-Jesus paid our sin-debt by dying on the Cross. JESUS DIDN'T QUIT! He completed the age long penalty for sin, our sins. Don't think Jesus wasn't tempted to quit. . Watch Him wince a He hears his apostles backbite and quarrel. Look at him weep as He sits at Lazarus's tomb or hear Jesus wail as he digs at the earth with his hands in the ground of Gethsemane.
Did He even want to quit? You bet. That's why Jesus' words are so splendid. --"IT IS FINISHED!"
Stop and listen. Can you imagine the cry from the Cross? The sky is dark. The other two victims are moaning. The jeering mouths are silent. Perhaps there is thunder. Perhaps there is weeping. Perhaps there is silence. Then Jesus draws in a deep breath, pushes his feet down on that Roman nail, and cries. "IT IS FINISHED!"
What was finished? The history-long plan of redeeming man was finished. The message of God to man was finished. The works done by Jesus as a man on Earth were finished. The task of selecting and training ambassadors was finished. The job was complete. The song had been sung. The blood had been poured. The sacrifice had been made. The sting of death had been removed. It was over. Jesus defeated death! A cry of defeat? Hardly. Had his hands not been fastened down, I dare say that a triumphant fist would have punched the dark sky. No, this is no cry of despair. It is a cry of completion. A cry of VICTORY!
The Fighter remained. Jesus is alive right now! And thank God that He did. Thank God that He endured. He did it for you. He did it for me. Now it's up to each one of us to accept His 'gift of salvation', made only by repentance, asking forgiveness, and asking Jesus to come live in our lives. He never turns away a sincere seeker. "Call upon the Name of the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved."
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Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." [John 14:6]
