When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost (Jn. 19:30). What was finished? The great Plan of God, which had been formulated in the Mind of the Godhead from before the foundation of the world (I Pet. 1:18–20), by the death of Christ on the Cross, was now finished. The story of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified is, in fact, the emphasis of the entirety of the Bible. All of eternity marched toward this one great happening. Every act on this Earth, at least that which was of the Lord, had, as its goal, only the Cross of Christ. That which the First Adam had lost, the Last Adam now purchases back with the death of Himself. The phrase, “He gave up the ghost,” is, in the Greek Text, quite another word from “expired.” In John, the Holy Spirit emphasizes the voluntary nature of His Death. The special word found here is never used in this way in the Bible, except in this Passage in reference to Christ. Verses 33 through 35 and Verses 38 through 42 are fundamentally valuable as affirming beyond controversy the actual death of Jesus Christ. The added testimony of the Centurion (Mat., Chpt. 27) is also most valuable. For the doom to which the sinner is justly sentenced was death under the Wrath of God; if Christ did not really die and suffer that Wrath, then the Divine sentence has not been satisfied and the sinner is not released. But thank God, the Divine sentence was satisfied; all are released from the terrible debt of sin, at least all who will believe (Jn. 3:16). The moment that Jesus died on the Cross, the Scripture says, “And, behold, the Veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the Earth did quake, and the rocks rent” (Mat. 27:51). This means that Redemption was now complete. The price had been paid, meaning the sin debt has been lifted; the way is now open to God, even to His very Throne, at least for all who put their Faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did for us at Calvary’s Cross. The “finish” of that great Plan did not await the Resurrection, even though the Resurrection was most definitely necessary, as would be overly obvious. The reason it did not await the Resurrection is simply because Jesus atoned for all sin on the Cross, past, present, and future, which guaranteed the Resurrection. If Christ had failed to atone for even one sin, then Jesus could not have been raised from the dead. The reason is simple! “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). But due to the fact that all sin was atoned, the Resurrection was in no way in doubt. It was at the Cross where the terrible sin debt was paid; at the Cross where the Righteousness of God was completely satisfied; at the Cross where a thrice-Holy God had His Holiness vindicated; at the Cross where the way to God was made completely open; at the Cross where the lost sons of Adam’s fallen race could make peace with God! It is finished!
Posted on: Fri, 01 Aug 2014 03:28:08 +0000
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