David Wilkerson - It Is Finished: Finding Lasting Victory Over Sin (The New Covenant Unveiled)

On the day my father died, he spent his last morning on a porch studying the New Covenant of Christ. The subject was by no means new to him. Twenty-five years earlier, his good friend Leonard Ravenhill had given him a few books that would change his life. At that time, my father was busy traveling the world as an evangelist, preaching to hundreds of thousands each year. Yet his own soul was dry; he had become weary of preaching the same messages again and again. So between those trips he picked up the small stack of books Leonard had handed him and started reading.

They were the writings of the old Puritansnames most of us have never heard of, certainly not the familiar bestselling authors many Christians have read. As my father dug into these old treasures, his heart opened to a new revelation of Christ. Grace awakened in him, alive in a way he had never known.

Dad had grown up under a message that leaned toward works and legalism. Although he considered himself free in Christ, there was still something in him that made him feel as though he had to work hardthat nothing was ever enough, that more was always required to fill what was missing in his righteousness in Christ. These old books stirred him once again to study the Scriptures cover to cover, this time with a new understanding of the Gospel. As he explored, my father joyously came to know the full extent of the finished work of Christ.

In my last conversation with him, Dad told me of how deeply he had probed, how fully he had explored, how completely he had scoured every page of every writing he could find on this glorious subject of the New Covenant of Christ. And yet I could see in his eyes there was a yearning for more. There were still many things he wanted to know concerning the depth and breadth of the finished work of Christ. He felt he had seen and learned much, but he urged me to dig deeper in my own study of this subjectnot to be satisfied but to go further.

A few weeks after my fathers funeral, my brother-in-law sent me the book Dad had been reading that last morning. It was by the Puritan writer Thomas Brooks. Almost every page was underlined and highlighted, with comments filling every open margin. Here was my father, eighty years oldafter seven decades of serving in ministrystill exploring, still enjoying, still reveling in the glorious Gospel of Christ. He relished the revelation of how expansive Jesus words are when He declares from the cross, It is finished. Jesus was speaking not only of the work He did for us then, but also of the work He continues to do in us and through us today.

I hope you will explore and even devour this bookthat you will find in it the richest depths of meaning in Christs words: It is finished. Here is Gods great love contained in His marvelous New Covenant. As you read these pages, may you be stirred to underline, highlight and write in the margins every revelation Jesus longs for you to know, experience and enjoy of His finished work for you.

Gary Wilkerson
Colorado Springs, 2012