For me, He finished it!

When I’m writing something, or working on a quilt, buying groceries, or even tidying up the house, I usually experience a sense of “I’m done.” The project or task may not be perfect, but something inside me says it is finished and time to move on to something else.

A friend of ours told her husband that she felt she’d done all she could as a mother. All her children were not grown up, nor finished needing her, but she had that sense of being done. Later, he thought that it was almost as if she knew what was going to happen. Within weeks of saying it, she had an aneurysm and died in her sleep.

Jesus had an even stronger sense of knowing He had completed the work God gave Him. He came to save sinners and knew that His death on the cross would be the final act needed to secure redemption for us. “So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”

Some think that He was talking about His life being finished, but this is where a little history comes in handy. In those days, when a debt was owed and paid, they wrote “It is finished” across the face of the bill. Jesus was talking about a debt being paid.

The Bible says that "the wages of sin is death" and those who sin must die. To pay our own ‘wages’ we would have to die. But God so loved us that He sent His Son, and Jesus, by dying and by declaring “It is finished” wrote “Paid” across our bill. He took care of the debt we owe God by dying in our place.

Also, He was not thinking about Himself or talking about His life being over — because He wasn’t like that, and because His life wasn’t over. Even though He gave up His spirit, and actually died, He would not stay dead. How can the Giver of eternal life remain in a grave? How can someone who never sinned remain under the penalty reserved for sinners? He couldn’t and He didn’t. After three days, He rose again, fully alive, alive for eternity.

Because He lives, His work is actually not finished. Redemption is, but the Bible says Jesus lives forever to intercede for us. At this moment, He is at the right hand of God praying for His people, praying for me. When Satan accuses me of being a failure, a sinner, a messed-up loser, instead of making excuses or denying it, Jesus says, “No matter. I died for her. Her sins and failures are covered by my blood and she is redeemed. She is my child, forever.”

I’ve a strong sense about my life that says I’m not quite finished yet. Maybe it’s because my to-do list is always so long, but whatever happens there, I know one thing on that list is of no further concern. I no longer have to take care of my guilt before God. It is checked off, totally taken care of, paid up, paid in full, ‘finished’ — all because of Jesus’ completed work of redemption. He did it for me.