“It Is Finished”

This devotional is the sixth in a seven-part series leading up to Easter through the season of Lent. Each week’s devotional will focus on one of Jesus’ seven sayings from the cross. 

“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

In the Garden of Eden, the first man and woman lived in perfect union with God. They enjoyed the blessings of walking in a relationship with the Lord. However, the enemy soon came on the scene. He tempted Eve to disobey God, and she convinced her husband to partake of the same sin. With this decision, sin came into the world, and through sin, death (Romans 5:12).

Even before that moment, God had put His plan in motion. He proclaimed that He would send someone born of a woman who, though Satan would bruise His heel, would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). 

The Lord set apart a people for Himself. He gave His law to make the people aware of their sin and instituted sacrifices to atone for this sin temporarily. He disciplined them when they disobeyed, but He also showed steadfast love and mercy when they fell. God sent prophets to proclaim the message that the Messiah was coming, that the pain and injustice of the world would one day be set right by God’s chosen servant whom He was sending.

Then, Jesus came. He was born of a virgin. He grew up and grew “in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). He started His public ministry, performing many miracles and proclaiming the truth of the coming Kingdom. He healed the sick, made the lame walk, restored the sight of the blind, and even raised the dead back to life on a few occasions! He never shied away from the truth and from calling out the hypocritical religious leaders on their sin. He loved those who did not love Him, forgave those who hurt Him, and chose as His closest followers some men who would deny and betray Him. 

All of this, however—every single moment of history—led up to this single moment in John 19:30. At this point, Jesus has taken on God’s wrath. He who knew no sin has become sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). He has drunk the cup of suffering and “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). 

Now, it is finished. The work is done. Jesus gives these words as a cry of victory. He has obeyed His Father, never wavering from God’s will for His Son. He has loved, served, and laid down His own life as a sacrifice. There is nothing more to be done. 

With this, Jesus dies. He willingly gives up His Spirit. 

Since Jesus has completed this work, anyone who comes to Him can have a relationship with Christ and experience eternal life. The law is now fulfilled by Jesus, and grace abounds (Matthew 5:17, Romans 5:20). Now, the Messiah who had been prophesied of for centuries has accomplished what it was said He would do. The steadfast love and mercy of God towards sinners is seen in full display on Calvary, where our Savior, Jesus Christ, died the death we deserve (Romans 5:8). 

Now, the serpent who brought about all the death and destruction we see through sin’s entrance into the world has been defeated. Satan may have thought he won when Christ died, but Jesus’ death would prove to be Satan’s undoing. The devil never stood a fighting chance, but through His work on the cross, Jesus has rendered him powerless. For those who are in Christ, sin and death are taken care of, for truly, it is finished. 

“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.” Romans 5:17

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To read another devotional I wrote on this verse a few years ago, you can click here.