It Is Finished!
John 19:20
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. John 19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… We all have a particular sin or sins which plague us nearly every day. And no matter how much we try to stop doing those sins, we always seem to keep on sinning. In our contrition – in our sorrow over our sins – it is necessary and glorious to look at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and find comfort that the sins that trouble us have been paid for by His suffering and death.
The cross of our Lord Jesus provides even more comfort, however. Our Lord Jesus on the tree of the cross did not just pay for that one or two or three sins that we have committed against the Commandments of God. He did not even suffer on the cross just for us; He did not just suffer for one man. He did not even suffer and die for just the Jewish nation, or only any other nation. Our Lord Jesus also did not just suffer for the elect – the Christians – of all nations.
No; our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died on the tree of the holy cross for the sins of all of mankind of all time; He paid for the sins of everyone; all the sins that have been committed from the beginning of the world, and for all the sins that will be committed up to the end of the world when our Lord Jesus will come again.
This, dear fellow redeemed, is the great comfort of the holy cross of our Lord Jesus Christ: He has atoned for all sins for all time. He has atoned for all the sins that we have committed and ever will commit. He has paid for all of the good which we have left undone, and for all the good which we will leave undone. All sins of all time have been atoned for on the tree of the holy cross. As He proclaimed from the cross just before He gave up His spirit into the loving arms of His heavenly Father, “It is finished.” Our atonement, and the atonement of the whole world is finished.
We claim this atonement, and are justified, through God-given faith. When we struggle in our sinfulness, when we are led into sorrow over our sins, we look for salvation outside of ourselves. The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, comes to us in these times with the promises of the Gospel. He places before our eyes the once-and-for-all-time sacrifice of our Lord Jesus on the tree of the holy cross, and points out to us that our sins have been paid for – atoned for – by this suffering and death of Jesus on that tree.
By this Gospel, by this preaching into our ears and hearts of the works and merits of Christ, the Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith within us. Our sorrowing heart looks for some comfort in the midst of our sins, and the Holy Spirit provides that comfort by showing us that our sins have been paid for by the death of our Lord Jesus on the holy cross. We cling to this cross in faith, and in it we hope for salvation and eternal life.
The Holy Spirit provides us with all that we need for our comfort, faith and hope in the world filled with sin, disease, and death. The cross of our Lord Jesus shows us that our sins have been paid for. This is why we do not spurn the crucifix, the cross with the image of our suffering and dying Lord on it. For this image of our suffering Lord Jesus reminds us of the penalty of our sins. It reminds us that our sins require a payment of a horrible death.
But it also reminds us that the penalty of our sins – the death required – has been paid for by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The crucifix shows us that our sins have been paid for with death. We are now free from the wages of sin, which is death. In our Lord’s death, He has won life for us. We now have the promise of eternal life through our Lord’s death. He has accomplished all that He was sent to do by His heavenly Father.
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He was born into our flesh, but without sin. He was tempted as we are, but did not sin. He perfectly obeyed the Commandments of the Lord God, and thus fulfilled them for us who break them daily. He endured the trial and accusations that we deserved, and though innocent of those accusations, unlike we who are guilty of all the accusations of the Accuser against us, He was condemned to die the death that we deserve.
He endured the mockery, the shame, the beating, the spitting, the scourging, the crown of thorns, and all the other sufferings that we deserve on account of our manifold transgressions, even though in His innocence He did not deserve them. Finally, He was crucified, died, and was buried. He shed His innocent blood for us. Our blood truly deserved to be poured out on account of our many transgressions, but our Lord and Savior suffered in our place. He did all this out of His great love for us and for His heavenly Father. Only love – true love – can do this. Love sacrifices itself – its will – for the object of its love.
Our Savior loved us to the extent that He endure all the trials, all the sufferings, all the persecutions and death that we deserved. And when it was all over, “After…knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled…He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” The atonement of all the sins of the whole world, from Adam and Eve’s fall into sin until the Last Day, was finished. He has accomplished the mission that His heavenly Father sent Him to do. He has accomplished our redemption. By His death, by His bowing His head and giving up His spirit into the arms of His heavenly Father, He has won for all those who believe on His Name forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation.
In His death Jesus conquered once and for all sin, death, and the power of the devil. These three enemies of ours and of our Lord can no longer bring any accusations against us. All of those accusations are met head-on with Christ’s payment accomplished on the tree of the cross.
Therefore, when we sin – when we daily commit those sins we keep on doing, and when we struggle with those sins – we call to mind the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can show our soul, and show our conscience which accuses us, that our sins have been paid for by the suffering and death of our beloved Lord Jesus. He has accomplished our salvation. He has paid for our sins with His suffering and death. No accusation can be brought against us any longer.
Hear Him cry, “It is finished!” Our Lord declares that our sins have been paid for when He cries out with a loud voice, “It is finished!” In faith we cling to these words. In faith we cling to the cross. And our Lord declares us righteous – justified – on account of our faith and trust in His works and merits that He performed on the tree of the holy cross. Such is the love of our Lord Jesus for us, and for all mankind, even when mankind continues to reject Him and the salvation found in Him alone.
The atonement that Christ won on the tree of the cross is theirs if they would only repent; if they would only turn away from their sins in sorrow and contrition, and believe that for the sake of Christ’s merits – His fulfilling of the Law and His suffering and death – they have forgiveness, life and salvation.
Dear fellow redeemed, let us continue in this faith. Let us not despair when we struggle daily with our sin, and when we keep on doing the same sins over and over again. For our Lord Jesus Christ came down from Heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Ghost through the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried for us. Our Lord has finished paying for our sins.
Let us then rejoice in His death, for His death means our eternal life, it means our eternal reward in Heaven. He is arrested, and we go free. He is condemned to die, and we are acquitted. He dies, and we live. And then He wins forgiveness for our sins, which we receive whenever we believe the Gospel preached into our ears, and whenever we participate in the Blessed Sacraments in which the Holy Ghost works to create and sustain faith in our poor hearts.
Take comfort, my dear flock, your sins have been paid. You are forgiven on account of our Lord’s suffering and death on the cross for you.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
