I'm Confident That "It Is Finished" Means "It Is Finished"

When God says it I can 100% believe it. Jesus is the eternal Son of God and is God the Son Himself. Whoever says that God the Father talked to angels in the Creation account is dreaming. The Son of God appeared in His pre-incarnate form in the Old Testament, lived a perfect life, had no sin and died for the sins of mankind. My great confidence is when Jesus said in John 19:30, "It is finished!"

Finished means finished! Jesus already offered one sacrifice for sin and it's never to be repeated. Hebrews 10:14 writes to the Jews that tells them that Jesus offered that one sacrifice never to be repeated again. The veil that separated commoners from the Holy of Holies has been torn from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45) so why should religion try to stitch it back up? There's no more need for priests because all who are in Christ have that equal access as priests in that sense (1 Peter 2:9). Nowhere in the New Testament do we have priests! Instead, Ephesians 4:11 has the office of the pastorate.

The horrible act of the crucifixion is never to be repeated again. The fulfillment of Isaiah 53 happens in the New Testament with the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus was scourged heavily to the point He could not be recognized. He allowed it to happen because He was absorbing all the sins of the world. The Son of God died the death reserved only for the worst criminal because He had to pay for the penalty of sins. This truth was inconceivable that the Son of God would allow Himself to do so for the sins of mind shatters the belief. Sinful men believe that they are basically good but the story of the crucifixion shatters it all up. The crucifixion account has Jesus not only paying for the sins of mankind. His brutal death also shows just how ugly sin is and its effect on the person. The wrath of God fell on Jesus and He did it all out of sacrificial love. This was once and for all event never to be repeated again!

It makes me wonder why are Roman Catholics still continuing to insist that the Roman Catholic mass is indeed a continuing unbloody sacrifice? Hebrews 9:27 says that without the shedding of blood there is no remission. Blood was shed to pay for the sins of mankind. The idea of a continuing unbloody sacrifice for sins is not in Scripture. When Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Lord's supper - it was to celebrate what was already done and not what is done. It also reminds me how many Roman Catholics participate in their perversion of the Lord's supper unworthily or disrespectfully. How many times has it been many who partake in it have not been living clean lives which is a requirement to the Lord's supper. Worse, many have been singing hymns about the blood such as "Are You Washed in the Blood" or "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus" yet why are they still trusting in the sacraments and priests to save their souls? Why are they still believing that they can't be sure when the Bible says that you can be sure?

The great confidence is that when I believe Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior - I believe in a finished work. Good Friday is not a time of mourning but celebration. Celebration of what? Celebration of freedom from sin and living a new life in Christ. I can see that only God's grace and what He did for me is what sets me free from the power of sin - not set me free to sin. The sacrifice is sufficient and that sufficiency is what Christians need to live a life of holiness as a result! Good works follow as an inevitable result of salvation - not in order to maintain salvation or to earn it!