After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:28-30
“IT IS FINISHED!” Before we proclaim on Easter Sunday that “He is Risen!” it is these three words we hear.
“It is finished!” It’ll be seen on social media and inscribed on Easter merchandise. It’s a familiar phrase, celebratory and marketable. But have we grasped what it really means?
Most Christians would rightly reply (I think) that Jesus uttered these words from the cross to let the world know he had completed all he had come to earth to do. What’s confusing to me though is when we talk about the gospel we don’t mention what it was he had accomplished before the cross. Instead we focus only on him coming to die for our sins. But this is just half of it. What we aren’t connecting is that he first had live the perfect life for us! This is the “It is finished” part, as important to the gospel as his death and resurrection.
What Christ accomplished in life is what made way for the great identity exchange upon his death. At the cross he took as his own identity all the sin of all his children and in exchange gave to us his identity. His holy, perfect and righteous record. In other words, he became sin so that we would be made righteous.
But apart from Jesus having lived the perfect life this wouldn’t be possible. He earned what we cannot. We don’t obey perfectly. We fail to measure up to the law. We sin externally and internally all the time because our heart is deceitful beyond comprehension. Only Jesus always obeyed perfectly. Only he was without sin. Only he successfully measured up to all of God’s requirements. That is why he proclaimed, “It is finished!” He did it all. He secured our salvation, union with him and identity in him. There was nothing left to do.
“It is finished!” is more than something sentimental to say at Easter. “It is finished” are three little words that should change the way we live.
If we really believed “it is finished:”
- we would stop striving to measure up on our own accord
- we would be free to admit and deal honestly with sin
- we wouldn’t feel like we needed to “clean ourselves up” before we go to God or to church
- we wouldn’t wear a mask trying to appear more spiritual than we are
- we would rest in our identity secured
- we would believe we are loved, accepted and approved by God
- we would better trust God.
God’s sees us as he sees his Son. This is the unmerited grace of the gospel and what it means that IT IS FINISHED!
