It is Finished!

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. NKJV

The ability to begin an assignment, task, or project and see it brought to completion is very gratifying. I have begun things in the past and not finished them. It is the common testimony of every person to have ever lived to know the frustration of starting something that seemed so certain and all-consuming but ended being left in ruins. Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble or turmoil as said by Job in the Bible. Not so with our Lord Jesus Christ, His meat was to do the will of God the Father and He finished His work completely. Although He healed many people from diseases and fed hungry people, He did not come with social programs to better man’s existence on earth. He was born of woman with the singular purpose and goal to die a horrific and brutal death not for a life lived as a malefactor, but instead a life lived perfectly and lain down for all the rest of humanity. He was born very unceremoniously to the world He came into, but the angels sang a chorus of praise in announcing His birth into the world to lowly Jewish shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. The angels and the chosen few were made to know that the King of Kings was being born that day. He would not be like other earthly kings who ruled with force or brutality keeping their subjects in fear of punishment or even death. His Kingdom would be an internal Kingdom of the hearts/minds of men and women wrought by regeneration and a new birth (see article entitled “The King of Hearts” www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=85059).

Luke 17:20-21 Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” NKJV

This King said when asked if He even were a King, “You say rightly that I am a King, but My Kingdom is not of this world.”  Here was a man being jeered by thousands screaming for Him to be put to death, and yet He called Himself a King. He had only a hand full of men and women following Him and even most of them were nowhere to be found as He was about to be killed (see article entitled “Are we Bearing Our Cross-for Him Today?” www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=91234). What King willingly allows Himself to be mocked, scourged, and nailed to a cross when all He ever did was go about doing good? Jesus Christ the perfect King that came into the world to bear the sins of the world in order to redeem all who would look to Him alone for salvation. When He said, “It is finished”, He meant He had satisfied the justice of God the Father against man by taking the Father’s wrath against man’s sin. Through faith in this man this King is the only way any person can be in a right relationship with The True God and there are no other paths, trails, or roads that will remove the wrath of God that is upon every person born than what Jesus Christ finished by His death on that cross.

Colossians 2:13-14 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. NKJV

Romans 3:21-26 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. NKJV

Philippians 2:5-11 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. NKJV

“Look to the cross, and hate your sin, for sin nailed your Well Beloved to the tree. Look up to the cross, and you will kill sin, for the strength of Jesus' love will make you strong to put down your tendencies to sin.” “Sin to a believer is horrible, because it crucified the Saviour; he sees in every iniquity the nails and spear.” Charles Spurgeon

“A man who covers up the cross though he may be an intellectual man, and draw large crowds will have no ilk there, and his church will be but a gilded sepulcher.” D. L. Moody

“Only in the Cross of Christ will we receive power when we are powerless. We will find strength when we are weak. We will experience hope when our situation is hopeless. Only in the Cross is there peace for our troubled hearts.” Dr. Michael Youssef

“It was not the volume of sin that sent Christ to the cross; it was the fact of sin.” “The single most important thread in working through your disappointments is that your heart and mind ponder and grasp what the cross of Jesus Christ is all about. There is no pattern without the cross. There is no Good News without it. That is what the gospel is all about.” Ravi Zacharias

“It's as if you could see Jesus Christ going along the road to the cross, the Via Dolorosa moving to His own execution, bearing on His back the cross upon which He will bear the sins of all the world. And in His train, millions of people, all with their cross, willing to take His reproach. Glorious scene.” John MacArthur

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…