Worship Initiative | Last Words of JesusSample

It is finished.

“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30)

There are immeasurable depths of meaning in these words – much more than we can fully grasp. They have echoed through time, changing everything for all of eternity by the power of him who spoke them and all that he accomplished.

In that moment, Christ experienced both glorious victory and unfathomable relief.

Think of all he had endured. Not only did Jesus bear the burden of death on a cross, but he bore it with the added weight of a world’s worth of sin – both present and future. And furthermore, the days, months, and years that led him there were deeply painful in their own way.

This was a member of the Godhead who had spent all of eternity past united with the Father and Spirit in heaven – radiant in divine glory and completely free of burden or pain. Christ himself had been present and active in the creation of all things. Yet, for the sake of those who chiefly despised him, he entered into his own creation and took on all of its troubles.

Clothed in flesh – with its vulnerabilities intact – Christ moved through the world sinlessly. He faced countless temptations and trials, persecuted everywhere he went, always knowing he was on the path to his own crucifixion.

This was a life marked by unimaginable suffering. Unimaginable in the most literal sense, because we cannot even begin to fathom what it would be like to be perfectly holy, reigning over all things, and to descend to the lowest depths of humility for those who were still enemies. This is beyond our scope of comprehension.

But as we catch glimpses of Christ’s experience, understanding even in the smallest ways what he endured, we should be quick to recognize that he was, as he is often called, a Man of Sorrows.

Day by day, year by year, moment by excruciating moment, Jesus finally found himself here – where he had always intended to be, accomplishing all that he had come to accomplish. And he breathed a powerful sigh of relief: “It is finished.”

In this world, you and I will endure harm and grief. We will feel wounded, abandoned, despised, afraid, lonely, longing, needy, sorrowful. We are guaranteed trouble; most of us have already seen it in many of its varied shades. We can be sure that we will suffer.

And when we do, our brother and friend, Jesus, will sit and weep with us. He will draw near as one who sees and understands unlike any other. He will be with us in our pain.

But let us also remember this: a day is coming when all who belong to Jesus, bought by his blood in death, will be raised to eternal life by his resurrection power. We will stand before him, look into his eyes – filled with mercy and compassion – and receive the fulfilled promise of Revelation 21:4:

“He will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

On that day, we will finally say together with Christ and with one another, “It is finished.”