What More Is There To Do?
We have now come to "It is Finished" the sixth saying of Christ on the Cross. I'm really enjoying this series of seven and have eagerly looked forward to the next. Every week I find that I come away with a new appreciation for what what was done for me so many years ago understanding quite well that I am responsible for the scars in his hands.
Here's the text for this week, John 19:30
So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
It is finished is "tetelestai" and is the perfect tense of "teleo" (tel-eh'-o) and means "full completion of an event".
Why the cross? Why not another way to die? Surely there must have been an easier way to die?
We see clearly in scripture that Jesus was not a victim here. Quite often that's the portrayal of this awful day but that was not the case. He placed himself on that cross. He came for this very purpose. He came to die and not for himself but for us.
What is finished? There is three definitions of this word "tetelestai" and all fit in quite well into what he was doing. Let's look at these definitions closer.
1) To do just as commanded; to perform the last act which completes a process.
He was to go down to earth and show them about God and the affects of sin. He was to pay the penalty for this sin. This was all part of a well thought out plan. The words of Christ were always about doing the Father's will and completing the work to be don.e . He said:
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work" John 4:34
It was His food to do what compelled him. It was what sustained Him. He was determined to do what the Father would have Him to do. He was called the lamb by John the Baptist. John knew that this lamb had to die. This unblemished lamb came to die for our sin. Why? Because He loved us enough to do so, and it was needed to reconcile an unholy people with a Holy God. Remember reconcile means to go back to a former state. That's what he was doing here. He was reconciling us to God.
"Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." John 1:29
"No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father" John 10:18
Paul also wrote about this in Philippians 2:8:
"And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross."
No, he was not a victim. We see quite clearly that when he was ready, he "gave up his spirit." This means he dismissed his spirit. He lay his head to one side and gave it up. He was in complete control of the situation. This task was for the will of God. How determined are we to do God's will?
2) The next definition has to do with the task itself. It says, "to bring to a close; to finish; end; to accomplish; to complete."
Jesus said in Matt 5:17:
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill"
Came to fulfill? Fulfill what? The law tells us that by the Holy character of God that we cannot satisfy the requirements for our sin. Christ was able to do what we could not do. He was Holy. He was Sinless while He walked this earth and only He was able to satisfy the requirement God had for sin. So exactly why do we need a Savior? To answer that we need to go back to Genesis.
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” 2:16-17
It was clear. They would die if they transgressed God's command. Die? What was that. While they really had no concept of death they could know the seriousness of it. As the story unfolds, we know that they did rush ahead and go against God's command.
Now what? Man was in a predicament. How can a sinner save himself? We don't have to go very far to see a plan was put in place to save man from himself. The first gospel message is right there in Genesis, right there in the garden in 3:15. This would be a battle between the serpent (Satan) and the one who would come to redeem man back to himself. God said to the serpent:
"And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
The bruising of the heel happened on that cross as did the crushing of the head. Christ conquered death and sin on that cross thus defeating the enemy by delivering a death blow to the head of the serpent. The cross should be seen as a Victory, not a defeat. Well, it's both. It was a victory for all those who want to be "well." It's a defeat for all those who say "no thank you, I'm doing just fine on my own."
So back to Adam and Eve. They were in dire straights now. They had transgressed against their God. Their relationship with him was damaged. What could they do? Anything? We see in Gen 3:21 that it was God right there who would show them there was a penalty for their sin. An animal was killed (sacrificed) to provide a covering for them. Now they would see death. These tunics of skin did not come down the road from JcPenney. An animal was killed and the skin ripped off for them. How did that make them feel? The horribleness of it must have been great. Think about this: Jesus was killed by God. God covers us with Christ. He has replaced our sin with what took the life away from His Son Our filthy rags were exchanged with the cleansing blood of Christ.
Jesus kept telling his Apostles of this plan of Salvation while he walked this earth. They didn't quite understand at first until they saw the plan finally worked out later. He said in Luke 18:31-33:
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. “For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. "“They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.”
Peter comes right out and says this was a plan that was thought out by God before the earth was even a speck in God's eye.
He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you" ! Pet 1:20
So once again, so much to say here but don't want to overburden....so although Christ finished his task I'm going to have to break up into Part II and finish mine there. We will look at the third definition, and the OT sacrifical system, and how it relates to this NT sacrifice.
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