13/02/2014
IT IS FINISHED
John 19 : 1 – 30 records the last few hours of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ before His death and resurrection and there are a number of interesting things studying this scripture reveals. Firstly is that the account was recorded by all the gospel writers, Mathew, Luke, Mark and John. However of all of them, one of them was physically present when it occurred and this was John. Interestingly John recorded a statement that others didn’t.
“ When Jesus had tasted it, he said “It is finished”. Then he bowed His head and released His Spirit” John 19:30 NLT
Secondly the last person he spoke to directly before He released His Spirit was John. While hanging on the cross the Bible says in John 19:26 “When Jesus saw His mother standing there beside the disciple He loved, He said to her, Dear woman, here is your son. And he said to this disciple Here is your mother. And from then on this disciple took her to His home”.
After Jesus spoke to John He knew His mission was now finished. But one more thing was left to fulfil scripture. Jesus needed to say “I am thirsty”. Why did He need to say this?
In Mathew and Mark’s account of this event they record that about noon on this day, darkness fell across the whole land until 3pm. For 3 hours Jerusalem was dark, then at 3pm Jesus called out with a loud voice “ My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? This is interesting because when you merge all the information in the 4 accounts the picture becomes clearer.
When Jesus cried aloud at 3pm, He was directly quoting a scripture in Psalm 22.
“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.” Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them. They cried out to you and were saved. They trusted in you and were never disgraced. But I am a worm and not a man. I am scorned and despised by all! Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads, saying, “Is this the one who relies on the Lord? Then let the Lord save him! If the Lord loves him so much, let the Lord rescue him!”
Does this sound familiar? Note that Jesus was quoting a Psalm of David quoted when he felt abandoned and completely overwhelmed with his situation at the time. To put this scripture in perspective David’s woes can be summarized as follows
1 Samuel 21
David runs to Nob then escapes Saul and then goes to Gath. This was the same place where Goliath was from and they immediately recognized him and brought Him before the king. David had to pretend to be mad to miraculously escape death. The king asked them to release him saying he had better things to do with his time than spend it discussing a “mad man”
1 Sam 22
David leaves Gath and escapes to cave Adulam where all the misfits gather and he becomes the captain of 400 of them. On the advise of Prophet Gad he returns to Judah and as soon as Saul finds out, he begins a countrywide man hunt for David.
1 Sam 23-24
The manhunt continues. In fact Saul gathers 3000 of the best elite soldiers to find and kill David and personally leads the manhunt. They went from cave to cave looking for David. David and His men kept moving around avoiding Saul and his army. It was on one occasion that David had the opportunity to kill Saul when they camped in a nearby cave.
1 Sam 26
You will expect Saul to be more rational considering that he repented after discovering that David spared his life. Saul restarted another manhunt and David eventually flees from Judah and goes to another country.
1 Sam 30
After fighting a battle they come back home only to find out everything they owned including their families had been plundered and taken captive. At this point his people considered stoning David to death.
It was probably on one of this days of desperation that David spoke these words now recorded as Psalm 22. David had not committed any sin that warranted the manhunt to kill him which such and overwhelming force. About 1000 years later Jesus Christ while hanging on the cross quoted that exact Psalm of David around 3pm. Jesus for the first time called His Father, His God and this is really significant because I believe that that was the moment that Jesus who knew no sin, was made sin with our sinfulness that we might be made righteous with His righteousness. Then Jesus continues quoting the Psalm one more time just before dismissing His Spirit to complete His mission on earth.
Back to our Text in John 19:28
“Jesus knew that his mission was now finished and to fulfil Scripture He said “ I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch and held it up to His lips. When Jesus had tasted it He said “ It is finished”
Lets examine this closely. Jesus tasted the sour wine with His tongue and the David is quoted in Psalm 22 as saying
“My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead.”
Medical practitioners say that when a person is extremely thirsty the tongue can stick to the roof of the mouth of such a person Here is an exact quote from a patient in the USA “I have extreme dry mouth and throat. Nighttime is the absolute worst. Sometimes when I wake up with my mouth so dry, my tongue is stuck to the roof of my mouth. Sometimes I wake up and can’t swallow and I feel like I’m going to choke to death. It has come on all of a sudden and I have had it for about 5 months now”
So Jesus Christ was physically very thirsty as a result of his condition the last 12 hours prior to His public ex*****on. He is so thirsty that His tongue is sticking to the roof of His mouth, He has lost a lot of blood, He has physically lost strength and His last act as He was completely made sin with our sinfulness so that any one who believes in Him can be made righteous with His righteousness was to cry out “I thirst”. And when they brought the sour wine the moment His tongue touched the sour wine the mission was completed. Then he said “it is finished”.
Why is “it is finished” significant to us today?
In Paul’s letter to the new covenant church in Corinth he states
“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ - 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 NLTSB
So we see clearly what “It is finished” means! For those who believe in Jesus God no longer counts your sin against you! Why because God made Christ who never sinned to be the offering for our sin so that we are made right with God through Christ and this is why we can declare that I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I must say though that as a believer your spirit is saved and this is the blessed assurance and security that we have eternal life (here on earth and in heaven). That we have this security in Christ from eternal damnation however does not guaranty that we enjoy other benefits that His finished work on the cross brought to us.
To do this we must be established in His righteousness. How? One of the ways is to proclaim everyday and in every situation that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. These proclamations have a way of manifesting the finished work of Jesus particularly if we believe them absolutely without doubt.
So for example if there is evidence of sickness in your life then you should proclaim who your are in Christ and His finished work with respect to health and wellness. You can say “Because I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, His stripes has healed me. Take the Holy Communion every day in your home and as you eat the bread declare that you receive long life, good health and strength in your body.
If there is no evidence of poverty or financial lack you can boldly declare that Jesus Has supplied all your needs according to His riches in glory. Declare that He endured your poverty on the Cross that You might share in His abundance, then take bold steps by sowing financial seeds either in a business, your workplace, church project etc and see a manifestation of God’s power in your situation.
