It is finished - Part 1
mmalanga | July 13, 2007Friday 13 July 2007
“When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished,’ and He bowed His head and gave up His Spirit.” – John 19.30
The Valley of Vision is a collection of prayers written by the Puritans. One prayer titled, The Spirit’s Work is especially powerful. Midway through the prayer, the petitioner makes a request for the Spirit to do the following:
Lead me to the cross and show me his wounds,
the hateful nature of evil, the power of Satan;
May I there see my sins as
the nails that transfixed him,
the cords that bound him,
the thorns that tore him,
the sword that pierced him.
Help me to find in his death the reality
and immensity of his love.
Open for me the wondrous volumes of truth
in his, “It is finished”.
It would be worthwhile to ponder all the requests listed in the prayer, yet it is the last one that completely captures my attention, “Open for me the wondrous volumes of truth in his, ‘It is finished.’”
What is finished? Perhaps the writer of Hebrews can enlighten us;
“For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,” (Hebrews 9.24-26).
When Jesus said, “It is finished,” he was referring to his ministry as the perfect high priest who presents himself to God the Father as the perfect atoning sacrifice for our sins—forever! Once again the writer of Hebrews explains, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified,” (Hebrews 10.14).
“It is finished” means no sin is left unatoned for by the single offering by which Christ “has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” And those who are being sanctified (made holy) are those who rejoice to “find in his death the reality and immensity of his love.”
“It is finished” means we can expect grace where once we feared judgment.
“It is finished” means we can become a new creation in Christ, the old is passed and He who makes all things new has made us new—from the inside out.
“It is finished” means that we are no longer orphans, but that we are made part of a community. It is through Christ we “receive the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ It means the Holy Spirit, “himself bears witness with out spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him,” (Romans 8.15, 16-17).
There is more, of course. So I encourage you, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to discover the as yet unopened volumes of truth in the last words of Jesus Christ on the cross, “It is finished.”
You think about that.
MM
