“It is Finished!”

“So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” (John 19:30 NKJ).

Easter, or Resurrection Day as I prefer, is upon us. It is the time of year that we take special note of and ponder the death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  In fact, all this week is a week when we reflect upon the events that led up to the greatest historical events of all mankind since God created man, forming him from dust of the earth on the sixth ordinary day of the creation week.

While the pain and agony that Christ suffered under the hands of wicked men were more than most men could even imagine, we must never forget what His immense and intense suffering accomplished for sinners, like you and me. The importance of what took place some 2,000 years ago can never be over emphasized, unless we take for granted one of the greatest events of human history (the other event being His resurrection from the dead three days later).

Jesus’ final words before He died were, “It is finished!” the very simple statement of fact recorded for us by the apostle John is so profound that its significance could easily be overlooked. The magnitude of this simple statement reaches into the very depths of the soul of every man who were saved by Christ’s death on the cross.

It meant that:

• His death gave to all for whom He died a spiritual and actual hope than can never be measured, nor dreamed of by any man.
• Christ did what no man could ever do for himself or anyone else for that matter

o   He fulfilled all the requirements of the Law (Colossians 2:11-14), because we     could not

o   By His blood He redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us (Galatians 3:13)

o   He who knew no sin made full satisfaction of the justice of God; having been made sin, He fully satisfied once and for all time the wrath of God against the sins of all upon whom He set His love, reconciling the sinner to God (Hebrews 10:11-18; cf. Deuteronomy 7:7-8; Romans 5:8-9; 2 Corinthians 5:21)

o   He bore in His body and soul the death penalty in His one atoning sacrifice on the cross (Romans 6:23)

• Jesus Christ fulfilled all the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the promised Messiah from the very first promise of hope in Genesis 3:15, to the prophecy of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53, to the declaration of John the Baptizer, who when he saw Jesus walking towards him declared, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
• All the obstacles of true peace and fellowship with God had been removed; and having been justified in His death, access to the Father is now possible by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone (Romans 5:1-2)

So how do you know if you are one of those for whom Christ died?

Here is the good news, if you have ears to hear. You can be assured with unwavering confidence that all who come to the Father by faith alone, embracing with a believing heart and a humble spirit Christ’s one atoning sacrifice on the cross for the forgiveness of sins on his/her behalf, fulfilling completely and perfectly all the requirements of the Law that were against him/her, and satisfying God’s justice paying in full the penalty for his/her sins, without regard for his/her own works, belong to Christ.  All who belong to Him will be saved from the condemnation of sin, and delivered from the bondage of sin. Moreover, all who rest in Christ alone for salvation have the hope of everlasting life as an heir and co-heir together with Christ and all the saints who are in Him by grace alone through faith alone.

Through this message of the good news of Jesus Christ the call has been given. To all who are being saved will come to Christ in true faith and in repentance of his/her sins for His salvation. All refuse this call and reject Christ will remain in his/her sin and will continue under the curse of the Law and the condemnation of the sin in which he/she was born.

Today is the day of salvation. Call upon the name of Christ with a believing heart and you will be saved and give evidence that you belong to your heavenly Father and have been a child of God by the washing away of your sins and the necessary work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit making you alive from being dead in your trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-10).

All mankind is born in sin and have fallen short of the glory of God (Psalm 51:5; Romans 3:23); but not all will be saved (Mark 10:45; John 10:25-29; Romans 2-1-33). And salvation is in no other, not even our good works (Acts 4:12; Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:20).

My prayer for you, my friends, is that you will hear the call of Christ’s salvation this day to the glory of God. Amen!