Matthew Henry
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.
It is finished, a comprehensive word, and a comforting one. (1.) It is finished, that is, the malice and enmity of His persecutors had now done their worst. When He had received that last indignity in the vinegar they gave Him, it was as if He said, This is the last; I am now going out of their reach, where the wicked cease from troubling.
(2.) It is finished, that is, the counsel and commandment of His Father concerning His sufferings were now fulfilled. It was a “determinate counsel”, and He took care to see every iota and title of it exactly answered (Acts 2:23). He had said, when He entered His sufferings: Father, “Thy will be done”. And now He said with pleasure, It is done. It was His meat and drink to finish His work (Jn 4:34), and the meat and drink refreshed Him, when they gave Him gall and vinegar.
(3.) It is finished, that is, all the types and prophecies of the Old Testament, which pointed at the sufferings of the Messiah, were accomplished and answered. He speaks as if, now that they had given Him the vinegar, He could not point to any word in the Old Testament that was to be fulfilled, between Him and His death, but it had its accomplishment: such as His being sold for 30 pieces of silver, His hands and feet being pierced, His garments divided. Now that this is done, it is finished.
(4.) It is finished, that is, the ceremonial law was abolished, and an end put to the obligation of it. The substance has now come, and all the shadows are done away. Just now the veil is rent, the wall of partition has been taken down, “even the law of commandments contained in ordinances” (Eph 2:14, 15). The Mosaic economy has been dissolved, to make way for a better hope.
(5.) It is finished, that is, sin is finished, and an end made of transgression, by the bringing in of an everlasting righteousness. It seems to refer to Daniel 9:24. The Lamb of God was sacrificed to take away the sin of the world, and it is done (Heb 9:26).
(6.) It is finished, that is, His sufferings were now finished, both those of His soul and those of His body. The storm is over; the worst is past; all His pains and agonies are at an end, and He is just going to paradise, entering upon the joy set before Him. Let all that suffer for Christ, and with Christ, comfort themselves with this, that yet a little while and they also shall say, It is finished.
(7.) It is finished, that is, His life was now finished, He was just ready to breathe His last, and now He is no more in this world (Jn 17:11). This is like that of blessed Paul: “I have finished my course” (2 Tim 4:7); my race is run, my glass has run out; “Mene, Mene” – numbered and finished (Dan 5:25). This we must all come to shortly.
(8.) It is finished, that is, the work of man’s redemption and salvation is now completed, at least the hardest part of the undertaking is over; a full satisfaction has been made to the justice of God, a fatal blow given to the power of Satan, a fountain of grace opened that shall ever flow, a foundation of peace and happiness laid that shall never fail. Christ had now gone through with His work and finished it (Jn 17:4). For, as for God, His work is perfect; “when I begin,” He says, “I will also make an end”. And, as in the purchase, so in the application, of the redemption, He that has begun a good work will complete it; the mystery of God shall be finished.
The leaving of the soul in the hands of Jesus is the very essence of faith.
Faith in God’s providence, instead of repressing our energies, excites us to diligence. We labour as if all depended on us, and then fall back upon the Lord with the calm faith which knows that all depends upon Him.
C H Spurgeon
1 An extract from Henry’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments.