We are here this evening because as we learned on Sunday Jesus is Just, Jesus is Righteousness and has come to place that Righteousness on you. He has come to call you just-ified even though the entirety of the law points to quite the opposite.
In other words Jesus has come to save you. He did that nearly 2,000 years ago today. And he has come today through his Word once again to let you know “It is Finished”.
It’s over. But far more than just ended…It is Completed. Complete, it is perfect.
What is finished?
We know that Jesus accomplished something on the Cross. Though the Cross itself is not his proper work. No, the Cross is a curse. It is a punishment. It is suffering not simply done by Jesus but suffering inflicted on him. He was an innocent man according to God’s law but for your sake he did not let it stay that way.
He become a curse for us. Jesus become our sin for us. Isaiah told us just now that “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all”.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
So what is finished on this night. What is finished in this passage?
First of all, A life is finished. Jesus asked for nothing but gave us all of himself. We did not choose him but rather he chose to save us. He did not view is equality with God as something to take advantage of but instead he was obedient, even dying a criminal’s death on a cross for us. He was despised and rejected, and while he was too ugly for us to look at him, well he was busy dying for us and proclaiming that it is over. His life, finished.
This is not a tragedy that could have been avoided. No one could say, “If I were there it would have been different”. No, Jesus’ life finished the only way a life like this could end. Cast out, mocked, and crucified. In this awful ending we also see the completion of Jesus’ mission. God is finished dealing with us. When claiming that it is finished he has spoken the last word there is to speak to us old sinners.
God wrestled with us through the ages. He gave us priests, prophets, and kings. But now he has finally completed it. Here Jesus makes the final move. God speaks through his Son on the cross. Then Jesus bows his had and gives up his Spirit.
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— (Galatians 3:13)
God gave of himself in this way as a ransom for sin. He gave himself over to death, carrying all of our sin and taking it to the grave. What was this mission? To save us, yes, and to deal with these ancient foes; Satan, Sin, Death, and Separation from God.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, (Romans 8:3)
There is one more thing that is Finished. We are. You are.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13–14)
You are through. It is true that you and the things around you pretty much go on like before. All that you were is ended, over – the refusal to take God at his word, the selfishness, the hatred, the prejudice, the grasping at being God, the despair at not being good enough, the desperate protecting of self and the fear of death. All of that has no purpose, no point, no future. You are through. God has put an end to all that. God has finally had enough. But it is not just over. It is completed.
Righteousness is counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Romans 4:24–25)
God has decided to make all things new. So hear this word from the cross: It is finished! And that's final! And all it takes now, miracle of miracles, is that you just be still, listen and wait. In that end is a new beginning. Your sins are forgiven. You are set free. You are no longer your own but belong to your Saviour. For as many of you who know Christ, you share in this death with him. For those you do not yet know Jesus, he became your sin, and he died your death for you…Amen.