The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross 6. The Word of Victory

Extract

The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross
A. W. Pink

6. The Word of Victory
“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished” John 19:30.

Our last two studies (booklets) have been occupied with the tragedy of the cross; we turn now to its triumph. In his words, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” we beard the Saviour’s cry of desolation; in his words “I thirst” we listened to his cry of lamentation; now there falls upon our ears his cry of jubilation — “It is finished.” From the words of the victim we turn now to the words of the victor, It is proverbial that every cloud has its silver lining: so had the darkest cloud of all. The cross of Christ has two great sides to it: it showed the profound depths of his humiliation, but it also marked the goal of the Incarnation, and further, it told the consummation of his mission, and it forms the basis of our salvation.

“It is finished.” The ancient Greeks boasted of being able to say much in little — “to give a sea of matter in a drop of language ” was regarded as the perfection of oratory. What they sought is here found. “It is finished” is but one word in the original, yet in that word is wrapped up the gospel of God; in that word is contained the ground of the believer’s assurance; in that word is discovered the sum of all joy, and the very spirit of all divine consolation. “It is finished.” This was not the despairing cry of a helpless martyr; it was not an expression of satisfaction that the termination of his sufferings was now reached; it was not the last gasp of a worn-out life. No, rather was it the declaration on the part of the divine Redeemer that all for which he came from heaven to earth to do, was now done; that all that was needed to reveal the full character of God had now been accomplished; that all that was required by law before sinners could be saved had now been performed: that the full price of our redemption was now paid. “It is finished.” The great purpose of God in the history of man was now accomplished — accomplished de jure as it will yet be de facto. From the beginning, God ’s purpose has always been one and …