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When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
In his words, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” we heard the Savior’s cry of desolation; in his words “I thirst” we listened to his cry of lamentation; now there falls upon our ears his cry of jubilation—“It is finished.”
In his words, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” we heard the Savior’s cry of desolation; in his words “I thirst” we listened to his cry of lamentation; now there falls upon our ears his cry of jubilation—“It is finished.”
“It is finished.” The ancient Greeks boasted of being able to say much in little. They regarded the greatest orators as though who could “give a sea of matter in a drop of language”. What they sought is here found. “It is finished” is but one word in the original. Tetelestai, could there be a more perfect word? I lay before your consideration this morning maybe the greatest, deepest, and richest word that ever was spoken. A word so great that in its content is the entirety of the gospel.
I confess that Tetelestai carries us into deep waters. Don’t allow its brevity to deceive you of its depth. How deep is this word?
Eternity will be needed to make manifest all that it contains. All things had been done which the law of God required; all things established which prophecy predicted; all things brought to pass which the types foreshadowed; all things accomplished which the Father had given Him to do; all things performed which were needed for our redemption. Nothing was left wanting.
In keeping with God’s kindness he provides for us a shallow end of entry into this bottomless ocean. People both great and small. Young and old have entered its waters. Those who by faith entered its waters have been drawn into its depths.
Tetelestai, is a word study without end. A rich vein that never runs dry. A depth that can never be reached. A height that can never be climbed. A width that can never be crossed. A word which gives every word in Scripture meaning.
Wade with me this morning from the shallow waters into the depths of God’s love. Ponder with me 4 words which serve to provide a measuring rod of the height, depth, and width of God’s love.
“It is finished.”
WE HEAR THE completion of Atonement.
The Son of Man came here “to seek and to save that which was lost” (). Christ Jesus came into the world “to save sinners” (). God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, “to redeem them that were under the law” (). He was manifested “to take away our sins” (). All this involved the cross. The “lost” which he came to seek could only be found there. Sinners could be “saved” only by one taking their place and bearing their iniquities. They who were under the law could be “redeemed” only by another fulfilling its requirements and suffering its curse. Our sins could be “taken away” only by their being blotted out by the precious blood of Christ. The demands of justice must be met; the requirements of God’s holiness must be satisfied; the awful debt we incurred must be paid. And on the cross this was done; done by none less than the Son of God; done perfectly; done once for all.
“It is finished.” so many types foreshadowed, such as a covering from sin and its shame—typified by the coats of skin with which the Lord God clothed our first parents—was now provided. The more excellent sacrifice—typified by Abel’s lamb—had now been offered. A shelter from the storm of divine judgment- typified by the ark of Noah was now furnished. The only-begotten and well-beloved Son—typified by Abraham’s offering up of Isaac—had already been placed upon the altar. A protection from the avenging angel—typified by the shed blood of the Passover lamb was now supplied. A cure from the serpent’s bite -typified by the serpent of brass upon the pole—was now made ready for sinners. The providing of a life-giving fountain -typified by Moses striking the rock—was now effected.
“It is finished.” The Greek word here, teleo, is translated in various ways throughout the New Testament. A glance at some of the different renderings in other passages will enable us to discern the fullness and finality of the term used by the Savior.
In , teleo is rendered as follows:
When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.
When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax went up to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the tax?”
And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
Putting these together we learn the scope of, “It is finished.” He cried: it is “finished;” it is “paid;” it is “performed;” it is “accomplished.”
What was finished? Our sins and their guilt.
What was paid? The price of our redemption.
What was performed? The utmost requirements of the law.
What was accomplished? The work which the Father had given him to do.
What was finished? The making of atonement.
“It is finished.” What is the value of that to us?
To the sinner, it is a message of good news. All that holy God requires has been done. Nothing is left for the sinner to add. No works from us are demanded as the price of our salvation. All that is necessary for the sinner is to rest now by faith upon what Christ did.
To the believer, the knowledge that the atoning work of Christ is finished brings a sweet relief over against all the defects and imperfections of our works. There is much of sin and vanity in our very best efforts, but the grand relief is that we are “complete” in Christ
and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
Christ and his finished work is the of all our hopes.
Christ and his finished work is the of all our hopes.
of all our hopes.
“It is finished”
the termination of Our Sins.
The sins of the believer—all of them—were transferred to the Savior.
Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.
He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?
And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.
I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!
Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.
The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing: “Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”
Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them!
They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord, or see the work of his hands.
Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst.
Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure, and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down, her revelers and he who exults in her.
Man is humbled, and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.
But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture, and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes,
who say: “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!”
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!
Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!
Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.
He will raise a signal for nations far away, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistband is loose, not a sandal strap broken;
their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind.
Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and none can rescue.
They will growl over it on that day, like the growling of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah3:6
If God laid my iniquities on Christ, they are no longer on me. Sin is in me, for the old nature remains in the believer till death, but there is no sin on me.
This distinction between sin IN and sin ON is a vital one, and there should be little difficulty in apprehending it. When a sinner believes in the Lord Jesus, receives him as his Lord and Master, he is no longer “under condemnation”—sin is no longer on him, that is, the guilt, the condemnation, the penalty of sin, is no longer upon him. Why?
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
The guilt, condemnation and penalty of our sins, was transferred to our substitute. My sins were transferred to Christ; so they are no more upon me.
This precious truth was strikingly illustrated in Old Testament times in connection with Israel’s annual Day of Atonement. On that day, Aaron, the high priest (a type of Christ), made satisfaction to God for the sins which Israel had committed during the previous year.
The way this was done is described in . Two goats were taken and presented before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle. One of the goats was then taken and killed, and its blood was carried into the tabernacle within the veil, into the Holy of Holies, and there it was sprinkled before and upon the mercy-seat—foreshadowing Christ offering himself as a sacrifice to God, to meet the demands of his justice and satisfy the requirements of his holiness.
Then we read that Aaron came out of the tabernacle and laid both his hands upon the head of the second (living) goat—signifying an act of identification by which Aaron, the representative of the whole nation, identified the people with it, acknowledging that its doom was what their sins merited. Having laid his hands on the head of the live goat, Aaron now confessed over him
And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.
Thus were Israel’s sins transferred to their substitute. Finally we are told,
The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.
The goat bearing Israel’s sins was taken into an uninhabited wilderness, and the people of God saw him and their sins no more! In type this was Christ taking our sins into that desolate land where God was not, and there making an end of them. The cross of Christ then is the grave of our sins!
The goat bearing Israel’s sins was taken into an uninhabited wilderness, and the people of God saw him and their sins no more! In type this was Christ taking our sins into that desolate land where God was not, and there making an end of them. The cross of Christ then is the grave of our sins!
“It is finished”
the Consummation of the Law’s Requirements.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
The “weakness” here is that of fallen man. The sending forth of God’s Son in the likeness of sin’s flesh refers to the Incarnation:
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
The Savior was born “under the law,” born under it that he might keep it perfectly in thought, word and deed.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
But not only did the Savior keep the precepts of the law; he also suffered its penalty and endured its curse. We had broken it, and taking our place, he must receive its just sentence. Having received its penalty and endured its curse the demands of the law are fully met and justice is satisfied. Therefore it is written of believers,
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
“It is finished”
THE Destruction of Satan’s Power.
The cross sounded the death-knell of the devil’s power. To human appearances it looked like the moment of his greatest triumph, yet, it was the hour of his ultimate defeat. In view of the cross the Savior declared,
Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
It is true that Satan has not yet been chained and cast into the bottomless pit, nevertheless, sentence has been passed (though not yet executed); his doom is certain; and his power is already broken so far as believers are concerned.
For the Christian the devil is a defeated foe. He was defeated by Christ at the cross—
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
Believers have already been
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
Satan, then, should be treated as a defeated enemy. No longer has he any legitimate claim upon us. Once we were his lawful “captives” but Christ has freed us. Once we walked “according to the Prince of the power of the air;” but now we are to follow the example which Christ has left us.
Once Satan “worked in us;” but now God works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. All that we now must do is to “Resist the devil,” and the promise is, “he will flee from you” ().
“It is finished.” Do you believe it? Or, are you trying to add something of your own to the finished work of Christ to secure the favor of God? All you must do is to accept the pardon which he purchased. God is satisfied with the work of Christ, why are not you?
Sinner, the moment you believe God’s testimony concerning his Son, that moment every sin you have committed is blotted out, and you stand accepted in Christ! Would you not like to possess the assurance that there is nothing between your soul and God? Would you not like to know that every sin had been atoned for and put away?
Then believe what God’s word says about Christ’s death. Rest not on your feelings and experiences but on the written word. There is only one way of finding peace, and that is through faith in the shed blood of God’s Lamb.
“It is finished.” Do you really believe it? Or, are you endeavoring to add something of your own to merit the favor of God?
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
He’s saying. “I have traversed every inch. There’s an infinite chasm between you and God, an infinite distance, and I have traversed every inch. I have paid it all. I have accomplished it all. There is nothing more for you to do.”
Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.
who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.