Scripture: "When Jesus had received the vinegar. He said: 'It is finished.'"—JOHN xix. 30.
The seven words of our Lord on the cross reveal to us His mind and disposition. At the beginning of His ministry He said (John iv. 34): "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work." In all things, the small as well as the great. He should accomplish God's work. In the High-Priestly prayer at the end of the three years' ministry, He could say {John xvii. 4): "I have glorified Thee on the earth, / have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do." He sac¬rificed all, and in dying on the cross could in truth say: "It is finished."
With that word to the Father He laid down His life. With that word He was strengthened, after the terrible agony on the cross, in the knowledge that all was now fulfilled. And with that word He uttered the truth of the gospel of our redemption, that all that was needed for man's salvation had been accomplished on the cross.
This disposition should characterize every follower of Christ. The mind that was in Him must be in us—it must he our meat, the strength of our life, to do the Will of God in all things, and to finish His -work. There may be small things about which we are not conscientious and so we bring harm to ourselves and to God's work. Or we draw back before some great thing which demands too much sacrifice. In every case we may find strength to perform our duty in Christ's word: "It is finished." His finished work secured the victory over every foe. By faith we may appropriate that dying word of Christ on the cross, and find the power for daily living and dying in the fellowship of the crucified Christ.
Child of God, study the inexhaustible treasure contained in this word: "It is finished." Faith in what Christ accomplished on the cross will enable you to manifest in daily life the spirit of the cross.
