“ ‘It Is Finished!’ ”

Read John 19:1–30. What is the crucial message to us in Jesus’ state-

ment, “ ‘It is finished’ ”?

Finally, the crucial moments for Christ, for humankind, and for the whole

universe had arrived. With deep agony, He struggled against the powers of

darkness. Slowly He made His way through the Garden of Gethsemane,

through His unfair trials, and up the mountain of Calvary. Evil angels were

trying to overcome Him. While Jesus was hanging on the cross, the chief

priests, the scribes, and the elders mocked Him, saying “ ‘He saved others;

Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come

down from the cross, and we will believe Him’ ” (Matt. 27:42, NKJV).

Could Christ have come down from the cross and saved Himself?

Yes, He was able but not willing to do so. His unconditional love for

all humanity, including those mockers, did not allow Him to give up.

Actually, “the mockers were among those whom He was dying to save;

and He could not come down from the cross and save Himself, because

He was held, not by the nails, but by His will to save them.”—Alfred

Plummer, An Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to S.

Matthew (London: Elliot Stock, 1910), p. 397.

Here, in the suffering of Christ, Jesus was defeating the kingdom

of Satan, even though it was Satan who had instigated the events that

led to the cross, including Judas’s betrayal (John 6:70; John 13:2, 27).

“Somehow, in a way the Evangelist does not try to describe, the death

of Jesus is both an act of Satan and an act in which Jesus wins the vic-

tory over Satan.”—George E. Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament,

rev. ed. (Cambridge, UK: Lutterworth Press, 1994), p. 192.

Crying from the cross, “ ‘It is finished’ ” (John 19:30), Christ implied not

only that His agony had come to an end, but also especially that He had won

the great cosmic-historic controversy against Satan and his evil forces. “All

heaven triumphed in the Saviour’s victory. Satan was defeated, and knew

that his kingdom was lost.”—Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 758.

It’s hard to grasp the amazing contrast here: in the utter humiliation

of the Son of God He had won, for us and for the universe, the greatest

and most glorious victory.

Think about how bad sin must be that it took the death of Christ

to atone for it. What should this truth teach us about how useless

our works are for attaining merit before God? After all, what can

we do to add to what Christ has already done for us? Bring your

answer to class on Sabbath.