He completed his work - ת
"It is finished!" Was the last declaration of Jesus on the cross. [1] This was a declaration that he had fulfilled the will of the Father in the flesh ם and in the spirit ס.
Various answers from various authors:
- The work Jesus was sent to do was to “seek and save that which is lost” [2] was done
- Provide atonement for the sins of all who would ever believe in Him [3]) was finished
- Reconcile sinful men to a holy God. [4]
- The debt owed the Father was wiped away.
- The fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecies, symbols, and foreshadowings of the coming Messiah
- The sufferings Jesus endured while on the earth were at last over.
- God’s will for Jesus was accomplished in His perfect obedience to the Father. [5]
- The power of sin and Satan was finished. [6]
Though he did finish those things, if those were the only things he did, then it was NOT finished. No man has seen or heard God, so it was the purpose of the Son, in everything he did, to make the Father known. His revelation of the Father was finished.
The tov ת is the last letter of the traditional 22 letter alphabet. We still have six more to go. It is drawn with a rosh ר representing the revelation of God, with a vav ן on the left returning to God. The revelation has done its work by creating a distinct word (represented by the vav) spontaneously returning to God. This is the praise of his people expressed from their hearts.
- Ps 22:3 But thou [art] holy, [O thou] that inhabitest the praises of Israel. (Israel means 'Man Is יש joined by revelation r ר to God el אל. )
This is the final purpose of it all; that we praise God and give him thanks.
Jesus declared that the perfect revelation of the Father was finished. He has reconciled holiness and love on the cross. What more could be added to the perfect revelation of the Father? Nothing! It is finished. All the prophecies hidden in the history of the Old Testament pointed forward to the cross and have now been revealed in the marriage supper of the lamb. All the prophecies hidden in the history after the cross point back to the cross, and are revealed in it.
In the same way that God worked intimately among men to produce the mystery in the Old Testament, he continues to work among men now to paint pictures of Christ in us. We are called 'Christians'; little Christ's. Each of us is a picture of Christ in some way modeling the same finished work of the cross.
I can hear you now... 'Yeah right'. Remember that Jesus used a bronze serpent to represent him. He used the symbol of evil as a prophecy of himself. He can certainly use you willingly or not. That choice is yours. Do you submit to him and participate is expressing his holiness to a lost world, or does he have to paint his picture using you in spite of your choices?
Be careful when people say there is still something to be finished. Jesus said, "It is finished."
References
- ↑ Joh 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
- ↑ Lu 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
- ↑ Ro 3:25 Whom God hath set forth [to be] a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
- ↑ Eph 2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
- ↑ Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
- ↑ Ac 26:18 To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
