John’s gospel ch19 vs30 ‘IT IS FINISHED’
This cry from the cross is the cry of victory. From the forth and fifth tragic cries from the cross we turn to the triumph of the cross. From a cry of lamentation we come to a cry of jubilation –
IT-IS-FINISHED. From the word of the victim comes the word of the Victor.
Let us take a look at THE SETTING of His utterance. .
If we consider the seven cries from the cross and the 7 days of the creation week there is a parallel. The first time finished is used in the old testament is at the end of the Sixth day of creation (Gen 2:1) ‘The heaven and the earth were FINISHED all the host of them’. Coincidence I do not believe so. I also feel no coincidence when at the end of first five days of creation it is pronounced as good but on the Sixth day when creation was FINISHED it was proclaimed to be VERY GOOD. As Jesus accomplished the goal of the incarnation God could see that it was very good, that the price for the sinner had been paid, the atonement had been accomplished what was to come was the fruits of His sacrifice. The seventh cry was a cry of contentment, a cry of rest. Just as the seventh day of creation was a day of rest, a day of contentment.
Everything in the scripture is important and has significance, looking at the previous verse, verse 29 looking at the word SPONGE . This is the only time sponge is mentioned in scripture. A sponge scientists tells us not a plant but a living creature. It lives in the oceans. When you take up a sponge you can say that all the billows and waves have gone over it. In considering this we can see that in type all the waves and billows of the oceans of sin have gone over Jesus. And so to we see that sponge was filled with VINEGAR, vinegar speaks of bitterness. In the old testament it is seen as a type of sin. And that vessel was full , the sponge was full and Jesus drank it; all that bitterness, all the sin of the world Jesus took and drank it down the wrath of God was upon Him.
Looking further into verse 29 we can see the word HYSSOP. In Exodus ch 12:22 it is the last part of the atonement. After the lamb was slain the blood was preserved in a basin and they dipped the hyssop into the basin and sprinkled the blood onto the door’s lintel and it’s side posts. Notice that the finishing work of the atonement was with Hyssop. Notice to then the last part of Jesus’s atonement was with Hyssop.
A finished work then seen in a sponge, vinegar and Hyssop.
Let us take a look at THE SAYING of the cross.
It is a unique word
The wording in the Greek manuscript is not three words as we have in our Bibles but one word it is TETELESTAI. ‘Finished’. Consider this word. Everything is said in this one word FINISHED. What a word it is. Could it be that this word is the most momentous word that the world has ever had uttered to it. Finished. And why? Because of its consequences. That cry rang back along the tunnels of time to Adam that cry rang forward to the end of the ages. Declaring that salvation for mankind is an accomplished fact for everyone who believes. That cry rang upwards to the throne of God . That cry rang downwards to Sheol. That cry gladdens the heart of every child of God in creation today. This word FINISHED was not a despairing cry, it was not a mumble of a defeated soul. It was not the helpless cry of a martyr. It was not the last gasp of a worn out life. It was the shout, the cry of victory FINISHED.
Let us think further it was not just the expression of satisfaction that His sufferings had come to an end. No it was the declaration by the Lord of glory that all He had come to do, to bear the sins of the whole world were accomplished. The word FINISHED shook the foundations of hell. Satan quivered in defeat knowing His total power was broken. This word FINISHED struck death a mortal blow, it kept the lost in hell forever and it consolidated the saved in heaven, it guaranteed the security of the elect forevermore.
It is a full word
It stands in majestic simplicity in John’s gospel without comment or note from John and the question comes down through the ages what was finished. There is no way we can completely plum it’s depth but we can see.
Our Lord meant that His great work of redemption was finished.
When the Lord uttered ‘finished’ He also meant that God’s determinate council and forewill concerning His suffering was now accomplished and finished.
When the Lord said Finished he also meant that He had finished the work of keeping God’s holy law.
When the Lord said Finished He meant that He had finished the types and figures of the ceremonial law.
When the Lord said finished He meant that He had fulfilled and finished those prophecies in the old testament concerning Himself and the substitution.
When the Lord said finished it meant that His sufferings were finished.
To go further it is a finished word of our great high priest, the imputation of sin was finished, propitiation was finished.
When He cried out finished it meant that there was nothing more that man could do to Him.
TETELESTAI – FINISHED. AMEN AND AMEN.
God bless
Michael Whitehouse