It is Finished!
Mark 15:33-39
33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 34 And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).
35 When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”
36 Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.
37 With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”
Why was Jesus forsaken? Why does Jesus take on Himself all of the punishment deserved by Israel?
Why does Jesus have to suffer such a terrible death?
The answer to these kinds of questions is rooted in our real need of a Savior and the serious nature of God’s wrath. Genesis 1-11 the foundation of a relationship with God.
Wrath: Genesis 3, Genesis 6, Genesis 9, Genesis 11. Four times in these brief chapters people are cursed, fall under the wrath of God, they receive the punishment for their sins. And each time, God provides a way through.
God covers Adam and Eve’s shame and promises deliverance through the Seed of the woman.
Noah’s ark
Blessing instead of cursing as it relates to Ham.
Tower of Babel– Promises to Abraham
And so, the most profound answer to the question to why did Jesus suffer so terribly is…
- It was Necessary
Jesus makes a way through the wrath of God once and for all!
- The only pathway to righteousness
Galatians 2: 21
21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
What are we looking at here when we survey the Cross?
It this a good thing?
Is this an act of love?
What does this tell us about God?
What does this tell us about the Jewish people?
- The only pathway to God
This is what the tearing of the veil means!
It is torn from top to bottom. This indicates that God had decided to tear it. The veil is a thick tapestry. You can think of it as a wall if you like, because it functions that way. But, a wall seems permanent, a curtain not so much. And the end of the curtain is the day that Jesus dies!
Exodus 26: 30 “Set up the tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain.
33 Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. 34 Put the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law in the Most Holy Place.
Angels at the entrance to the Garden of Eden. Who puts them there? What is the significance of their ministry?
The Holy of Holies is the Garden of Eden. It is a picture of it. The golden lampstand is the Tree of Life.
Hebrews 9: 8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning. 9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. 10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
- Can you do this for yourself?
Satisfy God’s wrath? Yes you can. You can do this by experiencing what Jesus experienced for you. But you cannot enter into the presence of God in your sinful state.
Galatians 2: 15 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
Not only was Jesus’ death necessary, but our appropriate response to His death IS necessary. That will never change!
- It is Necessary
- All must believe in Who Jesus is
Look at the beginning of John’s gospel.
Jesus is the Word of God, through Whom all of Creation came into being!
Jesus is the light of life.
Jesus is the source of grace and truth.
Jesus makes people God’s children.
Jesus makes God, Who is invisible, known.
All this is at the beginning. As John says in I John 5:
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
- All must believe in What Jesus did
Again, Noah’s Ark, Abraham’s ram, Passover Lamb etc. Over and over in the Old Testament experience of the people of God, God supplies a pathway of life and grace that saves His people from their sin.
And not just the creation of a pathway to God, but the source of life for each day. The manna, the water from the rock etc.
- All must see their personal need
Each person must individually decide to believe and follow Jesus.
Again, in John 1: 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
We must all be born of God! Or as Jesus told Nicodemus, Born Again.
In our passage here, Mark tells us that “with a loud cry, Jesus breathed His last.” His last cry is…
- It is Finished
The tearing of the veil in the temple happens immediately after Jesus dies. This is an indication of what was finished! The pathway of grace is opened up for people to travel. But is that all that Jesus wants done? He wants you to be a recipient of His work on your behalf!
- Crucified with Christ?
Galatians 2: 19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
I no longer live for myself.
Christ lives in me.
I live by faith in the Son of God. I follow Him.
- Saved by God’s grace through faith
Ephesians 1: 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 2: 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
- Reconciled to God
II Corinthians 5:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Hebrews 7: 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
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