Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and released his spirit. John 19:28-30 (NLT)
What did Jesus refer to? What was it that was finished?
God loves to use pictures to bring home a point or truth. He speaks in live Technicolor.
In that scene Jesus says I thirst. Note that word thirst. They put vinegar on a sponge and put it to His mouth. After He tasted the vinegar He says it’s finished. Note the word vinegar. Some translations render it sour wine, one translation says cheap wine. Note the word sour wine or cheap wine.
What Jesus finished or brought to an end and put away was the sour, cheap way of existence, that Adam and Eve had brought into the world when they tasted or ate from that tree that produces sour and cheap, less than God’s best kind of existence or living.
What Jesus meant was the sinful, guilt filled, condemnation, shameful, fearful, painful, poverty, failure, curse, hell, suffering, death; existence for humanity is no more – IT IS FINISHED! Jesus tasted, took into Himself all our death and destroyed it. When He rose from the dead it was a triumphant confirmation and declaration that the New kind of Life, the God kind of Life, resurrection life, eternal life – the peaceful, joyful, blessing, successful, wealth, restful, liberty, healthy kind of Life was ushered in for humanity forever.