Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles Hi everyone, I'm Angelo. Christians believe that when the Lord Jesus said on the cross "It is finished," He was saying that God's work of saving mankind had been completed. So everyone feels certain that when the Lord returns, He won't have any more salvation work to do, but He'll just lift all believers up into the sky to meet the Lord, take us into heaven, and that'll be it. This is something that believers in the Lord firmly believe. That's why so many are always gazing at the sky, idly waiting for the Lord to take them straight up into His kingdom. But now the great disasters have arrived and most haven't seen the Lord's coming, so their faith is waning and they're feeling discouraged. Some even have doubts: Was the Lord's promise even real? Is He coming, or not? Actually, the Lord Jesus came back in secret as the Son of man a long time ago, expressing a lot of truths and doing the work of judgment beginning with the house of God. But most people aren't trying to listen for the voice of God or seeking to hear the Holy Spirit's words to the churches, and they have been assuming all along that the Lord has to come on a cloud to take them up into heaven, so they're missing the chance to welcome the Lord. That will be a lifelong regret. This may be very closely linked to how people interpret the Lord Jesus' words on the cross: Let's start with this. Why is it that so many believers think that the Lord Jesus saying "It is finished" meant that God's work to save mankind was done? Is there any biblical basis for this? Is this confirmed by the Holy Spirit? Did the Lord ever say that He wasn't going to perform any more work to save mankind? Has the Holy Spirit testified that these words were referring to God completing His work of salvation? We can say with certainty: No. But then, why does everyone define these words from the Lord Jesus as meaning that God's salvation work was fully completed? That's a little absurd, isn't it? Understanding God's words is no easy task. It says in 2 Peter 1:20, The consequences of interpreting the Scripture on your own are very serious. Think of the Pharisees— they personally interpreted the prophecies about the Messiah, and as a result, the Messiah came, and they saw the Lord Jesus didn't fit with their interpretations. So they condemned His work and even had Him crucified. They faced very serious consequences. This directly led to them being damned by the Lord Jesus. They were cursed! So when the Lord Jesus said on the cross "It is finished," what was He talking about? Understanding this requires careful thought on the biblical prophecies about the Lord's return in the last days, especially the things the Lord Jesus personally said He'd do, and His parables about the kingdom of heaven. These things are directly linked to His work in the last days. We need to have a basic understanding of these prophecies and parables to correctly understand what the Lord Jesus was really talking about when He said this on the cross. Even if we don't fully understand it, that's no call to assume that He meant that God's work to save mankind was completely done. This is an arbitrary, ludicrous belief. In fact, if we give serious consideration to the Lord Jesus' prophecies and parables for the kingdom of heaven, we can gain a basic understanding of the kingdom and the Lord's work upon His return. Then we won't misinterpret His statement, "It is finished." The Lord Jesus prophesied: And in 1 Peter it says: In Revelation, we see: The Lord Jesus also used a lot of parables to describe the kingdom of heaven, like We can see from these prophecies and parables that the Lord Jesus said He'd do a great deal of work when He returns. But the most important part of it is expressing the truth and doing the work of judgment. This will lead people to enter into all truths and then sort all according to their kind. Those who can be perfected will be perfected, and those who must be eliminated will be eliminated. This will completely realize everything the Lord Jesus said about the kingdom. Think of the wheat and the tares, the fishing net, the wise and the foolish virgins, the sheep and the goats, and the good and evil servants. The work of judgment starting with the house of God will separate the wheat from the tares, the good from the evil servants, those who love the truth from those who just crave comfort. The wise virgins will attend the Lamb's wedding feast and be perfected by God. What about the foolish virgins? They'll fall into the disasters, weeping and gnashing their teeth, because they didn't listen for God's voice. This is the work of judgment to sort all according to their kind, rewarding the good and punishing the evil, and this will completely fulfill this prophecy in Revelation: When we really understand the Lord Jesus' prophecies, we can see that the Lord's coming in the last days is mainly to express the truth and do the work of judgment, sorting everyone according to their kind and determining their outcome. So can we really claim that when the Lord Jesus said "It is finished" on the cross, He was saying that God's work to save mankind was finished? Will we continue to foolishly gaze at the sky, waiting for the Lord Jesus to come down on a cloud and take us up into the sky to meet with Him? Will we still casually condemn all the truths God has expressed when He works in the last days? Will we brazenly deny that the Lord has returned in the flesh as the Son of man to do the judgment work of the last days? The great disasters have already arrived, and a lot of religious people are still lost in their dream of the Lord returning, thinking He would never cast them out. It's time to wake up. If they don't wake up, once the disasters are over and Almighty God is openly appearing to all people, God will have made heaven and earth anew, and all those people in the religious world will be wailing and gnashing their teeth. That will fulfill this prophecy in Revelation: Many are bound to ask what the Lord Jesus really did mean when He said "It is finished" on the cross. It's actually very simple. The Lord Jesus' words were always very pragmatic, so when He said this, He was certainly referring to His work of redemption. But people insist on understanding these practical words from the Lord as being about God's work to save man, but this is entirely arbitrary, because God had only partially completed His work to save mankind. There was still the most critical step— His judgment work in the last days. So why would you maintain that "It is finished" meant that all of God's work of salvation was done? Isn't that somewhat absurd and unreasonable? Why was the Lord Jesus crucified in the first place? What did He actually accomplish through this? What was the outcome? All believers know this, because this is documented very clearly within the Bible. The Lord Jesus came to redeem mankind. By being crucified, the Lord Jesus served as a sin offering for humanity, taking on everyone's sins so that people no longer had to be condemned and put to death under the law. Then people could have their sins forgiven as long as they believed in the Lord, and prayed and confessed to Him, and enjoy incredible grace from God. That is salvation by grace, and it is what the Lord Jesus' redemption work achieved. Now although our sins were forgiven through our faith, no one can deny that we still can't help but sin all the time. We're living in a cycle of sinning, confessing, and sinning again. We haven't escaped sin at all. What does this mean? It means that we still have a sinful nature, and we have satanic dispositions, so we can't fix the problem of continuing to sin after our sins were forgiven. This leaves all believers at a loss— it's something very painful. God's words say, God is righteous and holy, so anyone who is impure cannot see Him. So how could people who are always sinning and resisting God be worthy of entering God's kingdom? Since people haven't fully escaped sin and become purified, can God's work to save mankind really be over? God's salvation will be complete salvation— He would never give up on His work halfway. That's why the Lord Jesus prophesied His return multiple times. He has returned in the last days, quite a while ago, as Almighty God incarnate. Almighty God has expressed truths to do the work of judgment on the foundation of the Lord's work of redemption. This is to cleanse mankind of our corrupt dispositions so we can be freed from the shackles of sin. It's to fully save us from Satan's forces and ultimately bring us into God's kingdom. It's not until Almighty God's judgment work of the last days has been completed that God's work to save mankind will be finished. Almighty God's words are very clear. In the Age of Grace, the Lord Jesus' redemption work was just to forgive man's sins. It is Almighty God's work of judgment in the last days that thoroughly cleanses and saves mankind. Almighty God's words judge and expose man's rebellious, anti-God nature and essence, allowing us to know our own satanic disposition and corruption. It shows us that we're full of satanic dispositions, like arrogance, craftiness, and wickedness without the slightest human likeness. This is the only way for people to see the truth of how deeply corrupted by Satan they are, so they genuinely despise themselves and develop true remorse, then repent to God. Then they see how precious the truth is and begin to focus on putting God's words into practice and entering into truth reality. This allows them to gradually get rid of their corrupt disposition and begin to transform in their life disposition, and ultimately become able to truly submit to and fear God, and live by His words. This is how people can entirely cast off Satan's forces and be fully saved by God, then they can be protected by God and survive the great disasters in the last days, and enter into the beautiful destination God has prepared for mankind. This fulfills the prophecy in Revelation 21:3–6. Here, God says This is entirely different from what the Lord Jesus said on the cross: These are different contexts, different worlds. When the Lord Jesus said "It is finished" on the cross, He was talking about completing His work of redemption. The words "It is done" in the Book of Revelation are God talking about fully completing His work to save mankind, when God's tabernacle is with men, He will live among them, and they will be the people of His kingdom, where there will be no more tears, death, or misery. This is the only hallmark of God completing His work of salvation. At this point, it should be clear to everyone that claiming the Lord Jesus' words on the cross meant that God's work of salvation was done is entirely contrary to the reality of God's work and is purely a human notion. It is a misinterpretation of the Lord's words that is deceptive and misleading, and there's no telling how many people it has done in. Those who blindly cling to this, just waiting for the Lord to suddenly appear on a cloud so they can be taken up into the kingdom, all the while refusing to examine the many truths expressed by Almighty God, will entirely miss their chance to meet the Lord. And of course, they'll never escape sin and be fully saved. Then a lifetime of faith will come to naught, and they are bound to fall into the disasters and be eliminated by God. That's all we have for today. Thank you for watching. If you'd like to learn more truths or have any questions, we would love to see your comments below. See you next time!
B2 AU lord lord jesus god jesus mankind god work Sermon Series | What Did the Lord Jesus Really Mean When He Said "It Is Finished" on the Cross? 18 0 lu xin posted on 2022/07/07 More Share Save Report Video vocabulary