“It is finished.” John 19:30 (NIV)
Remember why the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world: The Son of God became a man to live the life you and I would have to live in order to enter heaven.
Jesus lived the perfect life. There was no sin in him, and the night before he died he was able to say to the Father, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (17:4).
None of us can say these words to God. We’ve never been able to say them, even on the best day of our lives. No one else has ever or will ever be able to say these words to God.
Examine the life of the Savior. Read through the Gospels carefully, and you will find that every account of his life—every recorded word and every action—was finished, complete, perfect.
Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17). And that’s exactly what he did. Every commandment of God was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. Throughout his life, Jesus loved God the Father with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and he loved his neighbor as himself. Jesus is the only person who has ever done this.
This perfect life was now done. He was about to lay it down. The full course of his obedience was complete, and so he said, “It is finished.”
What does Jesus’ full/completed obedience mean to you?
