It Is Finished

When the seven plagues begin to be poured out on the earth, smoke fills the temple in heaven with such intensity that “no one [is] able to enter” (Revelation 15:8). God alone remains in the temple. It is He who instructs the seven angels to begin the plagues (16:1); it is also He who utters the definitive words in today’s verse: “It is done!”

At the end of His earthly ministry, Christ similarly declared, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). There, hanging upon the cross, the Son of God had suffered, carrying in solitude the sins of the whole world. He who committed no sin, He who abhorred sin, became “sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

How interminable those hours must have felt—what pain, what grief, what terror! And for His dismayed disciples, how severely they had misjudged and misunderstood Him. They thought the Messiah was coming as a war hero to their enslaved people; they thought He had come to vanquish temporal Rome and raise up the temporal Jewish nation to greatness. How they must have looked on in despair, seeing their cherished hopes expiring before their eyes.

And certainly, Christ’s life on earth was temporarily finished—but that wasn’t the Savior’s real meaning. The last words He uttered on the cross were speaking of a victory. When Christ died, in reality, He paved the pathway to salvation for the human race. The door to eternal life was, before His sacrifice, locked—now it is freely open to all who accept Christ’s gift. “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved” (John 10:9).

And in a way, the events of Armageddon parallel that day on Calvary. Nearly “the whole world” (Revelation 16:14) waits, their targets are those bearing the seal of the living God. It seems a hopeless situation. God’s people are vastly outnumbered; death seems certain. Has the Savior forsaken them?

No, it is done. At the cross, the door to salvation was opened; at the last plague, the end of the path of salvation will be reached. Christ will come to save His people.

Christ our Righteousness, You achieved victory at the cross; we trust that You will also achieve victory again at Armageddon.

For Further Study: Hebrews 9:24–27; 12:2; Revelation 21:6

Key Bible Texts

And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. (Revelation 16:17 KJV)