Over the last couple of years I’ve been fascinated by Jesus’ words on the cross: “it is finished” (Jn. 19:30) I’ve become convinced that this is meant to remind us of the end of creation in Gen. 2:2—“And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.” Jesus said these words at the end of the sixth day of the week, as the seventh was beginning. He spent the seventh day resting in the tomb. However, the work he did there wasn’t the old work of creation. It was re-creation!
In short, Jesus was declaring that on the cross he had undone all the evil and brokenness that wracked creation since Adam and Eve first disobeyed God. The curse of sin that made the ground hard and thorny was undone in the man wearing a crown of thorns. The guilt and shame that made Adam and Eve hide was covered up by the man whose clothes had been taken away. Even death itself was conquered by the one who would rise from the dead, and who offers his resurrection life to us!
There are times when it is certainly appropriate to hear those words and respond somberly, as we do when we read the crucifixion story every Good Friday. But the Bible also tells us that Jesus went to the cross “for the joy that was set before him” (Heb. 12:2). If that is true, then it is also appropriate for us to respond with that same joy! The risen Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection, and in him and through him all will be made new!
We’re going to sing a song on Sunday called “It Was Finished upon That Cross” that does just that. It brings us into all of these themes I mentioned earlier—the curse is broken, we are clothed in Christ’s righteousness, death itself is conquered! We’ll sing and celebrate the words Jesus used to proclaim victory in the middle of the darkest hour.
I especially love this part in verse 3: “Death was once my great opponent / Fear once had a hold on me / But the Son who died to save us / Rose that we would be free indeed.” The victory is won—even though we still have to walk through the brokenness of this life, the end is already fixed. Eternity in God’s presence is given to us in Christ. That’s something to celebrate!
Justin