It Is Finished: Preaching

It Is Finished: Preaching

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

John 19:30

Christ did not come to merely perform miracles. The totality of His mission involved much more than the working of wonders. He Himself indicated that in the synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of His public ministry when He read the passage from Isaiah 61. ‘”The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.’ Christ came to preach, and preach He did. He preached so powerfully that, ‘all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.’ Throughout His preaching ministry, ‘He spoke as one having authority, and not as the scribes.’ People were ‘astonished at His doctrine: for His word was with power.’ Over and over again, Christ quotes the Old Testament Prophets with evangelical application. In the Sermon on the Mount. He expounded the true meaning of the Law, how that heart hatred was really murder, and the look of lust was really adultry. He put actions to His Words and drove out the money-changers from the Temple, not once, but twice, saying, ‘My house shall be called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.’ Even from the cross, He quoted the Psalms, saying, ‘My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?’ Certainly, Christ could look back upon His preaching with satisfaction and say, ‘It is finished.’ He left no necessary word unsaid. Surely, ‘never man spoke like this man.’ With regard to His preaching, Christ could bow His head and say, ‘It is finished!’

Our most Wonderful Savior,
We rejoice in Your most powerful Word.
We praise You, that You speak peace unto our troubled hearts,
and that You reveal to us more of Your Own Great Self.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning