IT IS FINISHED!

JOHN 19:30-20:8              

Pastor Rick Jackson

The Greek word “tetelestai”, here correctly translated, “It is finished!”, had 3 primary uses in Jesus’s day. Each one has a meaning for us.

 

I. THE GOAL IS ACCOMPLISHED- a servant would tell his master “tetelestai” when a task was completed

1. The Pre-redemptive Work was Completed [17:1-4]

2. The Redemptive Work was now Complete [19:28-30]

3. The Post-redemptive Work would be Completed as Well [Jn. 20:8-9, 19-22, 14:1-4, 16:7]

 

II. THE DEBT IS COMPLETELY PAID- Papyri receipts for taxes have been recovered with this word written across them

1. We Owed a Debt We Could Not Pay, He Paid a Debt He Did Not Owe [Rm. 3:23, 1 Pet. 3:18]

- For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

-For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

2. He Paid a Price More Than Equal to the Debt, Yet Many Reject Him [1 Jn. 2:2, Heb. 4:2, 2:3]

-And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

- For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

- How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

3. The Resurrection is the Stamp of Approval on the Payment Made [Rm. 1:1-4, Is. 53]

- Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

 

III. THE VICTORY IS SECURE- when the war was essentially over, the enemy defeated, the cry was given

1. The Battle Goal Was Clear [1 John 3:8]

He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

2. The Victory Has Been Declared [Jn. 19:30]

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

3. The Spoils of Victory have been Shared [Eph. 4:8-13]

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: