Diego Velazquez, 1632 - "Crucified Christ"
I want to discuss just three words with you. It's really two tiny words followed by a descriptor.
Together, they become like a mighty army standing guard over our conscience. Their role is to keep the gospel's goodness and sweetness in and the loudness and tyranny of the Law out.
The Good Friday service is a characteristically somber affair, but today, I hope you'll pray that God will emblazon these three words from Christ in your hearts.
Pray that He would station them on the tips of your tongue to stand guard for the many times you need them each day. Pray the Lord might dangle them from your ear lobes so that you may routinely listen to them chime together and remind us how they are guardians of our hope and peace.
According to John's gospel, these were the last three words our Redeemer uttered during His passion on the cross. As he bowed His head and yielded His spirit,
Jesus said, "IT IS FINISHED!"
At the risk of stepping out of sequence with the church calendar, let's remember why God sent His Son from heaven to enter humanity through the womb of a young virgin girl from Bethlehem.
When Jesus came to the earth, His presence gave thousands in the first century an opportunity to see Him, touch Him, and hear Him teach. And while He was in their midst, He:
Turned water into wine;
Healed the sick;
Took bits of food and fed thousands, with full baskets left over;
He walked on water;
He exorcised demons;
And He raised Lazarus from the dead.
None of this, however, is why He came. All of it was to demonstrate that, while he looked like a mere man, He was the God-Man, the promised Messiah.
God the Father sent his Son to earth with an end in mind—an end that found its fullness in Golgatha, where we are now in our church calendar. He came to reconcile us to the Father and to give us eternal and abundant life through faith—lives that abound in hope, joy, and peace.
Martin Luther said:
"When the merciful Father saw that we were being oppressed through the Law … He sent His Son into the world, heaped all the sins of all persons upon Him, and said to Him: 'Be Peter the denier; Paul the persecutor, blasphemer, and assaulter; David the adulterer; the sinner who ate the apple in Paradise; the thief on the cross. In short, be the person of all humankind, the one who has committed the sins of everyone. And see to it that you make satisfaction for them.' Now the Law comes and says: 'I find Him a sinner, who takes upon Himself the sins of all humans."
Listen to these words. "It is finished!"
It. [pause] Is. [pause] Finished. [pause]
Now, let's zoom in. What is it that Christ is referring to?
His life on earth and his suffering? YES
The fulfillment of every letter of the Law? YES
Our separation from God through His atoning sacrifice? YES
Paul tells the Corinthians that Jesus Christ came into the world to "be our righteousness," and this is the extravagance of the Christian gospel.
God's exacting standards require that we keep every jot and tittle of the Law entirely—through outward obedience and perfect inward love for God's Law in our hearts.
When theologian Tom Oden describes what Christ finished for us on the cross through faith, he says:
"It is not that the Law is blandly relaxed or dishonestly set aside. Rather, the Law is declared fulfilled in an even stricter sense: by the judge himself, by His own sacrificial offering of Himself as He Himself fulfills the requirements of the Law for us! This happens by … [God himself] crediting to the believer … the perfect righteousness of His representative and guarantee: God the Son, Jesus Christ."
Paul establishes this point with a provocative illustration of Abraham. Setting aside all of Abraham's selfless works, Paul notes that this great patriarch "believed God and [his faith] was credited to him as righteousness."
And then Paul explicitly tells the Roman Christians—and us:
"The words, It was credited to him … were not written for [Abraham's] sake alone, but for ours also, [as Righteousness] will be credited to us who believe in Him who raised Jesus Christ from the dead."
The apostle said this was revealed in the Christian gospel—that the "righteousness of God" is ours through faith. In other words, our righteousness is not the reward for human striving but from God's extravagant gift through the ransom of His Son.
So, as you reflect on the historical events that are nailed to Good Friday, may I exhort you to bind these words around your neck and have them ALWAYS at the ready:
"IT IS FINISHED!"
Will you say it together: "IT IS FINISHED!"
I'll close with this piece from the 17th-century theologian Francis Turretin:
"It is one thing to redeem from punishment; another to assign a reward also. It is one thing to deliver from death; another to bestow life and happiness. It is one thing to bring out of prison; another to seat upon a throne. The former takes away evil, but the latter superadds good also; as if a fugitive slave should not only be acquitted of the punishment due but also raised to the dignity and right of a son."
These three words, It is finished, are like a mighty army to stand guard over your conscience.
Love them. Keep them in your heart and mind forever! And "may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Amen!"
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