Introduction:
We as Christians should be working towards the mark. We are working towards being perfected in our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ. Our primary goal is that we should live so that God will be pleased with our lives. We must remind ourselves from time to time that we have the victory and Satan our foe is already defeated and with that note that brings me to my first of two points.
Development:
In the John 19:30 Jesus cried out. He cried out the words, It Is Finished. In our lives there are two types of cries.
One: A Cry of Despair
Two: A Cry of Victory: which is the focus of my first point.
Point Number 1: The Victory Is Yours
In the Greek, tetelestai (tee–tee–less–tee-ah) is the word that represents a victorious cry.
Jesus was shouting a cry of victory. Not a cry of despair, but His cry was a victorious cry.
He was victorious because he had defeated the foe. The foe was Satan. He had defeated the foe on his own ground and with his own symbol.
Jesus the Christ came into the enemy’s camp and took back what was stolen. He came on Satan’s own turf. Satan’s turf is this earth. Jesus is a bad mamma jamma.
He came down from heaven, leaving His throne just to redeem man. He left His place in glory to be just like us. He ate, slept, and suffered just like us to prove to Satan that He was all of that and a bag of chips.
The cross was a symbol that belonged to the foe. The cross was a symbol of sin and defeat. The cross represented three things: sin, suffering, and eventually death.
The cross that Satan used for sin, suffering, and death is now a symbol of hope, love, and life. Like the song writer says, I Will Cling to the Old Rugged Cross, I’ll Exchange It Someday For A Crown.
And there’s the favorite song of the church At the Cross At the Cross Where I First Saw the Light And the Burdens of My Heart Rolled Away.
Hang me on your cross; I’m not going to be defeated because I’m going to defeat the symbol of sin and defeat. Drive your nails in my hands because I AM THE VICTORIOUS ONE HANGING HERE ON THIS OLD RUGGED CROSS.
Little did the soldiers and Satan realize that the nails driven into the hands and feet of Jesus the Christ had a special representation of the Trinity.
The nail that was driven in His left hand represented the Father, the nail driven into His right hand represented Christ Himself, and the nail driven into His feet represented the Holy Ghost which was to soon come.
We have the victory in Jesus Christ. There’s Victory in Jesus.
Point Number 2: Soon and Very Soon Everything Will Be Perfect
Jesus knew that His death on the cross was the key of everything being made perfect. God assures us that He is going to perfect all things. He gives us three assurances.
One: God Himself assures us. God Himself spoke from the throne of heaven and declared emphatically that He was going to make all things new.
Revelation 21:5 says, And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
Two: God’s Word assures it. God gave a double declaration. He declared that His Words are true and faithful. By true He means true as opposed to false. He is not lying. He is God; therefore, what He says will happen. By faithful He means He will do exactly what He says. We can all count on it.
God instructed John to write down all that He said. God wanted us to know about His promise of a new heaven and earth, of a perfected body and life, and He wanted us to be assured of His promise.
Three: God’s sovereignty assures it. By the power and the sovereignty of God, God declares, "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and means the beginning, and Omega is and means the end. God is declaring that He is the beginning and the ending, the Creator of all things.
All things have their beginning in Him. And He is the end of all things, the consummation and goal and the end and objective of all things. All things find their meaning and being in Him. And He spans all things just as the beginning and end span all things. Therefore, He can do as He wills.
The point is this:
God has willed a new heavens and earth. Therefore, He has already spoken it into being. He has already declared, It is done. The clock is set and the event fixed. The minutes of time are ticking away, and the hour will come when the set time arrives.
Psalm 146:6 says, Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever.
Conclusion:
Bringing this thing on home and let the horses out of the stable, Colossians 2:15 says, He spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it (cross).
I’ve got revisit the number three. The number three has a strong significance to the cross. the bible makes mention of the number three many times. Just to mention a few:
1 Kings 12:12 says, Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days."
2 Chronicles 10:5 says, Rehoboam answered, "Come back to me in three days." So the people went away.
2 Chronicles 10:12 says, Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, Come back to me in three days.
Matthew 26:60-61 says, But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.
Matthew 27: 39-40 says, Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself. Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God.
Mark 14:58 says, We heard him say, I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man.
John 2:19 says, Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.
John 2:20 says, The Jews replied, It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?
Revelation 1:18 says, I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
I have the keys of hell and of death. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. He has conquered death, and He can deliver us from judgment and hell. He has the keys to unlock both death and hell and to deliver us from the bondage of both.
Luke 21:33 says, Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
When we come to the end of our Christian journey, we should be able to say as the Apostle Paul said, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course.
It is well…..It is well…….It is well with my soul.
At the judgment, you want God to look at you and say, I am pleased with you my good and faithful servant.
