March
29
Author
David Ash
It Is Finished

Jesus in John 19:30 says the words 'it is finished' and it's a strange phrase to use. Many scholars feel that these were the very words which Mark 15:37 records as a loud cry. The final words someone utters prior to death are often seen as crucially important and so it's worth examining what they might mean.

The word used in John's account of Jesus' crucifixion is actually the Greek word Tetelestai and it comes from the verb Teleo which means 'to bring to an end, to complete, to accomplish'. It's an important word which describes the completion of a task or a certain action.

You would use this word when you reach the top of a mountain, or when you finish a piece of work. You'd also use it to say that you'd completed payments on a loan or finished a race. It's the sort of thing you'd say if you'd achieved a goal which had been set out earlier.

So in what sense had Jesus achieved the things that he set out to do at this point?

Jesus' purpose was to restore all things to His Father, to bring redemption of sins and to fulfil the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Jesus came to complete, to pay in full, to fully accomplish God's plan of redemption and to pay the full price which we owed for our sins.

Jesus' cry declares to us that the long work of restoring relationship between us and our creator God, which He had been sent to accomplish, was now complete. Jesus paid the full price for us and the full weight of suffering which He alone could bear had been completed.

These words are so significant for us today because they mean that Jesus HAS overcome, that the victory HAS been won and that we are now more than conquerors!

They mean that we can know freedom from sin and that the full price required has been paid on our behalf, that our slate has been wiped clean and that we can now come to the Father in full assurance.

These words mean that the way is now clear for us to return to right relationship with our Father God.

So when you read these words today this is the reason that we can call it Good Friday, the work is done. The sealing of the promise is still to come but the sacrifice has now been paid in full, once and for all!

Rejoice!
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