“Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” – Luke 2:49
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.” – John 12:27
“The Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?'” – Matthew 26:52-54
“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
It is 3:00pm. on Friday afternoon. For six hours Jesus has been hanging on the cross. Before that He had been brutally beaten several times. He was mocked, spit upon, and humiliated, and now the end was here. We have pointed out that the last three phrases of Jesus from the cross were spoken at this time…after three hours of silent darkness…the final moments before His death, He speaks.
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
“It is finished!”
“Into your hands I commit my spirit!”
The Scripture tells us that He musters His strength and speaks each of these loudly using His final breaths. Jesus is wrapping up His greatest work…dying on the cross for us. The Lamb of God has been sacrificed for all of our sin. He is dying in our place in order that we might live and be redeemed. There is nothing else that needs to be done…
“It is finished”.
Once again Jesus makes this simple declaration with one word. In the Greek it is in the perfect tense which means that it is finished “once and for all time”. It is the reason He came. This was the plan all along. Little did Mary and Joseph know that this was the Father’s business…His purpose for coming in the flesh. He was determined to go through it until it was completed. He had been tempted many times to give up this marvelous act of love, but He stayed the course. He knew His purpose and never wavered.
The words of Jesus to Peter in the garden (above) reveal that He could have called in the reinforcements at any time during this process. Today, we are reminded again that Jesus was not forced to hang on that cross. It was the very reason that He came. He was there willingly and He stayed until the work was finished! Yes, Jesus is a Finisher! There was nothing left that needed to be done. There are no loose ends…it is finished.
Believer, we have a God who is with us to the end. He does not leave things undone. This was true in His work for your salvation and it is true when it comes to His work in you. In this word from the cross Jesus reveals to us that God finishes what He starts. He will not walk away and leave you hanging…incomplete. Paul said this,
“And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 1:6
Our God is a Finisher!