It is Finished

 

  TEXT:  John 19:30

       

INTRODUCTION:

I wish to talk to you on the three most important words, I believe, in history—

IT IS FINISHED.

 

This is one of the seven last sayings, as we say, of the Lord Jesus on the cross.

Just three words – IT IS FINISHED.

 

These are the Greatest Words Ever Uttered…By the Greatest Man That Ever Lived.

 

In these three words I see the consummation of all the Old Testament truth and the germination of all New Testament truth.

 

I don’t believe that ever in history—anywhere, at any time, by anybody, were three words more pregnant with meaning than these three words given by one Man at the end of His life – IT IS FINISHED—It is finished!

 

When I consider this text in John 19:30 I feel as though:

I am trying to catch the wind in my arm or

I am trying to pick up the Atlantic Ocean up in a sieve.

How can we deal with it?

          Its MAGNITUDE staggers me,

                   Its MYSTERY staggers me,

                             Its MAJESTY staggers me.

 

It seems to me that here is a terminus in the life of the Lord Jesus: ALL the prophesies, ALL the law, ALL the prophets, terminate in this saying of the Lord Jesus Christ—It is finished!

 

Everything from here blossoms out because this is the beginning of it all.

Three simple words—It is finished!

 

I suggest to you in all reverence that these three words terrified hell. IT IS FINISHED!

 

You see, this English phrase of ours, this little sentence, is NOT in the Greek at all. I don’t know much about Greek, but I did discover that in the Greek it is just one word: FINISHED!

 

Matt. 27:50 says, “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” That loud voice said, “FINISHED!” …And I am sure with its vibrations all hell shook!

 

You see, the work of Christ on that cruel cross moved right into the arena into which the Devil so long has claimed control and power.

 

You might say the life of Jesus was a three-act drama.

In the NT you get the first years of His life—30 years in preparation for 3 years ministry.

The first chapter concerning His coming has been written,

The second chapter comes to a climax on the cross,

The third chapter is yet to come in all His resurrection splendour.

There is nothing to equal it anywhere.

I get indignant when I hear people talk about that we ought to careful and sensitive concerning the religious beliefs of others and promote the idea that “What we need to do is study comparative religion.”

Well, with some heat and some feeling in my spirit my reply is this, “Christianity is NOT a comparative religion; it’s a SUPERLATIVE religion! WHY?

BECAUSE this one saying of Jesus Christ explodes every other religion on God’s earth!

They are ALL fakes. They are ALL useless.

In this momentous event...

I can see demons peeping out from hell as they watch Jesus going to the cross.

I can see angels looking over the parapets of heaven,

I can see the Jews and the Romans and the Greeks. They are all at the cross!

I.          The Cross oF Christ is the centre of time

A.       We sing the hymn… The Cross of Jesus

“Beneath the cross of Jesus I fain would take my stand,

The shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land,

A home within the wilderness, a rest upon the way.”

1.        I don’t what is the true geographical centre of the earth is, but I do know that the religious centre of the world is—JERUSALEM!

a.        Delphi was revered throughout the Greek world as the site of the omphalos stone, the centre of the earth and the universe.

b.        Erected in the 6th century B.C. Delphi was suppose to be the hearth of the Temple of the false god Apollo.

c.         The Greeks considered Delphi as the mid-point of the world dividing three continents – Europe, Asia, and Libya (= Africa).

d.       BUT since the 2nd century Jewish writings refer to the relocation of the omphalos of the world from Delphi to Jerusalem—to the Holy City as the centre and navel of the earth.

e.        As a result of the flood, it is assumed that a correlation was made with the three sons of Noah and the three continents – Japhet = Europe, Shem = Asia and Ham = Libya.

2.        Lay the cross down on the floor—it points North, South, East and West.

a.        If you stand it up, the arms of love that compass me embraces all mankind.

b.        If you stand it up it points to a topless heaven and to a bottomless hell and the arms of its crossbeam are outstretched to save.

c.         As it was set in centre of Palestine the shadow of the cross becomes the religious, political and historical centre of the world and is the centre of time.

3.        Christ’s birth changed the time of mankind forever.

a.        When man shot a rocket, to the moor, did we change the calendar?

b.        When we invented the atom bomb, did we change the calendar?

c.         Isn’t it amazing a little Baby came into the world and He divided time?
—He divided men…He divided nations.

d.       People say, “If we have revival we’ll all be one.” NO WE WON’T!
If we ever have revival we will be more divided than ever!

e.        The first thing Jesus did before He could walk or talk was divide men.

f.          When Herod heard of the birth of King Jesus, Matt. 2:3 says, “he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.”

g.        The last thing Jesus did on the cross was divide men.

h.        In His lifetime He divided men. He went into the Synagogue and there was a division because of Him. Wherever Jesus goes there is division.

B.       When Jesus went to the cross, God did all He could to hold this old earth together.

1.        At that time, the demons of hell were looking on in terror.

a.        Think again about the majesty of this event. Do you realise how great it was? Matt. 27:46, “Jesus cried with a loud voice…’My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’”

b.        In a tongue He knew so well, He says, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.”

1)        Which we can understand him to say, “My God, I am deserted–You left Me!”
2)        Everybody deserted Him—family, friends, disciples—even God the Father.

2.        You see, there at that moment when Jesus said: “It is finished,” Mercy and truth met together, righteousness and peace kissed each other (Ps. 85:10) ...and hell went into panic.

a.        How do I know? Because the earth was shattered.

1)        The veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom, the earth quaked and rocks split in two.
2)        Graves that held remains of foregone saints were opened and the dead arose! (Mt. 27:51-54).
3)        The whole earth rocked on its axis.
The earth trembled under the impact of the sin that He bore for us.

b.        You can go to art galleries around the world and see some beautiful pictures. But you know, there never was a photo of the cross; its representations are ALL the imaginations of man.

1)        That event was so sacred that, as it were, God took His coat off and hung it over the sun.
2)        From the 6th to the 9th hour—12 noon to 3pm there was darkness—for three hours God would not let anybody see His Son become corruption.

II.        The CHARACTER of Christ was a mystery

Acts 7 says, 48] “Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet, 49] ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? Saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest? 50] Hath not my hand made all these things?’”

A.       Jesus Christ, is the mystery of God’s divine grace.

1.        Is it even possible to understand the Incarnation? One of Charles Wesley Christmas hymns, “Let Earth And Heaven Combine” at least gets close, with these lines:

The incarnate Deity,

Our God contracted to a span,

Incomprehensibly made Man.

 

He laid His glory by,

He wrapped Him in our clay;

Unmarked by human eye, …

Infant of days He here became,

And bore the mild Immanuel's Name.

2.        The heaven of heavens cannot contain Him.

a.        Yet God clothed Himself in flesh and blood and crept into a woman’s womb.

b.        How God became man I do not know, BUT less, less, less do I know
HOW DID HE BECOME SIN?

1)        Do you know the answer?? No, you don’t.
BUT neither does any living person!
2)        Every man who’s honest and the more honest the man he is, the more he will readily say, “I am baffled.”

c.         As I get older I see more and more that, “great is the mystery of Godliness” (1 Tim 3:16). I feel that in spiritual matters, after over 40 years of walking with God, I don’t have my feet wet, not even the sole underneath my feet, never mind having water to the ankles, or the knees, or my loins.

3.        When God gave us the Bible-God’s inerrant and literally true Word, He opened to us His treasure house. Ah, but have we really explored this Word and the possibilities of God?

a.        Let me ask you, what’s the most exciting thing in your life? Don’t answer me, but answer straight up to God. Tell Him what is the most exciting thing.

b.        Let me guess, could it be that you become more knowledgeable? You’ve made more money, or have become more fit?

c.         What is the most exciting thing to you? Would it be the precious privilege to day-by-day you slip-in to Him and worship and adore Him?

 

There is a great hymn of Wesley that is not found in our hymnal.

In it he is talks about the cross and says this:

 

“Would Jesus have the sinner die?

Why hangs He then on yonder tree?

What means that strange expiring cry?

Sinner He prays for you and me,

‘Forgive them Father. O forgive.

They know not, that by Me they live.’

 

Thou loving all atoning Lamb

Thee—by Thy painful agony,

Thy blood, Thy sweat, Thy grief, Thy shame,

Thy cross and passion on the tree,

Thy precious death and life—I pray

Take all, take all my sins away!”

 

And then, in the rapture of that, Charles Wesley says this (and it’s so wonderful—if you try you can see that woman crying at the feet of Jesus,

 

“O let me kiss Thy bleeding feet,

And bathe and wash them with my tears!

The story of Thy love repeat

In every drooping sinner’s ears,

That all may hear the quickening sound,

Since I, even I, have mercy found,

 

You see if our Lord works away inward—in the deep recesses of your soul, that work is going to appear outward somewhere in their life

 

4.        The Apostle Paul wrote, – “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21), but when it comes to us I think we die in bits’ n’pieces—i.e. areas of our life.

a.        I think this is one reason we don’t see any great transformation in the lives of those who believe.

b.        We don’t die totally to God’s Spirit—we slowly die in areas. Oh, may God never allow us to be comfortable with lukewarmness and deliver us from a life of vomit.

 

So Charles finishes this hymn of his by saying this:

 

“Oh, let Thy love my heart constrain,

Thy Love for every sinner free,

That every fallen soul of man

May taste the grace that found out me,

That all mankind with me may prove,

Thy sovereign, everlasting love.”

B.       The cross was the most momentous moment in history and proved more than ever the character of His person

1.        Hell had feared this moment for centuries, for millenniums!

a.        Why do you think the devil greased the path of Jesus and tried to make Him take a short cut to conquer the world?

b.        Why do you think Jesus stirred up enmity among the religious people?

·          What does the Acts 7:9 say about Joseph, the youngest son of Jacob?
His brothers sold him. For what? For envy!
·          When the governor Pilate asked the crowd before the feast of the Passover who should be release, Jesus or Barabbas, the Lord Jesus knew the priests delivered Him for envy to be crucified.
·          That one festering canker that is in so many churches today was in the heart of men and women then—ENVY!
·          Jesus was railroaded—delivered to the cross because of envy.
They chose to crucify Him because they hated Him.

Illustration

If you have children you ought to be up before your children go to school and cover those kids every day with the blood of Jesus and really lay hold of God’s promises concerning them. Your children live in a hell of a world—this day in which we live. If you don’t make this effort, to bring heaven’s protection to your children, pray-tell, who will do it for you?

 

REALISE THIS, when Satan thinks there is something good going to happen to your children, or if there is the remotest possibility that you kids are going to a positive force for good, he is going to dog your child looking to destroy them.

 

If Jesus tarries, some of your children will become this world’s future leaders.

 

God will make some of them missionaries and evangelists, and teachers, and pastors. Godly young men and women who will make a difference. He will take your youngsters and fill them with the Spirit, and teenagers in their early years—He is not limited by age.

Do you remember Moses?

You know, people say if you are good you will do as the government tells you. If you are good, you will tell the government to go to blazes, if they want to you disobey God.

 

When the govt. ordered all the male Hebrew babies to be murdered, the father and mother of Moses did not obey the government; they hid their baby boy.

God’s designs on him is that Moses is going to be the lawgiver, he is going to be one of the greatest men in history, and outside of Jesus the greatest leader this world has known, BUT Satan says NO!

The same thing happened in the life of Jesus.

Jesus was only a little baby, less than two years of age, when they had what history calls the “Massacre of the Innocents.” “Herod the king…was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” and Herod sought “the young child to destroy Him” (Mt. 2:3, 13).

 

When you think about king Herod it is amazing to realise that he had more faith than Jesus’ disciples. Somebody said, “There is going to be a King of the Jews” —he believed it right off! Somehow Satan said, “You better believe it, that little fellow is the Son of God with power and authority. He is going to dethrone you and wreck your kingdom.” And so just as they tried to destroy Moses at two years of age or under, they tried to destroy Jesus from the moment He was born to His last breath on the cross.

How about you?

I’ve said this so often to myself. Bob, you’ve given yourself as a living sacrifice, you’ve gone to the cross, you’ve crucified your old man that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth you should not serve sin (Rom. 6:6). BUT that old devil comes with subtlety and he says, “Hey, listen, why you being so dumb, get down from the cross and save yourself. Nobody is living like you. Others live it up. Sure, they go to church on Sunday, but other than that, as for prayer and fasting and seeking God and separating from evil they don’t bother…so…why do you do it?”

 

Why don’t you quit and get an easier job? You can get ten times as much as you get by doing some other thing. If not, at least it will be a whole lot easier”

 

He comes to you in some way. You’ve decided you were going to live according to the standard of the Lord Jesus and he says, “Well, why don’t you cheat a little bit here, and reduce your convictions there, and not be so stiff right there, and do just a little compromise. Ha, everybody gets away with it.”

2.        Satan dogged Jesus from His infancy to the cross

a.        When He had finally gone to the cross, Satan’s imps passed by—the scum of the earth passed by—wagging their heads reviling Him.

b.        It was nothing unusual for men to be put to death by being nailed on a cross in those days. This form of execution was widely practiced in Ancient Rome and in neighbouring Mediterranean cultures.

c.         Various ancient historical sources, refer to the crucifixion of thousands of people by the Romans who practiced it for over 300 years after Christ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion

Illustration

“Hey look! Who’s that going down the street carrying a cross, do you know who he is?” “Just some guy named Jesus, I think He is supposed to be a prophet. They’ve put so many rebels to death recently. Only He’s a bit more brazen than the others, and claims to be the Messiah you know. Would you believe He preached a sermon saying He would shake the world? They called it the Sermon on the Mount. I must admit He has a bit more power than some of those other guys, but you know why? They say He pushes devils around? BUT do you know how He does it? He can do it because He is the prince of devils, they have to obey Him.”

3.        Here is Jesus—the holiest, purest, most spotless man that ever lived.
What does the world do? How does it treat Him?

·           They Blister Him       •       They Blast Him          •       They Bruise Him.

The writer of Hebrews calls to us “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;” (Heb. 3:1).

C.       Compare Jesus to the high priest of that time.

1.        When the high priest went into the holy place in the temple, did he go in the torn garments of our precious Saviour? Were they stained with His own blood?

a.        Had he been smitten and bruised?

b.        Had he been up for hours being endlessly questioned and deprived of sleep?

c.         Had he been pushed around to and fro by a vassal king name of Pilate, who said, “Oh, You get Him over to Herod. You are in his domain.” And when He arrives in Herod’s presence, he orders, “You get Him back into his own territory... I don’t want to be bother with this responsibility?”

2.        You think the high priest could have gone into the holy place with a faded stained gown that once belonged to a king? And wearing a blood soaked crown of thorns, with spit running down his jaw, and hair pulled from the skin of his face, struggling and stumbling under a load as a beaten animal?

3.        The Jewish high priest went into the holy place in garments of glory and beauty, the most beautiful garments in the world, all hand sown, meticulous, and marvellous. He went with a crown on his head; he went with a breastplate full of beautiful stones.

4.        What was Jesus’ experience as He staggering to the cross?

a.        Did He have a stone? A RED stone on His breast?
No—just His own blood, that’s all.

b.        Did He have an immaculate garment threaded in gold?
No, He wore a peasant’s garment and then was stripped naked.

c.         Did He have a golden crown written in it crest “Holiness unto the Lord”? No, He had a crown of thorns with holiness in His spirit.

d.       Did people stand in awe as He went to make atonement and say, “The priest has gone in, will he come out?”

1)        No. As the holiest man that ever lived trudged up that road to Calvary’s Hill staggering under the 100 pound weight of the crossbeam on his flesh-torn back, the mocked—“Ha, ha—He is the Man that talked about being strong and He gave strength to the weak, and eyes to the blind, and He did a lot of things, and look He can’t keep up the load.”
2)        Folks, undoubtedly, as a man, Jesus, struggled physically in His weakened condition, BUT as the Christ, He wasn’t sinking under the load of the cross, He was carrying the weight of the sin of the world!

III.      Praise God, The CRUCIFIXION of Christ was never to be repeated

Those poor dumb, blind folks that stood there—the gamblers and the thieves, the lawyers and the doctors and the soldiers and scribes had no eyes to see.

 

The priest went into the holy place with gorgeous diamonds and priceless stones on his breast once a year for one nation—before the next year rolled around, he could be dead and replaced.

 

Here we have in Jesus a man staggering up the road to Golgotha’s Hill Who is going to take the consummate sin and grief—NOT of one nation, but of THE WHOLE WORLD!

There is not a computer of computers that can give you the frightful amount of human guilt; it was more than the sands by the seashore or the stars in heaven.

A.       Our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ isn’t going to go every year—He is ONLY going once into the holy of holies.

1.        Jesus isn’t burdened under a cross of wood—He is carrying the sin of the world, which Samson, with all his strength, could not carry.

2.        Our Lord is solving a problem that Solomon, with all his wisdom, could not solve.

Oh, those blind idiots looking out of their chariots,

·          Those Romans with their proud garments,
·          Those priests who thought they had an investiture from God,
·          Those merchants who scorned His poverty. God pity them!

3.        Our Lord is going to the cross. He hasn’t got a cent in His pocket YET it is He who put every vein of silver in the world and every nugget of gold in its hills.

a.        Nobody stood by Him. Not even His disciples.

b.        A Mountain folks song entitled “The Heart that was Broken for Me” that says:

“They crowned Him with thorns

he was beaten with straps

He was wounded and nailed to the tree

But the pain in His heart

was the hardest to bear<