It Is Finished
According to the gospel of John, Jesus’ last words are, “It is finished.” John, who is writing last of the four gospel writers, is book-ending aspects from the other gospel writers. For example, Matthew records Jesus saying on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” All sorts of interesting theology has come from this passage (also recorded in Mark 15) stating that when Jesus was on the cross, the sin He bore from all of humanity was so great that God had to turn away. That for a period of time, God abandons Jesus on the cross – that He forsakes Him on the cross because of sin. But is that what’s truly going on? In short, absolutely not! When we understand that Jesus is quoting from Psalm 22, we’re met with the incredible reality that when Jesus proclaims, “It is finished,” He’s not only making a statement of assurance that our debt has been paid in full, He’s also proclaiming that God never abandoned Him on the cross, and that God doesn’t abandon us in our darkest hours either, but is with us through it all.