What did Jesus mean, “It is finished”?

In John 19:25-37, Jesus speaks His final words from the cross: “It is finished.” In this study, Dr. Toby Holt explains why those three words are the heart of the gospel.

From the cross, Jesus lovingly entrusts His mother to the apostle John. Then, having borne the full weight of God’s judgment against sin, He cries, “It is finished,” and gives up His spirit. Dr. Holt explains that this means the debt is paid in full — nothing is left for us to add — and that the Old Testament system of sacrifices is now complete. To confirm Jesus was truly dead, a soldier pierces His side, and blood and water flow out, fulfilling Scripture.

Questions this study answers:

1. What was “finished”? The full payment for sin. Jesus bore God’s judgment in the place of His people, so nothing more needs to be added to be saved.

2. Why does it matter that Jesus’ bones were not broken? It fulfilled Scripture about the Passover lamb, showing Jesus is the true Lamb of God whose death rescues His people.

3. How do we know Jesus really died? A soldier pierced His side and blood and water came out — clear proof of death, witnessed and recorded by John, who was there.

“So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.” — John 19:30 (NKJV)

Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt is the President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, a Reformed seminary in Colorado Springs. He is known for clear, down-to-earth Bible teaching, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio.

Listen and go deeper: This sermon is part of the John Explained study from New Geneva Theological Seminary. Find more verse-by-verse teaching across the Bible at newgeneva.org. To support this teaching ministry, visit newgeneva.org/give.

[gentle music] In John 19, just before Jesus took his last breath, he uttered these three words from the cross, "It is finished." What do you think Jesus was referring to? Specifically, what do you think had been finished or completed by what had taken place on Calvary? In today's study, we'll consider the meaning of Christ's final words and how they impact our faith and future.

There is no day, there's no Sunday, that gives me theological whiplash the way that Palm Sunday does. Why? Like you, I grew up in churches that had Palm Sunday, and it felt like Easter 1.0. It's like the dry run for Easter. It's a day of great enthusiasm, great excitement. Certainly, we've experienced that this morning, the palm branches and the like. But here's the thing, on the very day in which people were showing enthusiasm and excitement when Jesus entered into Jerusalem, they laid down palm branches before him, on the very day that they were that excited, they were excited for the wrong reasons. Jesus, for his part, what emotions did he demonstrate on the day that we call Palm Sunday? He did two things on Palm Sunday. Number one, he wept. He looked out at the city and he cried over it because he knew the fate that awaited, and he knew that the very people that were laying down palm branches before him would shout and chant, "Crucify him. Crucify him. Crucify him," days later. Furthermore, he knew the destruction that awaited. He knew what was going to happen to this very city. In 70 AD, the worst destruction to ever befall any city on this globe happened to that city. Jesus knew it. He knew they earned it, and he wept. Beyond that, what did he do on Palm Sunday? Beyond weeping over it, what else did he do? He went to the temple, and you remember what he did there? He flipped tables. This was Palm Sunday to Jesus. So, we call this Palm Sunday. However, of course, back in the day, on the day in which it was originally celebrated, or on the day in which these events transpired, no one called it Palm Sunday for understandable reasons, but they did have another name for it. On that specific day, when Jesus went into Jerusalem and people were laying down the palm branches, they did have a name. They did have an identity for that specific day. It was a very important day. It was the day that we call what? Lamb Selection Day. What was happening? Jesus, he's coming into the city. He's riding a donkey, just as prophecy declared. He's doing exactly what the Bible said he would do. However, the people, what are they doing? Are they looking to him? Well, some are, but most, what are they looking for? They are looking for a lamb, a perfect lamb, a lamb that they can slaughter on Friday, days later. They are looking for the perfect, unblemished lamb to fulfill the Passover decrees from centuries past. They're looking for a perfect lamb that they might slaughter on Friday. And irony of ironies is they're out looking for the perfect lamb for the Passover meal. The true perfect lamb, the Lamb of God that John the Baptist saw coming down the riverbank, "Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world," that lamb walks into the city, and they knew it not. They saw him as potentially a king, a miracle maker, this great guy. He resurrected Lazarus. Didn't you hear about it in Bethany? Lazarus is raised. That guy did it. They had enthusiasm, but not for the right reasons. With that said, again, it's ironic that on Lamb Selection Day, as they were out seeking the perfect lambs, the Lamb of God walks into Jerusalem. Now, on what day were the lambs slaughtered? Well, as we said a few months ago, they were slain on a Friday. Who else was slain on a Friday? Jesus. Jesus comes into the city on the very day that people are looking for the perfect lambs in order to slaughter for the Passover meal. At that same time, Jesus himself, at the same time as these lambs that are slaughtered on Friday at 3:00 in the afternoon, at the same time as these lambs are breathing and bleeding out their last, what is Jesus doing? He's dying, and he's saying, "It is finished." We talked about this last week, but in order to understand what was going on on Palm Sunday, on Easter Sunday, through the resurrection, you have to see it through the prism of the Passover. If you don't, you won't understand it correctly. It's not a coincidence or an accident that he was betrayed this particular week, and all these things went down this particular way on these exact days, at these exact times of day, at 3:00 in the afternoon. None of that's an accident. All of this is a way of depicting that what happened centuries ago at the Passover, way back in Egypt, was an anticipation of what would happen here on Calvary. At Passover, if you remember, the Jews were being oppressed by evil Pharaoh. Pharaoh's oppressing the Jews. The Jews cry out to God. God raises up a deliverer. He sends them Moses. Moses goes to Pharaoh and says, "Let my people go." Pharaoh says no. They go back and forth on this time and time again, and Pharaoh's very obstinate. No. The miracles, the plagues happen. All this stuff goes down, and ultimately,

Moses comes to Pharaoh and says, "You've done it now. There's going to be one more plague. You and I will never see each other again. We'll never meet face-to-face again. There's going to be one more plague, and you're not going to like it, and here's what it is. It's going to be this death to the firstborn." So, what happens? The last final plague, what we call the Passover. It's called the Passover because on that particular night, the night of the last plague, the angel of death passed over those homes that were marked by the blood of a perfect lamb that was placed on the doorposts. If you remember, that was the instruction that God gave to Moses, and Moses gave to the people. He says, "All right. Find yourself a lamb, perfect lamb, unblemished lamb, not a three-legged, bucktooth, lazy-eyed lamb. Find the perfect lamb, slay the lamb, and then take the blood from that lamb, put it on the lintels. Use hyssop to put the blood on the lintels of your doorpost, and when you do so, tonight, what's going to happen? The angel of death, when he comes through the land, he's going to pass over your house. Why? Because it's marked in the blood of the lamb." This is an absolute point-for-point shadow foretype of what was yet to come on Calvary. So, when you talk about Lamb Selection Day, when you talk about Palm Sunday, when you talk about Good Friday, when you talk about Resurrection Sunday, all of this can and should be seen in light of what went down centuries earlier in Egypt. With that said, let's return to today's text because in today's text, we are on the cross. Last week, we studied the first sequence of events that occurred there on Calvary, and today, we're kind of joining the story at the midway point there in chapter 19, verses 25 through 27. Let me read these verses, and then we'll work our way through till we get those last words, "It is finished." Chapter 19, verse 25 through 27 say thisNow there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. Now when Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by... Who was that? Who was the disciple he loved? John. John never named himself. This son of thunder, this guy who was contending with his brother to sit at the right hand of God the Father, later on when he writes this, he doesn't even put his name in it. He's that humble. So the servant who God loved, or the disciple who he loved, standing by, verse 26, he said to his mother, at this time, "Woman, behold your son," as if to indicate to John. And he says to the disciple, "Behold your mother." And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home. All right. Way back when Jesus was first born, there was a custom that his parents fulfilled after Jesus was first born, and the custom was this, that they would take their son into the temple. Now you might remember the narrative. His parents take Jesus into the temple, and there in the temple, they encounter an old man. Does anyone know what his name was? Simeon. They encounter this old man named Simeon. Now what's Simeon doing there? Well, Simeon's a fascinating story because Simeon was a devout man, a just man, a good man, a righteous man, and the Spirit had impressed upon him this idea, this notion, this truth, that Simeon himself would not die until he had seen the consolation of Israel, the Lord's Christ. That Simeon himself would not die until the Messiah arrived, which is fascinating because up to that point, the Jews had been waiting for the Messiah for a long time. Centuries and centuries had gone by, and yet God had told this old man, "Simeon, you will not die till you have seen the Lord's Christ." So what does he do? Very possibly every day of the remainder of his life, he goes to the temple doing what? Looking. Looking for the child. So what happens? Well, as we read the narrative, or as we remember the narrative, Simeon comes into the temple, and Joseph and Mary come in the temple, and this particular day, though, there's something in their arms. There's a child. And Simeon must have seen this. He sees this child, and the Holy Spirit nudges him, and he goes up, and he approaches Joseph. He approaches Mary. He asks to hold this child. And you can imagine his eyes lighting up because at that moment, he recognized this is the one. This is the Messiah. Now at that time, Simeon said a number of things, but he said something specific to Mary that had to, I guess, haunt her to some degree for the balance of her days. Now, what did he say? Amidst all his encouragement, amidst his smiles and his tenderness of this old man, what did he say that would have been that heavy upon the heart and mind of Mary? Well, he said this: "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be spoken against. And yes, Mary, a sword will pierce through your own soul also." In today's text, on Calvary, perhaps for the very first time, she understood the fullness of what Simeon meant. That the moment she looks at her own son, and she sees him dying, and the sword, so to speak, pierces her own heart. But even as her heart is going out to her son there, Jesus' heart is going out to her. What a tender guy Jesus was. How wonderful. Jesus is up there dying. Everyone's been mean to him. The crown of thorns, they've scourged him, they've beaten him, they've mocked him, they've reviled him. And up on the cross, he's forgiving thieves. "Truly truly this day you'll be with me in paradise." He's forgiving the Romans. "Father, forgive them. They know not what they do." He looks at his mother weeping. He sees the brokenness. He sees the swords piercing her own heart. And what does he do? He remembers his mom. And with some of his final words, he makes arrangements for her. What did he say? Verse 26, "When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing by, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold your son.' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home." Even with his lifeblood pouring out of the cross, Jesus made a final provision for his widowed mother. We believe Joseph to have been dead for some period of time at this point. So at this point, he entrusts her. He entrusts his mother to John's care. And in doing so, he fulfilled the fifth commandment. He was fulfilling laws right up to the end. Honor what? Honor your mother and father. Right up to the end, he's fulfilling the law. He's doing what we should've done. He's living a life we should've lived even as he's dying the death we should have died. He's doing everything right. So he honors his mother and father. But let me ask you a question. Didn't Jesus have any half-brothers? Yeah, the answer is yes. In some circles, they might go, "What?" In our circles, we read the Bible and we say, "Yes." We say he did have some half-brothers. So with that said, whether it's James or Jude or whoever, why in the world wouldn't they be the ones to take Mary in? Their mom. Why wouldn't they be the ones? Why didn't Jesus say, "Hey, someone find James or Jude or what have you. Someone find them because clearly Mom's got to go to be with her family." Right? Why didn't he do that? Well, there's probably more than one reason, but among them is this. When Jesus from the cross looks down and sees John, doesn't say there was a whole lot of other disciples there, by the way, but John and Mary, he saw two individuals who were bound, not necessarily by blood, but bound by faith. At this point, even though his brothers might experience a regeneration, might experience a change in heart later down the road, for the moment, they did not believe in his person and in his work. They did not have faith at this time, but as Jesus looks down, he knew John and Mary did. And he believed that that bond that they shared, a bond of faith, was more important than any bond of blood, so he entrusts his mother to John because he knew John's heart, and he knew John shared the faith of Mary. And so he knew he was making the right call. Now, elsewhere, Matthew 12, what did Jesus said about this? He'd said, "You know what? Our closest relationships are not necessarily going to be with those that share our blood, but they will be with people, maybe in this very room, people who share our faith." What did Jesus say in Matthew 12? He said, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" It's almost like he said this in anticipation of what was going to happen there on the cross. "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" And then he answers his own question, as he often did. He says, "It's whoever does the will of my Father in heaven. That's my brother. That's my sister. That's my mother."You see, the closest relationships that you will ever have, or that you should ever have with anyone on this globe can and should be with those who share the same faith that you do in the same Savior. This is one of the many, many reasons Scripture warns us and tells us, "Do not be unequally yoked." I will preach that message as loud as I can till the day I die because the greatest amount of counseling I've ever done and the hardest counseling I've ever done anywhere in ministry for 17 years has been to deal with those who are unequally yoked, where one spouse shares the faith, the other does not. I cannot tell you the amount of grief that comes from that. With that said, it's the same principle here, and it's what Jesus was pointing to when he says, "Mother, behold your son. John, my friend, behold your mother." All right, let's look at our next verses. Let's look at verses 28 through 30. "Now after this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished," not some things, not a few things, but all things. "After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, said, 'I thirst.'" That's from Psalm 69. "Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there. And so they filled a sponge with sour wine, they put it on hyssop." We'll get back to that. "They put it on hyssop, and they put it up to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said," three words, " 'It is finished.' And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit."

All right. Let's remind ourselves of the chronology of what's going down here at the day of the crucifixion. Earlier that morning, somewhere around 9:00, after having been scourged terribly, Jesus is nailed to a cross. The crucifixion begins at 9:00 in the morning. Thereafter, from about 9:00 a.m. to about noon, He's mocked, really by everyone. People who are walking by, by the Romans, even by the other thieves next to Him, who you would think have their own problems. You'd think that they've got enough on their own plate, and yet they're spending time, at least initially, they're both mocking the guy in the middle. Of course, a heart change would occur to one of them later on. But initially, especially from 9:00 till noon, they're hanging there, Jesus is being reviled, and He has interactions at the same time. And as we said a few moments ago, the interactions are incredibly gracious for a guy who's dying. They're incredibly gracious and benevolent unto the people who are killing Him. Right to His last breath, He's just the most gracious guy alive. Which would be recognized thereafter because one of the Roman centurions, three of the Gospels would say, "Truly this was the Son of God," when he saw all of this play out on Calvary. Nevertheless, initially from 9:00 until noon, Jesus is on the cross. Others are mocking Him, walking by, reviling Him, but then something happens. What happened at noon? What happened at the sixth hour of the day? What happened at 12:00 p.m.? Well, repeatedly, the scriptures tell us this, it grew dark. It grew dark there on Calvary, a supernatural darkness. Not a normal darkness, mind you, a supernatural darkness. You remember, that was one of the plagues. One of the plagues back in the time of Egypt was darkness filled the land and talked about the darkness as a darkness that could be felt. Well, this was something the people had never seen before. From 12:00 p.m. till about 3:00 p.m., it was dark. Now, that darkness, on the one hand, the darkness was in the sky. It was clearly dark in terms of the illumination going on, but that's not the only darkness that befell the cross that particular hour. What else happened? Well, right there on Calvary, the darkness extended not just to the environment, but also to Jesus, the one who came down as the Lamb of God, the one who came down as the light of the world. He who knew no sin at this point became sin for us. You understand this? This is the fulfillment of multiple prophecies. Right there, 2 Corinthians 5, "He who knew no sin became sin for us." Isaiah 53, that Brian read earlier this morning. At this time, the Father laid on Him the iniquity of us all. At this time. It wasn't simply that it dark in terms of the light around the environment there on Calvary, but Jesus Himself took on the stain, the darkness of sin. He who knew no sin became sin for us. And when He became sin for us, it pleased the Father to look down upon Him and crush the Son. At this point, the cup was poured out. When He who knew no sin became sin for us, when He who was the light of the world became dark in the eyes of the Father, what did the Father do? The Father did what a holy and just God will always do. He dealt with sin. When He looked at His only begotten Son, tainted and covered in sin, it pleased the Father to pour out his fury on His own Son. Just as a showstopper right now, if you were to ever stand before God, clothed in your own sin, if He was willing to do that to His own Son, what would stop Him from doing it to you and then some? People think they're going to walk into God's presence, just bravely kind of go in there, "I'm going to give God a piece of my mind." Oh, no, you aren't. You have no idea the cataclysm it is to fall into the hands of a living God who hates sin when you're a sinner. You understand this? What's the phrase? It's been used time and time again by pastors better than me. If you think you're going to stand before God, you're going to walk into God's presence boldly with no intercessor, no mediator between you and God, the Father Almighty, if you think you're going to stand before Him, you are in for a surprise because here's what'll happen. You will melt. You will melt like a wax figurine in front of the blast furnace of His wrath. With that said, 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., the blast furnace was aimed at His Son. He who knew no sin became sin for us, and at that moment, the Father's face turned away, so to speak, and it pleased the Father to crush the Son, and that's what awaits all those who are not clothed in the white robe of Christ's own righteousness. They'll stand before God the Father, and they'll face this same darkness. As an aside, a lot of religions say, "Oh, Jesus is great. Yeah, Jesus, He's one way to heaven. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Great rabbi, teacher, leader, maybe sort of God, kind of God, dim of God," what have you. A lot of religions have a place for a Jesus, and they'll even sort of deify Him in some cases. With that said, they'll say, "But all roads lead to heaven." If all roads lead to heaven, if all religions effectively end up in the same place, then the question is why did Jesus have to die?Why would Jesus undergo all of what we just read here if every other path could go to the same destination? Why would he undergo this? What happened on Calvary that could not and did not happen under any other religious context on the face of the earth? What happened on Calvary? Well, we've said before, while he was on Calvary between 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., our sin was imputed to him. The gravity, the weight, the depth, the dearth of all the things that you've ever done, all the naughty things that you can remember, and all the things you can't remember, they were placed upon his son as if he was the one who did it. That was the first imputation. But the cool thing, the wonderful thing, the thing that makes us excited this morning is that a second imputation occurred. It wasn't simply that our sins were placed upon him, but that moment when he paid our price, the white robe of his righteousness was imputed to us, to we who believe. He who knew no sin became sin for us. We who know nothing but sin became righteous in the eyes of God because of what went down on Calvary, and there was no other way this could happen. If a man is sin, a man must die, and that's what happened on the cross. With that said, verse 30, after this extended season of darkness, after what had to feel like an eternity, at 3:00 p.m. Jesus says three words. He says, "It is finished." It's done. It's over. Now, what was finished? Well, on the one hand, payment. And how cool is that? The sins you committed yesterday, they're paid for. The sins you'll commit tomorrow, they're paid for. When Jesus said, "It is finished," he says, "I paid it all. I paid it all. I have paid for the sins of my children to the utmost. There's not a single one that is uncovered. I have paid it all. It is finished. I have drank down the wrath of my father here on Calvary on behalf of my beloved ones. It is finished." So, on the one hand, propitiation, the $8 word. That's what occurred on Calvary. At the same time, it is finished is more than just propitiation. What else is it? What else was finished? Again, we tend to think of it just, well, payment for sin. Yes, payment for sin was finished, but what else was finished? Well, I'll give you a hint. What was going on in the temple at this very time? What was going on in the temple? What happened? The veil was ripped in two from the top down so that everyone knew it was God who did it. The veil was ripped in two from the top down. What did the veil cover? What was behind the veil? The Holy of Holies. God. The presence of God was behind the Holy of Holies. So right there as Jesus dies, when he says, "It is finished," something else was finished, and that was the separation that previously existed between man and God. It is finished was not simply the payment for sin and death and the like. What was finished was also the Old Testament economy by which man was separated from God. When God died, the veil of his flesh was part of the veil in the temple was rent in two, and now mankind, like you and I, now have access to the Father that we previously did not have. It is finished meant that the Old Testament economy of sacrifices and priests in tall pointy hats who had to go into the temple on behalf of the rest of us, it's finished. You can now go. There's a priesthood of believers. There's all manner of wonderful things that happened as a result of what happened on the cross. It is finished was that all the shadows and types and signs were fulfilled. It is finished meant that we don't need any more sacrifices of animals. That can all stop now. No more goats and lambs and pigeons and turtles and whatever else they were sacrificing. None of that. We're done with all of that. It is finished meant that there was one sacrifice poured out on Calvary when Jesus died, when he breathed his last. It was finished. All of that, the shadows and types found their fulfillment in what went down on Calvary. It is finished. All right, let's look at our remaining verses. Let's look at verses 31 through 37. Therefore, this is one of the best therefores around. Therefore, because it was the preparation day. Now what was preparation day? Well, we said before, they're preparing. This particular day was the day they're slaughtering animals. You're going to have the Passover meal to follow. Preparation day was the day you slaughtered the perfect lambs. The testament from history is that that happened around 3:00 in the afternoon. So therefore, because it was preparation day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. Just as a side note, the very Jews and high priests and people who chanted, "Crucify him. Crucify him. Crucify him," the great irony is here look at how diligent they are to keep the ceremonial law. They're like, "Oh, Pilate, it's the Passover. It's a high day. It's an important day. We can't have dead corpses rotting on the hillside here. That wouldn't be good. God says don't do that." And so they're on to Pilate about we need to get these bodies off the hillside here because it's Passover. And they're like, they missed it. They missed everything. They missed it on what we call Palm Sunday. They missed it throughout the week. They missed it right up and to this point. Even with the darkness, even with bodies raising, even with the veil being ripped in two. Dear heavens, even the Roman centurion who was standing right there said, "This must be the Son of God." The high priest and the others, there was no amount of proofs that they were not willing to overlook in order to make sure that Jesus died and stayed dead. No amount of proof. All this stuff is going on in their vision, the darkness and the sounds and the veil and all this sort of stuff, and not for a moment were they like, "Boy, I think we really blew it. Gosh. Woo." Maybe someone said that there in Jerusalem. But what we see here is that they're still, "We've got to get the ceremonial law. Got to get the bodies off the hillside." So therefore, because it was preparation day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, because the Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken because they'll die faster that way. They can't lift themselves off the little footrest anymore. If their legs are broken, they'll asphyxiate and they'll die very quickly, and that they might be taken away. Can't have bodies on the hill on the Passover. Verse 32, "Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then the other who was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs." Where have I read that before? Verse 34, "But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water," there's great symbolism here, "blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified." He who has seen has testified. His testimony is true. He knows that he's telling the truth so that you mayBelieve. For all these things were done that the scripture might be fulfilled, that not one of his bones shall be broken, and another scripture says they will look on him. They will look on him whom they have pierced. All right. As we just said, this particular day, it's preparation day. It's sort of like Christmas Eve or something like that. It's a day where you've got religious things to be about. You can't dilly-dally with the guy dying there. Let's just get him off the cross, kill him already, and let's move on with Passover. They want to embrace the sign and the shadow rather than the reality. That was their great desire. So they say, "Let's expedite the process here, Pilate. Let's make arrangements." And Pilate says, "All right." So he sends out the soldiers, and they go and they break the legs of the two thieves, but Jesus himself is already dead. And in order to demonstrate that he was truly dead, not just sleepy, but truly dead, they pierced his side and both blood and water come out. As we look to wrap up this morning, how do we know all this? How do we know all this went down? Well, what does John say? John says, "I was there." The guy who took quill or whatever implement was utilized to record this all these years earlier, the guy who wrote them down is the guy who saw it, and not saw it from standing 300 yards downwind of things, kind of checking things out. He was right there at the foot of the cross. He heard what was to be heard, he saw what was to be seen, and in his gospel here, he says, "I saw it. I was a witness to these things." And interestingly, wonderfully, John wasn't the only witness, but other witnesses were both interviewed and recorded in the other three gospels that we have, which give us a wonderful narrative, an accurate and consistent narrative of what went down here on Calvary. With that said, John isn't speculating about this stuff. He saw this firsthand. Your faith is not just faith in faith. Your faith is absolutely 100% interwoven with facts, recorded, verifiable facts. There's archaeological evidences. There's any manner of things that demonstrate that what we're reading about today is true. It happened. It went down. Even the secular historians talk about this fascinating narrative. They don't necessarily know what to make of it. There was a guy named Phlegon, P-H-L-E-G-O-N, a historian there in Greece, and he's quoted by guys like Origen, and he said this. He's 700 some odd miles away, but he said this there in the second century. He said, "Back in the days of Tiberius Caesar, at full moon, there was a full eclipse of the sun from the sixth hour until the ninth, and there was a great earthquake in Bithynia, and many things were overturned in Nicaea." Two centuries later, there's this Greek historian, not someone who is identified as having any love for Jesus Christ, per se, but he's recording events that have transpired and passed down, and he says there was something fascinating that happened on this particular day, at this particular hour. Between the sixth and ninth hours, there was an eclipse lasting three hours, and there was an earthquake, saying it fell as far away as Bithynia and Nicaea. What I would tell you is this. If you come from the outside looking in, you say, "I don't know whether to believe all this stuff," crucifixions and resurrections and the like. What I would tell you is that the gospel is replete with more than enough evidence to support its own claims. But beyond that, there is evidences within the secular world as well that demonstrate the same thing. Of all the events that have ever happened on this globe, one of the most historically verifiable from antiquity is the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Your faith is not just faith in faith. Your faith is married to the facts of what was witnessed by John and others, and he recorded this very gospel that we've read this morning in order to demonstrate that truth. Final note this morning, John 19. I said it last week, preaching through John 19 is difficult because we're coming face to face with the greatest evil, the greatest atrocity the world has ever known, the crucifixion of He who is most perfect, of the Son of God himself. It's a dark chapter, and yet flip ahead one page. Go to John 20, and John 20 is titled "The Resurrection." There's hope beyond the darkness, hope we will return to consider next Sunday. Let's pray.

[outro music] To search through an archive of Dr. Holt's previous sermons, please visit us at fpcgolfport.org, or you can look us up at sermonaudio.com.