The vinegar and gall Thine, that the honey and the sweet might be mine. The curse was thine, that the blessing might be mine. The crown of thorns was Thine, that the crown of glory might be mine.  The death was Thine, that the life purchased by it might be mine.  You paid the price, that I might enjoy the inheritance."   It is Finished!  We were lost and condemned by sin.  We could not perfectly and fully sati...

"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished ." -John 19:30 [KJV]   Perhaps these words formed the sixth cry of the Lord Jesus on the cross. The glorious close of all His sufferings was now arrived; and full of these high ideas which occupied His holy mind, He cried out, "It is finished!" What is finished? Redemption-work is finished. All the long series of prophecies, visions, types, and the shadows of good things to come, which pointed to Jesus and redemption by Him, were now finished in their accomplishment. The law was finished in its condemning power; and the gospel commenced its saving influence. Jesus, by that one sacrifice now offered, had for ever perfected them that are sanctified.    The separation between Jew and gentile was now finished and done away for ever. Jesus had now "gathered together, in one, all the children of God which are scattered abroad." The iron reign of sin and Satan, of death and he...

"After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst ." -John 19:28 [KJV]   After this, that is, I conceive, (though I do not presume to mark the very order in which the Lord Jesus uttered His loud cries upon the cross,) after His complaint of desertion: for whether this was the fourth or fifth of the seven last words of the Redeemer, I dare not determine: yet the words themselves were highly important, and significant of great things, in reference to Jesus and His people. Jesus thus cried, that the scriptures might be fulfilled, it is said; for it had been prophesied of Him, that gall was given Him to eat—and, when thirsty, vinegar to drink, Psalm 69:21 . And the soldiers, unconscious of what they did in fulfilling this very prophecy, gave Him a sponge dipped in vinegar.       But, my soul, was it the thirst of the body thy Jesus complained of? I think not. He had before declared, at His last suppe...

"And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani ; that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?"   -Matthew 27:46 [KJV]   Mark, my soul! Jesus had hung upon the cross now for six hours. Think what agonies he sustained both in soul and body. The fury of hell had broke out upon him, and in the cruelties of the men around him, exercised upon his sacred person, manifested how extensive that fury was. But had this been all; had God the Father smiled upon him, had the cup of trembling been taken away, some alleviation would have taken place in Jesus's sufferings; but so far was this from being the case, that the heaviest load of the sorrow his holy soul sustained, was the wrath of the Father due to sin, as the sinner's Surety. Angels, no doubt, looked on. All heaven stood amazed. And, at length, overpowered with the fulness of sorrow and anguish of soul, the dying Lamb cried out, "My God, my God, why hast thou fo...

"And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say, unto thee, today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise ." -Luke 23:43 [KJV]   My soul, hear the gracious words of thy Jesus. This was the   third   cry of the Redeemer on the cross. And Oh! how full of grace, rich, free, unmerited, unexpected, unlooked-for grace, to a poor lost perishing sinner, even in the very moment of death. Let the self-righteous pharisee behold this example of redeeming love, and wonder, and be confounded. Surely no one will venture to suppose that this man's good works were any recommendation, when the poor wretch was dying under the hands of justice. What was it then that saved him but the complete salvation of Jesus? The Son of God was offering His soul on the cross a sacrifice for sin, and being between two notorious sinners, gave a rich display of the sovereignty of His grace, and His love to poor sinners; and in confirmation, snatched this one as a brand from the burning—took him from the very j...

  "When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He saith unto His mother, Woman, behold thy son . Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother ."   -John 19:26,27 [KJV]   This was the   second   among the dying words of the Lord Jesus; and no doubt, of high importance in their full sense and meaning: not simply to recommend Mary to the care of the beloved apostle, John, but probably of greater moment in reference to the church of Jesus at large. My soul, is it not very certain that the Lord Jesus knew all the events which would take place in all generations of His people? And as such, did not Jesus perfectly well know also that the time would come when divine honours would be offered to Mary? These points cannot be disputed. Well then, is it not worthy the closest observation, that Jesus both in this place, and upon all other occasions, when speaking of Mary, called her woman? Why so? If, as Jesus knew, that there would b...

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do ." - Luke 23:34    My soul, art thou still taking thy stand at the foot of the cross? Art thou still looking up to Jesus? If so, listen now to His voice. There were seven expressions of Jesus, which were His last words, which He uttered on the cross. The last words of dying friends are particularly regarded: how much more the last words of the best of all friends; even the dying friend of poor lost perishing sinners. Those which I have chosen for the portion of the day were the first; and they contain the strong cry of Jesus to His Father for forgiveness to His murderers.    And what endears those expressions yet more to the heart are, that they are not only the first upon the cross, but they are wholly, not for Himself, but the people. During the whole painful process of suffering, when they scourged Him, crowned Him with thorns, smote Him with their hands, and mocked Him, we hear no voice of co...