The soldiers heard him yell, “it is finished”. And then, he gave up the ghost. The light of the world was dead.
Darkness ensued. Heavens looked away. Hell slides into celebration mode.
Demons in hell hugged and kissed. The devil popped champagne with his horde. Christ was finished, they announced.
The disciple he loved could not behold his face. His mother wept at the feet of the cross. His disciples scattered! They thought Christ said he was finished.
But suddenly the ground quaked! The veil of the temple was torn apart. The guarded secret of the holy of hollies was plain as day to all. Even to the throng that can’t dare go beyond the entrance to the temple. Everyone is invited into the father’s presence.
Maybe you are still wondering about what Christ meant when he said, “it is finished” on the cross. Read on as I share 6 things Christ’s death accomplished for you and me.
Don’t mistake Christ’s cry on the cross for lethargy. It was a victory cry echoed to me, to you, and to a startling universe. The work is completed. The cross cannot hold him. In him, death has lost its sting. The price is paid; you have been bought. Christ is victorious.
Christ finished it all on the cross.
You are forgiven.
Sin is costly because God hates sin.
Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. Hebrews 9:22.
Christ shed his blood once and for all, so you don’t have to slaughter lambs as atonement for every sin. Do the math and see for yourself how costly it is to harbor sin.
You are forgiven. Your sins and iniquities will be remembered no more because of the work of Christ on the cross.
You are flawless.
Christ’s death on the cross presents you without flaw, guilt, or fault before the father.
Your guilt and filthy rags have been exchanged for his righteousness and beauty. When the father looks at you, he sees the righteousness of Christ.
Christ on the cross removed your sins and guilt, they will no longer be counted against you.
John 1:29, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
No guilt in life and no fear in death. This is the power of Christ in you.
You are pleasing to the father.
Sin brought God’s wrath upon you and deservedly so. But God’s wrath has been satisfied through Christ’s death on the cross.
Roman 3: 25–26 says, “God presented Him as an atoning sacrifice… that He may be shown to be righteous Himself, and the giver of righteousness to those who believe in Jesus”.
All sins forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross. Colossians 2: 14
No matter what you have done, the father is no longer angry with you. You are pleasing to the father. Christ has favored you before the one who loved you.
You are accepted.
Sin alienated you from the presence of God. But Christ’s finished work on the cross ensured that you are admissible to the Father’s presence.
This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” Romans 8:15
You can stand before God and call him Abba father. You can bask in his glory. You can soak up his presence with no feeling of guilt or shame. You can come before the throne of mercy with no sense of shame.
You are set free.
You have been paid for. Satan held you captive through sin, but Christ, through his death on the cross, has set you free. What does that mean? It means you are no longer a slave to sin. The power of sin no longer holds you.
You are more than a conqueror.
He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets. Colossians 2:15.
Isn’t that sweet? Do you know to who Christ gave all that authority? To you, of course, through his death, and in his name. And that makes you more than conquerors.
In all your struggle against sin, for every battle against the enemy, victory is already guaranteed because Christ already won the war for you.
Finally, when Christ said, it is finished; he affirmed that everything concerning you is completed.
You are the finished work of Christ.