This is John 19, verse 30.
"When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."
This morning, when I read over this passage once again, in preparation for what we're now doing, a hymn flooded into my mind that I want to read to you that just is so important in this moment.
When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss, and poor contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to His blood.
See from His head, His hands, His feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
When I read to you the words, "It is finished," I read the account of some of the most important, hope-giving, life-transforming words that have ever been spoken on earth. "It is finished!" You can't understand, as a believer who you are, and the blessings that are yours, without these words. You can't understand the person and work of Jesus without these words. You can't understand the gospel without these words. When Jesus says, "It is finished," he's talking about something profoundly more than the fact that he was about to die. He's talking about our redemption!
From the moment that Adam and Eve ate that forbidden fruit, history was marching toward these three words. Everything that's happened since was and is marching toward this, from the freedom of Israel from captivity, and the giving of the law, and the journey through the wilderness, and the gift of the promised land, and God's discipline of Israel into captivity, and the bringing back of God's people, and the royal line of David, and prophet after prophet, all of this is marching to the birth and the life and the end, of the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus for us. He is hanging on the cross and he wants us to know, and John has recorded it so that we would remember, everything that was needed to be done to provide our eternal salvation, our justification, our reconciliation to God, had been accomplished. Nothing more needed to be added. Jesus had lived a perfectly righteous life all the time and in every way. He had resisted Satan and every form of temptation. He had revealed the glory of the Father. He had called his disciples to carry on his work. He was now paying the penalty for our sin. Everything needed for our redemption had been accomplished. He could look at his life and say, "I've done it! It's done! It's accomplished! It's finished!
This is what grace does-grace provides everything we need! And that flow of grace is carried on today. Everything we need for life now and life to come has been accomplished by the work of Jesus. You and I add nothing to our salvation because Jesus did it all. It really is true that Jesus is our wisdom, our righteousness, and our redemption. I love to be able to say it, "It's done! It's done! It's done!
Questions for Personal Reflection or Group Discussion
1. When you pause and reflect again on Jesus' statement, "It is finished," how do those three words stir your affection for him? How do they encapsulate the message of the gospel? How do they apply specifically to you and the calling God has for your life?
2. If nothing more needs to be added to the atoning work of Jesus Christ, why do you think it's so difficult for us to practically live that way each day? In other words, why do we live day-by-day as if Jesus didn't do enough?
3. If grace provides everything that we need, what parts of your life are you trying to earn what you'll never be able to earn? How can you purposefully remind yourself that it is finished when you are tempted to add to the perfect work of Jesus?
Conversation Prompts to Use with Children
For Younger Children:
• If something is perfect, what do you think that means?
• Why is it so important that Jesus was perfect? Why was his sacrifice for us on the cross perfect? What do you think it means that Jesus said, "It is finished" when he was on the cross?
• How does "it is finished" connect to you today?
For Older Children:
• If Jesus was perfect and his sacrifice for us on the cross was perfect, why do you think we struggle to believe that in our day to day lives? How do you try to add to Jesus' perfect life, work, and sacrifice? Why is it foolish for anyone to try to add to the perfection of Jesus?
• When Jesus said, "It is finished" on the cross, how does that statement connect to you personally today? Why is his "it is finished" eternally important for you and I to understand?
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