It is finished!

Months ago, I attempted to answer the question of God feeling pain, not our pain but pain when people speak evil of Him or take His name in vain. Perhaps the best way to describe what I’m thinking is by analogy. When the kid next door beat my son over the head with a Tonka truck, I did not feel any pain myself, but I winced for the pain suffered by my child. This is the pain of empathy and compassion.

When Jesus died on the cross for the sin of the world, His agony was both. That is, He suffered physically as a man regarding His own body, but also the great pain of God’s wrath upon our sin, a pain that we who believe in Christ do not have to suffer.

“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:28–30)

His words, “It is finished” are an accounting term. When a debt was paid, these words were written across the bill or account. It was done, never to be charged or collected again. From my side of this event, this means that my debt of sin is paid, done, over with. All is written off because Jesus covered it on my behalf.

But what does it mean for Jesus? Does it indicate that His suffering for my sin, even the sin of the world, is finished, done, over with? The Bible says that for the joy set before Him, He endured the cross. It also says that He died for sin once, a suffering never to be repeated.

From that, I’m thinking Jesus suffers no more, nor does the Father or the Spirit. We can “quench” the Spirit and “grieve” Him, yet these are more like the Tonka truck thing. He is affected by our pain and foolishness because of His compassion, not because it hurts Him personally.

I could be wrong on this. Tozer says that when the soldier drove his spear into the side of Jesus, he believes that was felt in heaven. Was it felt like the Son of Man felt it? Or was it felt like I felt the clunk of the truck? God felt pain when His Son became a man and died for us, but does He still feel it? Or is it ‘finished’ for Him also?

Sometimes when a person sins, they feel bad because they “hurt Jesus” but I’m thinking this is backwards. Instead, when I sin God feels bad because I am harming myself.

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, the more I know You, the more I realize that Your compassion and empathy are not bound by a personal reaction that is about Your own feelings. Instead, You felt my pain and sorrow and whatever else this means when You died on the cross and that became a done deal. However, this is more than my tiny brain can process. Show me how to think about it. I’m also interested in experiencing the same joy that You now enjoy because Your work is finished.