(Chapter 16) It Is Finished   This scripture ("It is finished" John 19:30), is of profound import to us as Christians in understanding many of these passages we have already discussed. What did Christ mean by this? Was He saying that the Ten Commandments were now to be done away with? What was He trying to get across? Come with me in your imagination, as together we travel back to that fateful day some two thousand years ago. Maybe while we are there we can find out His meaning.   In the temple, the evening sacrifice is being offered. The priest stands with his knife poised to slay the lamb.   Out on a hill, a short distance from the city, three condemned men suffer the intense agonies of crucifixion. It seems as though the One hanging on the middle cross is carrying the weight of the entire world, and that He cannot endure much longer. Suddenly, in trumpet-like tones that shatter the eerie blackness and send rocks and boulders cascading down the hill, breaking open tombs in their destructive descent toward Jerusalem, the victory cry is heard. "It is finished!" 1   Back in the temple, all present seem to sense something ominous. The thick, black cloud that surrounded the cross is now hovering low over the city, seeming like the harbinger of doom. The onlookers are unusually quiet and anxious, as if the slightest disturbance, noise or movement might plunge them into judgmental fury. As the priest brings down his hand to slay the innocent victim, a tremendous noise rocks the temple. The people gasp, the knife drops from the priest's suddenly nerveless hand, and the lamb escapes!   All eyes are turned to look at the curtain, ripped by the same hands that wrote doom on the wall of Belshazer's banquet hall. 2 This curtain, which has veiled the Shekinah glory, and behind which only the high priest is allowed to go once a year, is now ripped in two, from top to bottom. The former abiding place of God is now open to the view of all. The Holiest of Holies, the mercy seat of God is accessible to all!   Yes! It is finished. The lamb does not need to be offered, because the true Lamb of God has made complete and total atonement for us. No longer is there any need or purpose in the continual offering of lambs, goats, calves or doves! The One to whom they have pointed has come! No longer do we find access to God through the sanctuary, priest or symbols. The curtain is open. All can come freely to God through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.   Unfortunately, most of the Jews did not understand the significance of these events. The curtain was repaired, another lamb was brought and the service continued, without meaning or purpose. While Jesus, the true Lamb and mediator between God and man, was rejected.   It was not the Ten Commandments that Christ declared finished. Oh, no! It was the senseless round of rituals, the endless sacrificing of animals and the heartless worship of the people that was to come to an end. God did not take pleasure in the suffering of His creatures or in the callous worship of his people. Thus it was with triumph that He jubilantly cried, "It is finished!" Yes, praise God! Christ's sacrifice is sufficient to meet the law's demands! It was enough to buy us back from the clutch of Satan. No one needs to be lost. The cost of their redemption has been paid in full!

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