Mostly, when the words forming the title to this article come into our minds, almost instinctively our thinking is turned to the 19th chapter of John, where we read that Jesus, having finished the vinegar given to Him, said, "It is finished" (v.30). We do not link the saying with the vinegar though, but with the work of redemption which the Lord came to do. Seldom, if ever, do we think that the Lord Jesus Christ came to do any other work. This is not correct, however, for there was another work as great as the work of redemption. If He had not finished that work, the work of redemption could not have been completed.
When we turn to the first verse of John’s Gospel we are introduced to the Word as ever existing or eternal, continually with God, and as continually God Himself also. Not only so, but He is the Creator, for "All things came into being through Him; and without Him came into being not one thing that hath come into being" (using Newberry margin in the verse).
Next John speaks of Him as the Life which was the light of men, going on to say that He was the true Light, which lighteth every man, [He] that cometh into the world. Though He had made the world, and was in it, He was rejected by it.
To those who did not reject Him He gave authority to become children of God. These were not born out of blood (natural birth), nor out of the will of the flesh, (sinful birth), nor out of the will of man (human birth), but out of God (divine birth). What better birth could we have had than this, dear fellow-child of God!
Telling out the Father
Now we read of the incarnation of the eternal Word who continued with God and continually was God. He became flesh and tabernacled amongst us. When He came He had a glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. He was full of grace and truth. As the only begotten Son, though now on earth, He always is in the bosom of the Father, and He has told the Father out. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father", He told Philip who requested, "Shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us" (Jn 14.8-9).
So here was a work upon which the Lord Jesus was engaged long before He went to the cross upon which He continued the work of showing us the Father as well as providing a means for redeeming a world which has rejected Him. Every aspect of His life – His looks, His words, His actions, His ways - displayed the essential fact that He was doing the work of the One who had sent Him.
We come now to the first occasion where the word "finish" occurs - John 4.34. The Lord Jesus having heard that the rumour had got around that He was baptizing more disciples than John the Baptist, and that the Pharisees had strong disagreement with the Baptist’s baptizing and would therefore not be baptized themselves, He left them so that further things would not happen.
Passing from Judaea into Galilee He did not take the long route which the Jews would have taken for, as the woman said, "The Jews have no dealings [intercourse] with Samaritans". Tired by His journey He sat wearily at the well. It would suggest the He was thirsty also. From that condition He gradually opened up conversation with the woman, going on to her spiritual needs and conditions from these natural ones until coming, through the woman’s questions, to the revealing of the Father. So then, through the gift of living water, the relationship the woman had with men, the right place to worship, and on to the revelation of the Father. After food had been brought to Him, He refused it saying, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of", and, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work". The work He was doing is seen in the statement, "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (v.34). None of His work here suggests redemptive work.
His work was a continuation of the Father’s
Another occasion where the word "finish" occurs is in John 5.36. As we open the chapter we are brought to the pool of Bethesda and the healing of the impotent man who could get no-one to help him into the water first after it had been troubled. The Lord Jesus took pity on him and healed him, telling him to take up his bed and walk. It was the sabbath day when this took place, and this offended the Jews. Following another interview with the Lord Jesus (he not knowing previously who had healed him), the one-time impotent man went and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had done so. That set the Jews against the Lord Jesus and they persecuted Him, and were so incensed against Him that they intended to kill Him.
To this attitude toward Him Jesus answered them by saying, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work". This intensified their attitude against Him because this statement made Him equal with God. The Lord went into further detail in connection with His relationship with the Father not only in the matter of healing men but of judging them also. This authority the Father had given Him – not as the Son of God who is high above all, but as the Son of man who is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, yet having absolutely no sin in Himself.
In this matter of judgment which the Father had given Him, He still goes on to say, "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me". As we look further into this statement, remembering the Jews were ready to kill Him for doing kindness on the sabbath day, surely divine wrath could have been in His mind if He thought of Himself alone, and not the Father’s will at this time. Further, in Gethsemane He gave Himself up to the Father as a burnt offering in saying, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done…And being in an agony he prayed [was praying] more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were [became] great drops of blood falling down to the ground" (Lk 22.42-44).
It is obvious that He had His own will, but He sought it not – only the Father’s will. He would not even attempt to bear witness of Himself, but left that to the Father. Therefore there was no untruth in the witness given – it was not His, but the Father’s who had sent Him, and it is impossible for God to lie. Despite the true witness of man, such as John the Baptist, He would only take the Father’s. In this He was continuing to finish revealing the perfections of the Father, His will, His witness, and His works – each kind of work the Father would do.
Finishing the work given to Him
Now we turn on to the two other occasions where this word "finish" and in its concluded sense "finished" are used. The first is in John 17.4 which still refers to the revelation of the Father as have all those we have just been looking at.
To get the full gist of this occasion for the word "finished" we must first turn back to v.25 of ch.16: "These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs [similitudes]: but the time cometh, when I shall no more [longer] speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father". Leaving us all to read for ourselves the next three verses, in v.29 we come to the disciples reply: "Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now we are sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask [enquire of] thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God".
To be continued.
