Completing His Purpose

March 21, 2008

By William E. Richardson

Why did Jesus stand silent before Pilate? Why didn’t He defend himself? Jesus stood mute before the governor who could have freed Him because the words of Jesus’ teachings or anything He might have said in His own defense were not the complete picture of what Jesus came to accomplish.

Why did Jesus let Roman soldiers mercilessly flog Him, ripping His back apart? Jesus let them beat Him to near death because His healing other people’s pains and illnesses wasn’t enough.

Why did Jesus let them nail Him to the cross when He could have summoned thousands of angels to rescue Him (Matthew 26:53)? He submitted to the slow, agonizing death because His raising others from the dead wasn’t enough.

Jesus came to earth, in part, to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy about healing the brokenhearted and proclaiming liberty to the captives (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18-21). But His complete purpose here was to fulfill other prophecies.

Any of the blind people Jesus healed might become blind again; His friend Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead, was destined to die again. Without the finishing touch of His mission here, Jesus could promise us only a few extra years of better health and improved relations with God and man.

The other prophecies He came to fulfill made the eternal difference. They included Isaiah’s prediction Jesus would be silent as a lamb led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7) and that He would be afflicted for our sins (53:5). The Psalmist vividly foretold, not the optional, but the necessary torment of Jesus’ crucifixion (Psalm 22:14-18).

Certainly Jesus’ first 33 years of ministry mattered, but they weren’t enough; His final hours completed His purpose here. Without the agony of the cross, every moral lesson He had taught, every healing touch He had given, would have served only as a temporary bandage for sin’s unhealing wound.

Jesus hung on the cross bleeding to death, aching with every labored breath, feeling the weight of all sinful humanity hanging on His shoulders. The cross forced Him to cry to the Heavenly Father, “Why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). Only after suffering the severest physical, emotional and spiritual pain could Jesus say, “It is finished.”

Only then could it be finished.

The lashes He took on His back and the blood He shed provided forgiveness for sins we confess in repentance as well as healing for our bodies (1 Peter 2:24). His completed mission had results that reached throughout history beyond the years of His earthly lifetime to include our lifetime and our eternity.

On Easter morning Jesus’ resurrection followed just as sunrise follows the darkest night. Now, we who commit our lives to serving Jesus are promised eternity with Him on the other side of our grave.

Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus returned to heaven leaving us, His church, to finish our own purpose. After we’ve come to the Cross, our purpose is to bring others to the Cross. Like Jesus, it takes both our words and our silences.

On Easter, we celebrate Jesus’ completing His purpose on earth. Every day of the year should be a celebration of our completing our purpose here in light of Good Friday and Easter.

— William E. Richardson is senior pastor of Afton (Iowa) Assembly of God.