Not too long ago our Pastor talked about the seven statements that Jesus made from the cross of Calvary. In case you don’t know them, here they are.
1st – “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”
2nd – “Today, shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”
3rd – “Woman behold thy son, … John behold thy mother.”
4th – “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
5th – “I thirst.”
6th – “It is finished.”
7th – “Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit.”
I want to look at #6, “It is finished.”
Our Lord, dying on the cross for our sins, said, “It is finished.” He did NOT say, “I am finished.” That is significant.
What exactly was finished that day?
Christ’s redemptive work was finished.
Our salvation was finished.
The Greek word translated “it is finished” is tetelestai, an accounting term that means “paid in full.” When Jesus uttered those words, He was declaring the debt owed to His Father was wiped away completely and forever. Not that Jesus wiped away any debt that He owed to the Father; rather, Jesus eliminated the debt owed by mankind—the debt of sin, the debt that you and I owed.
Although the redemption of mankind is the most important thing that was finished, many other things were finished on Mt Calvary. The suffering that Jesus had endured while on the earth, and especially in His last hours, were finally over. God’s will for Jesus was accomplished in His perfect obedience to the Father (John 5:30; 6:38). Most importantly, the power of sin and Satan was finished. No longer would we, mankind, have to suffer the “flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:16).
But, He is not finished. Jesus is NOT finished. He is coming back one day to, once and for all, finish the work that He was sent to do. One day soon Jesus is coming back to take us home. See: 1 Thessalonians 4: 16 & 17.
Jesus is coming back to rule and reign for 1,000 years.
Jesus is coming back to redeem the earth. There will be a new heaven and new earth.
The current heavens and earth have been subject to God’s curse since Adam’s fall. All creation “has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth” (Romans 8:22) as it waits for the fulfillment of God’s plan and “the children of God to be revealed” (verse 19). Heaven and earth will pass away (Mark 13:31), and they will be replaced by the new heavens and the new earth. At that time, the Lord, seated on His throne, says, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5). In the new creation, sin will be totally eradicated, and “there shall be no more curse” (Revelation 22:3).
The new earth will be free from sin, evil, sickness, suffering, and death. It will be similar to our current earth, but without the curse of sin. It will be earth as God originally intended it to be. It will be Eden restored.
In the new heavens and new earth, Scripture says, there are seven things that are noted by their absence—seven things that are “no more”:
• no more sea (Revelation 21:1) [no more separation]
• no more death (Revelation 21:4)
• no more mourning (Revelation 21:4)
• no more weeping (Revelation 21:4)
• no more pain (Revelation 21:4)
• no more curse (Revelation 22:3)
• no more night (Revelation 22:5)
The creation of the new heavens and new earth brings the promise that God “will wipe every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 21:4). This event comes after the tribulation, after the Lord’s second coming, after the millennial kingdom, after the final rebellion, after the final judgment of Satan, and after the Great White Throne Judgment.
Praise God! Jesus is coming back, He is not finished yet!
- ALAN MURPHY
