Sixth Cry From The Cross
It Is Finished
John 19: 29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. [1]
Introduction: Last week was a wonderful time that I will never forget. We started the morning with a drive that allowed me to see the sun rising just above the trees over the brick plant and then just as quickly as I saw the sun rising in the east, it went behind the clouds.
The Sunrise Service was not rehearsed. Where we would meet was not even established. I saw cars coming into parking lot and the newly planted lawn with the clean steps in front of the Fellowship Hall and decided. Someone said we should get chairs so we did. Someone asked, where are the hymnals, so we got them. We had an idea of the music, scripture, and words to speak but even that got changed. It was wonderful!
The guys cooked and most everybody enjoyed the morning because we thought about those who served and what they meant to us, not so much about the food though it was very good and plenty.
Some of us did a thing not strange to me but apparently strange to many who participated. We had a prayer walk to the cemetery and back. There was silence so that the only one talking to each of us was God. For those who walked, I pray it meant as much to you as it meant to me to be along with you as we only listened for God to speak.
We had many with us in the worship service whom we were not accustomed to have with us on normal Sunday mornings and that was too a blessing. The neighbors said that the parking lot had more cars than they thought we had people attending.
We had a new couple to join and then we went to our homes to spend the rest of Resurrection day reflecting on what God means to us and how much we mean to Him. The day was over but it is not finished. His love for us is not and will never be finished.
The text that we will concentrate on today is Jesus’ next to the last of His Seven Sayings from the cross.
Scripture: The scripture is John 19:29-30. When you have found it please rise to your feet for the reading of God’s written word.
Prayer: Please be seated
Message: The title of today’s message is Jesus’ sixth cry from the cross, It is finished. We will break down those three words in an attempt to understand.
IT: What is IT? Jesus had just before said that he was thirsty. They offered Him vinegar mixed with hyssop. What was hyssop? Look over at Psalm 51:7, “7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” [2] This particular Psalm was written by King David after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Hyssop was an herb, a root of a bush or tree that supposedly cleansed. It was ceremonially used by the Jews to make something spiritually clean.
Did Jesus mean that now since he had fulfilled another prophecy by having hyssop offered to Him that all the prophecies were finished? It that the IT?
Some translations offer that Jesus never actually drank the vinegar yet others say that He did. In any event, was Jesus’ thirst finished? Was that the IT?
Were His seven cries from the cross finished? In John’s account it says after this Jesus gave up the ghost yet we understand that there is one more saying that we find in Luke when Jesus commends He spirit to His Father. So the sayings weren’t quite finished were they?
Was the harassment by the Roman soldiers finished? Yes. Was the crucifixion finished? Yes. Was His natural human life finished? Yes but his resurrected life had not yet begun.
Was the darkness finished? For that particular day the sun would return. Was the time finished for those who rose from their graves to be in their graves. Yes for that particular day. Was the time for the curtain to separate the holy of holy from the rest of the temple finished? Yes the curtain was torn from the top to the bottom. I don’t know if they replaced that curtain though so maybe that was not finished completely that day.
Some of the things pertaining to Jesus’ crucifixion were finished not to ever be repeated again but is that really what Jesus meant by the IT? We must look more deeply into the reason that Jesus came here. There was a divide that was caused because we as the human race decided that we could decide for ourselves and therefore we did not need to walk with God anymore. Because of that decision, very few passed death. In fact, there were only two that I know of who went to heaven without passing through death. One was Enoch and the other was Elijah. There was no way for us to have a direct relationship with God anymore.
That is the IT. Jesus came to this earth because God so loved us that He sent Jesus so that whosoever would believe, that completely trust Him with their existence, would have everlasting life. THAT IS THE IT!
THE CHASM THAT COULD NOT BE CROSSED WAS CROSSED BY THE CROSS! Let me say that again! THE CHASM THAT COULD NOT BE CROSSED WAS CROSSED BY THE CROSS! The divide is finished and as my old chaplain sister used to say, “I love you and there ain’t nothing you can do about that!” God so loved us and there is nothing that we can do about that. Only Jesus could. There is nothing that you can do to make amends. The old sacrificial system of giving of something to make amends for a wrong is finished! Jesus finished it.
So why do we keep trying to do things on our own to make amends for the wrongs we do? So why do we keep insisting that everybody must worship God the same way we do like the Jews used to way back in the early church? Worship God by doing your best to follow Him! Whatever you think you must insist upon others is finished!
Whatever you think you must put up with from this world so that you will be accepted and listened to by those you want to control, that certainly should be finished. Whatever you think that God did wrong in the way He has for you to go, yea, that’s finished too. He made you to be satisfied with the way He made you because He loves the plans He has for you. Let the time that you question why He made you the way He made you be finished. Find contentment that you are the way you are and accept the way He made you as you walk with Jesus. If you insist that you have a better idea than He does for your life, It is not finished. Your struggle continues. When are you going to start your prayer walk? He started that walk that will never ever end.
Prayer:
Invitation: Walk with Him. The time for you to resist and insist can be finished. He said so from the cross! What do you say?
Many will continue to say my way like several of the great singers have said. Jesus cried from the cross that it is finished. Having your way that eludes God’s way is finished when you say so. The curtain has been let down. There is nothing left to keep you from having his way anymore because Jesus started it and Jesus finished it.
Have thine own way Lord, have thine own way. Jesus said it in the garden and so can you. Let not my will be done but Thine Heavenly Father. Have thine own way. What do you say today? Think and respond as we sing…
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (1995). (electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version., Jn 19:29–30). Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (1995). (electronic ed. of the 1769 edition of the 1611 Authorized Version., Ps 51:7). Bellingham WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
