It Is Finished

The night God rescued Israel from slavery in Egypt, He commanded that, every year, every family was to sacrifice a lamb on Passover.

Thousands of families sacrificed thousands of lambs that day.

Jesus celebrated Passover with His disciples the night before He was crucified. The lamb they ate that night was part of the family sacrifice.

The next day, there was one sacrifice made in the Temple in the morning and one sacrifice made in the afternoon on behalf of all of Israel. In other words, it was a national sacrifice.

The first sacrifice was made at nine in the morning. When that lamb had been slaughtered, a priest would blow the shofar, a trumpet of sorts, fashioned out of a ram’s horn.

It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. (Mark 15:25, NLT)

I wonder if Jesus could hear the shofar blowing from the Temple as the Roman soldiers pounded the nails into His wrists. I wonder if, just for a moment, all of the people passing by quieted at the sound announcing that the sacrifice had been made.

The second sacrifice was made at three in the afternoon.

Darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock. The light from the sun was gone. And suddenly, the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn down the middle. Then Jesus shouted, “Father, I entrust my spirit into your hands!” And with those words he breathed his last. (Luke 23:44-46, NLT)

As the shofar blew for a second time that day, again announcing that the sacrifice had been made, Jesus drank the last drop from the Cup of God’s Wrath. The perfect, eternal sacrifice had been made.

“It is finished!” (John 19:30, NLT)

Jesus, on the cross, did what no lamb could ever do.

As the perfect man, He is the perfect substitute.

As the eternal God, He is the eternal sacrifice.

And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices. (Hebrews 10:18, NLT)

Jesus is the Lamb sacrificed once and for all.

And so, it is finished.

Read Hebrews 10:11-18 and reflect on how the old covenant foreshadowed the new covenant that Jesus initiated.

Don't Miss It

Jesus hung on the cross for six agonizing hours.

Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Mark 15:34, NLT)

This passage has incited a lot of debate about what it means for God to have abandoned Jesus.

But what if Jesus wasn’t trying to start a debate? What if Jesus was trying, one last time, to get through to the crowd of onlookers? What if Jesus was trying, one last time, to show them who He was?

Remember, in Jesus’ day, the Jewish people knew their Bibles inside and out. The rabbis could quote a single line and expect their audience to know the rest of passage by heart.

This is what Jesus did. He used His last breath to quote the first line of Psalm 22. This song by King David looked forward to the coming Messiah – the One anointed by God to bring deliverance to Israel.

It’s as if Jesus is crying out, “Don’t miss this! Pay attention to what’s happening here! Everything is unfolding exactly how David predicted it would!”

Listen to just a couple of the parallels between Psalm 22 and the accounts of Jesus’ crucifixion.

David wrote that Jesus would be mocked.

Everyone who sees me mocks me.
    They sneer and shake their heads, saying,

“Is this the one who relies on the Lord?
    Then let the Lord save him!
If the Lord loves him so much,
    let the Lord rescue him!” (Psalm 22:7-8, NLT)

“He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him! He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” (Matthew 27:42-43, NLT)

The Roman soldiers would break the legs of their victims to speed up death. But David predicted that none of Jesus’ bones would be broken.

I can count all my bones. (Psalm 22:17, NLT)

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. (John 19:32-33, NLT)

David said that Jesus’ enemies would gamble for HIs clothing.

 They divide my garments among themselves
    and throw dice for my clothing (Psalm 22:18, NLT)

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice for it.” (John 19:23-24, NLT)

David even predicted the crucifixion six hundred years before crucifixion was invented.

They have pierced my hands and feet. (Psalm 22:16, NLT)

They had nailed him to the cross. (Matthew 27:35, NLT)

Jesus didn’t want anyone to miss what was happening.

He doesn’t want us to miss it either.

So, let’s not. Let’s not miss who Jesus is and what He has done. Let’s not miss His sacrificial love. Let’s not miss His offer of forgiveness.

Let’s not miss it.

Read all of Psalm 22 and consider where else you see it pointing to Jesus.

Look to the Cross

The disciples were shocked and terrified when Jesus was arrested. But they shouldn’t have been. Jesus had told them exactly what was going to happen.

“Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” (Matthew 20:17-19, NLT)

Judas had betrayed Jesus.

Pilate had sentenced Jesus to death.

But Rome was known for brutality. They made their executions as long and painful as possible.

Pontius Pilate ordered that Jesus be flogged before His crucifixion with a lead-tipped whip.

This type of whip, often used in Roman torture and execution, was braided with metal balls and pieces of jagged glass.

It tore the flesh to ribbons – from the shoulders all the way down to the back of the legs. The merciless flogging cut down to the bone and even exposed the organs.

When the flogging was finished, the soldiers threw a purple robe over Jesus’ raw back. They pounded a crown of sharp thorns into His skull. They struck His already bleeding head with a reed stick they had used as a royal scepter in their mockery. They bowed down before Him in feigned worship. “Hail! King of the Jews!”

When they finally tired of their barbarous game, they lifted the heavy crossbeam onto Jesus’ bloodied shoulders and led Him through the busy streets of Jerusalem to be crucified.

The Romans were crucifying five hundred or more Jews every day, so it was more efficient to leave the vertical beam in the ground and force their victims to carry the horizontal crossbeam.

The flogging depleted Jesus’ strength. Every step felt heavier than the last. Every slight stumble along the way sent shooting pain through His beaten body.

The Roman soldiers called to a passerby – a man named Simon of Cyrene – and demanded that he carry the cross the rest of the way.

Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece. (Mark 15:24, NLT)

The nails were driven between the bones in His wrists and through His feet. His arms were stretched just far enough to dislocate His shoulders. As His body weakened and the pain intensified, He could no longer lift His body up to draw in air.

It was excruciating.

We often imagine that Jesus was crucified on a distant hill far from the bustle of the city.

On the contrary, the Romans were fond of crucifying their victims right outside the city gates, along the road, at eye level. It was humiliating.

See, crucifixion wasn’t just a method of execution. It was a message.

Don’t mess with Rome.

A sign was fastened above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against him. It read: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” (Matthew 27:37, NLT)

The sign was intended to mock Jesus’ wild claims. But they got it right.

He is, indeed, the King.

He is the King who stepped down from His throne to take up the cross for His subjects.

If you ever wonder if you matter to God, look to the cross.

If you ever wonder if you are even seen by God, look to the cross.

If you ever feel insecure, inadequate, worthless, abandoned, hopeless, isolated, alone, disappointed, disregarded, or marginalized, look to the cross.

If you are ever in doubt about the love of God, look to the cross.

Read Matthew 27:27-44 and reflect on what Jesus did on the cross. Review this passage whenever you are doubting His care for you.