The text “It is finished” appears in the gospel of John, chapter 19, where, starting with verse 25, it is written:
Standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then He said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished," and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. Amen.
Some points of clarification before we consider the far-reaching import of our Lord’s statement: “It is finished”.
The reference to “the disciple whom Jesus loved” is the modest description John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, used to identify himself.
The apostle John, the writer of the gospel that bears his name, is himself the disciple whom Jesus loved.
He describes himself in this way in four instances in his gospel.
1st – in John chapter 13, at the last supper, he wrote:
Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.
2nd – in John chapter 20, after the resurrection, when Mary Magdalene came to the empty tomb, it is written:
Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved…
3rd – in chapter 21, when the resurrected Lord revealed Himself by the sea, we read::
Jesus said to them, "Children, do you have any fish?" They answered him, "No." He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, "It is the Lord!"
And lastly, the 4th instance, also in chapter 21, after they had finished breakfast, we read:
Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper…
John was with our Lord during His transfiguration on the mount; during his agony in the garden; and when he was crucified. He witnessed our Lord die on the cross, and saw the soldier pierce His side, in the record as follows:
But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.. (John 19:34-35)
So there can be no doubt that “the disciple whom Jesus loved” was indeed the apostle John, who years later, on the island of Patmos, beheld a vision of the exalted Christ; as this same John was also the inspired author of the book of Revelation.
Another part of the text calling for clarification is the saying: to fulfill the Scripture.
The sentences wherein this phrase resides read:
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
We may readily conclude that the phrase “to fulfill the Scripture” refers to and is the fulfillment of Psalm 69, verse 21 which reads:
They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
The word for poison there may also be translated as gall, or bitter herbs.
Instead of giving the suffering Savior the pity and comfort which His condition called for, they mercilessly added to His affliction by offering Him sour wine to drink (some translations say vinegar)… [just think of being dry, thirsty & out of breath, and being offered a shot of vinegar].
These things were metaphorically applied to David, the human author of Psalm 69, testifying to the cruelty of his enemies; but the proper and literal fulfillment of it came to the “Son of David”, the Lamb of God Jesus Christ, whose sufferings were foretold in this Psalm by the Holy Spirit.
“It is finished!” is Jesus’ final word from the cross (and it is a single word, tetelestai, in the ancient Greek - an accounting term that means “paid in full”).
It is the cry of triumph. Jesus had finished the eternal purpose of the cross, which holds today as that once-for-all sacrifice; the foundation of all Christian peace and faith, paying in full the debt we justly owe to God.
When Jesus uttered “It is finished”, He was declaring that the debt owed to His Father was wiped away completely and forever. Not that Jesus had any debt that He owed to the Father; rather, Jesus eliminated the debt owed by mankind—the debt of sin.
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2nd Corinthians 5:21). Hallelujah.
At some point before our Lord cried out “It is finished”, before the veil was torn in two, an awesome spiritual transaction took place. God the Father laid upon God the Son all the guilt and wrath our sin deserved, and this spotless Lamb of God bore it all in Himself perfectly, totally satisfying the wrath of God for us.
And as horrible as the physical suffering of Christ was, this spiritual suffering - the act of being judged for sin in our place - was what was really dreaded about the cross. This was the cup - the undiluted cup of God’s righteous wrath - that Jesus trembled at drinking.
The gospel of Luke in chapter 22 describes His travail in the garden of Gethsemane on the night of His arrest, before the crucifixion: He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
On the cross, Jesus was judged in our place, for our sin, and compelled to drink the cup of the Father’s fury. He did it so we would not have to drink that cup. Hallelujah.
And so it is written: Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. (Hebrews 9:22). The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.(1 John 1:7); and He has freed us from our sins by His blood (Revelation 1:5).
It’s important to note that it is not just the shedding of blood in and of itself that satisfies divine justice. If that were the case, Jesus could have just cut Himself and shed a few drops of His precious blood for us all!
No, shedding blood is how Scripture refers to the fact that without death, there is no forgiveness of sins.
Throughout the Bible, the punishment for sin is death. This starts right back in Genesis, when God said to Adam, "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." (Genesis 2:17)
That day Adam suffered spiritual death, separation from God. Later on he also experienced physical death, which continues to this day. This is definitively shown in Genesis 5, where Adam’s descendants are listed. We are told the name of each one, how long they lived, and then the refrain, “and he died.”
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. (Leviticus 17:11).
So blood has to be shed because, as it is written in the epistle to the Romans: the wages of sin is death... (Romans 6:23)
We must comprehend this to be as fundamental and unchanging as the law of gravity or any other truth of existence which we take for granted!
We must also understand the heinousness of sin as rebellion against God, which is gravely serious because of God’s infinite holiness and justice.
Psalm 89, verse 14 declares: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom is proclaimed in Psalm 111 and in Proverbs 9.
If God were to let sin slide, as it were, it would be as outrageous as if every murderer was let out of jail with their criminal records wiped clean. Justice must be done, and must be seen to be done.
The work Jesus was sent to do was to provide atonement for the sins of all who believed (old covenant saints looking forward to the cross), or would ever believe in Him (new covenant saints looking back to the finished work through to the end of time), thus reconciling sinful men to a holy God. None other than God in the flesh could accomplish this, and He did, triumphantly proclaiming “It is finished.”
By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:10)
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) – hallelujah!
In the garden of Eden, immediately after Adam & Eve fell, they realized that they were guilty and naked; and as it is written in Genesis 3:21: the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
The LORD God laid the foundation for animal sacrifices by providing the garments of skin, revealing the pattern for all of salvation history, as the skins of the substitute were obtained by shedding its blood and putting it to death.
Thus God established an eternal, divine principle from which there is no deviation.
In Genesis 4 we read of the first worship service: Caine’s sacrifice was rejected because he offered the fruit of the ground, a bloodless sacrifice; unlike Abel’s offering of the firstlings of his flock, which the LORD accepted.
Abel's offering involved the sacrifice of a lamb and with it the shedding of its blood. God is to be approached and worshipped through sacrifice.
All the bloody animal sacrifices in the Old Testament were only temporary, and like the Passover lamb, mere foreshadows of the perfect, permanent sacrifice of that spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Christ (and I have to say again: hallelujah).
There is no place for seeing Jesus Christ as a martyr. His death was not something that happened to Him as in something that might have been avoided. His death was the very reason He came.
Jesus’ finished work on the cross perfectly fulfilled in history the sovereign will of God.
Also completely finished on the cross of Christ was the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies, symbols, and foreshadowings of the Messiah who was to come. From Genesis to Malachi, there are over 300 specific prophecies detailing the coming of the Anointed One, all fulfilled by Jesus.
From the “Seed” who would crush the serpent’s head foretold in Genesis 3:15; to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53; to the 70 weeks prophecy given to Daniel – that this Messiah would put an end to sacrifice and offering – ; to the prediction of the “messenger” of the LORD (John the Baptist) who would prepare His way…
…all prophecies of Jesus’ life, ministry, and death were fulfilled and finished at the cross.
And so, of the 7 sayings of Christ on the cross, none is more important or more poignant than the last one, “It is finished”, which is found only in the Gospel of John.
Let’s review these 7 last sayings of Christ on the cross, culminated by our text.
(1st) “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” - While ignorance did not excuse them, Christ’s prayer for those mocking Him expressed the limitless compassion of divine grace.
(2nd) “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." - Jesus assured one of the criminals being crucified beside Him that he would be saved, as even at the hour of his death, this sinner was given the gift of faith in the Messiah, recognizing Him for who He was.
(3rd) To His mother: “Woman, behold your son!” and to John: “Here is your mother!” - Jesus, ever the loving Son, made sure His earthly mother was to be cared for after His death.
(4th) About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” - Jesus expressed feelings of abandonment as His Father placed the sins of the world on Him.
(5th) “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.” - Jesus willingly gave up His soul into the Father’s hands, indicating that He was about to die – and that God had accepted His sacrifice.
John had quoted Jesus, prior to His passion, as saying this which bears repeating here:
“For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." (John 10:17-18)
(6th) “I thirst” - This is when Jesus fulfilled the Messianic prophecy of Psalm 69:21 by prompting them to offer Him the sour wine or vinegar.
(and 7th and last) - The greatest note of triumph ever sounded, astonishing the cosmos with the last word on the redemption of humankind, was that finally spoken by Jesus Christ on the Cross: “It is finished!”
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. -Hebrews 9:26-28