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“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7).
“I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4).
The verses for today show us the difference between one of the greatest servants the Lord ever had, and the Lord Jesus Himself. At the end of his life, when Paul knew that he would not be released again, but was going to be taken home to be with the Lord, he could say to Timothy the words in our first verse today. He had indeed fought a good fight, he had finished his course, and had kept the faith. He had steadily walked in all the precious truth that the Lord had committed to him. In that sense, he had nothing to regret, nor was there anything between him and the Lord that would hinder his fellowship with the Lord.
However, there was only One who, at the end of His earthly ministry, could confidently say, “I have finished the work Thou hast given Me to do.” Surely there was much that remained to be done, and the apostles and others in the early church did many of those things. But whatever the Father had given the Lord Jesus to do, He had done.
More than this, He could speak of the greatest work He was to do—His work on Calvary’s cross, as if it were already completed. Only a divine Person could do this. When He prayed the prayer in John 17, His work on the cross was ahead of Him. Yet He could speak as if it were finished.
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