When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished.
—John 19:30
Once again, these words of our Lord on the cross reveal to us His mind and disposition. At the beginning of His ministry, He said, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34). In all things, the small as well as the great, He would accomplish God’s work. In His high-priestly prayer at the end of the three years’ ministry, He could say, “I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do” (John 17:4). He sacrificed all, and in dying on the cross could in truth say, “It is finished!”
With these words to the Father, Christ laid down His life. With these words, He was strengthened, after the terrible agony on the cross, in the knowledge that all was now fulfilled. And with these words, He uttered the truth of the gospel of our redemption, that all that was needed for man’s salvation had been accomplished on the cross.
This disposition should characterize every follower of Christ. The mind that was in Him must be in us (See Philippians 2:5)—it must be our food, the strength of our lives, to do the will of God in all things and to finish His work. There may be small things about which we are not aware that bring harm to ourselves and to God’s work. Or we might draw back before some great thing that demands too much sacrifice. No matter what happens, however, we may find strength to perform our duty in Christ’s words: “It is finished!” His finished work secured the victory over every foe. By faith we may take hold of these dying words of Christ on the cross and may find the power for daily living and daily dying in the fellowship of the crucified Christ.
Child of God, study the inexhaustible treasure contained in this Scripture: “It is finished!” Faith in what Christ accomplished on the cross will enable you to manifest in daily life the spirit of the cross.