John 19:30

“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

This verse is brief but contains quite a bit of information in light of the whole of scripture.  The first thing that crossed my mind was when Jesus said “It is finished.”.  What is this “it” that was finished?  Pentecost was still off in the future.  Jesus hadn’t been resurrected yet.  Jesus hadn’t even physically died yet.  So, what was this “it” he spoke?   My bible has a cross reference to John 17:4 “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”  This a reasonable explanation and it fits with the end of John 19:30 where scripture states that Jesus gave up his spirit; his spirit wasn’t taken from him.

I think a fuller understanding requires we go back a little earlier and a little later in time than this specific event.

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Matt 27:45-46

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.  Matt 27:51

I believe during the 3 hours from the sixth hour (noon) until the ninth hour (3 pm) Jesus was separated from God the Father while Jesus was taking on the sin of the whole world; past, present, and future.  God the Father is completely Holy and cannot be in the presence of sin so he let Jesus take on this burden.  As I noted earlier Jesus gave up his spirit; it wasn’t taken.  This was the only point in time that Jesus was not in complete fellowship with God the Father.

Imagine how we ache with loss of a loved one – how we hurt from broken relationship.  Now picture taking on all this pain from all mankind and for all time.  Alone, no one else to share our pain.  I don’t recall scripture recording Jesus crying out from the physical pain of the Roman scourging.  If you want a graphic depiction of scourging I recommend the movie “The Passion of the Christ.”  No, he only cried out during His temporary separation from God the Father.  It’s just incredible.

The “it” that Jesus said was finished was the reconciliation of mankind to God the Father.  The veil was torn physically in the temple and spiritually between us and God.  For ALL that put their trust in Jesus, we no longer need an atonement; we no longer need a mediator.  Our spirit and the Holy Spirit can have direct relationship.  This is the relationship that Old Testament believers could only dream.  Jesus enabled a restored relationship that God intended; the relationship God had with Adam and Eve in the garden.  A personal relationship between created and creator.

You may wonder what practical application this might have.  There are times (probably more than I’d like to admit) that I get frustrated; even irritated.  If I bring these issues to my Lord the Holy Spirit reminds me that these issues are insignificant to what my Lord suffered so I need to let it go and by letting go I can maintain and/or repair my earthly relationships.  My hope is that as the Holy Spirit conforms me I will remember before my emotions take over rather than after so that repaired relationships are needed much less frequently.

Blessings.

Your Brother in Christ,

Dave