The words that Christ exclaimed at Calvary reveal that a climatic goal had been reached in the plan of salvation – the antitypical sacrifice had been offered.

There are two more sayings of similar wording and they are described as this:
I saw angels hurrying to and fro in heaven. An angel with a writer's inkhorn by his side returned from the earth and reported to Jesus that his work was done, and the saints were numbered and sealed. Then I saw Jesus, who had been ministering before the ark containing the ten commandments, throw down the censer. He raised His hands, and with a loud voice said, "It is done." And all the angelic host laid off their crowns as Jesus made the solemn declaration, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." {EW 279.2} - the antitypical close of probation.
All heaven had united with Jesus, as they heard the fearful words, "It is done. It is finished." The plan of salvation had been accomplished, but few had chosen to accept it. And as mercy's sweet voice died away, fear and horror seized the wicked. With terrible distinctness they heard the words, "Too late! too late!" {EW 281.1}
It is at midnight that God manifests His power for the deliverance of His people. The sun appears, shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow in quick succession. The wicked look with terror and amazement upon the scene, while the righteous behold with solemn joy the tokens of their deliverance. Everything in nature seems turned out of its course. The streams cease to flow. Dark, heavy clouds come up and clash against each other. In the midst of the angry heavens is one clear space of indescribable glory, whence comes the voice of God like the sound of many waters, saying: "It is done." Revelation 16:17. {GC 636.2} - the antitypical jubilee.

His words exclaimed before his death do not elute to the fact that all was finished. The mystery that the Apostle Paul revealed in Col.1:26-27 has to be fulfilled and it is at the antitypical jubilee that God will have such a people.

Yes, I agree with you Thomas, Jesus did not lay down His life until after He had accomplished His goals on the cross, until after the cup was dry and empty. Laying down His life happened after He had triumphed over our sin and second death.

DA 758
Christ did not yield up His life till He had accomplished the work which He came to do, and with His parting breath He exclaimed, "It is finished." John 19:30.

I agree with Rosangela's explanation, which is that "it" refers to the Great Controversy in "It is finished." I will flesh out some of thoughts as to what this entails.

What were the primary issues involved in the Great Controversy? I can think of three. The first one involves God, the second sin, and the third the principle of self-exaltation.

Regarding God, Satan had made the accusation that God did not have the best interests of His creatures in mind. This was insinuated in Eden by way of his tempations to Eve. Christ fully proved the falseness of this idea by His death on the cross, which proved that God indeed places the interests of others above His own. We see this both from the perspective of God the Father, who was willing to send His Son at the risk of failure and eternal loss, and from the perspective of Christ Himself, who could not see through the portals of the tomb, yet was willing to die for all eternity if it would mean our salvation. (Hallelujah!)

Regarding the second issue, Satan had claimed that God had lied when he stated that sin would result in death. This lie has been a very important one of Satan's, and has led to many errors. One error is that if we believe that sin is basically innocuous, and does not have the power to destroy that God says it does, we will be led to false ideas regarding God. If we see sin as powerless to destroy, then the destruction which sin causes we will mistakenly cast upon God, just as the deceiver would wish. This leads us to a religion based on fear, where we view God as saying, "Do what I say, or I will kill you," rather than seeing reality, which is, "Trust in what I am telling you, or sin will destroy you."

The death of Christ demonstrates the truth about the awful power of sin. It caused even Christ to feel that He was being abandoned by God, and it was only due to His great trust in God and firm belief in the truth about God which led Him to victory.

The final issue regards the principle of self-exaltation. Christ's whole life, and His death in particular, demonstrates the insidiousness of the principle of self-exaltation and unmasked its inventor. Self-exaltation led God's creatures to crucify Him. This demonstrates our disposition towards God, apart from His grace.

The cross also laid bare the truth about the deceiver. After the cross, Satan had no more audience, as everyone knew who he was. And so it is written that the Accuser was "cast down."

God overcame and won the Great Controversy not by force (the principle of Satan's government), but on the basis of the principles of love and truth.

All I know is that the gospel of John puts it this way

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John 19: 28Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” 29A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. 30When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

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And no, this is no atempt to remove the importance of the death, for :

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1 John 2: 1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

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Nevertheless, something seems to finnish before the death. Either this or John understood something wrong.

/Thomas

John simply narrated what happened. As has been pointed out, Jesus couldn't say, "It is finished" after He was dead. He had to say it while He was yet living. But it was His death that ratified the New Covenant. "Without shedding of blood is no remission." Hebrews 9:22.

I think that it is of importance that we note what events transpired immediately after Jesus said "It is finished".

Matthew 27:50,51; "And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom...."

This reference to the veil being torn from top to bottom would seem to indicate that Jesus death had some impact upon the Jewish sacrificial services. In fact, the event of Jesus death brought an end to the need for any further sacrifices to be offered.

More specifically, Jesus' Death was a fulfillment of the typical sacrifice of the "Lord's Goat" on the Day of Atonement.

"It is Finished" meant that the critical event that these sacrificial services had been fulfilled. Mankind's salvation had been accomplished in its totality. God, through the death of His Son, had done all that needed to be done in order for mankind to be saved. (Of course, the ultimate salvation of mankind rested solely upon his acceptance of this sacrifice in his behalf.)

The other types of the Day of Atonement services was fulfilled shortly after Jesus Death and Resurrection.

When Jesus arose on the third day, He made a special appearance before His Father which was typlified by the Jewish High Priest entering into the Most Holy Place with the blood of the "Lord's Goat".

Shortly after Jesus ascension to Heaven, the War in Heaven" took place(See Revelation 12) and Satan was banished to this earth. This was typlfied by the Scapegoat being banished from the temple/congregation and into the wilderness.

So, as can be seen, Jesus words "It is Finished" had a very important meaning for us. The Jewish Sacrificial Services had met their "Anti-Type" and their fulfillment was complete at the cross and shortly afterward.

God had done all that needed to be done to effect our salvation.

Bob, I like what you posted about the death of Jesus, but your ideas regarding the war in heaven and the scapegoat do not coincide with the SDA statement of truth.

John, without the resurrection there can be no remission of sins, either. It wasn't a matter of convenience that Jesus declared, It is finished, before He was dead. It was the truth. Jesus could not die before it was finished. Dying before it was finished would have left it unfinished. Don't forget, the sense of His Father's disfavor was withdrawn before He died. He was victorious before He died.

Suffering the pain and agony associated with sin and guilt is what pays the penalty for sinning, that satisfies the just and holy demands of the law - not death. Death is the end of suffering and punishment. Therefore, Jesus could not die before He paid the penalty. Thus, He suffered the punishment for the sins of the world before He died.

What Christ suffered was simply the results of sin. It was not an arbitrary imposition on the part of God. God did not change; He just continued being Himself. Christ was affected by taking our sin upon Him:

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4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 BUT he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

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