We usually die with a whisper but on the first Good Friday the Lord Jesus Christ died crying out with a loud voice, “It is finished!” His enemies thought they were conquerors but He was not a victim but a victor! His life had not been taken, but given out of love for the world cut off from God because of sin.

The following story graphically illustrates what Jesus has accomplished through His death on the cross. Hanging in an art gallery there’s an oil painting for the Royal Corps of Signals. The picture depicts a signaller in World War I who was killed when he was sent to repair the telegraph cable snapped by shell fire. The picture shows him lying dead but holding together the broken ends of the cable. Beneath the picture was the one word THROUGH! A visiting preacher looked at the painting and said that this is what Christ has done by His death. Sin had snapped the contact between God and man. Alone in no-man’s-land, unarmed except with infinite understanding and love, Christ brought the broken ends together through His death so that all who turn from their sins and trust Him as their Saviour may be united to Christ in an eternal union.

The word THROUGH is wonderful. However, when Jesus cried, “IT is finished” the tiny word IT summed up the most colossal events in history. IT meant Christ had fully satisfied the justice of God by paying the penalty our sins deserved. IT meant that no more animal sacrifices need be made. IT meant that because Jesus had never sinned He could conquer death! IT meant that He could now offer an immortal body and eternal life in Heaven to all who believe this good news. [ John 19:30 ]