Jesus is Crucified Part 5, Jesus Finishes the Work

John 19:28-30 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.  

THERE it is! The plan is done. The work completed. Now Jesus can go home. His throne awaits him in the glory of eternity befitting the Son of God, obedient in all things to the Father. Just hours before this, Jesus had prayed with this expectation.
 
John 17:1a-5 “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
 
Indeed, “It is finished.” Jesus’ incarnation was to fulfill the Father’s will to save souls into eternal life. Jesus was “born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and buried” (the Apostles Creed) for God’s elect. Oh, the implications of those three phrases! God’s Son became human flesh. That alone is too grand to fully comprehend.
    How great was the Son’s suffering! Jesus suffered a life of labor, of poverty, and of grief. He suffered the insults of Teachers of the Law and his chosen people. They were deaf to hear his love. They were blind to see his miraculous signs as God’s hand on their bodies!
    Jesus suffered the doubts, pride and betrayal of his closest disciples. He suffered the lash. And he suffered the cross and the grave.
    His suffering finished the first stage of God’s redemptive plan. The blood had been shed. The death of the Passover Lamb of God to save the children of Abraham - all the church of Christ to come – was finished.
    We can understand Jesus’ great thirst as an illustration of the thirst in his heart to give you his living water (John 4). He had a thirst to quench the fires of spiritual despair, doubt, ignorance and complacency. In his risen life we can be born again into a life in which we will never thirst. (John 4:13) The cross of death becomes the spring of water welling up into eternal life. (John 4:14)
    That’s what Jesus’ finished work offers you.
 
Resurrection Truth: Jesus’ thirst becomes your spring of eternal life.