Tetelestai - The Word of Victory

It is finished...

John 19:29-30a A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”

The phrase "it is finished", or in Greek "tetelestai", when it was shouted on the cross by Jesus was in the perfect tense.  That means “It is finished,” meant “It was finished in the past, it is still finished in the present and it will remain finished forever.”  Tetelestai, then, is the Savior’s final cry of victory. When he died, he left no unfinished business behind.  What then, was this business that Christ finished?

Christ purchased our salvation, thus obtaining for us eternal life.

Hebrews 9:11-12 But when Christ came as high priest ... He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.

Tetelestai also means "paid in full".  Christ paid for all of our sins; past, present and future.

Colossians 2:13-14 When you were dead in your sins ... God made us alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

How do we obtain this eternal life then, knowing we deserve death?

Romans 3:23-24 ...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith.

By accepting Christ's payment for my sins, God declares me innocent.  By accepting by faith that Christ took my sins and died in my place; that He became my substitute, I am justified, I am made righteous.

Once justified we now have peace with God.

Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

and enjoy a new life of grace and peace with God now and forever.

Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

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Scripture citations are from:  Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN or New King James Version®. (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson