Holy Week: Seven Days in the Sayings (Day 6 of 7) It Is Finished

Guest Contributor: This is a post from my Baby Sister and good friend Nicole Webb!

It is Finished—John 19:30

I have to admit—over the past five years, I’ve brushed over the sermon of Christ’s crucifixion. It’s not that I didn’t have an understanding of it, not that I didn’t value the ultimate sacrifice, and not that I wasn’t able to comprehend the magnitude of such sacrifice. The truth is I was “churched out” and pretty much over the traditional routine of going to church every Resurrection Sunday. I was exhausted with the routine and eventually, it overshadowed the power of the message of The Resurrection for me…until this assignment here.

I went back and forth on what I thought “It is finished” in the time that Jesus said them meant to me. I read four versions—New King James, Message, NIV, and New Living Translation—to see if I could find a deeper meaning or some extra context. As it turned out, they pretty much all say the same thing! Go figure. The Big Bro Jesus said “Yo, it’s done…I’m out,” and bowed His head (pretty sure He didn’t say it exactly like that, but that’s how Him and I communicate in our conversations).

Anyways, I was somewhat stumped trying to examine the text for any additional context other than the simple message of Christ declaring that moment the end of His suffering on The Cross our sins put Him on, that He freely consented to.
But, let’s thank God for Google and Wikipedia…because that’s where I found some “additional context.”

Let’s start off with the church of Wikipedia, which led me to the text of Adam Hamilton’s 24 Hours That Changed the World. According to Hamilton, “It is finished” was “a cry of victory…the plan was fulfilled…[and] salvation was made possible.” Putting that into perspective, there was something groundbreaking about the event of Jesus taking His last breath. The moments after He declared “It is finished,” Jesus took His last breath and died. Historically, the last physical breath leading to death was nothing to be triumphant about. In fact, when Jesus died, His mother, Mary and many of His loved ones mourned as if He had not already told the disciples where He was going (John 14) and what was taking place (Matthew 16:21-28).

Before Jesus’s death, He prophesied that Lazarus, who was sick, would not succumb to his illness in death (John 11: 4) and He then departed on His merry way. Days later upon His return, Jesus finds out Lazarus had been dead for four days. Lazarus’ death was so traumatic and painful for his sisters Mary and Martha that they seemed to have put aside their faith in Christ’s declaration that Lazarus’ life would not end because He didn’t show up to save their brother in a time conducive for them (John 11: 21). There was no victory in death…UNTIL CHRIST.

That in and of itself is a message, but there’s even more my good friends.

In my additional research courtesy of the Google ministry, I found that the Greek word often interchanged for “It is finished” is “tetelestai,” which translates to “paid in full.” Putting that into “context,” Christ wasn’t just saying His crucifixion was finished. He wasn’t just saying the time had come for Him to die. He was saying the time for paying the cost of our sins had come to an end—the plan was fulfilled. The debt of our sins, right there and in that moment, was paid in full. Nothing else needed to be done and His time paying for them was over. Because of that last breath and in that very moment, God’s plan to save us and reconcile with us was completed; IT WAS FINISHED.

I think there are a few others, if not many others, like me who’ve gotten caught up in the routine of Resurrection Sunday and are now “churched out.” But I challenge us to reexamine our complacency, especially through the lens and magnitude of these specific last words because if it were not for that exact moment of the declaration of “It is finished,” the promise would’ve never been consummated; the cost wouldn’t have been paid and our reconciliation back to the Father would not have taken place.

In a sense, our salvation depended on those last words; may we never undermine their magnitude.

by: Nicole Webb
book: thenicolewebb.com/buy

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