---

I. THE OPPORTUNITY OF THE JEWISH RACE HAD GONE. The offer to them was completed. Their response to it was now final. There they were gathered, the two typical groups: those who had received Him for life, and those who had received Him for death. His blood was upon both; but upon the one to the cleansing of sin; upon the other to the making indelible its stain. "His blood be on us and on our children."

II. PILATE'S OPPORTUNITY WAS OVER. When he had written that title and had had it placed upon the cross, saying, "What I have written, I have written," his position was finally taken.

III. THE MERELY HUMAN RELATIONS OF JESUS WERE FINALLY ADJUSTED (vers. 26, 27). And the final adjustment of His relations with us, and so of our social relations with each other, is at the cross. To Mary He says, "Another shall fill My place. Fill thou to the one I choose, as far as possible, the relation thou hast occupied to Me." To John He says, "Be such a son as I have been." Should we not see a consecration of all these ties of earth if we could come often beneath the cross and listen to the Saviour's last bequest? He has entrusted us to each other as with His dying breath, as with the seal of His blood.

IV. ALL THE PROPHECIES POINTING TO THE CROSS WERE NOW ACCOMPLISHED. The scrupulousness with which prophecies concerning our Saviour were accomplished is most notable in the two periods of His infancy and His sacrifice. Two references only to prophecy occur in the other three gospels. In Mark (Mark 15:28) the language of Isaiah (Isaiah 53:12) is recalled. In Matthew (Matthew 27:35) is a reference to the Psalm (Psalms 22:18). John makes four definite citations (chap. John 19:24,28,36,37).

V. THE MEDIATION OF CHRIST WAS COMPLETED. He had come to mediate between God and men. For this He was both God and Man. What was between them He must take away. He must bring them together, or they were to remain separated forever. This He did perfectly, and what He did has only to be received in penitence and trust, and salvation is assured. Conclusion: Perhaps the noblest building in the world is the Cathedral of Cologne. It was designed on the most magnificent scale, so costly and vast that after the lapse of five centuries it was still unfinished. At last it was resolved to make a great effort to complete it. It was resumed as a national work. The most competent architects were obtained, the most skilled workmen in great numbers were employed, and, at last, the crowning stone was laid in the presence of a vast assemblage gathered from all Europe, and from America, with the most august ceremonies. A shout broke from that vast concourse, as the surmounting cross was secured in its lofty place, whose burden was, It is finished. I stood before that pile, that crowning triumph of architecture, with emotions of awe and wonder. I thought of the centuries of the building, in which generations of builders had toiled and passed and left it incomplete. I saw the cross everywhere wrought into the walls and ornaments, and lying outspread in the majestic outline of stone, upon that ancient square, where once had stood a heathen temple. How grand a response, I thought, to the cross of my Redeemer. It seemed some worthy rejoinder to the cry of Calvary. But there is a response grander far than the cathedral builders have given Him, the response of the lowliest sinner, coming to the Cross for pardon, opening his heart for the finished work to be wrought within him. It requires no costly offering for this, no pile of masonry, no generations of builders, and centuries, to make it complete. Now, without the delay of a minute, it may be made complete in you, because Jesus finished the great provision. It is complete. He who receives it at once is completely saved.

(Monday Club Sermons.)

---

---

KJV: When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

WEB: When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished." He bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.