When He had received the drink, Jesus said,” It is finished.”
I talk to my mom every day, but I can remember one particular phone call from nearly ten years ago like it happened yesterday. She called much earlier than usual so I was worried something might be wrong. I was still waking up and what she was telling me seemed a bit like something out of a dream. She had purchased a lottery ticket and she believed the numbers drawn the night before matched those on her ticket. I told her that I was going to take my son to school and come pick her up. We drove to the Georgia lottery office and, after showing the ticket to a few officials, they confirmed she had in fact won the lottery. They presented her with one of those obnoxiously big checks and we headed to the bank. It would be a few days before the money was actually in her account but she knew that she was suddenly debt-free.
In New Testament times the Greek word “tetelestai“ was sometimes used as an accounting term. When a person had paid off their debt, the paper on which the debt was recorded was stamped with tetelestai, which meant the debt had been paid in full.
Literally translated the word tetelestai means, to end; to bring to completion; to accomplish; to finish; or to fulfill. It is found only in the Gospel of John. First in 19:28, “After this, when Jesus knew that all things were now completed, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said, ‘I thirst.’” Two verses later, he utters the word himself: “Then when he received the sour wine Jesus said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
Scripture is clear that Christ’s death on the cross was the full payment of a sin debt that we all owe. As one of the great hymns declares, “Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe.” That sin debt is death, eternal separation from God, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) Romans 5:8 explains it simply,
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
While the redemption of all mankind is the most important, many other things were finished at the cross. Jesus prayed just before His arrest by the Romans asking the Father to glorify Him, just as He had glorified the Father on earth, having “finished the work you have given me to do” (John 17:4). Also completed was the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecies, symbols, and foreshadowing of the coming Messiah. He would be born of a virgin in Bethlehem, be from the tribe of Judah, and come out of Egypt. He would be sold for 30 pieces of silver, crucified with thieves, buried in a borrowed tomb, and ascend into heaven. Jesus fulfilled them all. The sufferings Jesus endured while on the earth, and especially in His last hours, were over. The power of sin
and Satan was finished. Jesus’ finished work on the cross was the beginning of new life for all who were once “dead in trespasses and sins” but who are now made “alive with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1,5).
While I can vividly remember the excitement from that day nearly 10 years ago, it doesn’t compare to the day I was baptized or knowing my loved ones have been saved. We don’t need to carry around an obnoxiously large carboard cutout to share that Jesus paid it all, but we should want our lives to glorify Him as we fight the good fight and finish the race.
Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete
Jesus died my soul to save
My lips shall still repeat
Oh, praise the one who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead
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