It Is Finished (John 19:30)
This is what it means for everything to be finished: all my problems have been finished on the cross, there is nothing that is a problem to me.
Let us bless one another, Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. Let the great blessing of God, especially the spiritual and physical blessings, be upon the families and individuals worshipping in the church, the home, and especially out of state. As we live our lives, it’s important for us to live our best, to live diligently and fulfill our goals. But there is nothing more pitiful than living our lives being deceived. If I’ve lived my life being entirely deceived, even though I’ve received this original tremendous blessing, but I’ve lived my entire life losing hold of them, being deceived, there is nothing more pitiful.
If you’ve lived your walk of faith but you’ve never witnessed the work or blessings of God, you just go to church and they say that God is alive, but you don’t know: you’re afflicted with mental problems, and you’re always oppressed by fits of rage. You can’t express this out loud, but your life is like this. There may be people like this. It might be possible that you are living your lives without knowing the blessings of God.
There is nothing more unfortunate than living your entire life being deceived. The real success in life is to live your entire life finding the blessings God gives you, not being deceived and losing them. There is nothing more pitiful than living your regrettably deceived from those blessings, because in reality, that is a life deceived by Satan.
1. Death on the cross
1) Place
(1) Golgotha (Jn. 19:17)
In John 19:17, the location of Jesus’s crucifixion is Golgotha, which means place of the Skull.
(2) Near the city of Jerusalem (20)
In verse 20, it says this location is close to the city. This is the city of Jerusalem, which is where the Temple is. So Jesus Christ meets His death in Golgotha, which is near the Temple of Jerusalem. Why is this location important? God does not work haphazardly, without a plan, or randomly. We may work that way, but God does not. God fulfills everything exactly according to His plan. Even the location of Jesus’s death was planned. This is the location that God has been continuously saying will be the location of his death from long ago.
(3) Solomon’s temple on Mount Moriah (2 Chr. 3:1)
When King David’s son built the temple, he built it on Mount Moriah. The place where Jesus died on the hill of Golgotha is also on Mount Moriah. The way your future will unravel is also according to God’s word. If you disagree with this, the life of disagreeing with God’s Word will be an unfortunate life, because God fulfills every incident and plan according to His Word. The rest of your year and life will be fulfilled according to God’s given Word, meaning things go according to God’s design. If God designs something, our walk of faith is to simply follow God’s design.
If you are building a building and it is small, you can build it however you want without blueprints, but for a great facility or a house you want to live in for the rest of your life, you need to follow a blueprint to construct the building. The construction must follow according to the blueprint. The Old Testament is our blueprint, and the New Testament is the fulfillment of that design. In this age, what is the future we must dream about? We are living our lives with the completed design that the Lord has given us, then the rest of our walk of faith becomes eager anticipation.If you are eagerly anticipating your future, you have a living walk of faith. Even today, if you’re living your life because you’re not allowed to die, that’s a dead life. I believe that we should be alive and eagerly anticipating our life, living a living walk of faith. Even if you’re elderly, now is a time for you to eagerly anticipate. That hope and anticipation allows one to overcome everything. But nowadays, there are even elementary students who have lost hope in life because they don’t know God’s design or what will happen in the future.
2) Mount Moriah
(1) David’s burnt offerings (2Sam. 24:18,25)
Mount Moriah is also the location where David gave his burnt offering to stop the plague that was killing 70 thousand people. Why did that disaster come? David took a census of his population. There were two censuses that were taken during the age of Moses, and David did one again. It took over 9 months to take a census of the population. The census itself wasn’t the problem, however God saw this as an important sin or crime that David had committed, and God gave David three options as a punishment for his sin. “I have to punish you for the sin you have committed, and you can choose one of three.” The punishment David chose was the plague. The illness circulated through all the Israelites and 70,000 died. The location where Jesus died on the cross is where David bought the plot of land from Gentiles to offer a burnt sacrifice to end the plague.
(2) Isaac’s burnt offerings (Gen. 22:2)
Although it is a realistic event that David sacrificed a burnt offering in this location, it was also a sign of Jesus’s death that would occur in the same location. In Genesis 22, God told Abraham to take his son Isaac and sacrifice him on Mount Moriah, meaning Abraham would kill Isaac. Isaac did not do anything to deserve death. We also think this way, “What did I do wrong to deserve the problems and curses coming into my family?” It is not because of what you have done but you are wrong to begin with because of original sin. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, that means we have to die even without a reason.
(3) Burnt offering of a ram instead of Isaac (Gen. 22:12-13)
In order for Abraham to give his son as a burnt sacrifice, Isaac would be completely burnt up, so he prepares all the sticks to make the fire and takes his son to Mount Moriah. Right as Abraham is about to kill his son Isaac, God commands him to stop. God provided a ram to give as a burnt offering instead of his son Isaac. This is an incident that allowed Abraham and Isaac to truly experience the incident of the cross, which they would not have been able to personally experience. As soon as we are born, even without reason all of mankind is born within sin and disasters. Because of the Original Sin of Adam and Eve, all of mankind is born within sin and disasters. That’s why you can never block this with morals, ethics, or good actions and behaviors.
3) Burnt offering
(1) My sins are transferred to the young lamb (Lev. 1:4)
The way to give a burnt offering is to take a flawless lamb, and lay your hand on the head of the lamb and pray to atone for all your sins. Laying your hand on the head of the burnt offering and praying means you are relaying all your sins onto the animal and by burning it, you are receiving atonement for your sins through this animal’s death.
(2) Skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces (Lev 1:6)
Afterwards, they kill the animal, take off the skin, cut it up between all its bones, sprinkle the blood and burn it up completely. This is a burnt offering, and it represents Jesus Christ, Who was completely stripped bare to die on the cross for us.
(3) Prophecy of Jesus Christ (Ps. 22:17-18, Jn. 19:23)
When someone is crucified, their knees are hit with a hammer to break their knees. They break their knees to confirm whether or not the person is truly dead on the cross. Exactly according to the prophecies of the burnt offering, signifying Jesus Christ, Jesus was completely stripped bare and crucified. Most people die within 12 hours of crucifixion, but Jesus died in 6 hours, so there was no need for the guards to break his knees. Jesus Christ was crucified between two robbers.
Death by crucifixion was the form of greatest suffering and torture meant for the worst criminals. They did not kill Roman citizens with this method, but only utilized this method of execution in the colonies and on the slaves that Rome ruled over. The individual who would be crucified must bear their own cross up to Golgotha. They are dying; they can’t lift it themselves, so they can ask others to help carry the cross for about 2 kilometers. The Roman soldiers told Jesus to go all 10 kilometers by himself.
There was also a Jewish person, Simon of Cyrene from Africa, part of the diaspora, who was also at the crucifixion. The Roman told this person to die on the cross as well. This person was unfortunately in the wrong place at the wrong time and happened to die on the cross. Sometimes we are unfortunately called to go back to God. No one bears the cross with a happy heart; we complain about it, but if you look in the book of Romans, you’ll see that this African man’s son was a committed worker from the Church in Mark’s Upper Room. We may think something is a coincidence but God calls us to bless the future generations.
They lay the person on the cross and nail this person’s hands and feet on the cross, and they lift the cross upright. What happens then? They are only held up by the nails in their hands and feet, so every time they breathe, there is incredible pain in their feet and hands. They experience incredible pain in their feet, and there is also strong sunlight, so his mouth is dry and he will feel thirsty. They pierced Jesus’s side to pour out his blood. Crucifixion is the worst way to die. Even before bearing the cross, Jesus was already half dead due to the whippings and floggings. Why did Jesus have to do this? Instead of Jesus, it should have been me on the cross. This is what it means to put my sins upon the lamb. Jesus Christ is the lamb of God Who had no sin and I gave all of my sin to Jesus Christ.
2. It is finished (Past)
The second point of today is that while Jesus is dying on the cross, He says “It is finished.”
1) Tetelestai (Greek)
In the Greek language, it is the word tetelestai. It means everything is fully paid.
(1) Meaning of being fully paid
Jesus Christ has paid the full price of all our sin.
(2) Wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23)
Rom. 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. Our sin of not believing in God can only be paid for with death.
(3) Instead, He received all the curses (Ex. 12:12-13, Is. 53:5)
During the Exodus, they explain the meaning of the cross very well. God pours his judgement down upon Egypt with the 10 plagues that represented the 10 idols they served. Even then, God told the Israelites that if they give the blood sacrifice of the lamb as an atonement for their sins and paint their doors with the blood, God’s destruction will pass over their house.
An idol is not just talking about an image or form, but it’s talking about your heart being connected with some kind of invisible God. In Ex. 20:3-5 God tells us not to make any idols for ourselves or bow down to them. God has already brought you out of Egypt, so why aren’t you believing in that God? Why are you instead living for yourselves? God says when you are serving idols, you are actually hating God. The way to hate God is to serve idols.Col. 3:5 says that greed is idol worship. There is one commonality in this. Idol worship is when you don’t believe in God but instead, you hold onto the things you need for yourself. If you believe that God has saved you and is guiding you now, there is no reason to serve idols. But instead, because you don’t believe in this fact, you have to study for yourself, work for yourself, and save money for yourself, and take care of your health for yourself.
There is no end to this selfish greed. In Gen. 3:5, this is the same message that Satan gives to Adam and Eve: “You can become like God.” What is the inner form of sin, idolatry, and Satan? God created you and provided everything for you, but don’t believe in that but instead do everything for yourself. That is expressed as hating God. Satan loves people like that, and he loves them so much that he follows them around. That is the reason we suffer in life.
David didn’t carry out the census for no reason. He didn’t do that when he was young, but when he got older, he started doing strange things. Perhaps after being thrown off the throne by his own son Absalom, David became weird as Satan worked. In 1 Chronicles, it says Satan used David’s heart. It also said Satan worked upon David’s heart with God’s permission. To do what? The fact that David was counting the number of people in his kingdom over the age of 20 to fight in the war was not the problem, but the problem was that in this war, he was not relying on God but he was relying on his army. That is why God says to David that he knows the reason why he sinned. We pass over this without thinking twice, but without a doubt, Satan crawls into you. Thus, the failure of life begins with me, from me not believing in God.
2) Death
If you live diligently, other people will applaud you, but God looks at your center. What are you working diligently for, yourself or God? Are you working diligently because you believe in God? This is the reason why Jesus Christ had to finish all our sin on the cross.
(1) My death is united with Jesus’s death (Rom. 6:4)
How does this apply to me very specifically? Rom. 6:4 says that when Jesus died on the cross, I was united with Him in death. “But I’m not dead, I’m alive right now.” But that is not the “you” he is referring to; it is the past self.(2) My old self is dead (Rom. 6:6)
The former self, where I lived for myself because I didn’t believe in God, has been crucified with Christ. My former self, who used to live for idol worship, has been crucified on the cross as the price for my sin. It is finished; there is no need to live like before. It says that Jesus went down to hell after He died. It means He overcame hell and death and the one who has authority over death, Satan, in order to resurrect.
(3) Liberated from the idolatry of living for myself (Ex. 20:4)
The former “me” that used to live in idol worship for myself has been resurrected with Christ and now I am living for Christ, who is my Lord. The new “me” lives for Christ, Who is my Master.
3) Life
(1) Overcame the authority of death, gates of Hades, Satan (1 Cor. 15:54, Heb. 2:14)
This is what it means for everything to be finished; that is why all my problems have been finished on the cross, there is nothing that is a problem to me.
(2) United with the life of Jesus (Rom. 6:5)
Now, I am no longer the center of my life, but Christ Who lives within me is the center of my life. It doesn’t matter what crises come my way.
(3) Jesus’ life within me (Gal. 2:20)
Problems are only problems because you are trying to go back to your former self. It’s only a problem that the former “you” that used to live for yourself is coming back from the dead. You have to know who you are properly.3. It is finished (Present, future)
Your past problems have been finished. When Jesus Christ said, “It is finished,” it means your present and future problems have also been finished and you are prepared to go to heaven. Jesus Christ made this perfect plan and now He died on the cross and has been resurrected. If you don’t believe in this, life will seem so unfair. Why is this unfair? Life is only unfair because you are living for the former “you” who had no choice but to be cursed. It is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you.
1) My life
(1) Child of God (Jn. 1:12)
John 1:12 says that whoever received Him (Jesus) has been given the right to be a child of God. Now, I am no longer “me”; I’m a child of God, and you must live with that status and identity. Now your life has been changed to live with the Triune God. You must know yourself well. The greatest failure of life is beginning your life not knowing who you are.
(2) Source of blessing, all nations (Gen. 12:2-3)
God told Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and God would make him a source of blessings. Abraham, who used to live in a land of disasters, has been completely changed to a source of blessings by following God’s Word with the grace and salvation in Christ.
(3) I can do all this through Him who gives me strength (Phil. 4:13)
To what extent did the Lord finish everything? God has designed everything to the point where all nations will be blessed through Abraham. That is the reason that Pual was able to confess in prison in Philippians 4:13, that he could do everything through Christ who gives him strength. “I can do everything within the plan that the Lord has made for me,” because it is with the power of Christ Who lives in me that God will fulfill His plan.
Specifically your thoughts and heart must be restored with God’s Word. If this is not restored first, you will keep looking for external blessings. Who cares if you are healthy or successful? If your health or success for you, it will turn into curses. Who cares if you’re successful? Your success will turn into disasters. God hates this and the devil who is living is loving it. Even if you stay still, the devil follows you around and will constantly deceive you with lies.
How can we change all our failures and powerlessness? We already have the content that compels us to fail in our thoughts and heart. You think you’ve succeeded, but your life is a failure. You’re deceived by that, too; Satan deceives you with something that appears to be success. In Matthew 4, Satan tried to deceive Jesus, saying he would give him everything if He worshiped Satan. Whether you do this or that, you’re deceived. Everything is finished: your illnesses and depression and diseases are finished on the cross. Why do you keep holding onto your problems and living a life of suffering? There is no reason for you to be bound by them. All you need to do is live with the Christ who has finished everything.
Problems are no longer problems. If someone has gotten the COVID vaccines, COVID is no longer a problem for them. It’s a matter of whether you’re a person who has the power to look down on that virus or not. Of course, this is a flawed example because the vaccine doesn’t last forever, but a problem is not a problem if you have something that allows it to not be a problem. Church is about the fundamental solution to problems, that makes every problem not a problem. “I have this problem, so I’ll beg to solve this problem,” that’s another religion. It appears to be done diligently, but they have great unbelief.You need to get rid of problems fundamentally. Fundamentally, you have become one with the Lord, then it is okay even if problems come. For the rest of your life, it doesn’t matter what comes your way. King David confessed that though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. It is not that the valley of the shadow of death disappeared, but even in this place, He was with the Lord, and it didn’t matter because he was victorious. It doesn’t matter what tests come your way because God will give you a path out to be victorious. That is me.
The problem is you don’t know yourself at all. You’re deceived because you think you are your former self right before you were crucified on the cross with Christ. The scars and trauma from your childhood don’t disappear. You may think they’re not in your heart anymore, but they are still programmed into your brain. That’s why, every once in awhile, they sometimes come as a nightmare in your dreams. “I want to live today being happy,” but the scars and trauma that are in your brain will start to control your life. Your brain can’t be fully healed. People misunderstand, thinking that through drugs, they can heal their brain, but that’s not true: if something is embedded in your brain, it doesn’t matter how many drugs you take. Even if you try to erase your memory, it will continue to control you. Even if you get drunk on alcohol, this will not leave your brain. This will control your spirit as well. Then, what must I do about this?
The only way is to remain within the One Who has finished everything and root deeply in the Word God has given you. Today you have received grace, but when you return to the field, you will still be moved by the scars of your past. Before anything even happens, the scars of your past come out. This doesn’t go away just because you shake your head and go on vacation for a few days. Changing your outfit won’t make it disappear. Because we don’t know the fundamental source of this problem, we keep trying to change the exterior, but it won’t change; it still won’t go away even if you have all the knowledge.
There’s a reason that transcendental meditation is so popular in America. It allows you to stop your brain for a short time. Our brain is constantly spinning, our hearts control our brain and our brains control our thoughts. Mental illnesses cause your brain to overfunction, but that person isn’t wrong, but wrong things have already been imprinted deeply into that person and won’t come out. That’s why people are beginning to receive healing in transcendental meditation. All the scars of their past are healed because it’s a problem of your brain. They play quiet music and have quiet time, breathing deeply, to heal their brains. But you shouldn’t just look at that, because if you get a taste for this, you will go too deep into the spiritual world.
The beginners just do yoga without knowing what they’re doing. Buddhism existed long before Jesus and they were already wondering how they could solve their mental and spiritual problems. That’s why Siddhartha was meditating under that tree for his entire life. For thousands of years, they contemplate and ponder how they can reach Nirvana in their lives. Why is transcendental meditation so popular in America? There is even scientific evidence that it is effective for healing. Americans don’t like things that you cannot see. They look down on Asia and Africa as ridiculous. They only accept things that have empirical evidence and are scientifically and logically-backed. That’s the only reason it has spread in the hospitals because it is a scientific fact.
This has even been spread prevalently in the US, unseen to your eyes, and as evidence of that, the number of churchgoers and other religions’ believers have been decreasing. Before transcendental meditation became popular in America, people relied on religions, but because religions weren’t working for them, and they were receiving healing through transcendental meditation, they left the church. The church wasn’t appealing to elites, people were clapping and praying for blessings, “Turn my teeth into gold,” and the elites thought it was disgusting, so they began to leave the church. Transcendental meditation was the only thing that realistically addressed their problems, and this is sweeping over America. To this extent, it is fine, but the problem is that the goal of transcendental meditation is to make you spiritually united and be able to meet a god.
Enlightenment/Nirvana in Buddhism is about completely emptying yourself to become God. Ultimately, Satan uses something that looks so good to make his disciples. The problem is that people who don’t have power or ability aren’t able to spread Satan’s kingdom, but the successful and powerful people in America who experienced the power of meditation have spread it across America. This was spreading in Asia for many generations as religion, but Americans don’t believe in those religions.
For Americans, even if you look on TV, there must be a pastor and a doctor for the healing to be believable. It doesn’t matter if there’s one pastor; if you talk about healing, Americans won’t believe it. There must be at least one medical professional there for Americans to start listening to it, but God has given us this blessing from the beginning. The church of the Middle Ages was corrupt but they still had the content that was relayed to them from the Early Church. The reformed church was able to go back to the Word of God through Luther, but we haven’t been able to restore the many mysteries of the Middle Ages church.
The meditation they’re talking about isn’t only from Buddhism but it’s also in Psalms 1 as “meditation.” It’s simply that we haven’t been able to restore these things yet. The only things we have restored are the corrupted aspects of Catholicism through God’s Word. We’ve never seen the deep meditation that was taking place among the people in the church in the Middle Ages, but this was something that God had already given to His people.
2) Heal myself (Failure, powerlessness)
Therefore, there is no method to heal our thoughts, brain, heart, and spirit except through God’s Word and prayer. Jesus has finished everything already but your thoughts and heart keep going back to before where it is not finished. Even if I think that it is finished, something rooted deeply in me keeps trying to drag me back. In Romans 7, Paul calls this sin that is seizing me. My former self that died on the cross but lives for myself, it starts to take control of me again. There is no other method, no way to escape from this other than the covenant of Jesus Christ, by Whom you have been liberated. This time of worship is that time.(2) Change the state of my spirit
(3) Seat of healing and saving (Ac. 1:8, 14)
Worship is not a time for you to sit with a blank mind, but this is the time where the Word of God goes deep into your spirit. Depending on the state of your spirit, the results and fruits of your life will follow. If your spiritual state is not changed, the aspects of your life will not change. People who are obsessed with prosperity faith and physical, visible things will not be able to experience this change. This time of worship is a time of blessing; even though it doesn’t bring me money, it is changing my inner self. If you change yourself, money will follow after.
3) For the kingdom of Jesus Christ
(1) Offer yourselves to God (Romans 6:13)
How can we understand these words? I have been changed to a me that gives everything to God, because the Lord is living within me as my Master. Now everything within me has been changed to give everything to God. If you don’t understand this gospel, you will keep trying to hold onto your things.
(2) Offer as an instrument of righteousness (Romans 6:13)
Rom. 6:13 you should no longer use your body as instruments of wickedness but instead as instruments of righteousness. What does this mean? You should not use your studies, your money, your breathing, your work, family life, dating life to create more sin. If it is no longer for yourself, you are using it for Christ in the direction of saving lives. That is the blessing, but the deepest part of you will keep controlling you, trying to take this away from you, saying it will be disadvantageous. That is why you leave this blessing of Jesus Christ Who finished everything; the things rooted deeply within you make you live a regrettable life.
(3) Priority of my life
Now you live your entire life for God and for the church. How do you live for God who is invisible? The kingdom of God is the church. That has to come into your heart as your number 1 priority. Then, you will be able to continuously confirm a life where everything is finished. Why are you so tested? Because you are living a life for yourself. Why do you fight? Because you fight for your advantage.
Why do churches split up and break down? Because the churchgoers are living for themselves, and Satan crawls into these places just as Satan crawled into David’s heart. But for you and me, everything has been finished on the cross.
Conclusion
1. Jesus Christ who finished everything
When that fact that Jesus Christ has finished everything on the cross becomes firmly rooted in your heart, thoughts, spirit and brain, everything will follow. I hope you will enjoy and confirm this blessing every single day.
2. Live a life that is fulfilled within Jesus Christ
Then you will look forward to every single day, “I wonder how God has prepared and will guide me today.” For those who have eager anticipation and hope for their future, nothing will be able to break them down because they believe that God has prepared their future perfectly. But for a life that is for yourself, everything is hellish; even waking up in the morning is torture. Today I have to study for myself, but I don’t want to, or work for someone I don’t even like to earn money for myself. As soon as you wake up in the morning, I hope you will change yourself first.
3. Live for the kingdom of Jesus Christ
Everything is finished and the Lord is my master. I hope that your everyday life will begin with rooting the Word with certainty in your thoughts and heart, and then going out into the field to confirm that Word. God has given each of you His personal word. If you have doubts about this, go home and re-listen to the message. This is without a doubt. May that Word of God be deeply rooted inside your thoughts and heart, and let us have a time of prayer with this Word.