Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: FINISHED (04/09/20)
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TITLE: "It is finished (John 19: 30 NASB)" | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Laird
04/14/20 -
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In John 19:30 NASB, the pronoun ”It” refers to the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ that He “finished” while He was still alive and on the cross making payment for the *world's (1) sin debt.
The significance of the fact that He was still alive when His atoning work was finished is often overlooked. However, this is a critical fact in order to understand the purpose for the two types of death that He encountered on the cross.
According to *Scripture (2), Jesus was crucified around 9 am.
I believe that the atoning work that Jesus proclaimed finished around 3 pm began around 12 noon. *Scripture (3) tells us that darkness covered the landscape from noon to 3 pm.
It was around *noon (4) that He, “…cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
I do not believe that He was asking God the Father to explain why.
Jesus knew full well why all this was happening. It was the very reason that He came to Earth. He had *made this clear to His disciples (5) as they headed for Jerusalem.
In saying these words, He was quoting the 22nd Psalm that had been written centuries before, prophecizing many *details (6) of His crucifixion.
His “religious” enemies would have certainly recognized these words, but had already decided that He was not the One He claimed to be. Therefore, they made no connection between this messianic psalm and Jesus.
Human nature is focused on what our natural senses can verify, while being totally oblivious to what is *taking place (7) all around us in the spiritual realm.
Movie producers have gone to great lengths dramatizing the physical agony that our Lord endured in events leading up to and on the cross. These accounts are factual, but I believe that His greatest suffering was not physical.
I believe that it was the agony of the spiritual death (separation from God the Father) that He endured in our behalf.
I believe it was the agony of the upcoming spiritual death that He dreaded when was He prayed about the *cup (8) in the Garden.
Spiritual death is not a state of non-existence.
It is a state of existence while separated from a relationship with God. Spiritual death is the type of death that Adam experienced *on the day he sinned (9).
Jesus never sinned, but in our place, He was about to have the sin debt of the whole world poured onto His humanity on cross.
The deity of God cannot *look upon sin (10).
I believe that it was when His atoning work began that God the Father turned His back, forsaking Him on cross, that caused Him to cry out and recite Psalms 22: 1.
When His atoning work was finished, He *announced it to Man (11). The three hour ordeal of spiritual death was over. He then * (12) placed His spirit in the hands (control/security) of God the Father.
Having then completed all that the plan of God required of Him in the *limitations (13) of His humanity, He physically died in order to set the stage to move forward to the *next step (14) in the plan of God.
The concept of the need for the *shedding of blood to atone for sin (15) dates back to the Old Testament period. These rituals pointed forward to the *ultimate sacrifice (16) of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We can do nothing to ever earn or deserve eternal life. Eternal life is a gift from God that He gives to all who *believe (19). To believe means to place one's full trust and confidence in the work that the Lord Jesus Christ finished on the cross.
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(1) 1John 2: 2 (2) Mar 15: 25 (3) Matt. 27: 45 (4) Matt. 27: 46 (5) Matt. 16:21 (6) )Psalms 22: 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15 , 16, 17, 18) (7) 2Kings 6: 17 (8) Matt 26: 39 (9) Gen. 2: 17 (10) Habakkuk 1: 13 (11) John 19: 30 (12) Luke 23: 46 (13) Phil. 2: 7, 8. (14) Matt.16: 21d. (15) Heb. 9: 22 (16) John 1: 29 (17) John 3: 16
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One small piece of feedback.... while I believe we sometimes say "prophecizing," I don't think it's an actual word, suggest replacing with "prophesying"