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IT IS FINISHED
John 19:30 “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”
What was “it” that was finished when Jesus bowed His head and surrendered His spirit to His Father? Was it that His life had just ended as He died there on the cross? Certainly He died, but what was it that He died for? Was His death just an untimely death, or was His death something that was determined and “finished” even from before the foundation of the world, and was now being brought to fulfillment and completion there on the cross? What was “it” that Jesus died for?
Mat 1:21 “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”
Ah, His very name declared the purpose of His birth into this world. “Jesus” Our Saviour! At a very young age don’t you think that Jesus must have considered why He had been give the name Jesus; for surely, He knew what His name meant. Just prior to His crucifixion in the garden of Gethsemane He full well knew what His name meant, and He cried out to His Father.
Mat. 26:37-39 “And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. 38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. 39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”
John 12:32 “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.”
Our Lord Jesus knew perfectly well what He had to do, and though the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak, thus, He cried out to the Father, and yet, He said; “Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Oh, His submission to the Father’s will and the love He had in His heart for His people!
Yes, He came to be our Saviour. Our Father who subjected creation to vanity and futility (Romans 8:20), knowing full well that Adam and Eve would disobey His commandment and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, resulting in sin and death; came in the body of His Son and died the death for their transgression and sin.
2nd Cor. 5:19 “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”
(As a side note – the “wages” of sin (Romans 6:23), is not eternal death as taught in Babylon’s religious system, but death. And those wages were paid in full by our Lord Jesus Christ when He died on the cross.)
No longer were Adam and Eve living in a state of innocence, for now they had transgressed the commandment of God, and they died! Their death was the result of receiving into themselves the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The fruit of the tree was the lie that they were now separated from God. Truly, they died, just as God told them they would if they ate of the fruit of that tree. The fruit of that tree corrupted their mind.
Rom 8:6 “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
Eph 4:22 “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts (longings, desires); 23 and be renewed (made new again) in the spirit of your mind.”
What is that corruption in the carnal mind? It is the lie that Adam and Eve received from the serpent there in the garden of their mind. They believed that they could be a god independently of God their Father, and truly they did become the god of this fallen world of humanity. But not only that, now they believed the lie that they were separated from God. Something in their mind was telling them that they were separated (alienated) from God.
Rom. 8:38 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature (or part of creation, including the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and not even the serpent. Emphasis mine), shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
When did God start loving us through Christ? His love for us was from before the foundation of the world, even while we were within His loins in Christ! The Garden of Eden experience was divinely designed to bring us out of our state of innocence. There had to be a death to that realm. We would have to be “born again,” birthed (begotten) by the Spirit of our Father. The whole scope of the fall and our dying to Adam’s state of innocence brought us into the place of knowing and realizing who we are in Christ Jesus.
John 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.”
1st Peter 1:22 “Seeing ye have purified (cleansed) your souls (minds) in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: 23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.”
We have been given birth (begotten) out of the loins of our Father, “being born again, not of corruptible seed (of the first man Adam), but of incorruptible, by the Word of God (Christ), which liveth and abideth forever.”
Did you know that after the flesh, we all were in the loins of Adam long before we were ever birthed into this world, and even before that, we all were in the loins of our Father, God before the foundation of the world?
Eph. 1:4 “According as He (God, our father) hath chosen us in him (Christ) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”
How could we be chosen of God before the foundation of the world, unless we were already there in His loins to be begotten in Christ?
The Garden of Eden experience was not a mistake, but a wonderful part of our Father’s Plan of the ages to bring to birth His glorious family of sons and daughters in Christ in His image and likeness!
When our Lord Jesus cried those profound words there on the cross, they brought into reality our freedom from sin and death and even the lie of the serpent, and announced our family relationship with our Father.
That “old man” of disobedience in the first man Adam died on the cross in Christ Jesus over two thousand years ago. That “old man” is long dead. Those who have been born again by the Spirit of God, are now alive in Christ Jesus in this world.
1st Jn. 4:13 “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.”
One other thing we want to point out before we leave off with this portion of the study, and that is this.
1st Jn. 3:6 “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you (lie to you): he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”
The holy child (Christ in you) is the son of God, born of God, and does not commit sin, for He cannot sin, because He is born of God! That’s who we are in Christ Jesus.
Gal. 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: henceforth it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which now I live in the flesh (in our flesh body. Dale) I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Lamsa NT .
Col. 1:26 “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles (nations); which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect (complete and entire) in Christ Jesus.”
To be continued,… Dale Luttrell
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