John 19:30 (ESV): When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Today Christians celebrate Good Friday. As a kid it seemed odd to call the day Jesus was crucified on a cross good. If that was all that happened then I might have been correct but it wasn’t. It was the completion of Jesus’s work on earth that made this day good. When Jesus said it is finished the atonement for all our sins was complete. Nothing else is needed, nothing else can add to jesus’s finished work.
Yet way too many people want to add to Jesus’s finished work on the cross. Maybe you think you need good works to be saved. Maybe you think you need to be baptized or baptized a certain way to be saved. Maybe you think you need to be good or lead a good life to be saved. What ever you think you need to add to Jesus’s work, think again.
If it was in our power to work out our salvation then Jesus wouldn’t have needed to die. But since we don’t have to ability to be saved on our own God sent His Son to earth to take on flesh a d live a sinless life in order to be God’s perfect Lamb a d the only sacrifice that could pay the price for our sins.
Think about this. When you make the final payment on your car loan or mortgage do you continue to send in payments? Of course not. That would be foolish. So, when Jesus said it was finished why would you think you need to do anything else?
The Greek word John uses for finished is tetelestai which means paid in full. Jesus paid for our sins in full. The only thing we can do is accept His payment and the free gift of eternal life.
He is risen. He is risen indeed.
Have a blessed Easter.
David
Reasons For The Hope Blog 