Finished part 1
My all-time favorite verse in the Bible is 1 Thessalonians 5:17, "Pray without ceasing." And I chose that verse, in part, because my dad's favorite verse is John 11:25, "Jesus wept." He picked the shortest verse. I picked the next shortest. But, in reality, I think the most powerful three word phrase in the Bible is found in John 19:30, "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." Now, listen, an entire book could be written on those three words--It is finished. And I have half a mind to write such a book. But for the next few days I just want to kind of dive in and look at what it really means for the work to be finished. And here it is, as simply as I can put it: Jesus finished the work so that we could enjoy the fruit of His labor. Which is the fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. There was a mountain between us and God, if I can say it that way. A mountain called the Law of Moses. The idea that we had to do something in order to be something. The lie that the serpent whispered into Eve's ear way back in the garden of Eden that said, "If you eat from the tree you'll be like God." Obviously a lie, because we were already (and always) like God. He created us in His image. That was a done deal right from the jump. The problem was that we couldn't see it. You can only be what you see. What you magnify in your life is what manifests in your life. Seeing is believing, and at that time--before the cross, without the Holy Spirit--we couldn't see anything except our faults. Our screw ups. All the things that were wrong with us. We couldn't see that Jesus had washed us with the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) and presented us to Himself as a bride without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. All we could hear was the world screaming at us. We couldn't hear that still, small voice deep inside that was our heavenly Father saying, "I love you." We couldn't hear that until Jesus said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). Because faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word (again, Jesus... love) of God. But Jesus didn't stop there. He didn't just TELL us what love is. He went to the cross and SHOWED us. After He said, "It is finished," He bowed His head and gave up the ghost. He literally put His money where His mouth was and laid His life down for us. And He didn't just give His life FOR us. He also gave His life TO us. So that we could have it. Because He wanted us to have it. Because He loves us. See, what He finished was everything old. "And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you" (Matthew 17:20). That mountain was the Law. The separation between God and man. Jesus removed it on the cross. He got rid of the separation between God and man by putting God INTO man. By taking up abode, or dwelling, in us. So that we could stop trying so hard to finish something that we never had a chance of finishing anyway. There's so much to get into with this. So stick with it...