The Greatest Words Ever: It is Finished!

God has done it all for me without my help.

John 17:4-5 I brought glory to You here on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do. 5 Now, Father, bring Me into the glory We shared before the world began.

John 19:28-30 Jesus knew that His mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture He said, "I am thirsty." 29 A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to His lips.

30 When Jesus had tasted it, He said, "It is finished!" Then He bowed His head and released His spirit.

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There is a voice that stands out above all the others, despite his weakness, it is a commanding voice that can easily be heard above the evil noise of Hell that is all around him. (Matthew 27:39-42) Satan was having his way with Jesus and and he was sure that he had won the war until Jesus told him otherwise.

When Satan heard Jesus words, “It is finished!” he knew what was finished and he knew it would always be finished. If you look at the word in the Greek you will see a picture of how finished it is. The word tetelestai means, “It is finished, it stands finished, and it always will be finished!”

He did not say, "I am finished," for that would imply that he died defeated and exhausted. Rather, he cried out "It is finished," meaning "I successfully completed the work I came to do."

-Ray Pritchard

Jesus completed the work required to bring us back into communion with God but Satan doesn't want you to believe it. He wants you to believe that there is something more that you need to do to help Jesus save you. Jesus work was of utmost importance so it is important that we know if it is a finished work or if we need to help him out.

Is It Finished?

Roman Catholicism denies the effectiveness of Jesus' finished work on the cross through the practice and observance of the mass. During the mass, through the unbiblically magical art of transubstantiation (Jesus literally becoming the bread and the wine), Jesus must sacrifice Himself again and again for sin. Jehovah's Witnesses deny the effectiveness of Jesus' finished work on the cross by denying Christ died on the cross and by insisting one must be a member of the Watchtower Society and obey the Law of God to receive their demonic brand of salvation. Mormonism denies the effectiveness of Jesus' finished work on the cross by adding their perceived righteousness and works to their ungodly salvation process. According to the Book of Mormon, salvation is by grace, plus works. Islam denies the effectiveness of Jesus' finished work on the cross by seeing Jesus as nothing more than a prophet, second to their false prophet Muhammad. They also believe it was Judas (a treacherous false convert), not Jesus, who died on the cross. -It Is Finished! (carm.org)

Satan loves to distort the facts. If the death of Christ satisfied God, then what more can the sinner do to try to satisfy God more than he already is? The answer is nothing. The only thing a sinner can do is receive the free gift of righteousness that God offers.

We could never mend our relationship with God and make it right. Everything has been done by God, he draws a man to him to a knowledge of the fact that he is a sinner and that his sin debt is in the way of having a relationship and then God provides the way to make our relationship with him possible.

Hebrews 10:10-12 For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. 11 Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. 12 But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God's right hand.

It is finished! It is very arrogant for a mere man to think that he could do anything to change his standing before God. It is even more arrogant or mistaken to think that you are a special man that has been appointed to be a priest with the power to grant forgiveness or conduct a Mass and re-sacrifice Jesus all over again. It is finished and Jesus meant what he said.

What was finished?

• I am redeemed
• The law with it's priest, temple and sacrifices
• The curse of the law
• All of the prophecies concerning the first coming of the Messiah, his work and his death
• Satan has been defeated
• The separation of the Jews and the Gentiles
• The work required so that I can be born again and become a child of God

It is finished! So that I will hear the sweet sound of heaven someday! Jesus did what I could never do for myself. Since I was born into sin and I am a sinful creature right from the start, I would never be sinless and could never have any hope of being righteous before God.

Thank you Lord for paying the debt in full! Thank you for seeing me as if I had lived your son's perfect and sinless life.

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