IT IS FINISHED

It was Passover time on the Jewish calendar, and the day of atonement was at hand. From the sixth hour to the ninth a deep pall of darkness hung over all the earth. It was time for the evening sacrifice. It was perfect timing. The Lamb of God that had come to take away the sin of the world was on the cross.


Out of the dense darkness came a cry from the cross, "It is finished!" Luke adds, "Jesus cried with a loud voice, Father, unto thy hands I commend my spirit." It was the cry of a victor! We can imagine that the cry reverberated around the world and struck terror to the devil and his dark minions wherever they were. And we are sure that all heaven rejoiced as angels were crying, "The King is coming home." The promise made in Eden's garden that the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent had been fulfilled.


It is finished is our English translation; Tetelestai is the Greek. The commentators agree that the book of Matthew was written for the Jews. I would argue against all comers that the cry was His native tongue, Note the fact that in Matt. 27:46, the cry, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," is recorded in the Hebrew - Aramaic.


We mortals are so pain conscious that our first thought might be that Jesus was saying that the pain was ended. Crucifixion would seem to be about the most painful thing that man or devil could devise. We can be sure that Jesus had something else in mind. You will remember that Jesus was very time conscious. At the wedding feast in Cana when His first miracle was performed, Jesus told His mother, "Mine hour is not yet come;" and again and again, He repeated this. But in John 17:1, as He neared the cross, in His high priestly prayer, He said, "Father, the hour is come ..." and in verse 4, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do."


The first recorded words of Jesus were, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" This was when he was 12 years old, about the time a Jewish boy takes his bar-mitzvah and becomes a son of the law. We know that Jesus grew in stature and in wisdom, and one wonders if this was not the first time that He had a full realization of His "business." From that time onward the cross cast its shadow across His path. Those were silent years from that time until he was about 30 years of age. Lk. 3:23. It was then that He came to be baptized of John in Jordan. This is the age that priests were recognized and anointed as priests. The anointing of Jesus was a baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus overcame the remonstrance of John saying, "For thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." All of the Holy Trinity were present. Jesus is fulfilling all the law. The Holy Spirit descends upon Him; God the father speaks approval from heaven, and Jesus begins His preaching ministry in the synagogue of His home town Nazareth. Our High Priest is on His way to the cross.


At the death of our Substitute on Calvary's hill, there was finished the night of fasting and prayer on lonely hillsides; finished too, the questioning and criticism of self-righteous Pharisees and the taunting of angry mobs. But there were more important things. He had come to finish the old covenant and the sacrificial system, and to establish the new covenant, a better covenant ... established upon better promises, Heb. 8:6. With His blood Christ entered the holy place of "heaven itself," and placed His blood of heaven's altar in the tabernacle not made with hands. He now appears "in the presence of God for us" Heb. 9"24.


At His death, the veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom. All who are true believers, saved by faith in the blood of Jesus, can come, not by a substitute high priest under the law, but through our Lord Jesus Christ, into the presence of God. We offer our prayers "in Jesus' name."


His work is finished. Ours is not. Millions have never heard the message of salvation.