KJV John 19:30 “Finished.”
NASB John 19:30 “Finished.”
On November 19, 1863, Abraham Lincoln went to Gettysburg and delivered the Gettysburg Address, a speech of merely 271 words. On November 22, 1963, John F Kennedy went to the Berlin Wall and gave his four-word speech: “I am a Berliner.” And then on June 12, 1987, Ronald Reagan spoke at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, challenging the USSR with his six words: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” All of these words have had important national and, at times, global effects.
President Lincoln’s short, 2-minute, 271-word speech followed a long 2-hour oration by the day’s featured speaker, Edward Everett. So much for featured orators! Lincoln’s words are credited with redefining the Constitution, fostering unity and stability for the nation during a time of divisiveness and turmoil. Later, his Emancipation Proclamation would free enslaved African-Аmericans throughout the South, bringing them liberty of which they had been previously deprived.
President Kennedy’s four words breathed life and hope into a beleaguered people. The wall, ostensibly built to keep West Berliners out of the East, was a barrier for East Berliners who wanted the freedom nd liberty that those in the West were enjoying. By identifying with those hemmed in by walls, President Kennedy gave them new life. Finally, President Reagan’s six words are credited with leading to the wall’s ultimate destruction and the removal of the barrier between East and West.
But whether 217 words, six words, or four words, they are all eclipsed by the one word that echoed through the courts of heaven that has had eternal consequences — “Finished.” It was only one word in the original language, one word that has secured for God immeasurable glory and honour, and has reaped for us blessing beyond description.
All of God’s eternal purposes have been secured by this one word — “Finished.” It has removed a barrier far greater than the Berlin Wall. It has proven His identification with us and for us, which exceeds JFK’s speech. It has changed our futures as well as our present lives. That single word has brought life and liberty to countless souls.
It is unquestionably the single most important word ever spoken on planet earth — “Finished.”
It tells of a work that has been accomplished, which has proven false the aspersions Satan made in the Garden against God. It has revealed God as loving, giving, caring, and not withholding. He “spared not His own Son.”
It has revealed the lie of Satan in the wilderness to the Lord that the kingdoms can be possessed apart from the cross. It has breathed hope into millions who have fled to that finished work for refuge. It has removed for all eternity the barrier of sin and made it possible for men to “come to God by Him.”
It is impossible to think of any other single word ever uttered that has had such monumental and eternal consequences.
Forgive sanctified imagination, but think of the chorus of praise and joy that must have erupted in heaven when that word was uttered from Calvary. Did angels appreciate all that was involved? Did the cherubim recognize that now, the throne before which even Isaiah quailed was open for sinners?
“Finished” fully and forever.