We have arrived at the destination John has been moving toward since chapter one. The Lamb of God, announced by John the Baptist in John 1:29, is now offered. The Word made flesh is crucified, buried, and raised. Everything John has revealed about Jesus comes to its culmination here: His death is not a defeat; it is a victory. And His resurrection is not a surprise, it is the proof of everything He said.
"So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, 'It is finished!' And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit."
Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"
"But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."
When soldiers and officers come to arrest Jesus in the garden, He does not hide or run. He steps forward and asks: "Whom are you seeking?" When they answer "Jesus of Nazareth," He says "I AM", and they fall backward to the ground. Even in His arrest, He is in control. The trials before Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate reveal the corruption of both religious and civil authority. Pilate asks the most searching question of the narrative: "What is truth?", and Truth is standing right in front of him.
Jesus is crucified at Golgotha. John records seven final statements from the cross. The last is the most powerful: "It is finished!" (John 19:30). The Greek word is tetelestai, a commercial term meaning "paid in full." The debt of sin that no human being could repay was settled permanently. The Lamb of God has taken away the sin of the world. The curtain that once separated humanity from God, it is torn. The way is open.
On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene comes to the tomb while it is still dark. The stone is rolled away. She runs and tells Peter and John, who race to the tomb. They find the grave clothes lying there, neatly folded. Jesus is not there. Later, Jesus appears to Mary and speaks her name, and in that moment she recognizes Him. "Mary!" He says. She turns and says: "Rabboni!", Teacher. He has risen, exactly as He said.
Jesus appears to His disciples, shows them His hands and His side, and breathes on them: "Receive the Holy Spirit." (John 20:22). But Thomas is not present and refuses to believe until he can see and touch the nail prints himself. Eight days later, Jesus appears again. He goes directly to Thomas: "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands... Do not be unbelieving, but believing." And Thomas, the doubter, makes the greatest confession in John's Gospel: "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28). John began with "the Word was God." He ends with a broken man worshiping at the feet of the risen Jesus.
Jesus appears again by the Sea of Galilee. He restores Peter with three questions mirroring Peter's three denials: "Do you love Me?" (John 21:15-17). Each time Peter says yes, Jesus gives him a commission: "Feed My sheep." The one who failed most publicly is commissioned most personally. Jesus does not disqualify those who fall, He restores them and sends them.
"It is finished" (tetelestai) means the work of redemption is complete. Nothing can be added to what Jesus accomplished at Calvary. But the resurrection is equally essential, without it, our faith is empty (1 Corinthians 15:17). Thomas' confession confirms what John declared in 1:1: Jesus is God. And the commissioning of the disciples carries forward the Great Commission, as the Father sent Jesus, Jesus now sends His Spirit-filled church into the world.
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