It Is Finished
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” (John 19:28-30).
Even amid the suffering of Calvary, all things were under the Lord’s authority. On the Mount of Transfiguration, He talked with Moses and Elijah, “who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:30-31). “Accomplish” meant: to completely fulfil a work. That time had come. The Lord’s words, “I thirst” fulfil Psalm 22:15:
My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death.
A potsherd was a fragment of broken ceramic. It is a picture of desolation and dryness. In Job 2:8 it is associated with Job’s intense suffering.
In fulfilling the work of the cross, the Lord knew enormous suffering. He had cried those awful words, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46); then afterwards, He said, “I thirst.” These words express the place of most profound need and weakness into which His love had taken Him. To those who looked on, His thirst was associated with a dying man with no power. But worshipping hearts see the depths to which the Lord of glory went to secure our eternal salvation. They give us an understanding of the extent of Christ’s suffering. Paul later writes, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
In Mark 4:36, at the end of a long day, Jesus is taken by His disciples into a boat. He falls asleep. From this place of lowly humanity and exhaustion, Jesus awakes to demonstrate His power over His creation. He stills the storm. One moment the Lord is fast asleep from tiredness, the next, He exerts incredible power over nature, simply by speaking. From the place of utter weakness on the cross, He displayed the power of His love. His holy exhaustion is described by the words, “I thirst.” He rises in triumphant power to cry, “It is finished.” In Greek, this cry is one word, meaning completed. It was the cry of power and victory. It did not mean, “I am about to die and suffer no more”, but “I have perfectly finished the work God gave Me to do.” Hebrews 10:12 explains, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.” Christ’s work of redemption is a perfect, eternal work. It was done once, and it has been done forever. All we need to do is trust the Saviour who accomplished it so that we may enter into all its blessings.
It is a great blessing to understand that the Saviour who died for us is now the Saviour who lives for us. Knowing the glory of Christ’s Person and work is the basis upon which we grow into His likeness and fulfil His purposes as the people of God. If David’s cup ran over, ours certainly does, and we can encourage each other this morning to come and
… sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation (Psalm 95:1).
