It is Finished - Good Friday

As a child, my parents LOVED listening to the music of Bill and Gloria Gaither. Some of my favorite songs growing up were composed by them. We did a kids' musical when I was in Children's Choir that had a song called, "I am a Promise". I sing this song to my kids! "Something Beautiful", "The King is Coming", "He Touched Me" and so many others are songs they wrote/sang that touched me!

One song that is particularly powerful and I can't help but thinking of on Good Friday is "It Is Finished". You can hear the Gaither Vocal Band sing it here.

Here are the lyrics for the song:

It Is Finished

There's a line that is drawn through the ages
On that line stands an old rugged cross
On that cross, a battle is raging
To gain a man's soul or it's loss
On one side, march the forces of evil
All the demons, all the devils of hell
On the other, the angels of glory
And they meet on Golgotha's hill
The earth shakes with the force of the conflict
And the sun refuses to shine
For there hangs God's son, in the balance
And then through the darkness he cries

It is finished, the battle is over
It is finished, there'll be no more war

It is finished, the end of the conflict
It is finished and Jesus is Lord

Yet in my heart, the battle was still raging
Not all prisoners of war had come home
These were battlefields of my own making
I didn't know that the war had been won
Oh, but then I heard the king of the ages
Had fought all the battles for me
And that victory was mine for the claiming
And now praise his name, I am free.

There is one more song that I always think about when remembering the cross. The song, "Watch the Lamb" by Ray Boltz, has powerful imagery. I can really imagine myself there, watching Christ walking that road, stumbling from the weight of the cross. I can picture the hurt, sorrow, pain and determination in his eyes. Can you imagine being a child watching this history unfold? You can see the video for this song here.

Watch the Lamb lyrics:

Walking On the Road
To Jerusalem,
The time had come to sacrifice,
Again,
My two small sons,
They walked beside me down the road,
The reason that they came,
Was to watch the lamb...
And they said,
"Daddy daddy,
What will we see there,
There's so much that we don't understand,"
So I told them of Moses,
And Father Abraham,
And I said dear children,
"Watch the lamb....
There will be so many,
In Jerusalem today,
We must be sure this little lamb,
Doesn't run away,"
And I told them of Moses,
And Father Abraham,
And I said "Dear children,
Watch the lamb...."
When we reached the city,
I knew something must be wrong,
There were no joyful worshippers there,
No joyful worship songs,
And I stood there,
With my children,
In the midst of angry men,
Then I heard a crowd cry out,
"Let's Crucify Him!"
We tried to leave the city,
But we could not get away,
Forced to play in this drama,
A part i did not want to play,
Why upon this day were men condemned to die,
Why were we standing right here,
Where soon they would pass by,
I looked and I said,
"Even now they come,"
The first one cried for mercy,
The people gave him none,
The second one was violent,
He was arrogant and loud,
I can still hear his angry voice,
Screaming at the crowd,
Then someone said,
"There's Jesus,"
I scarce believed my eyes,
A man so badly beaten,
He barely looked alive,
Blood poured from His body,
From the thorns on His brow,
Running down the cross,
And falling to the ground,
I watched as He struggled,
And I watched Him when He fell,
The cross came down upon His back,
And the crowd began to yell,
In that moment I felt such agony,
In that moment I felt such loss,
Till the roman soldier grabbed my arm and screamed,
"YOU! Carry his cro-----------ss!"
At first I tried to resist him,
But his hand reached for his sword,

So I knelt and I took
The cross from the Lord
I put it on my shoulders
We started down the street
And the blood that He'd been shedding,
Was running down my cheeck...
They led us to Golgatha
They drove nails,
Deep in His feet and hands,
And on the cross,
I heard him pray,
"Father, forgive them..."
Never have I seen such love
In any other eyes
"Into thy hands I commit my spirit,"
He prayed,
And then He died.
I stood for what seemed like years,
I lost all sense of time,
Then I felt these little hands
Holding onto mine
My children stood there weeping,
And I heard the oldest say
"Father please forgive us,
The lamb,
Ran away...
Daddy daddy,
What've we seen here,
There's so much that we don't understand,"
So I took them in my arms,
We turned and faced the cross
And I said
"Dear children
Watch the----- lamb..."