Getting Closer to Jesus: Mission accomplished!
The purpose for which God became man was complete! Jesus, the perfect God-man, had just offered himself as the only atoning sacrifice to the Heavenly Father for the sin of the world. He then proclaimed for all of heaven—and hell—to hear: It is finished. Having done that, Luke, one of the other Gospel writers, tells us that Jesus cried out in a loud voice then surrendered his spirit to God.
What I find profound about this is that a man in the final throws of death doesn’t cry out in a loud voice, unless he is a courageous soldier—a war hero dying in battle to defend his cause, liberate his people and defeat an enemy. No, a dying man usually whispers hoarsely, or whimpers pitifully, or expulses a cry of pain—or perhaps just gives up and quits breathing.
But Luke carefully chose the Greek phrase, fone megale —mega-phone—to capture Jesus’ final word. This was a shout of triumph, an outburst of victory! As he hung on that cross, Jesus had in his sites sin and death—those evil twins that had thwarted God’s original intent and tormented humanity since the fall of humanity back in the Garden of Eden.
Now, Jesus had defeated sin. He had offered himself as the once-and-for-all sacrifice for sin (Heb 10:10,12,14), he had forgiven the repentant thief, he had extended forgiveness to the ignorant who had sent him to the cross. Jesus had won! It was finished and Jesus knew it. Not his life; not his future; but his work was finished—complete, mission accomplished.
Yet there was one more thing he needed to do; one more enemy to defeat—Death. As Jesus’ life quickly ebbed toward death, the spirit of death appeared out of the invisible realm, ready to claim yet another victim—this time, to crush the life of the One who claimed to be the Resurrection and the Life. But just as the death demon reached out to take hold of Jesus, the Lord of Life laid hold of death instead.
Death was grasped and dragged until it was absorbed into the bosom of the Eternal One…and so, in that moment, all things were crucified —every last thing! Sin, sickness, and suffering, along with hell, the grave, and yes, death, were crucified—all things!
But wait, there was one more thing to be crucified: you and me. You see, we were crucified with Christ, yet nevertheless, in dying with him, we live in him now and forevermore!
That was the loud voice—the fone megale—the shout of triumph. Our victory had been forever won! And having won the greatest of all victories—our eternal salvation, he bowed his head and surrendered his spirit. And the very next thing he heard on the other side, I imagine, was “well done, good and faithful Servant!”
Take the Next Step: Find a hymnal—you might have to look long and hard these days—and sing the him, “Christ Arose” as a prayer of gratitude to God for Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
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