It Is Finished

It is finished. Those were part of the last words spoken by the Lord as He bowed His head and gave up the ghost (John 19:30). Finished because He had fulfilled His purpose. His purpose was to redeem and restore man back to God. There is no doubt that the phrase “it is finished” was directed to His Father. Another way to say this is that “Father thy will is done”.

Prior to His execution on the cross, the Lord had discussed about the means to accomplishing His purpose with His Father in a prayer. See Mark 14:36;

“And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

This discussion which He had with His Father is very crucial. Some critics have capitalized on the texts of the scripture above and have used it to describe Jesus Christ as a weakling who begged God for safety. Quick to draw at such a presumptuous conclusion, what they have failed to conceptualize is the import of the phrase “nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt” which exemplifies the Son’s absolute obedience to the will of His Father at all times. Another interesting fact is that the phrase also presents us with the mode of operation between the Father and His Son.

Due to His foreknowledge of things that should become, Jesus had a foreknowledge of the events that was about to unfold before Him. For example He had hinted Peter that he would deny him thrice before the cock crow (Matthew 26:34). It was after the cock crew that Peter remembered the spoken words of the Lord to him. See Matthew 26:75;

“And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.”

With this in mind it is apparent that Jesus had such a clear visualization of what was about to befall Him and as such He sought an alternative to accomplishing His purpose from His Father. That was why He started His conversation with God on this note “Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee”. Indeed all things are possible with the Father who alone can do all things. There is however an important question which must be trashed out. Was the Lord afraid of the things He saw? The mocking, beating and crucifixion, was He afraid of all these? One cannot just presume, but an answer can be provided for this question in the scriptures. See Hebrews 5:7;

“7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;”

The phrase “in that he feared” of verse 7 of the scriptures above is the answer to the question posed above. Yes Jesus was afraid and as a result He prayed to His Father who could deliver him. Notice also that the writer of the book of Hebrews presented us with the scenery of Jesus’ prayer to His Father in that He strongly cried with tears dropping down from His eyes. Nevertheless a fact that must appreciated is that the Lord was never afraid, He has always warned against fear. He was not afraid of death. As a matter of fact He encouraged us not to be afraid of those who can only kill the body and can do no more. Luke 12:4;

“And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.”

His words to His disciples after rebuking the wind and commanding the sea to be at peace and be still was “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?”

However in order for Jesus to be able to accomplish the work of redemption, one of the requirement of the path of the Cross requires a submission of His authority. This was what made Him to be afraid, because for the very first time He would have to lay down His authority. A proof of the aforementioned can be found in Jesus’ words to that disciple of His who struck a servant of the high priest with his sword.  Matthew 26:51-54;

“51 And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear.
52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? ”  

Notice the words of Jesus in verses 53-54 of the scriptures above “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? ” The scriptures must be fulfilled and as such He has to lay down His authority. This was very scary. The submission of His authority made Him seem like a lamb who was brought before his shearers. See the the prophetic words of Isaiah about this. Isaiah 53:7;

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

The Lion of the tribe of Judah has to submit His authority in order to become the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world (John 1:36).

There is however another important phrase which we must not lose sight of. Notice that verse 7 begins with the phrase “Who in the days of his flesh…” This shows that Jesus was completely human and at the same time He was completely God. God because of the very “life of God” that was in Him. Let us examine Jesus’ own words about the sort of life He posses. John 5:26;

“For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;”

We can see from the scriptures above that it is the Father who made His Son God by giving Him His own very “life”. It is the life of the Father in the Son that made Him the only begotten of the Father. Consequently any one that refuses Christ Jesus has refused His Father because and the life of God in the Son and as such will be denied eternal life. So it is crystal that Jesus was completely human and at the same time completely God. Although He was completely human yet He was blameless and was without sin. See Hebrews 4:15;

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Apparently the path of the cross was God’s answer to Christ’s request. This was meant to serve as the fulfillment of the prophetic symbolism of the brazen serpent which Moses hung on a stake to deliver those who had been beaten by the fiery serpents sent by God to those who spoke against Him and Moses. Numbers 21: 5-9;

“5 And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.

6 And the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.

7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD, and against thee; pray unto the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people.

8 And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.

9 And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.”

Notice that it was the same God that sent out fiery serpents to kill the people that also devised a means for their salvation. In the same vein it was God who devised Christ’s cross as the path way to our redemption. The cross is the only antidote for sin. Sin brings death, just as James the Lord’s brother noted in his writings. See James 1:15;

“…and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” 

Apostle Paul also noted the same scriptures and expressed it as “The sting of death is sin…” (1 Corinthians 15:56).

Consequently anyone beaten by the fiery serpent that looked upon the brazen serpent which Moses hung upon a stake lived. In the same vein any sinner who has realized his or her rebelliousness towards God is expected to look upon Christ on the cross in order to live. There has got to be a recompense for the sin of man. Therefore, the flesh of Christ was meant to carry all the sins of humanity while the life of God in Christ is meant to redeem and restore those that would believe in Christ. This is God’s wisdom. He did this because of His immeasurable love. 1 Peter 2:24;

“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”

I like the last part of the scriptures above, it reads “by whose stripes ye were healed”. Notice that the phrase “ye were healed” serves as an accomplishment. It is an accomplishment of the finished work of Christ on the cross. It should be remembered that prophet Isaiah had already gotten a glimpse of what should become about Christ’s work of redemption. See Isaiah 53:5;

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

The phrase “with his stripes we are healed” of Isaiah 53:5 speaks of the future. In other words, the healing has not taken place but it is set for an appointed time. But when Peter quoted the same phrase, he said “by whose stripes ye were healed” which means the healing has already taken place in Christ’s body.  Consequently we are not just redeemed and restored back to God we have been healed from the penalty or better put from the venom of the sting of death which is sin. “Sin” is the major cause of all the miseries of humanity. But because of the finished work of Christ on the cross of Calvary, an end has been brought to all the miseries of those who believed on the only begotten of the Father.

THE PATH TO REDEMPTION

The “man” Jesus was provided by God for the restoration and justification of anyone who would believe. This was exactly the reason why Apostle Paul described Christ as the power and wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:24;

“But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.”

He is the only way devised by God to bringing as many that would believe Him (Christ) to Himself. This was why Jesus Christ boldly declared of Himself as the way, the truth and the life. See John 14:6;

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

No one ever gets to God except through Christ Jesus. To seek God outside Christ is to find the devil who will masquerade himself as an angel of light to the seeker. Consequently there are no several paths to the living God. There is only one path and that is through Christ Jesus.