BACK TO MAIN PAGE

WEEK SEVEN

Day One

DAILY SCRIPTURE

John 19:11

LEADER GUIDE QUESTIONS

Week Seven Download

PDF FORMAT

Download

Know: Read John 19:1-30

Note: Mark keywords, including pronouns and phrases. (sin, truth, king, kingdom)

Ask questions: (Use tools such as interlinear bibles to search the original meaning of words- free tool here) For example:

• Who

• What

• When

• Where

• Why

• How

Observation:

What: What does today’s study reveal to me about the nature of God? What truth do I need to apply to my life today? Where do you see Jesus in your reading?

The Veil

“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh.” Hebrews 10:19-20

Separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place was The Veil, which contained four colors: blue, which represents Heaven; red, which represents Adam; purple, which represents royalty; and white, which represents righteousenss. The Veil represents Jesus, whose flesh was torn to give us access to the Father. 

The veil was Jesus’ flesh. Jesus came as a man (veil) to gather His children and bring them into the Holy of Holies by His death on the cross. (His torn flesh.)

“Tetelestai”-It is Finished.

“He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His Spirit.” John 19:30

What was finished at the cross, and what does living in His finished work mean?

We have seen how John brilliantly wove the Old with the New to help us see that Jesus was there all along. Jesus is not a footnote, nor is He the Good Guy who protects us from the Scary Guy (God), whose wrath toward sinners was alleviated when the Good Guy took the punishment of the wrath but still left us guilty, making us work to keep short accounts with a God who still finds our sins offensive.

No… That is not a finished work.

That is not Good News.

What did Jesus die for? What happened at His death?

Jesus died because the Father would not abandon us, nor would He allow an inferior covenant to distort our perception of His nature. His dream for us, which began at creation, never changed. He predestined (chose us) in Christ before Adam’s failure (Ephesians 1:4). His Love is boundless, never changing, never failing, and endless. Jesus did not die to change God’s mind about us. Jesus died to change us and to exit a covenant He never wanted in the first place. He said, “Enough!” to the Fall and the Law written on stone. Sin, spiritual death, sickness, oppression, and abandonment would be absorbed in Him, and He would enact a New and Better Covenant based on one thing- His love.

When Adam failed, God did not change toward us. Adams's sin did not cause God to hide from us; Adam hid. God did not become a bloodthirsty monster hell-bent on punishing men for their sins. His Love entered into man’s delusion. He would acquiesce to man’s failure time and time again. Jesus’ entire life was a move toward our failure until He became that failure (sin) and defeated its power. He was baptized in death and then cried out, “It is finished!” at that moment, He stepped back into Eden, where Adam failed and reunited mankind with the Love which formed them.

“For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross.”- The joy was that you would be included in God's love and joy with each other.

The Triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were face to face at the beginning in union and agreement. There was no competition, no disunity or tension with One another. They were in perfect togetherness with Love toward each other. In that self-giving and mutual Love, they created mankind to invite them into that union.

When Jesus came, He came as a man, a human being. He was the first man who was in co-union with God. He was the Son of Man in Daniel 7- fulfilling the promise given to King David. (This was the plan of God even before Adam failed.) “On the third day, he rose again from the dead according to the Scriptures, ascended into heaven, and sat down at the Father's right hand.” This ascension of the Son of Man gave us a place with the Triune God- a place of sonship. He was the firstborn among creation and made us joint heirs with Him. He seated us with Him in heavenly places and included us in His plan to establish His Kingdom on earth.

Jesus also dealt with sin. Sin was the disease that infiltrated the human race in Adam. Sin was not just Adam’s original failure; it was the whole ensnarement and deception of brokenness, darkness, alienation, abandonment, and orphanhood through Adam’s false believing. Through their unbelief, sin entered, and death through sin. Darkness, bitterness, murder, hatred, sickness, oppression, etc., entered the world and began to overtake all human existence until they were so blinded and broken they slipped into non-existence.

At Mt. Saini, when God moved toward mankind, they rejected His offer to make them kings and priests. He had no choice but to agree with them and settled on an inferior plan- the Law. At the mountain, God’s voice was silenced to man- never again would He speak audibly. Moses was the last man to talk directly to God, friend to friend. The Law brought wrath (Romans 4:15) toward those who failed to obey it. It brought blessings if it was obeyed and curses to the disobedient. It could not forgive, and it could not save; it also could not give eternal life. When enough time had passed to allow the burden of the law to do its work- (to burden, to convict of sin, and to inflame sin), God sent His Son to become the final payment that the law demanded. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5). Every sacrifice performed bore witness to God’s eternal plan of forgiveness for the sins of the world. Jesus, the incarnate One, was God’s witness of His nature- Forgiver!

Jesus’ cry of “It is finished!” was Heaven’s cry of “NO! I did not create you to be alienated and broken! I have died so that you would have life- the life of God that fixes brokenness and shame, the life that doesn’t remember sin nor condemns you. I fixed the problem of separation and brought you into the Love that Elohim has for One another. There is no more striving to attain God’s favor; there is only abiding. I have placed you in the Light.” Jesus’ death restored your value.

Jesus did not merely save us from sin. To be “saved” suggests that we are still the same. Jesus died to transform us into His image and give us His life. Where the Law brought self-effort and condemned us, He brought rest, forgiveness, transformation, and New Life. The Old died, and a New Person was born- you were Born Again.

Where the Law was about man’s ability, now it is about Christ’s ability.

To live in the finished work is to live the life Jesus died to give us- eternal life. Eternal life is to know and experience the fullness of the Love of God. To be so deeply loved, you will never be satisfied without it. It is not about how well you perform but about well He performed!

Sin no longer has power over you; you now have power over it.

Where once God’s voice was silent, His voice is now ever speaking to us through the Spirit that dwells within us. He is the friend that sticks closer than a brother, and He will never leave or forsake you.

This is Good News!