The Cross: It Is Finished

The piercing also fulfills a prophecy made by Zechariah. The book of Zechariah is the message that the Messiah is coming, and when he comes, he will rescue his people from captivity. The Messiah will be both a priest and a king, and as King he will perfectly obey the will of God. Near the end of the book, the imagery of the Messiah changes from the perfect King to the Good Shepherd. God says the people will reject the Shepherd and follow evil shepherds into destruction. However, God will still deliver his people through the Messiah, the righteous King and Good Shepherd, rejected by God’s people. God says,

Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn. (Zech 12:10)

The Messiah, who brings salvation, will be pierced by the nation of Israel. This is fulfilled when the spear of the Roman, whom the Jews had employed, penetrates Jesus’s side and blood pours out.

These details aren’t included to amaze us or disgust us but to help us believe (John 19:35). The apostle John acts as a witness climbing into the stand and placing his hand on the Bible. His solemn oath as an eyewitness is intended to cause belief. “I was there,” John says in effect. “I saw it all with my own eyes—the divided garment, the sour wine, the unbroken legs, and the pierced side. I saw each one. The reason I’m telling you is so you’ll know the Scripture has been fulfilled and will believe on Jesus as the Messiah.” Each fulfilled prophecy can strengthen our faith in the promise of God to deliver us from death and judgment through his Son.

The cross of Christ cannot simply be a moment in history. Though we study it, we must do so differently from the way we would study medieval architecture. It’s fine for a Christian to be bored in a class on British literature, but it’s tragic if the cross of Jesus Christ produces nothing more than a yawn and a shrug of the shoulders. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is a real, historical event, but it can’t be consigned to dusty shelves in the back of a library or cobwebbed corners or our minds. Nearly two thousand years after the fact, we read the Gospel accounts of the crucifixion and understand that they were written so we would respond in faith. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John didn’t record this event as a memento for their grandkids. They wrote these Gospel accounts so people would read them and respond by believing in Jesus Christ. We must guard against ever looking at the cross callously or flippantly. Each glance should remind us that God has been faithful to his promises, and it should reinforce our trust in his sovereign grace and his unending mercy.

Something takes place on the cross when Jesus dies. In verse 30 Jesus says, “It is finished” or “It has been accomplished” (v. 30; author’s translation). What has been accomplished? The beginning of the answer is found back in chapter 17 when Jesus bows his head and says he has finished the work God gave him to do (v. 4). The work of Jesus on earth, given by the Father, is fully complete. What is that work? That work is bringing salvation to God’s people. John the Baptist, whose role was to announce the coming of the Messiah, looked at Jesus and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29). Jesus’s work as sin-bearer and Savior is completed when he lays down his life on the cross. The sacrificial offering of his life completes his divine rescue mission. Jesus offers his life as the Passover Lamb who once and for all brings deliverance and salvation. There’s no longer any need for annual sacrifices. The penalty for sin is completely served. The price of redemption is completely paid. The justice of God is completely satisfied. The deliverance of sinners is completely secured.

The writer of Hebrews contrasts the sacrifice of Jesus with the constant sacrifice of lambs in the Jewish temple: “But now he has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb 9:26-27). When Jesus said, “It is finished,” he meant the entire work of salvation was taken care of. Our redemption had been accomplished and applied.

Here lies one of the distinctions between Catholicism and Protestantism. In Roman Catholic theology the death of Jesus Christ isn’t a one-time sacrifice. Each week during the observation of the mass, Jesus is being sacrificed again for sin. The elements—wafer and wine—turn into the body and blood of Jesus, and he is once more crucified. In Catholic theology, it is not finished. It has not been completely accomplished. There is more to be done.

Understanding that redemption has been completed motivates faith because it’s the only response we have. If redemption isn’t finished, then I have to do something to earn it or complete it, whether it’s taking Communion or being baptized or going on a pilgrimage. When we understand the work of salvation is complete, then we’ll also understand we can do nothing—absolutely nothing—to earn it or keep it or maintain it.

The moment you stop believing Jesus finished salvation is the moment you’ll start working for your salvation. You’ll wonder what activity you need to do to keep God in your favor. When trials come, you’ll wonder if it’s because of what you’ve done. Your relationship to God will become a checklist of dos and don’ts. Do you see how this changes your relationship with God? If he has done everything to secure your salvation, then you will relate to him as the child of a gracious and giving God; but if you need to do something, if his view of you is based on your performance, then that relationship of love and freedom becomes one of guilt and fear. You’ll be plagued by worry and doubt about your standing with him. You’ll wonder if he’s happy with you today. You’ll quiver in the corner of the kitchen, wondering what your Father’s mood will be when he returns home.

Don’t turn God into a vicious and moody Father who demands you act a certain way to earn his love. He is kind. He is loving. He is good, and he has done everything necessary for us to enjoy his love and kindness. As a Christian, your standing before him has been settled by the blood-soaked sacrifice of Jesus. Your hope and confidence must never be in yourself—in what you’ve accomplished. It must be in Christ and what he accomplished for you on the cross.

Frieda van Hessen was one of Holland’s foremost opera singers, but during the Nazi invasion she, as a Jew, was forced into hiding. In the providence of God, her life was spared. After the war someone told her she should convert from Judaism to Christianity, just in case something else was to happen. This suggestion nagged at her until she finally gave in and spoke to a minister. He set up a meeting for her with a Christian lady named Elizabeth who had converted from Judaism. Their Bible study turned into an argument. Frieda just couldn’t believe what she was reading from the Gospels. She accused Elizabeth of believing fairy tales. After six weeks of fruitless arguments, they decided the next week would be their last meeting. Elizabeth asked Frieda to read two chapters from the Old Testament before their last meeting—Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. Frieda writes about that week:

Six days went by, and I could no longer procrastinate. I went to a small room in the house, closed the door, and opened up the Bible. . . . God, in His wisdom, had said to Elizabeth, “Tell her to read Psalm 22.” . . . I found it, and what did I see: “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” I . . . remembered that in Bach’s “St. Matthew’s Passion,” the basso, portraying the Lord, sings, “My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” Still in my rebellion, I said, “What do you know, they stole this from Bach!”

Oh, God is so wise! This finally got my attention. Now I wanted to continue reading to see what else had been “stolen” from Bach! Then I came to verse 16, and read, “They pierced my hands and my feet.” Almost in shock, I literally yelled out “That’s Jesus!”

. . .

I knew that Jesus died in that devastating way. The Jews stoned people to death but did not crucify them. Crucifixion was a Roman death penalty. Yet David wrote Psalm 22, prophesying this form of death hundreds of years before crucifixion was ever invented and practiced by the Romans.

Then I reread Isaiah 53, and clearly understood that it described the whole crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Instantly, God had taken the blinders off my eyes and Satan was defeated! I called Elizabeth, who came over immediately, and together we read Isaiah 53. Then, all of it became very clear to me: how “He was despised and rejected of men,” how He was a “man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” how “we hid our faces from Him,” how “He had been afflicted and wounded for our transgressions,” and how “with His stripes we are healed.”

I realized how “all of us, like sheep, have gone astray,” and how “He died for our iniquities.” Yes, for my sins too.

I reasoned that if David . . . and Isaiah . . . both knew Him, and Paul, a Pharisee, saw Him and knew Him, then I needed no further proof. I accepted Him too, as my Lord and Savior. (Roos-Van Hessen, Life, 190–92)

Proof, not speculation, not blind leaps in the dark. God has graciously given us his Word so we might believe on Jesus Christ.