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Read John 19:28-30

“It is finished” was a Greek word found on tax documents to state “paid in full.”  What was finished?  What was paid in full?

It is finished!  What a statement of finality.  I felt the power of that word when I took my last test in high school—finished!  Again, I felt that word powerfully when I completed college with my last final completed—finished!  Even more so felt when I submitted and defended my master’s thesis and passed—finished!  Perhaps you felt way after paying off a house, car, or student loan.  Maybe you connect these words to the finishing of a long race or “the truth finally came out” moment. 

Regardless the context, we feel an exhale of relief as we completed something very intense and important.   What were your moments where you said finished and exhaled with relief and as sense of joy because you accomplished what was so challenging?

Regarding faith, we all want to be able to look at God and hear him say you “well done.”  You finished well.  Consider Paul’s statement at the end of his life—2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

For God, he has utilized the word “finished” twice.  The first time was Day 7 of the Creation story.   God finished his six-day master plan in creating the universe with man being the masterpiece and on day 7 God rested (Genesis 2:2). 

Hebrews 4:3 “Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”^[a] And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.”

Since the fall of man, God did not declare anything as being finished.  Each event we read in the OT Hebrew scriptures are pointing to something yet to come.  We see people continually rebelling against God and serving themselves.  We read of God’s wrath towards sin over and over again.  We read of God’s grace and mercy being on display repeatedly.  We see his justice prevail on so many occasions, but nothing was ever finished.  While the prophets pointed to it, the anticipation of a reconning where sin’s curse was defeated, and redemption would become reality seemed to be a waning idea.

Is it possible for an all-sufficient lamb of God to be provided? 

• Prophets continue to speak of what is to come, yet “how long Lord?”
  
  
• God intervenes with wrath only to buy time, yet “how much longer Lord?” 

“My time has not yet come”

• His first miracle was reluctantly given. John 2:4
  
  
• He chose not to go to Jerusalem, because his time had not yet come.

John 7:6-8 “Therefore Jesus told them, “My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. ⁷ The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. ⁸ You go to the festival. I am not^[a] going up to this festival, because my time has not yet fully come.”

“My time has come”

• Finally in the 11^th hour on the night he was to be betrayed, he said the time had come to pursue the finishing of his mission on earth. John 16:32
  
  
• You will leave me, but I have the Father.
  
  
• Be encouraged. You will have trouble, but you will have me.

What had to be finished? Romans 5:12-21

• He needed to undue the curse of Adam and model what God had intended for mankind—a life that fully glorifies the Creator. (12)
  
  
• He needed to be obedient to the end to be the perfect Lamb. (19) John 1:29
  
  
• He needed to fulfill all that had been prophesied so that there is no doubt as to who he is. John 19:28
  
  
• He needed to die as without it, the penalty of death over mankind remains. (17)
  
  
• It is finished. Grace wins! (20-21)

He finished.  Your story is still going.  How will you finish? 

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

What do you want your story to be?  Will you finish as Jesus finished—paid in full, complete, victoriously?

Benediction: 

1 Corinthians 15:54b-58 “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”^{[h] 55} “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”^{[i] 56} The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”