Joh 19:30 | KingComments | STEP | In His Divine omniscience and wisdom, the Lord knows that in entrusting His own to care for one another, all that He had to do on earth has been accomplished in declaring His Father. There is still something else to do and that is to fulfill a word of Scripture. His great suffering does not make Him forget that. His statement “I am thirsty” is not primarily an expression of a physical need, but of a spiritual need. This also fits with this Gospel in which He is always shown to us in His exaltation above suffering, although He senses its full gravity. After His exclamation He is given sour wine which He takes. How great must have been the agony of knowing that there was a jar full of sour wine close to the cross and that it was impossible to take any of it. But at the determined time He receives of it as a result of the fulfillment of a Scripture word. When also the last Scripture word has been fulfilled that was yet to be fulfilled during His life on earth, He utters what only He can say: “It is finished!” There have been servants who, like Paul, could say that they had completed the course ( ). But no servant has dared to say that the work he has done was accomplished and finished. All servants worked, but when their lives ended, others continued with it. We can complete a certain activity and say it is finished, but it will never be exclusively our work and there will always be human imperfection attached to it. The Lord Jesus perfectly accomplished the work He was given to do with an everlasting and unchanging result. He could also judge His own work, while all others must humbly await the judgment of their work at the time determined by Him ( ). The exclamation “it is finished” is just one word in Greek, tetelestai , but what word has so much content? It does not point us primarily to the accomplishment of the work of the cross on behalf of us as lost sinners. This word also fits into this Gospel and indicates that He accomplished the work for which He had come to earth, namely, the glorification of the Father ( ). After this, the Lord bows His head. This means that He lays His head down in repose. On earth He had no place where He could lay His head ( ). Here He finds that place, on Golgotha, and He can rest in death. His spirit He gives up to His Father. Here we do not hear the recommendation of His spirit into the hands of the Father. He does that as the true Man in the Gospel according to Luke ( ). Here the Son gives up His spirit as an act He performs of His own free will, with Divine authority. No one takes life from Him, but He Himself lays it down ( ). Like everything else in this Gospel, also the initiative in His death emanates from Him.

‏ John 19:30

The Dying of the Lord Jesus

In His Divine omniscience and wisdom, the Lord knows that in entrusting His own to care for one another, all that He had to do on earth has been accomplished in declaring His Father. There is still something else to do and that is to fulfill a word of Scripture. His great suffering does not make Him forget that. His statement “I am thirsty” is not primarily an expression of a physical need, but of a spiritual need. This also fits with this Gospel in which He is always shown to us in His exaltation above suffering, although He senses its full gravity.

After His exclamation He is given sour wine which He takes. How great must have been the agony of knowing that there was a jar full of sour wine close to the cross and that it was impossible to take any of it. But at the determined time He receives of it as a result of the fulfillment of a Scripture word. When also the last Scripture word has been fulfilled that was yet to be fulfilled during His life on earth, He utters what only He can say: “It is finished!”

There have been servants who, like Paul, could say that they had completed the course (2Tim 4:7). But no servant has dared to say that the work he has done was accomplished and finished. All servants worked, but when their lives ended, others continued with it. We can complete a certain activity and say it is finished, but it will never be exclusively our work and there will always be human imperfection attached to it.

The Lord Jesus perfectly accomplished the work He was given to do with an everlasting and unchanging result. He could also judge His own work, while all others must humbly await the judgment of their work at the time determined by Him (2Cor 5:10).

The exclamation “it is finished” is just one word in Greek, tetelestai, but what word has so much content? It does not point us primarily to the accomplishment of the work of the cross on behalf of us as lost sinners. This word also fits into this Gospel and indicates that He accomplished the work for which He had come to earth, namely, the glorification of the Father (Jn 17:4).

After this, the Lord bows His head. This means that He lays His head down in repose. On earth He had no place where He could lay His head (Mt 8:20). Here He finds that place, on Golgotha, and He can rest in death. His spirit He gives up to His Father. Here we do not hear the recommendation of His spirit into the hands of the Father. He does that as the true Man in the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 23:46). Here the Son gives up His spirit as an act He performs of His own free will, with Divine authority. No one takes life from Him, but He Himself lays it down (Jn 10:17). Like everything else in this Gospel, also the initiative in His death emanates from Him.