“It is finished.” John 19:30
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World!
As Good Friday approaches, we remember, and re-live – through contemplative prayer - Christ’s final moments before His death on the Cross.
Even from the beginning - as our Lord prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane - His blood flowed freely for our sake.(Luke 22:44)
In fact, Christ’s death is the very culmination in human history of the very purpose of God; in salvific response to the issue of our sin.
Christ was no mere martyr, nor was He the victim of circumstances.
His death was neither an event in His existence, nor an occurrence in the uncontrollable scheme of things; for to think that, would be to believe that His death could be avoided, that there was some other way.
There is none, but one.
The Cross was necessary; God’s forgiveness of our sins can come only through the death of His Son on the Cross at Calvary.
The reason Christ was born – was to die on the Cross for the sake of all mankind.
In every manner of the most intense of human anguish, Christ resolutely made His way to Calvary via Dolorosathrough the damnedest of betrayals, trials, and torture – to be ultimately crucified; for the sake of the world.
Christ didn’t deserve to be there. He had no sin.
We deserve that death. We are sinful.
It was in our place that Christ was nailed to the Cross.
Death on the Cross was Christ’s only outcome.
Pain, shame and suffering was Christ’s only constant throughout the entire ordeal.
He was despised, rejected and hated by the world.
‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.’ (Galatians 3:13)
And yet, Christ continued to fully live out His love for us – whilst hanging on the Cross.
Fully living out His Divine love for the world, Christ forgave His trespassers – whilst hanging on the Cross. (Luke 23:34)
Fully living out His Divine mission ‘to seek and save the lost’ (Luke 19:10), Christ comforted the repentant thief (Luke 23:43) – whilst hanging on the Cross.
Fully living out His Divine participation with humanity, Christ established God’s family amongst humanity –whilst hanging on the Cross. (John 19:26-27)
Fully living out His Divine task on the Cross - of carrying the sins of the world (Isaiah 53:12) - Christ experienced the ‘Crucifixion within the Crucifixion’, having experienced the uttermost pain of abandonment by God – and yet still considered God, His own (Matthew 27:46) – whilst hanging on the Cross.
Fully living out His Human-ness, Christ experienced uttermost distress and in so doing, experienced the ultimate extremes of human pain and shame (John 19:28-29) – whilst hanging on the Cross.
Fully living out His Divine triumph over sin, having victoriously made intercession for all human transgressors, Christ declared, ‘It is finished’ - whilst still hanging on the Cross. (John 19:30)
Fully living out His Divine and Triune nature, Christ reunites with His Heavenly Father, and the Holy Spirit, in divine humility and surrendered-ness as He prays, “Father, into Your hands I commit my Spirit” (Luke 23:44-49) – whilst hanging on the Cross.
Whilst hanging on the Cross, Christ delivered unto humanity God’s forgiveness, Salvation, and our place in God’s family – in which He paid the ultimate price, dying as sin offering in our place; the perfect for the imperfect; suffering utmost abandonment and distress, but rising, utterly victorious is His undertaking, and glorified by the Father in Heaven.
IT IS FINISHED!
This is the ultimate word in the redemption of the world.
Christ’s utterance of these three words on the Cross is the supreme and definitive victory that shook Creation to its core; turning the tide of mankind’s ancient and hopeless war against the forces of darkness.
The world has been redefined; for in Christ, Man is redeemed.
The wages of sin – death – has lost its stubborn and lethal grasp on the world.
IT IS FINISHED!
Christ has finished the Father’s task for Him. (John 17:4)
Christ has taken our place on the Cross, and now, death – for all who believe - is no more.
IT IS FINISHED!
“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.
He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
(Romans 3:22-26)
Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are justified by His grace through His redemption.
Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are made righteous before God.
Through faith in Jesus Christ, God justifies our right to belong to Him.
Do you have faith in Jesus?
This holy week, it is my deepest prayer that you would devote significant time to come close to God, and renew your faith in Christ.
Life finds true meaning from a faith established upon Jesus Christ.
Faith is never about knowing where Christ is leading you.
Faith is about knowing that Christ leads you.
Faith is never only about knowing that Christ loves you.
Faith is about knowing that there is no greater love than the love that Christ has for you.
IT IS FINISHED!
We are saved! We have been redeemed!
And this means all the difference between life and death, heaven and hell.
And so, because Christ’s work on the Cross is finished;
We have no excuse to remain fallen and broken, unforgiven, condemned and unredeemed.
We have no excuse to hold on to our addictions, and our worldly ways.
We have no excuse not to repent of our sinful ways and turn fully to God in Christ-like submission.
We have no excuse not to be changed into His image more and more.
We have no excuse not to be transformed into Christ’s likeness.
We have no excuse not to don upon our lives, the righteousness of Christ – in order that we may appear before our Father in Heaven, forgiven, justified, and free to be part of His eternal Kingdom.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
And thus, because we find ourselves with no excuses whatsoever, any lack of faith in Christ Jesus simply points to our own categorical sinfulness and foolishness; in not desiring to be reconciled with God.
I beseech you, my beloved brethren; don’t be foolish, don’t be obstinate, and don’t be thoughtless about this; for ignorance and apathy of the love of God has no place in the kingdom of heaven.
If in this lifetime you fail to reconcile with God through Christ, you will ultimately discover that your chief failure is in not recognizing the greatest love this universe has ever known – the love of God.
In this, there will simply be no mitigating circumstances to reverse God’s final judgment of your life.
You have simply chosen NOT to know God.
You have simply chosen NOT to receive the greatest love ever known to the universe, in all history.
But why would you want that? Why would anyone?
Jesus Christ hates the sin in people, but loves the people in sin; and Good Friday is the precise measure of His deepest hatred for sin, and His deepest love for you.
Apart from Christ’s love for you, you will experience no greater love.
Have faith in Jesus.
Have faith that all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called to His purposes.
Have faith that Christ’s work on the Cross is for you, and that His work is finished!
Have faith that God loves you.
You should, because He does.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Heavenly Father,
Hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done – on earth as it is in Heaven.
Thank you for the Cross of Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Thank you for convicting us of sin, for we know that in your conviction is found the gift of our shame and repentance from our lives of sin.
Thank you for Your great mercy, that Christ must take our place on the Cross – the cross that is rightfully ours to bear, in repayment for our evil and sinful ways.
I renew my faith in Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Saviour.
I renew my faith in Jesus Christ, Your Son sent to die on the Cross for the forgiveness of my sin.
Holy Spirit, convict me to fully recognize the full extent of my sin, my guilt and my unworthiness. And compel me to fully recognize the true extent of Your love for me and the Righteousness of God imputed upon me because of Christ’s finished work on the Cross at Calvary.
Lord Jesus, Your love for me and Your finished work on the Cross leaves me with no excuses to continue in my life of sin.
Today, I declare my love for You.
Today, I declare my faith in You.
Today, I declare that I will follow You all the days of my life.
Thank you for your love. And, Lord Jesus, thank you for the Cross.
All these I pray in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Your Son – Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the World!
As Good Friday approaches, we remember, and re-live – through contemplative prayer - Christ’s final moments before His death on the Cross.
Even from the beginning - as our Lord prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane - His blood flowed freely for our sake.(Luke 22:44)
In fact, Christ’s death is the very culmination in human history of the very purpose of God; in salvific response to the issue of our sin.
Christ was no mere martyr, nor was He the victim of circumstances.
His death was neither an event in His existence, nor an occurrence in the uncontrollable scheme of things; for to think that, would be to believe that His death could be avoided, that there was some other way.
There is none, but one.
The Cross was necessary; God’s forgiveness of our sins can come only through the death of His Son on the Cross at Calvary.
The reason Christ was born – was to die on the Cross for the sake of all mankind.
In every manner of the most intense of human anguish, Christ resolutely made His way to Calvary via Dolorosathrough the damnedest of betrayals, trials, and torture – to be ultimately crucified; for the sake of the world.
Christ didn’t deserve to be there. He had no sin.
We deserve that death. We are sinful.
It was in our place that Christ was nailed to the Cross.
Death on the Cross was Christ’s only outcome.
Pain, shame and suffering was Christ’s only constant throughout the entire ordeal.
He was despised, rejected and hated by the world.
‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.’ (Galatians 3:13)
And yet, Christ continued to fully live out His love for us – whilst hanging on the Cross.
Fully living out His Divine love for the world, Christ forgave His trespassers – whilst hanging on the Cross. (Luke 23:34)
Fully living out His Divine mission ‘to seek and save the lost’ (Luke 19:10), Christ comforted the repentant thief (Luke 23:43) – whilst hanging on the Cross.
Fully living out His Divine participation with humanity, Christ established God’s family amongst humanity –whilst hanging on the Cross. (John 19:26-27)
Fully living out His Divine task on the Cross - of carrying the sins of the world (Isaiah 53:12) - Christ experienced the ‘Crucifixion within the Crucifixion’, having experienced the uttermost pain of abandonment by God – and yet still considered God, His own (Matthew 27:46) – whilst hanging on the Cross.
Fully living out His Human-ness, Christ experienced uttermost distress and in so doing, experienced the ultimate extremes of human pain and shame (John 19:28-29) – whilst hanging on the Cross.
Fully living out His Divine triumph over sin, having victoriously made intercession for all human transgressors, Christ declared, ‘It is finished’ - whilst still hanging on the Cross. (John 19:30)
Fully living out His Divine and Triune nature, Christ reunites with His Heavenly Father, and the Holy Spirit, in divine humility and surrendered-ness as He prays, “Father, into Your hands I commit my Spirit” (Luke 23:44-49) – whilst hanging on the Cross.
Whilst hanging on the Cross, Christ delivered unto humanity God’s forgiveness, Salvation, and our place in God’s family – in which He paid the ultimate price, dying as sin offering in our place; the perfect for the imperfect; suffering utmost abandonment and distress, but rising, utterly victorious is His undertaking, and glorified by the Father in Heaven.
IT IS FINISHED!
This is the ultimate word in the redemption of the world.
Christ’s utterance of these three words on the Cross is the supreme and definitive victory that shook Creation to its core; turning the tide of mankind’s ancient and hopeless war against the forces of darkness.
The world has been redefined; for in Christ, Man is redeemed.
The wages of sin – death – has lost its stubborn and lethal grasp on the world.
IT IS FINISHED!
Christ has finished the Father’s task for Him. (John 17:4)
Christ has taken our place on the Cross, and now, death – for all who believe - is no more.
IT IS FINISHED!
“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.
He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
(Romans 3:22-26)
Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are justified by His grace through His redemption.
Through faith in Jesus Christ, we are made righteous before God.
Through faith in Jesus Christ, God justifies our right to belong to Him.
Do you have faith in Jesus?
This holy week, it is my deepest prayer that you would devote significant time to come close to God, and renew your faith in Christ.
Life finds true meaning from a faith established upon Jesus Christ.
Faith is never about knowing where Christ is leading you.
Faith is about knowing that Christ leads you.
Faith is never only about knowing that Christ loves you.
Faith is about knowing that there is no greater love than the love that Christ has for you.
IT IS FINISHED!
We are saved! We have been redeemed!
And this means all the difference between life and death, heaven and hell.
And so, because Christ’s work on the Cross is finished;
We have no excuse to remain fallen and broken, unforgiven, condemned and unredeemed.
We have no excuse to hold on to our addictions, and our worldly ways.
We have no excuse not to repent of our sinful ways and turn fully to God in Christ-like submission.
We have no excuse not to be changed into His image more and more.
We have no excuse not to be transformed into Christ’s likeness.
We have no excuse not to don upon our lives, the righteousness of Christ – in order that we may appear before our Father in Heaven, forgiven, justified, and free to be part of His eternal Kingdom.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.
And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
And thus, because we find ourselves with no excuses whatsoever, any lack of faith in Christ Jesus simply points to our own categorical sinfulness and foolishness; in not desiring to be reconciled with God.
I beseech you, my beloved brethren; don’t be foolish, don’t be obstinate, and don’t be thoughtless about this; for ignorance and apathy of the love of God has no place in the kingdom of heaven.
If in this lifetime you fail to reconcile with God through Christ, you will ultimately discover that your chief failure is in not recognizing the greatest love this universe has ever known – the love of God.
In this, there will simply be no mitigating circumstances to reverse God’s final judgment of your life.
You have simply chosen NOT to know God.
You have simply chosen NOT to receive the greatest love ever known to the universe, in all history.
But why would you want that? Why would anyone?
Jesus Christ hates the sin in people, but loves the people in sin; and Good Friday is the precise measure of His deepest hatred for sin, and His deepest love for you.
Apart from Christ’s love for you, you will experience no greater love.
Have faith in Jesus.
Have faith that all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called to His purposes.
Have faith that Christ’s work on the Cross is for you, and that His work is finished!
Have faith that God loves you.
You should, because He does.
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Heavenly Father,
Hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done – on earth as it is in Heaven.
Thank you for the Cross of Your Son, Jesus Christ.
Thank you for convicting us of sin, for we know that in your conviction is found the gift of our shame and repentance from our lives of sin.
Thank you for Your great mercy, that Christ must take our place on the Cross – the cross that is rightfully ours to bear, in repayment for our evil and sinful ways.
I renew my faith in Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Saviour.
I renew my faith in Jesus Christ, Your Son sent to die on the Cross for the forgiveness of my sin.
Holy Spirit, convict me to fully recognize the full extent of my sin, my guilt and my unworthiness. And compel me to fully recognize the true extent of Your love for me and the Righteousness of God imputed upon me because of Christ’s finished work on the Cross at Calvary.
Lord Jesus, Your love for me and Your finished work on the Cross leaves me with no excuses to continue in my life of sin.
Today, I declare my love for You.
Today, I declare my faith in You.
Today, I declare that I will follow You all the days of my life.
Thank you for your love. And, Lord Jesus, thank you for the Cross.
All these I pray in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Your Son – Jesus Christ. Amen.