“It is finished” (John 19:30) Part 6 0f 7

Introduction As Jesus our Lord was on the cross, His “last words” teach us many lessons In this series I hope to share with you some insight into those final moments before Jesus took His last breath and died. In our last lessons we studied, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”

Introduction As Jesus our Lord was on the cross, His “last words” teach us many lessons In this series I hope to share with you some insight into those final moments before Jesus took His last breath and died. In our last lessons we studied, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise”

Introduction As Jesus our Lord was on the cross, His “last words” teach us many lessons In this series I hope to share with you some insight into those final moments before Jesus took His last breath and died. In our last lessons we studied, “Woman, behold your son…Behold your mother”

Introduction As Jesus our Lord was on the cross, His “last words” teach us many lessons In this series I hope to share with you some insight into those final moments before Jesus took His last breath and died. In our last lessons we studied, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken Me?”

Introduction As Jesus our Lord was on the cross, His “last words” teach us many lessons In this series I hope to share with you some insight into those final moments before Jesus took His last breath and died. In our last lessons we studied, “I am thirsty”

“It is finished” Like all mankind, Jesus was destined to die. The question that we all must be able to answer in death is: Did I finish the task of the Father? Jesus is the only one that can say with absolute truth that everything the Father wanted was perfectly completed in His life Though He died a traumatic death, He died doing all of the Father’s will

“It is finished” There was nothing left in the flesh that Jesus could do for the Father…We were redeemed and that was the Father’s purpose in sending Jesus The sentence “It is finished” is but one word in the Greek (“tetelestai”) which means, “to bring to an end, to complete, to accomplish” A servant would use this word when reporting to his master after a task

“It is finished” These 3 words embody the whole scope of our redemption When Jesus knew that His work was done, He shouted aloud the word, “It is finished” (See Mt. 27:50; Mk. 15:37) He never said, “I am finished” as if to sound defeated, but rather said, “It is finished” and He became victorious in His death.

“It is finished” Jesus came with a duty and fulfilled it (John 4:34; 17:4) From a very young age Jesus announced His need to do the work of His Father (Luke 2:49) As Jesus continued doing His Father’s will, He often times reminded others that His time had not yet come (John 2:3-4; 7:6-8, 28-30; 8:20)

“It is finished” The Bible tells us that Jesus came to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21) The Bible also tells us that,“He saved us” (Titus 3:4-7) OT priests offered many sacrifices for sins, yet Jesus being High Priest and sacrifice offered Himself once for our salvation (Hebrews 9:24-26)

“It is finished” When a bill would be “paid in full” in ancient times, it would have written on it (tetelestai), “It is finished” The debt for our sins was all paid on the cross of Calvary My sins are not on me…but on Jesus…what a concept! Jesus is our sacrifice for sins and has carried our unrighteousness away from us (See Lev. 16:15-22; Heb. 10:17)

“It is finished” Jesus has won the battle against Satan for us in His death (John 12:31-32) We no longer have to fear death, since Jesus gives us the hope of eternal life (Hebrews 2:14-18; Rom. 6:1-11) We are now offered life in His kingdom, after we have been forgiven of our transgressions (Col. 1:13-14; 2:9-15)

“It is finished” We know that the Father accepted the sacrifice of Jesus because the temple veil was torn in two (Matt. 27:51) With the barrier of our sins taken away the way into God’s fellowship was now open to all (Heb. 10:19-25; Eph. 2:13-22) When Jesus rose from death and left for His home on high…God showed us that the sacrifice was acceptable

Application In His death, Jesus reassures us that His work in redemption was complete with the words, “It is finished” Every generation must accept the completed work of Jesus and live their life in obedience to Him (Psalm 22:25-31) Jesus shed His blood for you…will you put away your sins (Acts 22:16)

Application We often times sing “Hallelujah What A Savior” in which a verse reads: Lifted up was He to die, “It is finished”, was His cry; Now in heaven exalted high; Hallelujah! What a Savior.

Will you accept the finished work of Jesus? Hear (John 12:48) Believe (John 8:24) Repent (Luke 13:3, 5) Confess (Matt. 10:32-33) Baptized (Mark 16:16) Faithful (Rev. 2:10)