(Easter 2021) It Is Finished!

We are going to move away from our time in Matthew for two weeks and look at the events surrounding Easter.

What happened around what we call ‘Easter,’ so so important. Without the work of Jesus on the cross and what happened 3 days later, there would be no reason to come to church. Without what Jesus did on the cross and three days later, there would be no Bible.

Without all of that, there would be no reason to love, no reason to be kind, no reason be good…nothing.

This week, beginning today is what we call passion week. The Sunday before Jesus went to the cross, Jesus rode into Jerusalem. John 12:12-13

12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

On Sunday they were shouting ‘Hail Him, Hail Him!’, by Friday they were shouting ‘Nail Him, Nail Him’

Jesus was crucified on Friday of that week, but on Thursday Night, he sat down with his disciples at a table in the upper room and taught them a lesson about humility, and loving and serving others. He showed this by example by washing their feet.

He also told them of the coming Holy Spirit, he told Peter that he would deny him 3 times, and then he said, soon it would be his time to leave.

After this he took his disciples to the Garden to pray. In the Garden, Judas came and betrayed Jesus and the soldiers took him away.

Late Thursday Night into early Friday morning, Jesus would appear before the High Priest, Roman officials and others before he was given over to the crowd who would all out ‘Crucify Him!’

Before 9am on Friday morning, he had been beaten with a whip, a crown of thorns placed on his head, and was mocked and sentenced to death by crucifixion.

Jesus had to carry his cross all the way through the streets of Jerusalem. Can you imagine that? He could not stand any longer When they reached Golgatha ( Place of the Skull) they nail his to the cross. (laid it down, hammered the nails, then raised the cross, dropping it in the hole)

Jesus hung on the cross the entire day, and about 6pm on Friday Night, as the sun was about to go down, he said this...

English Standard Version Chapter 19

“It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

‘It is finished’

It had been 33 years since, Mary, gave birth, it had been 21 years since Jesus as a boy stayed in the Temple to talk to those people. It had been 3 1/2 years since he came up out of the water after being baptized by John the Baptist....and now at the age of 33, he said....’It is Finished’ he bowed his head and died.

What are we to think of these three word…IT IS FINISHED. IT IS FINISHED. When the gospel were written, the greek translation that was used for this work finished was ----Tuh-tell-is-tie. Tuh-tell-is-tie means complete, paid in full, full payment. Tuh-tell-is-tie.....FINISHED.

So the last words from Jesus are…it is complete, it is done, payment is complete…It is finished. But what is ‘IT?’ We know that he says its is finished, but what is finished?

If something is finished, something had to start. Something had to begin to end. So what began? Sin. Sin. The thing that keeps us from God. I always say it, that God is perfect. Sin cannot be in his presence. We are not perfect, we have flaws, the biggest being that we have sin in our lives. We cant help it, its the way we were born. This is something called the Doctrine of Original Sin. The Doctrine of Original sin says that because Adam and Eve brought sin into the world, that every human being that is born until Jesus returns is born with a sin nature. It’s who we are. So does that mean that because there is no sin in the presence of God that we could never go to heaven. No. Why? Because ‘IT IS FINISHED.’

Jesus stated his mission when he started his public ministry. Do you remember the verse from our study in Matthew...

English Standard Version Chapter 4

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Three and 1/2 years before Jesus was said those three words, he was teaching that it was time to repent....to turn away from sin, because the Kingdom of God was at hand. Now with his sacrifice on cross ending with the words IT IS FINISHED, the Kingdom of God WAS NOW at hand. It was just days away that he would rise from the grave.

4 things that point to three words: IT IS FINISHED

When he said IT IS FINSIHED, Jesus was saying that he had accomplished everything the Father had sent him to do. All of the pain, the mocking, one of his followers betraying him, the Pharisees trying to kill him…all of that was done…finished..

This word Finished...Tuh-tell-is-tie…is the same as the Hebrew word that was used when the Priests presented a spotless lamb as a sacrifice.

In the Greek business world, the word for finished, Tuh-tell-is-tie, was used as the FULL PAYMENT OF A DEBT.

That word Tuh-tell-is-tie, finished, was used to mean, a turning point when one period ended and another new period began.

This is seen in the tearing of the curtain in the temple. (Mark 15:38)

English Standard Version Chapter 15

38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

The time of bringing a sacrifice to cover sins was over. The time to come to a priest to present your offering was over. No more animal sacrifices and no more going through a priest to get to God.

In the temple, the curtain separated the Holy of Holies fro the rest of the temple, and only the High Priest was able to enter. But now, when Jesus said Tuh-tell-is-tie…IT IS FINISHED…now there was nothing separating a person from going straight to God themselves.

What does all of this mean to us?

Jesus has defeated sin. The blood he shed IS the payment, our payment for our sins that separate us from God. But just because he did that, does mean that everyone then is going to heaven. God only welcomes his own. (Example: walking into my house) Remember what he said to those who do not believe…”I never knew you.” (Matt 7:23)

The only way you can benefit from his death and his resurrection (next week) is by turning your life over to him. Notice I didn’t say, believe in him, I didn’t say pray to him, I didn’t say be a better person…i said turning your life over to him. Because when you turn your life over to him, you do not own your life anymore. You don’t live for yourself…you live for him. That is why he came, bleed, and said IT IS FINISHED. He finished the work for you…are you willing to accept that finished work in y our own life?