It Is Finished
John 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
The final act of Jesus was based on what had been written in the Scripture concerning Him.
Psalms 69:21 They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Even though He was God’s Son, Jesus functioned as a man empowered by the Holy Spirit. He lived His life according to the Holy Spirit and in step with the word the prophets had spoken concerning Him.
Jesus was a man of the word and of the Spirit. Jesus was so committed to what the Scriptures spoke concerning Him that His final act was to fulfill a prophetic word in the Psalms. Jesus lived His life based on what had been written about Him, and the Holy Spirit empowered Him to do so.
Why should this be so important to you and me?
It’s important because it demonstrates that we can also live according to what the word says about us as New Creation New Covenant believers in Jesus when we allow the Holy Spirit to govern our lives and empower us to do the will of God.
In saying this, I am not promoting the idea of anyone living a life of sinless perfection. Yes, we will still miss the mark and sometimes do something to please ourselves and violate the two great commandments: to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and love others as we love ourselves. I will be the first to testify honestly that I know I have not perfectly loved as I should every second of every day of my life since I was born again. There have been times when I knew what the good thing God wanted me to do was, and I refused to do it and did my own thing instead.
But according to His grace and the work of the Holy Spirit, I have been enabled to see when I have missed it, adjust to His will again, and move forward in Him, knowing I am still loved as much as I ever was by Him. His grace is enough for me, and His blood has cleansed and continues to cleanse me of all my sin. It does the same for all His children, and that is why we can live according to His word by the power of the Holy Spirit, even after making big mistakes in our journey.
Jesus lived a sinless life to become the perfect sacrifice for our sins, past, present, and future. It is why He was able to take on our sin at the cross and, in exchange, give us His righteousness. We are made righteous. We do not earn it. Now we get to live out the righteousness we received. It might make it simpler to say we were born into a relationship with God through Christ, and we maintain that relationship with God through Christ. To live out the righteousness received is to live in a way that manifests our relationship with God.
The apostle Paul also was a man of the word and the Spirit, and he spoke about finishing well.
2Timothy 4:6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
Paul is not boasting that he lived a sinless life and is ready to go to God and receive His crown of righteousness based on his meriting it. He testifies that he kept the faith! “The faith” is believing the gospel concerning Jesus and being rooted and grounded in faith in Him. Jesus finished the work to make this our reality today. I encourage you to enjoy your relationship with God and immerse yourself in the word He has spoken in the Scriptures concerning Christ and His finished work.
