Fifth Sunday of Lent: It is Finished

Today is the fifth Sunday of the season in the Church calendar called ‘Lent.’ During this season we’ve been focusing attention on the seven last words of Jesus as He hung dying on Calvary’s cross.

Today, we finish this series with the Lord’s final words, just before He breathed His last. Our text comes from the John 19:28-30 - “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, *said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

“It is finished.” According to John, those were the Lord’s last words. But those words beg the question, don’t they? Exactly WHAT did Jesus finish when He bowed His head and died?

It is critical that we remember this point: Jesus was in complete control of the timing of His capture, of His scourging, and of the time of His death. Earlier, He had told His disciples (John 10:14-15, 17-18a): “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, 15 even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. . . .  For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.”

The Lord and Ruler of heaven and earth could have at any time called for 12 legions of angels to rescue Him (Matthew 26:53).  But He didn’t call for them. He resolutely set Himself to complete the course set out for Him from the beginning of time itself. And perhaps no other statement of Jesus on Golgotha’s hill means so much to so many people as His cry: “It is finished.”

Millions of Christians through the millennia have focused on those words – on that PROMISE. Christians, whose lives before Christ were lived as complete reprobates, as shameless sinners, discovered such amazing grace as to mystify not only themselves, but also all those who could not help but notice their changed lives.

It was for reprobates like me – and YOU – it was for us that St Paul’s words ring ever true: (1 Timothy 1:15-16) “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.  Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”

“It is finished!”  When Jesus spoke those final three words, He did not say them with weary resignation, with a sense of defeat. No, not at all.

In my mind’s eye I see Him arch His back, lift His face toward heaven and shout with such a voice of triumph that even the centurion stopped what he was doing and in amazement stared at Jesus who had just trumpeted: IT. IS. FINISHED!

I don’t think anyone in history has ever – or could ever – know the full extent of what Jesus meant when He said, “It is finished.” But I will tell you some of what it means to me, as I study the Scriptures.  

When Jesus finished His work on Golgotha, He finished the Father’s plan initiated before the ages began. We know God is holy. We know He is utterly righteous. And we know that His unalterable purpose of Justice ALWAYS judges sin – the wages of which are always, without exception, death. Eternal death.

But we also know God is a merciful and loving Father. So, how could the utterly holy and righteous Judge of sin extend mercy to sinners? By spending His wrath against sin on His sinless Son, whom we know as Jesus. It was when Jesus became sin for us – as St Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:21—when Jesus BECAME sin, God spent His wrath on Jesus and at the SAME TIME extended His mercy toward the sinner who comes to Jesus as his or her atonement for sin.

And THAT is why, when the Lord finished His work of Calvary, spilling His blood as our substitutionary payment for our sins, He PURIFIED – He made spotless, unstained, unpolluted – all who seek Him for the cleansing of their sins.

Listen to what St Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome about that point: (Romans 3:23) “[F]or all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Him God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.”

Propitiation: A fifty-dollar word which simply means Christ’s blood completely covers all – ALL – of our confessed sins. And the word ‘remission’? That means God has completely erased from His own memory all, all, all of our confessed sins. The writer to the Hebrews, quoting from the prophet Jeremiah about the New Covenant, gives us God's view of His forgiveness: (Hebrews 8:12) “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.”

Wow! Think of that for a while. God has chosen to FORGET all of our confessed sins. Forever. No need to fear any punishment or purging of our sins. As far as our Judge is concerned – those sins no longer exist.

But there is yet more to Jesus’ finished work. When He breathed His last, He gave – and gives – everyone on earth who trusts and obeys Him the right to become a child of God. We are no longer a child of sin, a child of rebellion, a child of the devil – but a child of Almighty God, adopted into His family.

Now think of that truth as it applies to YOU who trust and obey Christ. (Ephesians 2:19-20) “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens [to God], but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone.”

Listen now to this word to the Christians at Galatia (3:26) “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” This is because God's infallible word assures everyone who puts his or her faith in Christ’s sacrificial atoning death on that cross – God assures us: “As many as received [Christ], to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

I love to remember the day when I told Him I was His! That I belonged to Jesus. That I would from that day follow Jesus.

Do you remember the day YOU told Him you were His? Even if you were baptized as an infant, there must – there HAD to have come a time when, as an adult, you committed yourself to Him. It is as St. Paul wrote: “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11) So, when Jesus said, “It is finished,” in that moment, He opened the door for all who wish it to be called children of God.

But there is yet more. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He set us free from the fear of death because we now belong to Him. Listen to this promise from the book of Hebrews: (Hebrews 2:14-15) “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

No wonder St. Paul was able to say: (1 Corinthians 15:54b-57) “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Christian – listen to this important question: Are YOU afraid to die? If yes, then why? There is no real ‘unknown’ about death. I mean, what is it we REALLY need to know except that the true follower of Christ will forever enter into eternal joy and peace and love in that place we call heaven? No pain. No sickness. No loneliness. No fear. No heartache. And we will enjoy our ‘forever’ with our family and friends who also died with Christ in their hearts.

Listen to His promise through the prophet Isaiah: (Isaiah 25:8-9) “He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces . . . . And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

I’ve only known Jerry Feola for the last few years, but I consider him a friend and a great man of God. During the time I’ve known him, cancer has been slowly stealing his life, and now Jerry’s battle is coming to a close. He told me a few weeks ago he’s tired of the fight. He no longer has the energy to continue. He is now in Home Hospice, medicated only to control his pain.

You might remember what I said several weeks ago as we started this series of the Lord’s last words on the cross. I said that the ‘last words’ of the one dying often reveal something important about their character, about their heart, and their relationship with Christ.

During the week I spent meditating on this message, I received an email from Jerry, sent to a few dozen friends. In the email he told us of his and his wife’s decision to stop all cancer treatments and await the Lord to bring him home. I want to read for you his ‘last words’ as he awaits his death because his email reveals his heart for God. It reveals his desire to win souls to Christ, while he still has the breath to do so. Here is his simple email written for his many friends – some even attend church, but do not yet know the Savior: 

“As many of you know I (we) as a family have made the decision to be placed on home Hospice. That means all cancer treatments are stopped. Hospice takes over my pain management. [So], my dear friends, I'm not aware of when I will die, but my death will bring several guarantees with it. [Here are only a few]:

“John 3:16 For GOD loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in Him will not die but have everlasting life; Romans 3:23 ...for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“My friends please read these verses several times because I would love to see you in heaven when you die, which is where I'm headed. Blessings, Jerry.”

Jerry’s email reflects in large degree what St. Paul wrote to his readers in Philippi: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.” (Philippians 1:21-23)

Jerry’s heart also says this along with St Paul: “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord — for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:6-9)

God's promises through the apostle are all true for Jerry – AND they are true for you and me, and for all who look with confidence to the appearing of our Lord and Savior – because we know that Jesus meant what He said and said what He meant when He cried out: “It is finished.”

But there is yet one more point I want to mention today – one of the many I did not mention for the sake of time. And that point is this: Our sins earned us God’s wrath, and like the sword of Damocles, it hung over our heads. Listen to St John’s warning: “He who believes in the Son,” Jesus said, “has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)

But when Jesus declared, “It is finished,” God directed His wrath due to us onto His Son. That means – oh! We have GOT TO GET THIS! That means that you and I who so worthily deserve (present tense) – who so worthily deserve God's wrath are now forever safe.

Isaiah wrote these words 700 years before Jesus died on that cross: “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.”  (Isaiah 53:5-6)

As I said at the beginning of this message, who can really know ALL that it meant when Jesus said, “It is finished”? But of this much we can be sure:  

First: All who come with obedient faith to Christ receive complete purification of their sins and God’s promise to forever forget those sins.

Second: Because it is finished, everyone who comes to Christ in obedient faith becomes adopted into God's eternal family.

Third: Because it is finished, death is utterly and forever defeated for those who faithfully follow Christ.

And fourth: Because it is finished, God directed His complete and full wrath against our sin – and spent it on Jesus, His Son. That means God will NEVER spend His wrath on those who follow Christ Jesus. Never.

People have told me God is a myth, a fable created by the weak, the desperate, the superstitious, the ignorant. But those who say such things have never met my Jesus, have never felt His presence so close you can almost hear His heartbeat, have never heard Him whisper: “Even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you. I have done it, and I will carry you; I will bear you and I will deliver you.” (Isaiah 46:4)

People might ask YOU why you are so passionate about Christ. But how can we NOT be passionate about the one who did so much for us on that bloody cross? How can we not be passionate about the One who has never stopped loving us, no matter what we’ve done or how often we’ve done it? Even at our worst, His love for us never diminished one iota.

As Jesus hung on that cross, He reached out His nail-pierced hand and pulled us from our trajectory toward inevitable self-destruction. He saved us even when others might have thought we were not worth saving.

And best yet, what He did for us, He wants to do for anyone – for everyone. Our Jesus has never refused the desperate cry of any penitent. All you and I need to do is thank Him and offer Him our lives in growing obedience.

Won’t you do it now? For the first time, or the hundredth time, won’t you do it now?