Homiletic Monthly John 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. How seldom can one coming to die say of anything but life itself, that "It is finished?" Our projects overlap our days, and are either never accomplished, or left to others to complete. Most will then say with Job, "My days are past," &c. But Jesus was accustomed to measure life's meaning only by its results. "My meat is to do the will of Him," &c. When, therefore, He cried, "It is finished," it must have referred to the accomplishment of that for which His life was given Him. What was the deathless purpose which absorbed the life of Jesus? I. TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING, AND TO REMOVE ITS OCCASION. it. He seemed to gather into His own sensitive heart all the pangs which He witnessed in others. "Surely He hath borne our griefs," &c. 2. As a practical experience of those who accept the ministry of Christ and His cross, the evil of suffering is gone; it is transformed into an agency of blessing. "In all these things we are more than conquerors." II. TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF DEATH, AND TO REMOVE ITS OCCASION. 1. He wept over Lazarus. Why, when He knew that in a moment Lazarus was to be restored to life? Because Lazarus represented all the dead for whom resurrection was not a possibility until after His own death should allow him to enter and vanquish the power of death in its own realm. 2. Since then, believers in Jesus triumph over the grave, being able to say, "This is life eternal." III. TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM AND TO BREAK THE POWER OF SIN. 1. The occasion of both suffering and death. Jesus always associated sin with sorrow and death. When He healed, it was in connection with some revelation of Himself as the sin-bearer. "Thy sins be forgiven thee" was in His mind equivalent to "Take up thy bed and walk." When He cried, "It is finished," He esteemed sin as a "broken hold" upon mankind. "When he shall make his soul an offering," &c. 2. Since then, believers can experience what they confess, "Being justified by faith we have peace with God," &c. The life of Jesus only was a complete one, except as our lives are "hid in His." (Homiletic Monthly.) Parallel Verses KJV: When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. |
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