What is Finished?

The cry from the cross "It is finished"only makes sense when we see that on the cross Jesus is completing the great work that the Father had given Him. The hour had come for the Father to glorify His name in the great atoning action of His Son. The Lamb of God came to take away the sins of the world. 1 John 3:5 tells us that He appeared so that He might take away our sins and by doing so destroy the devil's work. Here in the suffering of the cross God is making a full end of sin - He is removing the guilt of this land in a single day! Jesus knew everything that was written about Him in the Prophets must be fulfilled. He had a great work to complete - He was not merely a passive victim but a great warrior going into battle. There is everything in this cry to declare that Jesus did not die a broken man full of despair but a man who knew that he had completed the great work of salvation and that He would yet see the fruit of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.

May we also enter into the certainty of such a great salvation and the triumph of the Lamb!