The 9th Hour: It Is Finished

From childhood to this very day, I cannot fully watch a reenactment of the crucifixion without having to look away nor without weeping. How must it have been for those who were there to witness it? What rending of hearts, the awe and terror.

Matt. 27                                                       From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land.                                                                 …And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.

At the 9th hour of prayer (3pm)                                                              He  Declared “It is finished” and gave up His Spirit.  “It is finished.” found only in the Gospel of John, the Greek word translated “it is finished” is tetelestai, a term that means “The Sacrifice Is Accomplished” When Jesus uttered those words, He was declaring the debt owed to His Father was paid in full, completely and forever.  He fulfills the Passover. 

Just as the blood of the lambs over the doorposts of the Hebrews in Egypt, that death would pass over them…. the Blood of this perfect lamb of G-d, sacrificed, covered us.  

At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. splitand the tombs broke open.

The veil of the temple separated The Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary that housed the Ark Of The Covenant where the Spirit of G-d appeared, so sacred that only the high priest could enter once a year. The veil, 30 ft high, was ripped from the top to the ground!

Reconciled, the Spirit of G-d, would no longer dwell in a buildings of wood and stone, no longer separate Himself from His children but welcome them unto Himself, dwell with them and within them.

Psalm 22

All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him.

…Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!