“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. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, ‘It is finished!’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:29–30 NLT)

Ever since I was a little kid, I have always had a great admiration for the historical person known as Jesus. I had seen all His movies. I thought very highly of Him. I would thumb through my grandmother’s big family Bible and look at the illustrations of Jesus. She had a picture of Jesus on the wall. I would sit and stare at it and think, I wish I could have known that man Jesus.

The one thing I didn’t like about the life of Jesus was the way the story ended. I thought whoever wrote the story ought to rewrite it with a happier ending. The whole part of His being crucified wrecks everything. He is on this great roll. He is healing people. He is teaching people. Little children are flocking to Him. He is becoming more popular. This ending is ridiculous. Why do they have to put Him on a cross and kill Him?

It wasn’t until after I became a Christian that I realized the crucifixion of Jesus was the primary reason He came to earth in the first place.

He came to earth, fully God and fully human. He lived among us, as one of us. He experienced the things that are common to all of us, including the temptation to sin. Hebrews 4:14–15 says, “So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (NLT).

Jesus destroyed the power of sin. He lived a sinless life so that He could be the perfect sacrifice for the sins of everyone else.

He lived humbly, in perfect obedience to God. The apostle Paul put it this way: “When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross” (Philippians 2:7–8 NLT).

He did what no one else could do: pay God’s price for the sins of the world. Ephesians 1:7 says that God “is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins” (NLT). Jesus’ blood covers the sins of everyone who believes in Him. That means when God looks at us, He doesn’t see our sin; He sees His Son’s righteousness.

That’s why Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 NLT).

And “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NLT).

Jesus gives us hope, joy, fulfillment, and a sense of purpose. He gives us “a rich and satisfying life” (John 10:10 NLT).

That’s the work Jesus completed on the cross. That’s why He was able to say triumphantly, “It is finished.”

 

Reflection question: How can people see the finished work of Jesus in your life?

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