[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.
“It Is Finished”
My friend, I do not want an answer. I do not want an explanation. I do not want cheap assurance. I want it to be finished. I want what I am suffering to be done. To be over. To be finished.
My back is in agony. My knees are worsening. I cannot walk or stand upright. I am always in pain, every day. My organs fail me. My kidneys are losing function. My heart is in failure. I am exhausted and tired. Even my mind fails me. I don’t remember.
I do not want an answer or explanation. I do not want assurance that God has a plan. I want it to be done. I want it to be finished. I am in agony.
My children have failed. They have lost the faith. They don’t know how to raise a family. They shipwreck the lives of my grandchildren. I am afraid for their souls. I do not want words. I do not want thin hope. I want it to be accomplished – I want what is wrong to be made right – I want it finished.
I am racked with these many sufferings, and I only get words, words, words, from friends and pastors and dear friends who mean well. But what are words and promises? I need it done.
I am racked with sin. I suffer disturbing temptations in my mind – evil, perverse, dark thoughts. I want them gone. I am guilty of the same sin again and again. I cannot kick it. Sins of the flesh. Sins in word and speech. Sins I commit. And the many things I fail to do.
I continue to fail. I do not want a mere pardon, only to be left the same sinful wretch that I am. I do not want to be forgiven only – I want to be better. I want to be made right again. I want it finished.
I miss my father or mother. I miss my wife or husband. I miss my child who died. I am grieving, or I am lonely. I do not want promises. I want it to be over.
[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.
It is finished. “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows …. he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities … and with his wounds we are healed”
“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted … he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for [my] transgression…” He was put to grief, and His soul was in anguish. And, now, it is finished. [Isaiah 53]
Jesus, Dearest Friend, you have finished our grief. On that cross, friends, Jesus suffered your suffering. He was stung with your guilt. His body was stabbed with your pains. He was pained with your grief. He was alone in your loneliness. He was damned with your damnation. He was in anguish in your Hell.
His pain was your brokenness. And the darkness of the sky above the cross from noon until three was your darkness. On that cross, all this that was yours became His. “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush Him; He has put Him to grief” [Isaiah 53:10]. And, then, it was finished.
In the nail pierced flesh of Jesus, your grief, sin, suffering, and pains have not merely been answered. They have been finished. It is finished in Him. This was the will of God. In Jesus, on that Cross, the grief and hell is ended. And that end means, now, Resurrection and eternal life, pain no more.
Brothers and sisters, your suffering might not be over with yet – but there is now an end to it, and that end is in sight. That end is in Jesus, your Dearest Friend, who today has died for you. Amen.
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