Genesis 2:1-2, John 19:30, Revelation 16:17, Revelation 21:6
There are four instances in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible where God declared that it was finished. However, one of those four instances is in the Old Testament, Genesis 2:1-2, and the other three instances are all in the New Testament. In Genesis 2:1-2, the statement that it was finished was descriptive and explained by a third party. This is because Adam and Eve would soon fall. However, the statement that it was finished in the New Testament is declarative.
First, the statement that it was finished in Genesis 2:1, 2 means that God finished redecorating the earth, and all their hosts. Verse 2 says that He completed decorating the earth in six days and rested on the seventh day. This shows that God has completed something that He had planned and decided to create.
However, the words that are declared in our Bible, “It is finished,” are related to the history of the salvation of mankind. If we look closely, the creation of heaven and earth was also included in the plan for the salvation of mankind.
Secondly, the words that are said to be finished are in the New Testament. When you hear the words, “It is finished,” what event do you remember? Yes, they are the words that our Lord spoke just before He was crucified and died. It is said that the last words He spoke on the cross were seven words. That is why they are called the seven words of hypothetical words, and the “seven words of hypothetical words” are very important words. The last words that a person speaks when he dies are called a will. A will is a statement that concludes a person’s life. Therefore, people who have tried to live their lives meaningfully try to leave meaningful last words to their children when they die. And those children also try to keep the last request of their father or mother.
However, how important are the seven words of our Lord, who is God, that He spoke on the cross? Let’s take a look.
1. First, in Matthew 27:46, it says, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ This means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ In Matthew 27:50, it says something, but the Bible only says, ‘Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit,’ and is silent about the content.
Now, let’s go to Mark. In 15:34, it says, ‘At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’, which is the same as Matthew. And in Mark 15:37, it says, ‘Jesus cried out with a loud voice and gave up his spirit.’
2. Now, let’s go to Luke. In 24:43, it says, ‘Jesus said to him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’
3. Luke 23:34, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’
4. Also, in Luke 24:46, ‘Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,’ and after saying this, he died.
5. Finally, let’s go to the Gospel of John. In 19:26, “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple standing nearby, whom he loved, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son!’” In verse 27, “He said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his home.”
6. In John 19:28, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now accomplished, said, ‘I thirst,’”
7. In John 19:30, “When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
When Jesus died on the cross, he said, ‘It is finished.’ What do you think was accomplished? It means that the Trinity God planned from before the ages and completed the work of opening the way to redeem mankind. Also, it is the word that God spoke to Satan to save us who fell into sin after Adam and Eve were deceived by the serpent in the Garden of Eden and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and it is the word that the covenant made to us humans was fulfilled. It is the word that God fulfilled all the words in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
If the Lord had not said this word, “It is finished,” on the cross, we would not have known whether the work of the Lord’s crucifixion to redeem us was accomplished. Even without this, the group of Satan who slandered Christianity was making such absurd excuses, but when the Lord said that it was finished, we came to believe in the Lord.
The third thing that He said was “It is finished” is in Revelation 16:17. This is the word that God spoke when he poured out the seventh bowl plague of the seven bowl plagues on the earth after the seven trumpet plagues of the seven years of tribulation ended. This seventh bowl plague is the time when the seven years of tribulation end and when God’s plagues end. The sixth bowl plague is the preparation period for the war of Armageddon.
Many people die in the war of Armageddon. The war of Armageddon is mainly centered around soldiers who participated in the war of Armageddon, but this seventh bowl plague is a great earthquake that destroys all cities and towns on the earth. When an earthquake occurs in a city or a certain region, a huge number of people die and buildings are destroyed, but when an earthquake occurs worldwide, this is complete destruction. It wipes everything out. And that’s not all. A large hailstone fell, and it was said to be as heavy as a talent, but a talent is 24 kilograms of gold. (A talent in Hebrew is 60 minas of silver, 3,000 shekels, and 34.27 kg in weight, and 20.4 kg in the Roman system, 6,000 denarii.)
It is said that one ice block from a large hailstone weighs 20 kilograms. I weigh 54 kilograms. Imagine that hailstones that weigh almost half my body weight fall from the sky all over the world. Would anyone on this earth survive? Also, imagine that a block of ice that weighs half my body weight falls.
This is the seventh bowl disaster, the last disaster of the seven-year tribulation. After this disaster, we will enter the millennial kingdom. This is the end of the history of the human world. So, isn’t it reasonable for God to say, “It is finished”? Let’s read Revelation 16:17. “The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, ‘It is done.’ There were flashes of lightning and voices and thunderings, and a great earthquake, such as has not occurred since men were on the earth, so great and so great an earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. The great city Babylon was remembered before God, and she received the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. Every island fled away, and the mountains were no more. A great hail, about the weight of a talent, fell on people from heaven, and they blasphemed God because of the hail, for the plague was very great.”
The fourth “It is done” is in Revelation 21:6. ‘It is done’ is the word in Revelation 21:6, which declares that after Satan’s rebellion in heaven and Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden on earth, the work of redemption for mankind, and Satan’s imprisonment, the end of the millennium kingdom, the end of the Gog and Magog war, the end of the white throne judgment, and the beginning of the new heaven and new earth, the eternal kingdom of the new heaven and new earth, with the sons of God chosen by God.
Let me introduce Revelation 21:6.
‘Then he said to me, ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to him who is thirsty from the fountain of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit all these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.’ Amen.
Dear saints, God is eternal. God has no beginning and no end. However, when the Lord said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” he meant that he was the first and the last in terms of time. What does this mean? It means that he was the first and the last in the sense that he created heaven and earth and created, saved, and judged us humans. Our Jesus was the first to create us humans and he is the one who will bring about the end of humanity. However, God is eternal. He has no beginning and no end. He existed in the eternal world and began the creation of heaven and earth in order to create humans.
Satan rebelled in heaven and after that, God created humans. However, Satan infiltrated the Garden of Eden and tempted Adam and Eve to commit sin, so all humanity was under sin. However, our Lord came, was crucified, died, and was resurrected three days later, so that all who believe in Him have eternal life. And there will be seven years of tribulation on this earth, and after that there will be the millennium kingdom and the war of Gog and Magog, and the great white throne judgment, and after that, God will lead His many children, the saints, who He has obtained through His firstborn Son, and enter the eternal world again and rest forever. Therefore, the creation of heaven and earth is only one point in God’s eternal world.
From the moment of being born again, the saints are exempt from judgment and are transferred from death to eternal life. They enjoy eternal life from the moment of being born again. I hope you realize that we do not enjoy eternal life when we die and are resurrected when the Lord returns, but that He already enjoys eternal life when He is born again while living in this world.
God does not live within the influence of time. This means that God does not have the concept of time, such as future, present, and past. To us humans, what is future or past is present to God. Therefore, the proclamation of “It is finished” in Revelation 21:6 may be future to us, but it is present to God. Then, we also hope that the proclamation of Revelation 21:6 is present. Because we are currently sitting together on the throne of God’s kingdom (Eph 2:6). And because God is in us and we are in God.
Therefore, beloved saints, we have nothing to fear. Even if you live in this world and are suffering, lonely, and having a hard time, I hope that you will become saints who always have eternity in your heart and always triumph in faith while looking forward to the Lord who will come soon.
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