In his High Priestly Prayer just before his crucifixion he announced, "My hour has come" (Jn 17:1). Jesus didn't primarily come to leave us an example for us to follow or a deposit of helpful advice for Christian living; he came to die as our substitute the death we sinners deserve to die. From creation itself, all of human history led up to the cross - this moment - this word.

All that he came to do is now accomplished. Every Old Testament prophesy concerning the Messiah is fulfilled. What is needed to reconcile sinful men and women to a wholly righteous God is completed on the cross of Christ. All that the Law demands to bridge God with his creation is perfectly fulfilled. Jesus finishing his Father's business by making a way for us to have peace with God. Nothing can be added to the fulness and finality of Jesus' death. Isn't this why one apostle said that he glories in nothing else but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ?

Those who heard this word that day might have remembered God's word on the seventh day of creation, "It is finished" (Gen 2:2). And they might later remember his word when they read John's Revelation about the construction of the New Heaven and the New Earth, "It is finished!" (21:6). And, perhaps most remarkable of all, when the armies of the devil and evil were lined up for the last battle at the end of time at Har Megiddo (Armageddon), there was no battle at all; it was won for God with the simple and profound pronouncement: "It is finished!" (16:17) pointing back to the cross of Christ.

From creation to the new creation, Jesus has now crushed the head of the serpent and destroyed death and the fear of death, as God said he would (Gen 3:15), and he finished everything necessary for our salvation, sanctification, and glorification. God's purpose in creation and all of human history hinges on this one last word spoken by the only person in history who could deliver this announcement.

On the cross Jesus redefined religion. It is no longer an endless searching for something in our future that is illusive and slippery - a grasping for some piece of God, some peace, some relief from guilt, some experience that is not yet ours. He accomplished our full redemption and set us free to explore it and live into it by faith. "I have blessed you in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" is the joyful muttering of every joyful Christian (Eph 1:3).

Nothing is missing, all has been accomplished, the full price has been paid, and those who were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ (Eph 2:13,16). There is such hope this Good Friday! This is God's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes!