When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.—John 19:30
It is finished! Beautiful word. Blessed salvation. It is the sixth and second to last cross word. Jesus spoke one more time after that. He said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Before he surrendered his spirit to the Father, Jesus said, “It is finished.”
What is three words in English is one word in Greek: te-tel-es-tai! The dying Christ came out of the darkness of the cross, and the whole universe came with him. He said, “I thirst!” He thirsted after his immense effort to accomplish salvation. The bystanders put a sponge full of vinegar to his mouth. With that taste of vinegar stinging his cracked lips, tingling on his teeth, and biting his parched throat, he uttered one last, glorious shout. With a voice empowered by the divine, he uttered a shout that reverberated throughout the universe: “It is finished!”
That shout made heaven and the angels rejoice, and it made hell and Satan shudder. The hosts of fiends that were so active at the cross must have paused, looked questioningly at each other, and asked, “What is finished?” They had been so busy. Busy all his life. Busy at his birth, so that Herod rose up to slay Jesus. Busy in the minds of Jesus’ enemies. Busy even on the lips of his own disciples. Busy in the chambers of the high priest and the council room of the Sanhedrin. Busy on the lips and tongues of the false witnesses, busy at Gabbatha, busy in the hammer blows of the soldier who nailed Jesus’ hands and feet to the cross, and busy in the throats of the mob shouting, “Crucify him!” Busy on the road leading past Golgotha as the crowds jeered, mocked, and reviled the dying Christ. They had worked so hard to bring him to the cross, to crucify Jesus, to finish him, and to bury him once and for all. Then at the bitter end of the cross, he shouted victoriously, “It is finished!”
What is finished?
Read full article: Sword-and-Shield-April-2021.pdf (reformedbelieverspub.org)