It Is Finished - Sin is Gone

When Jesus was crucified He declared from the cross, “It is finished.” This phrase is more important than mainstream Christianity might grasp. It is the very foundation of Christianity.

When these words were uttered from the cross Jesus was declaring that the work He came to do was done; it was complete. Scholars call this the finished work of the cross, and it is very important to understand.

Before Jesus came sin caused man to exist in an unredeemed state, a condemned state. There was no means by which humanity could become un-condemned or forgiven. God is a just and holy God. Sin separates us from Him. Because we are sinful we cannot come into His presence without first having our sins removed.

In the Old Testament sin was “covered” by the blood of sacrifices through the Mosaic Law or the Law of Moses. The sacrifices allowed God to deal with us as if we were not utterly abject – but it was a compromise. It wasn’t a real fix. The sin was still there and we knew it and God knew it. It was just covered up – like a waiter in a restaurant covering a tattoo with a bandaid. The offense is still there. [Note: this is not a statement about tattoos. I have one myself.]

The real fix is to have our sin actually removed! That’s what Jesus came to do. He came to shed His blood, His perfect, human blood, to actually erase our sins. When He declared that it was finished, what He meant was that He had accomplished this. His blood was being given as a sacrifice for our sins.

Because of that sacrifice, God and man can be truly reconciled. Mankind’s sin can actually be erased by the perfect blood of Jesus Christ. No animal’s blood could ever do that.

Because sin was erased by the Blood of Jesus we say we are redeemed or bought back from corruption. We were utterly corrupted before, tainted, blemished, ruined. Jesus’ blood restores us to our former state, redeems us from corruption. When our sins are washed in His blood it makes us new again and justified before God. That’s what Christians call being “born again” and having “new life.” To be justified is to be made “just as if” we had never sinned. It means to be restored to a perfect state, just like we were before we sinned.

Now, it’s important to get that this sacrifice, this blood that was shed to erase our sins, to “cover it” forever from God’s sight, was shed for ALL sin. It was shed for you and for me and for everyone who will allow it to cleanse them. It was shed to cover sins I have committed and sins I have not yet committed. Sin is not a factor in the equation between us and God any longer because it is erased. It’s gone. It doesn’t exist any more. “It’s as far as the east is from the west.” All sin is now in God’s “sea of forgetfulness.” It’s gone. It is removed. It is finished.