Tuesday, April 11, 2023

B. H. Roberts on John 19:30

  

This passage is taken from John’s description of the last moments of Jesus on the cross; and the words, “It is finished,” by the opponents of new revelation, are twisted to mean that the work of Christ being completed, no more revelation was to be given.

 

That these words wrung from the trembling lips of the expiring Son of God meant no such thing, is proven by the fact that nearly all the revelations in the New Testament were given after those words—“It is finished”_-were uttered. Nor can they mean that the work of Christ was finished, for we find Him even after His resurrection laboring forty days among His disciples, teaching them all things respecting the kingdom of heaven (Acts i, 3). What Jesus did mean was His suffering was finished—He had drank the cup given Him of the Father, and wrung out the dregs in bitterest anguish. (B. H. Roberts, "A New Witness for God," The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 50, no. 21 [May 21, 1888]: 333)

 

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