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FTER this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. 29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. (John 19:28-30)
The above three simple verses from the Gospel of St. John denote the most astounding and earth-shaking events in all time and eternity. The three verses are profoundly significant, but the last three words of our Lord are the most historically and spiritually extraordinary in all the annals of time. Not only was the gravity of that singular expression of enormous importance for the present state of mankind, but the repercussions it would have on the destiny of the souls of man – past and future – were the most incredible of any event that had ever happened before. It was a shocking event for mankind, but an event predestined by the Father in the Councils of Heaven before the worlds were made. There are no surprises for an omniscient God.
A few years ago, I wrote a devotion describing how the cross, were it possible, divided eternity past and eternity future. Of course, neither eternity past nor future could not be measured in any parts, but that very moment of the Words of Christ on the Cross established the only moment in that span of eternity measurable in an instant of time. One meaning of crux is the critical turning point in an argument. In Latin, crux means cross. The word, excruciating (meaning pain as from the cross), comes from that word for cross. The Cross of our Lord was the decisive point in the salvation plan of God. He was the Pascal Lamb of God symbolized in the lamb whose blood was spread over the lintels and doorposts of Israel in Goshen of Egypt. He was symbolized in the well-beloved only son of Abraham whose sacrificial blood was spared by the bullock whose head was caught in the thorn-bush just as the crown of thorns graced the head of our Lord on the cross – the only crown that should have been ours.
Christ was manifestly aware that all His work of redemption had finally come to fulfillment after hours of inexorable suffering on the cross. All things were accomplished. What all things? Not only was time and eternity split in terms of BEFORE and AFTER (BC – Before Christ, and AD – Anno Domini or AFTER His Dominion, but mankind itself would be divided between two distinct families – the redeemed and the reprobate lost. He was, and is, the Word as defined in John 1:1-5. The Word is a two-edged sword that cuts both ways – to either convict those whose hearts have been made alive by the Holy Ghost, or else to condemn those who reject that Holy Sacrifice at Calvary.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose. (Matt 27:51-52) The very moment of the surrender of the Spirit by the Lord of Glory, there was a tremendous shaking of the ground so that even rocks were split open, and graves of many saints opened. But far more significant than this was the Veil of the Temple being torn top to bottom. No longer would there be a High Priest of the Jews to make intercession for the people behind the Veil. The Way (our Lord Jesus Christ) was made our High Priest with no Veil separating our approach to the Holy of Holies – God the Father. It was torn top to bottom because salvation begins on High and not on earth by men. It was the very hour of the sacrifice in the Temple of the pascal lamb – while the true Lamb of God was sacrificed without the gate of Jerusalem.
Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. (Matt 27:54) Not only was there a political pronouncement of innocence before the crucifixion, but a political pronouncement of His identity as the Son of God following the event.
The assurance of salvation and forgiveness of sins was assured at Calvary, and the promise of the Resurrection of the redeemed occurred three days later in a borrowed tomb in a nearby garden spot. Because our Lord reposed in a borrowed tomb, He assured all who have taken up their crosses and followed Him will also be blessed with a ‘borrowed tomb.’ As Paul did, we each die daily by placing the welfare and joy of others above our own in professing Christ as Lord.
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