Accomplished! Accept it!

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"It is finished!" (Jn 19:30)

All the demands of a holy and righteous God were perfectly satisfied when Christ offered His body without any blemish, and shed His blood without any spot. His was the perfect offering. There is nothing we can add to it because it is just not necessary. Man thought that Jesus was finished, but He shouted victoriously that the work was finished!

 Salvation comes to us as a free gift because of the finished work on the Cross. A gift cannot be earned, it must only be received. On God's side salvation is all of grace, and on our side it is all of faith. We are not saved "by" good works but "for" good works. Boasting is totally out (Eph 2:8-10). The gospel is a Good News for those who have done their best but failed!

The problem of the natural man with human reasoning is in understanding how the greatest of all gifts can be received by simple faith. In his pride and prestige he wants to "do" something and earn it. But God declares, "Done!" The message of the Cross is simply profound and profoundly simple. That's where the religionist stumbles.

When certain teachers from Judea urged the early Christian believers to be circumcised besides their faith in Christ, Paul and Barnabas had "no small dissension and dispute" with them (Acts 15:1,2). Yes they violently reacted to adding anything to the Cross.

In Galatia the believers wanted to add Law to Grace. Paul said this very attempt was their fall from grace! (Gal 5:4). He also said that Christ had to be formed in them again! (4:19). Law and Grace cannot coexist, Ishmael and Isaac cannot dwell together. "To be on the safer side, let's do that also!" This sounds good but is opposed to the Cross wherefrom Christ shouted, "It is finished!"

Read Paul's Epistles again and again to understand the meaning of salvation by grace. We are what we are by the grace of God. We shall be what we should be by the grace of God. This Good News is exclusively for those who have failed miserably though they have tried all means.


It is finished, Man of Sorrows,
From Thy Cross our frailty borrows
Strength to bear and conquer thus!
               (Frederick H. Hedge, 1805-1890)

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