GOOD FRIDAY

As His followers watched in horror, Jesus was put to death by crucifixion. 

His savagely beaten body had been nailed to a wooden cross normally reserved for the vilest of malefactors. Yet through that unimaginable physical pain and mental anguish, Christ forgave His accusers and sought God on their behalf. 

... Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34

The skies darkened, quieting the vocal outbursts of vehement onlookers. 

Finally, after several slow, torturous hours ... our Savior took His last breath. ‘It is finished,’ were the last words spoken through bruised and bleeding lips. 

When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost. John 19:30

"It is finished" in Greek is the word tetelestai. It was commonly used by merchants to express, 'the price is paid in full'. Priests also used the term when they found a perfect sheep, suited for sacrifice. 

Or when a task was completed, a servant would use the word 'tetelestai' as his final report to his master. Jesus exemplified the obedient Servant. He had finished the work that His Father had assigned ... that of satisfying a debt He did not owe, on behalf of sinners who are spiritually bankrupt.  

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Philippians 2:8 

John MacArthur - 'It is finished' was a shout of triumph; the proclamation of a victor. The work of redemption that the Father had given Him was accomplished: sin was atoned for, and Satan was defeated and rendered powerless. Every requirement of God's righteous law had been satisfied; God's holy wrath against sin had been appeased; every prophecy had been fulfilled. Christ's completion of the work of redemption means that nothing needs to be nor can be added to it. 

Don't be sidetracked by man's vain attempts to rewrite the gospel message. 'It is finished' voids any contrived doctrines that try to give mankind a role in his own salvation. It is not a joint effort between God and man, but a work of divine grace ... appropriated by faith alone.  

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

Death to our 'self-nature' is a process that passes through the gate of Good Friday, and 'eternal life' emerges at the glorious Easter of our homegoing.