Tag Archives: finished

LAST WORDS -26

Bible Study, ,

Matthew 27:50 NIV‬
[50] “And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.”

‭Luke 23:46 NIV‬
[46] “Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.”

‭Mark 15:37 NIV‬
[37] “With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.”

John 19:30 NIV‬
[30] “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

The last words of a dying soul… sometimes the most important words ever spoken by that person.

Jesus’ last words – two of the gospels record His words; all four record an unusual phenomenon. The last words of a dying person are usually whispered, hardly audible, like the last flicker of a dying flame. Sometimes the hearers are left with a mystery, the last cryptic sentence left incomplete as the last breath fails.

Not Jesus!

All four gospels declare that Jesus spoke audibly, even shouted out His last words. How is it possible for a man to shout, suspended from a wooden stake by nails in his hands and feet, and slowly dying from suffocation because he is too weak to lift his weight on mangled feet to breathe?

Jesus did it!

He had a message too important for the world to hear, to whisper or lose in His dying. Two profound sentences no one must miss!

“IT IS FINISHED” in Greek “tetelestai” an accounting term meaning “paid in full” …. Account closed…. Delete from the record! Whichever term conveys the truth that the debtor is no longer obligated to pay another cent because his debt has been fully paid, no need for instalments, obliterated from the record book… that’s what Jesus meant! Sin’s debt was fully paid by the one who had no debt of His own.

However, we can broaden the meaning of “tetelestai” to include every detail of what Jesus finished when He died in the cross.

God’s wrath against sin and sinners – finished!
Sin’s debt – finished!
Fogiveness achieved – finished!
God’s perfect nature, mercy, shown to sinners – finished!
Jew and Gentile reconciled – finished!
Gentiles brought near by the blood of Christ – finished!
God’s plan of salvation – finished!
Sinners transformed by faith through grace, into His image – finished!
Transferred from darkness to light, Satan to God – finished!
The righteousness of God revealed – finished!
All God’s promises made available to believers – finished!
The law as a way of salvation – finished!
The Holy Spirit poured out – finished!
Heaven opened – finished!
Access to the Father – finished!
Surrounded by God’s love and favour – finished!

And so much more! The cross was Jesus’ last word on sin.

His second utterance, recorded by Luke, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,” open our understanding to another facet of Jesus’ death… resurrection!

His death, without the resurrection, would have left us with two unthinkable conclusions,

  1. That Jesus’ sacrifice was ineffective because He was an imperfect lamb,

‭Hebrews 10:11 NLT‬
[11] “Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.”

But…

‭Hebrews 10:14 NLT‬
[14] “For by that one offering he (Jesus) forever made perfect those who are being made holy.”

‭Hebrews 9:14 NLT‬
[14] “Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.”

  1. That we have no hope of eternal life,…

1 Corinthians 15:14 NIV‬
[14]”And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith…
[17] And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…
[19] If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied…. “

But…

‭1 Corinthians 15:20 NIV‬
[20]”…Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep…
[22] For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive… [23] But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.”

Jesus became the firstfruits offering by His death. Let me explain.

‭Under the Old Covenant, the firstfruits of the harvest and the firstborn of the flocks and herds belonged to God. The first portion of the harvest had to be offered to God as a” “terumah” – a firstfruits offering. Firstborn animals were sacrificed or bought back by paying a price. Firstborn sons were bought back for a price.

The terumah offering guaranteed God’s blessing on the full harvest.

‭Proverbs 3:9-10 NIV‬
[9] Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; [10] then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”

The ritual of the terumah was to lift it up as a wave or heave offering and then place it in the hands of the high priest. It was to be God’s provision for the high priest and his family.

Jesus became the terumah offering by fulfilling the ritual of being lifted up…

‭John 3:14-15 NIV‬
[14] “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, [15] that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

‭John 12:32 NIV‬
[32] And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

… And placing Himself in the hands of the Father.

‭Luke 23:46 NIV‬
[46] “Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.”

So, Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the terumah, spoke His last word on death, and guaranteed the full harvest of the resurrection.

‭1 Corinthians 15:20-23 NIV‬
[20] “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. [21] For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. [22] For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. [23] But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.”

How significant, then, were Jesus’ last words, sealing, by His death and resurrection, the destiny of all who believe in Him!

Hebrews 9:26b-28 NIV‬
[26]… “But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. [27] Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, [28] so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”

MOLLY AND ME – WARFARE

Christian Life, , , ,

Molly is a warrior.

At least she thinks she is! She challenges every dog in the street, no matter how big or small they may be, as we walk by (as long as they are safely behind a secure gate or high wall, of course). All 5 kg of her is pure aggression, despite her being well-socialised as a puppy.

She is also desperate to take on every pair of heels that runs or walks by and, with dedicated hatred, every domestic worker who wields a mop or broom. I have to keep a vigilant eye for potential trouble and a tight hold on her leash so that we arrive home after our walk intact. When it’s cleaning day, Molly is confined to barracks, much to her extreme frustration, lest the cleaning lady go home with a few puncture wounds in her ankles!

She loves to “rumble” with her best friends with fierce growls which makes the play-fighting sound like a serious battle. Watch out if the play gets too rough for her! She loses her temper and devoted owners have to break up a vicious dog-fight.

Molly reminds me of many believers who have been taught or feel the need to flush out and attack demons behind every bush. They love the idea of “spiritual warfare” and engage in it as often as possible. I am acquainted with a Christian lady who is so enthusiastic about her “warfare” that she verbally attacks any unsuspecting person, believer or unbeliever, who happens to say something that does not agree with her theology.

To people like these, addictions and habits, and even character traits are demonic and the poor “victim” needs to be delivered, and particularly through the person who has a “deliverance ministry”. Many of these people flock to gatherings where some well-known exorcist works on them to “cast out” the demon or demons oppressing them.

I have no doubt that there is huge demonic activity in the world today. Satan knows that his time is short and he still wields his most potent weapons, fear and deception, to ensnare as many as he can, including believers who have not grasped the significance of the cross.

When Jesus cried out His final words of victory, “It is finished!”, He meant it with every fibre of His being, He whipped the devil, once and for all, exposing his as the lying imposter he is for claiming the lordship which belongs to Jesus alone.

The war we, as Jesus’ followers, are engaged in is not with the devil. Jesus overcame him once and for all time at the cross. The Apostle Paul counselled us to stand – not fight – with the weapon of truth, the Word of God. The war is in our own hearts, the battle against everything that would challenge our knowledge and experience of faith in Jesus. Paul admonished his son in the faith, Timothy, to “fight the good fight of faith”.

Our flesh is at war with our spirits and our spirits with the flesh. Whatever takes away from our faith in Jesus for the grace to meet every situation and need through His strength, must be ruthlessly challenged by the truth of God’s Word. Satan still tries to sow his lies into our minds so that we worry and fear instead of steadfastly believing the Word and trusting the Holy Spirit for the power to overcome.

No, my brothers and sisters, we do not need deliverance. Jesus delivered us from the dominion of darkness through His death – once for all. We need transformation by the renewing of our minds. (Romans 12: 1-3). Don’t waste your time engaging demons. They, and their master, are finished.

Instead, fill your minds with the truth of who Jesus is, the Son of the living God, and who you are, a beloved, forgiven and blood-washed son or daughter of God, filled with His Spirit and given the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

It Is Finished!

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IT IS FINISHED! 

“Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When He had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.” John 19:28-30 NIV.

The long journey was over! Thirty three years of being human, experiencing humanness is all its forms was over. Human birth, babyhood, growing up as the firstborn in a peasant family; learning, studying, training, over! Navigating all the vicissitudes of human life as well as being exposed to the frustration of uncomprehending disciples, the irritation of jostling and demanding crowds and the relentless antagonism of religious enemies, were over.

Was that all that was finished? Did Jesus heave a sigh of relief that His humiliation, His pain and suffering were over? Was it all about Him? Never! Not by a long shot! Jesus lived for the Father and He died in obedience to the Father. In those three little words, “It is finished!” He encompassed the entire scope of God’s plan to rescue the world from its self-imposed plight.

Every prophetic utterance about His origin, His mother, His birth, His character, His life, His work, His sacrifice, His redemption, His destiny were encapsulated in that one word in the Greek, “Tetelestai!” Finished! Done! Completed! Redemption’s story was written – in His blood. The way to the Father was cleared of the rubble and debris of human sin. The curtain was torn from top to bottom. The huge, unpayable debt was paid. The Father was satisfied. His Son had done the job.

Even His last sigh, “I am thirsty,” spoke volumes to those who would hear. A sponge of vinegar on a stalk of hyssop? What did it mean? John insisted that His utterance was a fulfilment of prophecy? Which prophecy?

The Israelites were instructed to “Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe…” Exodus 12:22 NIV.

Why hyssop? Hyssop, a member of the mint family, grew plentifully in the Middle East and was used for cleansing, medicinal and flavouring purposes. It symbolised cleansing from sin as David’s prayer suggests. After his adulterous affair with Bathesheba and all the terrible things he did to cover up his sin, the broken-hearted king pleaded with God, “Cleanse me with hyssop and I shall be clean; wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” Psalm 51:7 NIV.

Was Jesus saying, in His final prophetic words, that the work of cleansing was done? He had drunk the cup of the Father’s wrath down to the dregs. He could release His spirit to the Father in the assurance that He had fully accomplished the work of redemption and His sacrifice had been accepted. Death could not hold Him in its grip for even death and hell had been overcome.

Those around the cross could gloat and cheer because their evil work was finished. There was nothing more than they could do to the Son of God. They had shown Him, with all the vicious cruelty they could muster, what they thought of God. When it was all over, and the victim of their hatred hung tattered and lifeless, they were left to gaze at their handiwork, relieved to know that they could get on with their lives because He was no longer around to confront them.

But would they? Jesus’ life was over but little did they know that their woes had only just begun. Finished? Yes and no. His earthly life may have been over but he was alive in eleven men and many women, and in a few short weeks the Holy Spirit would light a flame in these men and women that they would never be able to put out.

You’ve Got To Hand It To Him!

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YOU’VE GOT TO HAND IT TO HIM! 

“‘I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

“‘I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They are yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.

“‘For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.” John 17:4-8 NIV.

With what calm assurance Jesus could speak to His Father of His submission and obedience! How could He do that? From our perspective His work was far from done. He listened to the Father and did what the Father told Him to do. That’s it! This is how a true son should be.

Jesuscame from the Father with a specific task to perform. Contrary to the many ideas people have about His mission, He revealed in His prayer the one reason why He came — to reveal the Father.

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:3 NIV.

In the Old Testament the Son revealed the nature of the Father in His dealings with His people. He spoke to individuals directly on many occasions through His appearances as the angel of the Lord; to Abraham when He came to tell him of Isaac’s birth and the destruction of the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and when He stopped him from sacrificing his son on Mount Moriah; to Moses at the burning bush; to Gideon in the wine-press; to Isaiah in the temple, and to many more.

Jesus has many titles but the one specific and appropriate to the Apostle John’s record of His life is “the Word.” In Hebrew thought, the word is a manifestation of God in another form. John saw Jesus as God’s spoken word to the world in visible from. Through Him God spoke and the words He spoke were a sacred deposit in the lives of those to whom they were given.

The Father gave the gift of twelve men to Jesus, men who belonged to Him because they were a fragment of His chosen people. Jesus viewed them as a sacred trust to whom He was to give the treasure of God’s words, placed within their spirits as seed where they would grow, mature and bear fruit as these men believed and did what the words instructed them to do under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus had spend a whole night in prayer before He chose twelve men out of the many who followed Him at the start of His public ministry. When we look at them, we would think that He made some rather poor choices! But they were the ones the Father had given to Him and they were the ones with the potential to continue His mission to the world.

It is impossible for us to grasp the significance of these eleven rough, unshaped “diamonds” the Father had entrusted to Him! At this point they were uncomprehending, frightened and confused individuals, but Jesus had such confidence in His Spirit that He could view them as believing, obedient disciples, filled with God’s word and fully equipped to carry on Jesus’ mission in the world — to reveal the true nature of the Father to both Jew and Gentile.

Jesus’ prayer was not begging and pleading but giving thanks and expressing His trust in the Father that He would do in them through the Holy Spirit all that He intended when He chose them to be Jesus’ disciples. What an encouragement to us who feel so inadequate for the tasks entrusted to us! Jesus assures us that union with Him is the key to fruitfulness.

“Apart from me you can do nothing,” He said but, “We can do all things through Christ who gives us the strength.”

Journey to Completion

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JOURNEY TO COMPLETION

“There was a man by the name of Joseph, a member of the Jewish High Council, a man of good heart and good character. He had not gone along with the plans and actions of the council. His hometown was the Jewish village of Arimathea. He lived in alert expectations of the kingdom of God. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Taking Him down, he wrapped Him in a linen shroud and placed Him in a tomb chiselled into the rock, a tomb never used. It was the day before Sabbath; the Sabbath was about to begin.” Luke 23:50-54 (The Message).

Enter Joseph of Arimathea! Luke gives his reader a thumbnail sketch of this man who made a brief appearance in history and will always be associated with the burial of Jesus. He owned a tomb which was yet to become a family crypt. Isaiah had written, centuries before, that Messiah would be buried in a rich man’s grave – and this rich man Joseph, in this poignant moment, donated his tomb to Jesus. No doubt it remained unused after the resurrection.

The disciples could not have buried Jesus – they were Galileans and had been unemployed for the past three years. Joseph’s action prevented the body of Jesus from receiving the same treatment as all other criminals – cremation in the city garbage dump, the Valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem which burned perpetually.

Luke does not record the interaction of the Jewish leaders with Pilate over the body of Jesus. He said nothing about the sealing of the tomb and the Roman guard. His description is simple and clear. Joseph requested the body of Jesus, wrapped Him in expensive linen and buried Him in his own tomb.

There is symbolic significance in the mention of the Sabbath, the time of Jesus’ death and burial. According to the meaning of the ancient Hebrew language, the Genesis record of creation in not about making something out of nothing, but about bringing order into the shapeless, empty and dark earth and “filling it up” to be man’s home.

God rested on the seventh day, not because He was tired but because His work was complete. He blessed (gave it as a gift to mankind to be valued, protected and used for the purpose for which it was given) the Sabbath (meaning rest) and set it apart to fulfil its function which was to be the “full stop” at the end of every week. It was also symbolic of the “completion” of God’s work of creating a family for Himself.

God commanded the man and his wife to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with people. Everything He made had the capacity to multiply to complete what He had begun.

In John 19:30, Jesus’ last words were, “‘It is finished.'” And He was laid to rest in Joseph’s tomb at the beginning of the Sabbath! Just as God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit – all participating in creation) rested when their work was complete, so Jesus rested on the Sabbath because His work of redemption was complete.

But there is another rest into which He invites us. Because of sin, we are incomplete, but in union with Him, we have the potential to become whole again as we journey through life towards completion. There is another “Sabbath” for those who are united with Jesus in submission and obedience.

The writer to the Hebrews explains how the children of Israel, who were on a journey from slavery in Egypt, through the wilderness, to “rest” in their own land, failed to enter because of their unbelief. They were a type of the journey believers are on through this life to the completion of their re-creation into the image of Jesus.

Throughout this life we are in the process of becoming whole again. Every time we respond in obedience to His leading, we reach another landmark on our journey towards completeness. Our final destination is “Shabbat”, eternal rest with Him because we have become complete again. God rested, Jesus rested and we will rest at the end of our journey.