It is Finished!

This article “It is Finished” is adapted from Dr. Yonggi Cho’s sermon at City Harvest Church’s Dedication Service on 9 July 2013 upon its move home to the renewed and upgraded Suntec Singapore, and Pastor Kong Hee’s sermon on 13 July 2013.

There are two occasions in the Holy Bible where God’s work is finished. The first is when “the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished” and God “rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done”. (Genesis 2:1~2; NKJV) The second event took place when Jesus died for us on the cross at Calvary and declared, “It is finished!” (John 19:28,30; NKJV)

Interestingly, man and woman were created on the sixth day and on the very next day God rested from all His work. There was no more work to be done and we entered His rest, as it were, before the curse of sin (disobedience) fell on us.

Though we fell from glory, God did not give up on us. Then, Jesus obeyed the Father and completed the work of redemption, and we the redeemed of the LORD can now say, “Salvation is finished work!”; “Sickness, you are finished because of Jesus Christ.”; “Sin, temptation and poverty, you are finished by Jesus Christ”; and “I’m a blessed person of Jesus Christ.”

Dr. Cho’s urged us, believers, to pray and find our rest in God; the work belongs to God. God wants to take over our sin, failure, work and other problems. He (Jesus) is ready to meet the needs of people who are sick, cursed, unhappy and dying. Also, Dr. Cho shared on how good and pleasant it is to meditate on and experience the truth and reality of life in the realm of God’s kingdom with particular focus on the following nuggets:

a)    Forgiveness of sins;

b)    Healing from sickness and diseases;

c)    Sanctification by the Holy Spirit;

d)    The covenant blessing of Abraham; and

e)    Eternal kingdom of God.

Take some time to just pause and reflect deeply on the aforementioned blessings of life in the Presence of God. Such an exercise will truly help us to fix our eyes on Jesus Christ rather than our despair or discouragement.

Pastor Kong’s exaltation is for us to pray, worship and find our rest in God. He touched on Matthew 6 which has two major themes: (I) Don’t worry; and (II) Jesus’ teaching us how to pray.

Reference was also made to Revelation 5:8~10, which offer a glimpse of a believer’s life of victory in Christ Jesus, with the playing of a harp representing praise/worship and golden bowls full of incense being the prayers of the saints. “And they sang a new song, saying:“You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.” (NKJV)

Fret not, Jesus is our King who is wearing the Victor’s Crown. God has given us four things to go beyond our three-dimensional realm:

1.            THINKING

-      Change your thinking life; feed our mind with God’s Word.

-      As a man thinks, so is he.

2.            VISIONS AND DREAMS

-      Visions and dreams are the preferred language of the Holy Spirit.

-      See yourself healthy, wealthy, strong and wise in Christ Jesus.

-      If your dream is from God, He will back it up.

3.            BELIEVING

-      You must believe with the faith you have.

-      “Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”” (Mark 9:23;NKJV)

-      Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40; NKJV)

4.            SPEAKING

-      This is what Dr. Cho often speak of as “mouth confession”.

-      What you speak, you are going to have it.

-      There is power in your confession; your confession will change your life.

-      After suffering from a stroke at 88 years old, Dr. Stanley E. Jones (regarded as the Billy Graham of India), got the nurses to confess God’s Word over him in Jesus’ name. He was healed and went on to preach again for several more years. Hallelujah!

Dear believers, we live unto God and wanna let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify Him. We may do all we can with the help and anointing of the Holy Spirit as vessels and vehicles (hands and feet) of God and keep learning to do things with Him and in His ways.

But, ultimately, it is the LORD’s work and there are things that are simply beyond us to lift a finger. For example, healing the blind, and setting captives free from strongholds. Let God do all the heavy lifting.

However, we can come under Jesus’ anointing of ease and learnt of Him. We can get our thinking right by receiving the rhema of God’s Word (remember, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God); receive anointed visions and dreams through communion with the Holy Spirit in praise/worship and prayers; exercise our mustard seed-size faith and keep listening to God’s Word (for faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God); order our conversation aright by confessing God’s Word as the Sword of the Holy Spirit.

To put a smile on your face, there is a work that God is still about. YOU! He is not done with you yet as His new creation in Christ Jesus. Hear then the Word of God by the hands of Paul the apostle, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”. (Philippians 1:6; NKJV)

Meanwhile, let’s keep fighting the good fight of faith and apply the aforesaid four spiritual disciplines as disciples and friends of Jesus Christ. We are the blessed of the LORD, indeed!

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For your spiritual edification, you may wish to check out some resources by Dr. Cho and Pastor Kong Hee by clicking on The Ink Room.