Randall Caselman
Bella Vista Church of Christ
May 19, 2002 A.M.
It Is Finished!!
Reading - John 19.28-30
When we come to the end of life... Will we be able to say that we have finished the work that God has given us to accomplish? Or... Will we have just pretty much lived as we pleased with only a reverent nod in God's direction?
- How many of our opportunities were squandered?
- How many invitation songs have we spurned?
- How many good deeds have we left undone?
- How much will we leave unfinished?
Deny as we wish... One day... We shall be called into account in the Judgment day.
God help us to be like Paul when he wrote... "For I am ready... The time has come for my departure... I have fought the good fight... I have finished the race... I have kept the faith... There is in store 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 longed for his appearing."
Church... There is a crown of life... There is a reward for all who will...
- Fight the fight...
- Run the race...
- Keep the faith...
- Finish the task.
This is the promise of Jesus from Revelation 2.10... "Do not be afraid... Be faithful unto and until death... And I will give you the crown of life."
John 4.34 has Jesus saying... "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work."
And now... Jesus is able to say... It is finished with absolute truthfulness.
- He died without a single regret...
- He didn't need more time to preach one more sermon...
- Heal one more person...
- Create one more loaf of bread.
He was only thirty-three... But had finished all the work God wanted Him to accomplish. Jesus died ready to face God because... It was finished.
Here it is church... Jesus did all that He was supposed to do... And did nothing He was not supposed to do
This sixth sentence Jesus uttered from the cross is only one word in the Greek... TETELESTAI.
The Greek word tetelestai means...
- To pay the price...
- To fulfill the obligation
- To bring to an end...
- To complete...
- To accomplish.
In classical Greek this word was used in many ways... For instance...
I am told that its main use involved a prisoner who had his crime paid for by a friend. The Judge would write the word tetelestai on a piece of parchment which was then nailed to the door of the prison cell. When the guard came by and saw the word... He would open the cell and the prisoner would be free to go.
Tetelestai was a word used by the Greeks in financial transactions. A sales clerk would write tetelestai on the sales receipt or bills of lading. The word meant PAID IN FULL!! It meant that no debt was outstanding... No further payments were required.
In the New Testament... Tetelestai appears other places beside here at the cross... And is variously translated... For instance...
- In Matthew 11.1 we find... After Jesus had finished... (TETELESTAI)... Instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.
- Luke 2.39... When Joseph and Mary had done everything... (TETELESTAI)... Required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.
- Then Luke 18.31... Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished... Fulfilled.... (ACCOMPLISHED... FULFILLED is the translation of the word TETELESTAI).
Now... When Jesus said... It is finished... He was not saying that He was finished... But that IT was finished... What was finished?... What was Jesus saying here on the cross?
First.. He was saying that His suffering was finished.
I think we would agreed that Jesus lived a life of suffering from the moment He left the heavenly palaces of light to the moment darkness descended upon Him here at the cross.
- Jesus made Himself nothing... Taking the very nature of a servant... Being made in human likeness... But it is finished!
- He was born in a stable... A crib His bed... Livestock His companions... But it is finished!
- Jesus came to His own... And was rejected by them... But it is finished!
- He was despised and rejected by men... Even by His own family... But it is finished!
- A man of sorrows... And familiar with suffering... But it is finished!
- He was betrayed... denied... and forsaken by His own disciples... But this too is finished!
- He was unfairly tried... Whipped... Crowned with thorns... Crucified... But now it is finished!
- Suffering on the cross... He was forsaken by God... But it is finished!!
Secondly... Jesus was saying that Scripture had been fulfilled.
After this... Jesus, knowing that all things had been accomplished in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, He said... I am thirsty. Dozens of Old and New Testament scriptures foretold of His birth... life... and death. Jesus knew that after He had been offered the sour wine... That no other Scripture concerning His death remained unfulfilled... So He says... It is finished.
This reminds us of what Jesus said in John ten... I lay down my life-- only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.
Church... The Jews... The Romans... Satan didn't take Jesus' life from Him... He gave it up freely... Only when He was ready... JESUS died voluntarily.
We are mortal... We have no control over our own death... Except in suicide. You see... Jesus was God in the flesh... God incarnate. Even though He could have saved Himself any time He wanted... He didn't!!
- Only Jesus could give up His Spirit voluntarily... As a willing sacrifice. The phrase... Gave up His Spirit never appears anywhere else in the Bible or in other Greek literature. It is used here because Jesus was the eternal Son of God. His life was not taken from Him... He gave it up.
- Only Jesus could take it up again in three days of His own accord.
- Only Jesus could fulfill all Scripture.
From the time of His birth until His ascension into heaven... Jesus seemed to be making sure that all that Scripture said of Him was fulfilled... TETELESTAI!! You see... Jesus didn't die until He was sure He had accomplished His mission... Aren't we glad??
Thirdly... Jesus was saying that Satan had been defeated.
The cross may have looked like the moment of Satan's greatest triumph... Yet in reality... It was the hour of his ultimate defeat. The cross sounded the death bell for Satan... And his power over mankind.
Listen to these scriptures which affirm this concept...
Hebrews 2.9-15... We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone... for He has become the author of our salvation through suffering... Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers... Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil-- and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
First Corinthians 15.55-57... Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?... The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.... But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1.13... For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves... In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins... He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
You see... There was a time when people died... That they were held in a place called...
- Paradise...
- Abraham's bosom...
It was a place of rest and peace... But not in God's immediate presence. The reason for this was that they still had their sins. Yes... They were... just... righteous... God-fearing and serving people. But were still held in bondage... in captivity by Satan
Now listen to what Paul says happened to these souls at the cross--at the death of Jesus: First from Ephesians 4.7 & 8... Grace was given to each of us when He ascended on high. He led captivity captive... and gave gifts to men. When Jesus died, the souls of… Just... Righteous... Godly men and women were rescued from the clutches of Satan... and from the power of death. The Hebrew writer speaks of the spirits of just men made perfect by the mediator of a new covenant... Sprinkled with blood that was better than the blood of Able.
I believe some of these were the ones who exited their graves when Jesus died... and went into Jerusalem and appeared to those who knew them. No wonder Paul said... To be absent in the body is to be present with God. No wonder he could say in Philippians that he was caught between two options... to die... and go be with the Lord. Or to stay and serve the church. You see... At the cross, Jesus destroyed the power of Satan over death.
Now... Just... Righteous... Saved men and women are free from His clutches... They are free to ascend into the presence of God at death. Praise His Name!!
Aren't we glad Jesus could say... It is finished.
Note with me now that the price of our sins was paid in full. Jesus coming to this planet was no random afterthought on God's behalf. It was in His heart before the foundation of our world. The mission of incarnation was clear from the beginning...
- Forgiveness ...
- Atonement for all our sins...
- Redemption of the human race.
I think the Hebrews writer said it well in chapter ten... It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said... Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, "Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll--I have come to do your will, O God."
Jesus became our substitute... Where we should have died, He died for us. This was Paul's statement in Second Corinthians 5... And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again... Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ... Not counting our sins against us... God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
You see... The price for our sin has been pain in full....
The story is told of Satan coming to Martin Luther saying... Look at this list of sins in your life... You can't possibly be saved by your faith with a sin list like this. Luther asked... Is this all?... Are these all my sins? Satan said... No... and produced another long list, telling Luther that this was all his past and future sins. Luther took a pin and wrote... Cleansed by the blood of Christ at the cross.
Church... I want you to think of the sins in your life... Will you do that with me for a moment?
- Think of the gossip... Paid in full.
- Think of the hate... Paid in full.
- Think of the greed... Paid in full.
- Perhaps an abortion... Paid in full.
- Fornication... Adultery... Pornography... Illicit fancies... Paid in full.
- Selfishness... Failing to be a proper parent... Paid in full.
- Forsaking and abandoning our spiritual responsibilities... Paid in full.
If I have overlooked your sin... You can add it to the list... and then know that it has been paid for at the cross... TETELESTAI... Paid in full.
I had a man tell me recently... I want to stand before God on the basis of my own record.
Let me tell you something... You most certainly do not want to do such a stupid thing. We have no righteousness that can in any way merit forgiveness of sin... Any sin. Scripture tells us about such thinking in Isaiah 64.6... All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Paul reasoned like this... O wretched man that I am... If God can and will save me, the worst of sinners, He can and will save anybody who will accept Jesus by faith... For it is by grace through faith that we are saved.
Number five... Jesus is saying atonement has been accomplished.
"It is finished"... Was not a sigh of relief... or a moan of resignation.
- Jesus was announcing and proclaiming victory...
- He was giving a shout of joy and triumph...
- This was a shout of jubilation and exultation...
- Tetelestai was a shout of victory...
- It was Jesus' shout of... Job well done...
- It was His lifetime achievement...
- It was His mission accomplished...
- Our iniquities have been laid on Him.
Church... How do we know that God accepted this substitutionary death? How do we know that our sins can be transferred to Jesus? No sooner did Jesus give this shout of TETELESTAI...
- And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from the top to bottom...
- Jesus had entered once and for all through the curtain to offer sacrifice for the sins of the world, from Adam until the end of time.
- The earth shook and the rocks split...
- The graves of just men were opened...
- Three days later... The grave of Jesus was opened...
- Forty days later He ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God.
This is proof... If proof is needed.
Then there are such New Testament promises as...
Ephesians 2.4-6... Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
Ephesians 1.7... In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
Galatians 3.26 & 27... We are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ... Have been clothed with Christ.
Romans 8.1... Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
1 John 1.7 & 9... If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, continues to cleanse... To purify us from all sin. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
This brings us our final point.. The unfinished business at the cross. You see... Jesus finished His business here... The business of incarnation was accomplished. Now the question is this... Do you and your preacher have some unfinished business we need to take care of?
No... There is nothing you and I can do to atone for our own sins...
- That was done at the cross...
- Jesus paid it all...
This is why Jesus said...
It is finished.
Audience... What is not finished is our response to His death...
- Come to Jesus... Become a child of God by faith, repentance and baptism.
- Come acknowledge your sins to Him... Asking for forgiveness.
Will you come... As we stand and sing together?
