Later, knowing that everything had now been finished…
Have you ever done a remodel project at home? TV shows make it look easy. You know the ones. They show you the happy couple hiring the happy contractor. The contractor then redoes their entire house in thirty minutes. When they walk in at the end of the show everything looks perfect! What you don’t see is what happens after the contractor and the camera crew leaves. That is when the little whoopsies start to show up.
In real life, almost nothing is ever done in thirty minutes. Sometimes projects last thirty years! Typically the closer I get to the finish line, the more things there seems to be to do. Eventually, we reach the point of “good enough” and we call it “finished.” For Jesus, “good enough” wasn’t good enough. It had to be perfect.
Think about the plan.
It wasn’t good enough that our Lord lived on earth and was slain for our sins. That was amazing, and a truly mind-boggling gift. But the Father wanted him to do more. Scripture records hundreds of prophecies about the Messiah that were fulfilled during Jesus’ life on earth. It wasn’t enough that he shows up. He had to complete a list of tasks that is almost beyond comprehension.
When he hung from the cross he knew that everything had been completed according to His Father’s will. Everything. He had no doubts. He did not wonder, “Now did I forget something?” At this point, there was no going back. No redoing anything. There could be no punch list of details he would attend to later.
What we see on Jesus’ face as he is dying is total confidence that “…everything had now been finished.”
Application: In the human world, perfection does not exist. If we do complete “everything,” it is because our plan was scaled to human abilities. God’s plan goes far beyond anything the human mind can comprehend. Knowing that He was able to fully and completely provide for our salvation, we can trust that he puts the same attention to detail into His plans for our lives.
Food for Thought: Of the things that Jesus had to complete while he was here on earth, outside of his death on the cross, what comes to mind as special?
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Good question brother. The cross being most significant, but defeating death by rising from the grave was pretty significant as well. He had to die for our sin. He also had to show He had power over death.
There are also the hundreds of prophecies he had to fulfill. The testing in the wilderness and the appointment at the transfiguration come to mind. The Father had many parts to his plan for salvation. Jesus left nothing undone.