“It Is Finished”
[John
19:28-30]
June 25, 2017, Second Reformed Church
Last week, we saw Jesus crucified as
a curse for us, bearing the full Wrath of God for our sins. As Jesus is crucified, Pilate identifies
Jesus in a short summary of the Gospel – being led by God – “This is Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” and Jesus fulfills His duty to His mother, by
making sure that John will take her into his home and care for her.
John then skips over a number of
comments Jesus makes – as well as the decent of darkness, the tearing of the
Temple veil, and the resurrection of many of the dead – all of which John knows
his readers can find in the other three Gospels. Therefore, he moves on to the last moments of
Jesus’ life.
And we see, Jesus knows it is
finished.
“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.”
In order for the Savior to accomplish
salvation for all those the Father gives Him, He must do and be everything that
the prophets prophesied about Him. If
Jesus fails in any word of the prophets, it is proof that He is not the Savior.
Therefore, in order to fulfill the
Scriptures, Jesus cries out for a drink – He cries out that He is thirsty. This was not just a prop to fulfill the
prophecy – there is no doubt that He was thirsty. The sour wine – vinegar – was available for
the soldiers, and, if they desire to give it to them – those being
crucified. As Jesus hangs on the cross
for three hours, alternating between pushing up on the nails – in horrific pain
– to be able to catch a breath and slumping down – causing His lungs to
collapse, Jesus exerts a lot of energy – He gets thirsty. Therefore, He says He is thirsty – knowing
that it is finished – and the soldiers condescend to give Him a drink.
In Psalm 69, a psalm in which David is
pleading with God to saving him from his enemies, David writes, “They gave me
poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink” (Psalm
69:21, ESV).
And, as we mentioned last week, as we
looked at another Psalm, this is poetry and David is using symbolic language. Here, David says he was fed poison and sour
wine. Since David lived, we know this symbolically
represents how he felt on the run – food was distasteful to him – it made him
ill. However, he was not really
poisoned. In addition, in the Providence
of God, David wrote this line of his poem, that God would have it fulfilled in
Jesus.
Jesus drinks the bitter wine – the
vinegar. And are we not reminded of what
Jesus said in the Garden: “Put your
sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
(John 18:11b, ESV). Again, think
symbolically – when Jesus talks about the cup His Father has given Him, He is
talking about His death – the work that the Father gave His Son to accomplish.
And again, we might think of the symbolism
of living water: “Jesus answered [the woman at the well], ‘If you knew the gift
of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have
asked him, and he would have given you living water”’” (John 4:10, ESV). Hear, we have the symbolism of “living water”
– that is, of full and eternal purification – given by Jesus. And as Jesus suffers thirst and is quenched
with a drink that burns His throat – that we who believe are made eternally well –
forever quenched – to carry out the symbolism.
Jesus knows it is finished, and as part of
it being finished, Jesus drinks the bitter cup, fulfilling the Scripture,
drinking the bitter cup for our sake and in obedience to His Father.
Second, Jesus says it is finished.
“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he
said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
Notice, after Jesus says, “it is
finished,” He gives up His spirit. No
one took His spirit from Him – no one took His life from Him.
Yes, the Romans and the Jews – symbolic of
all people – put Jesus to death. However,
remember what Jesus says:
“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and
my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay
down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I
must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one
flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my
life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of
my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it
up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:14-18, ESV).
Jesus is sovereign in the moment of His
death – He does not die until it is finished.
And that’s it.
But there is one more question to
consider: what is “it”? What is the “it” that Jesus knows is finished
and says is finished? What has just been
accomplished?
Listen carefully to what Paul writes:
“Therefore, just as sin came into the
world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because
all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is
not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even
over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type
of the one who was to come.
“But the free gift is not like the
trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace
of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for
many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the
judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift
following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's
trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive
the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through
the one man Jesus Christ.
“Therefore, as one trespass led to
condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification
and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made
sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the
law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded
all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through
righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans
5:12-21, ESV).
Paul begins: sin and death – physical and spiritual – came
into the world by one man – Adam – who functioned as humanity’s representative
in the Garden – so every mere human being is now born a sinner – with a sin
nature – inclined towards sin – at odds with God – condemned by God.
God’s governmental system is
representative – just as we have in the United States. What our representatives do apply to all of
us. When our representatives pass a law,
we are all bound to the rules and regulations of that law.
In the same way, Adam is humanity’s
representative in the Garden, and Adam sinned – himself – and on our behalf,
because he is our representative, so we are all born sinners, law-breakers,
haters of God, and so forth. We are born
condemned by God.
Now, God chose to save a people for
Himself, and the Trinity sent God the Son to become the incarnate – enfleshed –
human, God-Man – representative for all those people that God the Father gave
to His Son. God chose a people for
Himself and appointed Jesus as our representative.
As
our representative, Jesus did what Adam did not do – Jesus kept the whole Law
of God – Jesus kept the Law of God perfectly.
Jesus always, only worshipped God
Alone.
Jesus never put anything in God’s
place – Jesus never worshipped an idol.
Jesus always used and represented
God’s Name rightly.
Jesus always kept the Sabbath
rightly.
Jesus always honored His parents
perfectly.
Jesus never murdered – He never got
angry unjustly.
Jesus never committed adultery – He
never lusted after anyone.
Jesus never stole anything – He
never took things home from work like everyone else does.
Jesus never lied about other people.
Jesus never coveted – He never
lusted after what other people had – He never thought He deserved better.
And besides the Ten Commandments,
Jesus kept every other law of God – over six hundred over them –
perfectly. Unlike Adam, Jesus kept every
law perfectly and sinlessly. Jesus loves
God and neighbor perfectly.
And, because Jesus acts as our
representative, we who believe in Him savingly are counted as righteous – our
account is credited with His perfect and sinless keeping of the Law of God. So God looks at us through Jesus and declares
us righteous.
But that’s not all:
Since we are born with a sin nature
and sin and continue to sin, in order for God to be just, that sin has to be
paid for. Either each individual human
must receive the Wrath of God for our sin, or another Man can take the Wrath of
God for us – He can be our Substitute before God – He can represent us before
God.
Our representative, God the Son in
the Person of Jesus, is the Only One Who can do such a thing, since He,
Himself, has no sin.
As the author of Hebrews reminds
us: “look[] to Jesus, the founder and
perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the
cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of
God” (Hebrews 12:2, ESV).
“For we do not have a high priest
who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect
has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15, ESV).
Our sin – the sin of all those who
will ever believe – is credited to Jesus – as our representative and substitute
before God – a position Jesus willingly and sovereignly took “for the joy that
was set before Him” – the salvation of His people – and He endured and survived
the full punishment and payment to God as justice for our sin against God.
So, the “it” that Jesus knows is
finished – the “it” that Jesus says is finished – is our salvation. Jesus knows and proclaims that He has done
everything necessary to save the people His Father gave Him: He has paid the debt for all of our sins and
He has credit us with His perfect keeping of the Law of God. So we are now what we are becoming – the holy
people of God.
Over thirty-three years, Jesus
patiently and lovingly works to accomplish and finish our salvation – and on
the cross, He knows and proclaims, “It is finished.” In addition, His physical resurrection proves
the efficacy of His works.
So, what is left for us to do to
achieve salvation?
Nothing. It is finished.
All the work of salvation is done.
There is no intermediary to go
through – except Jesus.
We are to do good works in response
– in thanksgiving – for what Jesus finished.
But these works do not – they cannot count towards our salvation.
We can commit our souls to God with
confidence – it is finished.
We can live lives of joy – it is
finished.
We look forward to the Kingdom with
confidence – it is finished.
We can know we are at peace with God
– it is finished.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, what can we do but
thank You and worship You and say that You are worthy? Thank You for the gift of salvation that You
have given to all of Your people through the work of Your Son, Jesus
Christ. Thank You for making us
righteous and for forgiving all of our sin through Him, so our salvation is
finished and complete. Help us to
remember that and not to think that we are earning approval with You. But let us rejoice and give thanks in all
that You have given us, and let us be faithful stewards in going forth to the
ends of the earth with Your Gospel. For
it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
