Completed

[AI translation] "It is finished!" was Jesus' last word on the cross. If one of Jesus' last words on the cross can be given more importance than the other, it is undoubtedly the most powerful! It is only one word, but the depth and richness of its content, the consolation it contains, could hardly be described in many thousands of words. There is no other word in the world more blessed to men, more terrible to devils, and more pleasing to God than this. His other words are always addressed to someone: to the evildoer who is tormented beside him he says, "Today you will be with me in Paradise"; to Mary he says, pointing to John, "Woman, behold your son"; he asks God, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do".But this exclamation, "It is finished!", is not addressed specifically to anyone. It is addressed both to heaven and earth, to the saints of God and sinners, to the world of angels and demons. Let all these take note that God redeemed the world through the cross of Calvary! In the last minute before the death that is to take place, a great shout of triumph, like a shout of exultation, bursts forth from the Saviour's soul: 'It is finished! Yes, the redemptive death for which Jesus lived is finished, and the redeemed life for which Jesus died is finished!
So the redemptive death for which he lived is finished. Because Jesus lived to die. He came from heaven to earth to die. He died to become man among us. That was his mission, his mandate, his task: to die! It is not as it is with other people, that having fulfilled the task God has given him, he can now die. It is that the task which he came to perform is completed, made whole, finished, completed, completed by death. Thus it was in God's redemptive plan from all eternity. It was Jesus who was put to death by evil hands, who was given up to death by the completed counsel, the order of God.
Jesus himself knew this from the beginning. "The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." (Mt 20:28) He is not only a prophet who came to declare the name of God to men and to reveal to them the mysteries of eternity, but who above all things offers His own life as a payment for our sins and His blood as a ransom for God. He had to suffer all the horrors of crucifixion by the power of a supreme, immutable, divine law. It is not, therefore, that it might have been otherwise if circumstances had been otherwise, nor that He saw the sad future with a prophetic spirit, and resolved in Himself not to flee from a bitter fate - but that He went to death as One who was carrying out a divine plan preordained before the creation of the world. As One who fulfils His predestined mission! And with this exclamation, "It is finished," He did not greet death, the end of much suffering, with a sigh of relief, but He announced the mission fully accomplished, with the certainty of a soul that has reached its goal. Behold, the great divine work was accomplished: he gave himself up to death, he gave up body and soul, an atoning sacrifice for the world! The prophecy of old has been fulfilled, "He is wounded for our transgressions, He is bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace is upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed" (Isa 53:5) Behold, now all is accomplished!
Here at Calvary is fulfilled all that the whole Old Testament cult refers to in illustrative symbols: the temple altar, almost bathed daily in the blood of the innocent sacrificial animals, presented to God as an atonement for the sins of the people; the various sprinklings of innocent blood; the scapegoat, which, burdened with the sins of Israel, was cast out into the wilderness to take sin far away with it - all this is a symbol of Calvary, a symbol of the sin-removing power of the blood of Christ. Behold, all this symbolism has been made real in Christ, fulfilled. The atoning sacrifice, symbolically accomplished with the blood of animals, has now been accomplished in reality on the Lamb of God, the redeeming Christ! So everything that Jesus had to accomplish on this earth, everything that He had to suffer, everything that was ordained in God's eternal plan, everything that the prophets foretold, everything that the Old Testament sacrifices revealed, has been accomplished! All that God in His infinite love could do for the salvation and redemption of our lives, all has been accomplished! The redemptive death for which Jesus lived has been accomplished!
And with it, the redeemed life for which Jesus died, is finished! All that is necessary for a redeemed, happy life and eternal salvation is done! This word is a testimony that there is no longer any need for redemption. So the work which Christ undertook is not only begun, not only half finished, but a complete, whole, finished fact. Nothing is lacking! Our redemption is a complete, incomplete work. It is what God accepts and considers perfect. Jesus has done a work that allows man to stand before the judgment seat of God with a calm heart.
There is no longer any need to repay the debt of our sins with pennies of good works, sufferings, religious practices, for it has all been paid for with the gold of Jesus' merit! We do not need to acquire merits that would make us dull in the sight of God, because the merit that Jesus has already acquired for us is sufficient. There is no need to make great, futile efforts to open heaven, for it is already open to all who trust in Christ and the work He has done, and humbly acknowledge that they could never have done it in their own strength!
It is finished - that word includes all that we lack, all that we owe to God, all that we need, all that we hope for in eternal life. Satisfaction of God's justice? It is finished. Fulfillment of God's holy and inviolable law? Finished! Obtaining the forgiveness of sins? Finished. Victory over death, grave and hell? Finished. Re-opening of the closed Paradise? Finished. Forgiveness of sins, eternal life, redemption, grace, is finished for you!
With much toil, suffering, blood and love, Someone has prepared it for you, without you! You can neither spoil it, nor improve it, nor add to it. No matter how much merit or excellence you have, you cannot add or take away a single grain of it. Not even your sins, your wickedness, your many, many failings can be taken away, because it is finished, because all is done. It was made without you, but for you the great work was made: the redeemed life. A life reconciled to God through the forgiveness of sins, a life reborn from the corruption of the inherited, a life pure and happy, a life imbued with the powers of eternity, a life freed from the compulsion of Satanic powers, a life continued in salvation beyond death: eternal life! All this is finished, ready for us, for all of us!
But here the cry of victory of Jesus is a great question: is what is finished for us also finished in us? For whether something is done for us or done in us are two different things! Just like being invited to a prepared meal, or being part of that meal: there is a difference! It is one thing to watch in the Spirit the scene of Good Friday, even to be moved to tears by the innocent suffering - or to fall down and embrace that cross as the Tree of Life found! It's another thing to know, to hear of the redeemed life that was done there - or to share in that life and live the life that was done!
Do we really need the redeemed life that Jesus Christ died for? Are so many of us here now really here because we long for forgiveness of sins, because we seek assurance of salvation, because we want to live redeemed from sins, from bondage, from fears, for the glory of God?! Because the Good Friday Gospel is a divine message of liberation, of new life, only for those who want to share in what was done there on the cross! And that is free for everyone who is here now! So free that it is not even necessary to ask, but simply to receive.
Someone once said in a quiet spiritual conversation that he longed to be saved in Christ. To have salvation not just a theory, but a lived reality. Not a day goes by that he does not beg God for it! I found myself saying to him: begging? You're doing it wrong! He should not ask for it, but receive it! Why ask God for what is already there, what has already happened? He said that in Christ He reconciled the world to Himself! Take God at His word, and place yourself on the basis of the redemptive work of Christ!"So I should not pray for it?" he asked in amazement. "Of course not," I said, "since the redemption is already accomplished! And all you have to do is to believe in the redeeming power of the blood of Christ to forgive sins! "And Jesus tells you that whoever believes in Him has eternal life. Now you no longer beg for salvation, but give thanks for it! You too are free to simply accept everything Jesus died for! This cry of victory: it is finished, calls you to accept God's forgiving, eternal life-giving grace.
And to the extent that you accept what Christ has done for you in His redemptive death, to the extent that you are filled with the life-giving power of that redemptive death, its joy that shines through all sorrow, its peace that calms all anxiety, its victory that overcomes all weakness, fear and temptation. To the extent that you believe that all that is necessary for a redeemed life has been done for you, to that extent you experience that everything, indeed everything, is possible for the believer! It is possible to find your way in a confused world, it is possible to repair a ruined life, it is possible to live on a meagre salary, it is possible to live as a blessing in a blessed environment. Nothing is impossible!
For to enable you to solve every task and problem in personal communion with God, all things must be done! The prison of our narrow possibilities is opened and we enter the space of God's world. Whoever believes that for him it is also finished, lives in the multidimensional world of Jesus. He can count on Jesus in every situation of his life. And where Jesus is there, everything is possible! Nothing is too strange, too difficult, nothing is too big or too small for him! I just follow, knowing that where I am going, Jesus has gone before me to prepare my way.
"It is finished!" is the great shout of victory from the lips of the victorious Jesus. And those who take up this triumphant declaration with a believing spirit, "Their strength is renewed, they take wing like the vultures of the flock, they run and do not falter, they walk and do not faint" (Is 40:31).
Amen
Date: 8 April 1955 Good Friday (d.).