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John 19:30, So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!”  And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

What Jesus endured at this time was dreadful.  At His arrest, His disciples ran and he was alone.  He was unlawfully put on trial where lies were told about Him, an outlaw by the name Barabbas was chosen by the crowd to be set free. He was beaten, whipped, mocked, spit on, a crown of thorns pushed down on His head, and He was nailed to a cross.  While on the cross, He forgave those doing it to Him, forgave a thief hanging on a cross beside Him, made sure His mother was taken care of, asked the Father why He had abandoned Him, tasted some sour wine, declared something was finished, and then gave up His spirit.

What was finished?  Arthur Pink stated in his book The Seven Sayings of the Savior on the Cross:  “This statement is the foundation of the Believer’s confidence, their assurance that their salvation has been won.  For Jesus this statement was not an expression of satisfaction that the termination of His suffering was now reached; it was not the last grasp of a worn-out life.  No, rather it was the declaration on the part of the divine Redeemer that all for which He had came from heaven to earth to do was now done…”   For whoever would be believe, nothing else needed to be done for salvation.  It was now finished; salvation for all who would believe was accomplished – paid in full!

Jesus responded to many He had healed or done a miracle for not to tell anyone because His “time had not yet come”.  Many times, He had told His disciples that He had to go to Jerusalem to suffer and die.  They had not been able to grasp what that meant; some had even tried to talk Him out of it.   I doubt many of us would have understood and had a good chuckle out of someone saying such things.  Now, His terrible suffering was finished!  Done!  Task accomplished!  The wages of sin had been paid!

What does all this mean?  It is a message to all of us that the plan from the very beginning has been accomplished.  The sinner (all of us sin) can do nothing more to add to what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross.  Our sins have been transferred to our Savior as He hung on the cross.  That’s the message of “It is finished”!  When God put our sins – past, present, future - on Christ they are no longer on us.  When we do sin, we confess it – forgiveness.  The condemnation of sin, the penalty of sin is gone because it was placed on Jesus Christ.

Jesus said “It is finished”.   Who can question it?

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