When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30
As presented on *The Lutheran Hour® by Dr. Oswald Hoffmann, April 8, 1973.
“It is finished.” I don’t know of anyone else who could say it in exactly the same way. We finish some things and leave others undone. Even the things we finish are only half finished. Someone has to put the finishing touches on them somewhere. If they don’t have to be redone, they have to be repaired or restored or renovated.
What Jesus Christ did was finished. He entered the holy place and made Himself the final sacrifice for sin. That’s finished!
Nobody needs to complete it. Nobody can. Anybody who thinks he has to make a contribution to it doesn’t understand it. It is finished. He is the one. In Him there is salvation, full and free. He did what He alone could do, what He had to do, and now it is finished.
By the grace of God, you are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. You are not saved by anything you might be able to do, and there is not a thing to make you boastful – no matter how pious you are or how righteous you imagine yourself to be. God did this to demonstrate for all time to come the abundant riches of His grace and the love He has for us in Jesus Christ.
In His word “It is finished” there is the music of heaven. All has been made ready. “I am going there to prepare a place for you,” He said (John 14:2). All who hear His voice and call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. That’s for me.
Lord Jesus, we give You our trust and our praise for what You have done for us and for the whole world by finishing the work of saving us. Amen.
Taken from A Message of Hope: Proclaiming the Cross (selections from messages broadcast on *The Lutheran Hour, celebrating 75 years of proclaiming the promise).
Copyright © 2006 by Lutheran Hour Ministries
*The Lutheran Hour is the longest-running Christian radio broadcast in the world. It is a production of Lutheran Hour Ministries. For more information, visit www.lutheranhour.org.
Today's Bible Readings: Joshua 4-6 Luke 9:18-36
To Download Devotion MP3 to your computer, right click here and select "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" or "Download Linked File As"