It is finished

When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”  With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit (John 19:30 NIV).

   What is “it?”

   The answer: The atonement.

   Now various words and phrases are used to describe the work of Jesus on the cross, such as atonement, sacrifice, substitution, propitiation, and satisfaction for sins.

   The word which Jesus used was “ransom,” as is recorded in Matthew 20:24-28.

   Being a kid back in the 1970’s, I remember a popular movie where two children were kidnapped and held for “ransom.”  Ransom was a payment to get back people who had been abducted.  That was, and still is, the common definition of “ransom” in the United States.

   Yet that is not the biblical definition of ransom.  We can learn the biblical definition from the book of Exodus: Then the LORD said to Moses, “When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the LORD a ransom for his or her life at the time he or she is counted.  Then no plague will come on them when you number them” (Exodus 30:11-12).

Continuing on: “The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the LORD to atone for your lives.  Receive the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the Tent of Meeting.  It will be a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD, making atonement for your lives” (Exodus 30:15-16).

   Thus the biblical definition of “ransom” is a payment to atone for sins.

   Jesus foretold that He would give His life as that spiritual payment.

   Now we do have a selection of biblical words to use, though I need to clarify this statement, and I do so using a superb quote from Dr. John Stott: “To be sure, neither ‘satisfaction’ nor ‘substitution’ is a biblical word, and therefore we need to proceed with great caution.  But each is a biblical concept.” (1)

   When reading Scripture, we need to learn concepts.  And here I phrase the atonement concept by saying that Jesus died in our place, taking the punishment we deserved, which was spiritual death, thus making the forgiveness of sins available to anyone.

   Jesus died for you!  To receive forgiveness from God, you need to believe in Jesus as your Savior and Lord.

   Jesus loves you!

Hunter Irvine

Scripture Love Blog

(1) John Stott, The Cross of Christ

(Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 112.

Father, into your hands I commit my spirit

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46 NIV).

   Praying at Gethsemane, a word which means “oil press,” as in olive oil, there at the foot of the Mount of Olives, Jesus submitted to the Father:

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

   When being arrested, Jesus submitted to the Father:

“Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?  But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” (Matthew 26:53-54).

   And after suffering on the cross for six hours, as He was about to die, this sixth statement made by Jesus from the cross recorded in Scripture reveals that Jesus submitted to the Father.

   The pinnacle of His mission in this world was to be the atoning sacrifice for sins.  Trusting God the Father, Jesus fulfilled His mission.

Hunter Irvine

Scripture Love Blog

I am thirsty

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty” (John 19:28 NIV).

   When a person loses much blood, sometimes he or she becomes very thirsty.  This was illustrated by Bethany Hamilton, the young lady who had her arm bit off by a shark in 2003.  Only age 13 at the time of the tragedy, she then wrote a book at age 14, along with a professional writer, entitled Soul Surfer.  Bethany told of her extreme thirst in the hospital.

   New Testament Scripture reveals this verse was a fulfillment of a prophecy, and Psalm 69:21 fits the details.  (Likewise, Psalm 22:1 foretold Christ’s statement which we learned about last week, and Psalm 31:5 foretold His statement which we will learn from next week.)  Yet Psalm 69:21 was simply the foretelling, plus in an indirect manner.  Whereas Jesus was living it, fulfilling the prophecy as He was probably desperately thirsty.  Jesus was fully human.  Indeed it is an orthodox theological standard to acknowledge that Jesus was fully human once born into this world, and still fully God.

   This is important, because we need to recognize that when Jesus was on the cross, He was physically suffering, and also suffering in His spiritual heart, which is holy.  It was the ultimate agony.

   God used this tragedy to offer salvation to people.  The consequence of sins is physical and spiritual death.  Suffering on the cross, Jesus became the atonement for the sins of anyone.

   Then Jesus was gloriously resurrected.  The One who was tragically thirsty on the cross is now in heaven offering eternal satisfaction for the spiritual thirst of anyone.

   Recorded in Revelation 21:6 is the promise: “He said to me: ‘It is done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.  To him or her who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.’”

Hunter Irvine

Scripture Love Blog