A DONE DEAL

A DONE DEAL

I was impressed by the devotional reading for today, Oct 22/06 in Our Daily Bread, based on the words of Jesus uttered from the cross, and recorded by John in his gospel (John 19:30) "when Jesus had tasted it (the sour wine), He said 'it is finished!' Then He bowed His head and released His spirit". Vernon Grounds, the writer of this devotional, states that these last words of Jesus in the original language was only one word which took three words in English to give it's meaning. The word was "completed" or "ended", in other words it was a "done deal"! We often use this expression to denote something that is finished and can't be changed.

Those of us, who have heard and understand the message of the gospel, know what Jesus meant. He had completed the work the Father had sent Him to earth to perform! That was to pay the price for our redemption from the sinful life style inherited from Adam, by His sacrificial death on the cross. As believers, we often take this fact for granted without truly realizing what a tremendous event this was. We were all born into this world with a sinful nature (Eph 2:1-10), and there was nothing we could do to remedy this condition. Since in God's economy the penalty for sin is death, someone had to die to atone for our sin. Our Creator God knew this, and because of His great love for us, his creation, He allowed Jesus, His only begotten Son, to take on human flesh (the incarnation) and die on the cross in our place!

To quote Vernon Grounds "We can do nothing to add to His sacrifice. Christ's self-giving death was all-sufficient. We stretch out the empty hand of faith, and God in grace puts into it the gift of eternal life". I thought that statement was a well worded explanation of what happens when we, a guilty sinner, come to acknowledge our sin and repent of it, and receive Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. He includes a poem by Hess

"It is finished" Jesus cried,
Then on Calvary's cross He died;
Christ the Lord atonement made,
And sin's debt was fully paid.

His "punch line" was "Christ's sacrifice was what God desired and what our sin required". This I consider to be the perfect "done deal"!!!
Sincerely submitted.
Dave Jamer