It is finished
John 19:30(NIV) When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
It is finished is the English translation of the Greek word Tetelestai, which was the last thing Jesus said before dying on the cross. Tetelestai comes from the verb teleo, which means to bring to an end, to complete, to accomplish.
When Jesus cried out It is finished, He meant It was finished in the past, it is still finished in the present, and it will remain finished in the future. It is finished, which means I have successfully completed the work I came to do.
It is finished proclaims that all the work the Father had sent Jesus to accomplish, was now completed, particularly His work of bearing the penalty for sin. This means there was no more penalty left to be paid for sin, for all Jesus’s suffering was finished.
Hebrews 9:11-15(MSG) But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent”—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.
It is finished – This was Jesus’s exclamation that He had finished the work the Father had sent Him to do.
The word tetelestai was the equivalent of the Hebrew word spoken by the high priest when he presented a sacrificial lamb without spot or blemish.
The word tetelestai was used in the business world to signify the full debt payment.
Colossians 1:13-14(NLT) For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
In classical Greek times, the word tetelestai depicted a turning point when one period ended, and another new period began.
When Jesus cried out, It is finished! He was shouting that the Old Covenant had ended, and the New Covenant had begun!
I conclude with Hebrews 8:6-13(MSG) But Jesus’ priestly work far surpasses what these other priests do, since he’s working from a far better plan. If the first plan—the old covenant—had worked out, a second wouldn’t have been needed. But we know the first was found wanting, because God said, Heads up! The days are coming when I’ll set up a new plan for dealing with Israel and Judah. I’ll throw out the old plan I set up with their ancestors when I led them by the hand out of Egypt. They didn’t keep their part of the bargain, so I looked away and let it go. This new plan I’m making with Israel isn’t going to be written on paper, isn’t going to be chiseled in stone; This time I’m writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts. I’ll be their God, they’ll be my people. They won’t go to school to learn about me, or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons. They’ll all get to know me firsthand, the little and the big, the small and the great. They’ll get to know me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean.
By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and His people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust.