Mission Accomplished

INTRODUCTION

How do you describe the Lord Jesus Christ? That takes some thought beyond the usual canned answers.

Probably the best was penned by Anne Timoney Collins, that appeared in the New York Evening Sun in 1921. She wrote:

Greatest man in history.

Had no servants, yet they called him Master.

Had no degree, yet they called him Teacher.

Had no medicines, yet they called him Healer.

He had no army, yet kings feared Him.

He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world.

He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him.

He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

His name is Jesus.

This statement contains much irony. Truly Jesus was the greatest man in history, but achieved that greatness through extraordinary means. His mission was specific to Him.

Throughout our study of the seven last sayings of Jesus, we have received many indicators of Christ’s needs as He died for you. You will notice that there was emotional, spiritual and physical pain He endured while on the cross. His groanings and expressions were all a part of the work He endured as He gave His life for your sin.

But His last statement is different than the others. Although these words come at the end of Jesus’ life, they speak so much of His mission. It acknowledges a completed task, often referred to as the word of victory. This morning, let us remember three things. First, let us...

I. REMEMBER HIS STATEMENTS, WHICH DESCRIBED GOD’S PLAN.

Looking back on His life, Jesus saw His suffering, His death and His resurrection as the fulfillment of His Father’s objective.

I have witnessed some saying that they believe in Jesus without believing in God. How can this be? You would have no divine Son of God without the Father! And Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection were all a part of the “things of God,” as Jesus put it.

Matthew 16:21–23 ESV

21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Jesus and His Father saw all that He had to endure as a part of a larger picture. Anything obstructing that picture had to be discarded. Commenting on Matthew 16, Dietrich Bonhoeffer said:

“Jesus must suffer and be rejected by virtue of divine necessity. Any attempt to interfere with what is necessary is satanic- even and precisely when it comes out of the circle of the disciples, for it does not want to let Christ be Christ… .” (Bonhoeffer, God is on the Cross, 56).

If Jesus was the Christ, He had to suffer for sinners. It was a part of the title!

And Christ submitted to the Father’s plan, which included suffering. That is never a part of a man-made plan. We try to avoid pain at all cost. But not so with Jesus. According to Isaiah 53:10-12 there was a goal in mind, an end game that included redeeming, the church, spoken of in

Isaiah 53:10–12 (ESV)

10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;

by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,

and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,

because he poured out his soul to death

and was numbered with the transgressors;

yet he bore the sin of many,

and makes intercession for the transgressors.

If you are a believer, you benefit in a unique way by Jesus’ cross. You are counted as righteous through faith in Christ, the righteous One! Your sins are carried away and you are prayed for by the Son of God. Secondly...

II. REMEMBER THE “COINCIDENCES,” WHICH FORMULATED THE PLAN.

There are many things taking place around these words. Jesus’ statement: “It is finished,” speaks of what He came to do.

Jesus would allude to that work in His high priestly prayer of John 17:1-5

John 17:1–5 (ESV)

1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Please note that several things occurred that created the opportunity for Jesus to be crucified.

Judas betraying Jesus into the hands of the religious authorities at the manipulation of Satan.

And while the Jews were preparing the lamb for the Passover, Jesus was being presented by Pilate as One that the crowd wanted crucified. The timing of the passover, pointed to Jesus as our Passover Lamb, who was sacrificed for our redemption.

This, coupled with the release of Barrabus, put Jesus in a position to die for the people, as Annas had stated in John 18:14

John 18:14 ESV

14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.

Jesus’ life was a fulfillment of Scripture, the “Suffering Servant,” as He is labeled in Isaiah 53.

These were not coincidences. At any time, Jesus could have backed away from all of this. He could have defended Himself when Pilate said in John 19:10 Rather, they were necessary events along the way.

John 19:10 ESV

10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”

Everything in Jesus’ life had an intentional design to it. Nothing was left to chance. His life was known by His Father of the work He came to do. John 19:16

John 19:16 (ESV)

16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified.

Jesus stepped into this mission, knowing what it would cost Him. And He did it anyway. Lastly...

III. REMEMBER HIS ACTIONS, WHICH COMPLETED THE PLAN.

At the end of His suffering, Jesus uttered these words from the cross in

John 19:30 “It is finished.”

John 19:30 ESV

30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

In the Greek it is tetelestai, which is an adjective marked by the highest quality: It denotes “finished workmanship (MW Collegiate Dict. (11th Ed.))

It also indicates “to complete an activity or process, bring to an end, finish, (KWeiss, Exegetisches z. Irrtumslosigkeit u. Eschatologie Jesu Christi 1916, 184–99)

The Use Outside the Bible. The verb means: “to carry out” one’s own will or that of others; It also means “to bring an activity to a successful finis.”

It denotes that all that was set out to be done, is completed. Jesus could have also said: “It is accomplished.” He just wasn’t speaking of His life, but His mission. Although you look back with satisfaction when completing a project, it usually does not demand that you lose your life.

The terms: “It is finished” are for our benefit. We call it “Good Friday,” because of our perspective, our involvement. It was to our blessing that Jesus went to the cross. As we sing:

“Was it for sins that I have done He suffered on the tree? Amazing pity! Grace unknown! And love beyond degree!

Or,

“When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.”

This is why Christians for centuries have believed what the Nicene Creed says:

“I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, ... Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, …was crucified... for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried, and the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end.”

Interesting is the fact that Jesus uttered the words from the cross: “It is finished.” Then later, he would physically demonstrate it by sitting at the Father’s right hand.

Often, we understand Jesus sitting at the Father’s right hand as demonstrating His authority, which that is so. But it is also a demonstration of His finished work, as Hebrews 12:2 instructs us that we are to look to Jesus who is…

"…the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for .the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

That completed work secures salvation for the elect- those who trust in the Lord.

And because His work is finished, He lives forever more, seated upon His throne, praying daily for you and me. According to Romans 8:34, He lives forever to make intercession for us. In Him, you have an advocate with the Father. Consider that! You have One who prays for you!

It is interesting that in His incarnation, Jesus brought God to us. In His ascension, He takes us to heaven.

This corresponds with the fact that every one of us has a throne upon our lives. The question is who sits on that throne. For some of us, we sit on that throne. Every opportunity and every choice is filtered through one’s wants and desires. Such a life is lived selfishly with no real effect of God on the heart.

Then there is the person who has Christ upon the throne of their life. All choices are filtered through Him and what He would have us do according to His word. That is where we all should be. We live in a constant attitude of submission to Christ. William Hendriksen once wrote:

“When grace changes the heart, submission out of fear changes to submission out of love, and true humility is born.”

What does that humility look like?

You must trust Christ for He completed the most difficult task for your eternal security.

You must serve Christ, for He has served you.

You must devote your life to Him, for He gave His life for you.

CONCLUSION

Have you recognized your need for Him? Have you taken your place in that equation? He invites you today to receive His forgiveness and be reconciled to His Father.

Maybe this is a time for you to renew your commitment to Him.

Unlike other worldly kings live for themselves or shed the blood of others freely, King Jesus laid down His life for us, that we might become children of God. What king does that? Only One. It is as one poet wrote:

Full many a king a golden crown has worn, But only one a diadem of thorn: Full many a king has sat on jeweled throne; But only One hung on a Cross alone: Through garlanded gay streets, cheered by the crowd Great kings have ridden—One, with His head bowed Beneath the burden of His Cross, passed on To die on Calvary, one King, but one: All other kingdoms pass; are passing now Save His Who wore the bramble on His brow.