IT IS FINISHED! (1 John 3:4-9)

“Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.” (1 John 3:4-6 NKJV)

Sin is lawlessness. What is lawlessness? It doesn’t mean the violation of traffic light or speeding. Of course, they are illegal and deserve to get the fine. But the lawlessness is much deeper than that. It fundamentally and profoundly rejects the primary law of life. That’s sin. Sin twists and distorts the truth and reality some degree, even slightly, which misleads many a people into illusion and delusion unnoticeably and unwittingly.

This unyielding and unbending lawlessness is observed as early as in babes and all humans. Something has gone wrong badly, yes really terribly in humanity. It is a terrible thing to imagine that any parents would like to teach their children how to be stubborn and rebellious and even murderous. No one teaches them that way. But that is what they are and what we are as well. We are born of Adam. That’s why we are lawlessness.

The devil has diabolically invaded into humanity since the fall of the first man. The threefold human has been collapsed into the twofold being, operating and functioning by body and soul and dead spirit. No matter how humans achieve something spectacular and even maybe unattainable, they are still lawlessness. That’s why they are always unsatisfied and more specifically unfilled. The moment they think they got it is the very moment of complete disappointment and dismay.

Desperate restoration was urgent in our humanity. For that, in right time, God sent His Son and took away our sins. We are set free from sin, because in Him there is no sin. This is once for all a historical event happened in the land of Palestine about two thousand years ago. The Immortal God died for the lawlessness of humanity in order to liberate us from the deep-seated and die-hard rebellion in our hearts.

Jesus Christ on the cross uttered the marvelously amazing words that shattered the heavens and the earth, “Tetelestai!” “IT IS FINISHED!” It is paid in full! There is no more condemnation to those who are in Jesus Christ the Lord of all. The Lord Jesus Christ uttered the wonderful words of truth for the world to hear and take heed to it.

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32 NKJV)

So, anyone who remains in Him does not sin. Of course, it doesn’t mean that we never sin after the conversion. Rather, it means that we don’t continue to sin whatever we committed in the past before coming to the Lord Jesus. John says the more astonishing words of truth.

“Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:9 NKJV)

Those who are born of God cannot sin. Again, it doesn’t mean that we became sinless when we were born of God. Nor it doesn’t mean that we don’t sin at all. Christians still sin which we experience every day. It means that we cannot keep on sinning just like nothing had happened, because Jesus Christ lives in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

Therefore, anyone who continues to sin has not seen the Father nor known Him at all. He is not born of God. He is just a pretense and sham. Anyone who is born of God has seen Him and known Him. There is no lie in the truth. Nor the truth doesn’t breed lies. God cannot lie but always speaks truth. Here are the words of warning and exhortation in the last hours which John penned down for the saints.

“Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:7-8 NKJV)