It Is Finished!

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” (John 19:30 KJV)

“Finished” is the Greek word “tetelestai” and comes from the verb “teleo.”  According to Bible.org, “Tetelestai was written on business documents or receipts in New Testament times to indicate that a bill had been PAID IN FULL. Some versions translate the word as “accomplished.” The Greek-English Lexicon by Moulton and Milligan says this:

Receipts are often introduced by the phrase tetelestai, usually written in an abbreviated manner… (p. 630).

The connection between receipts and what Christ accomplished would have been quite clear to John’s Greek-speaking readership. It would be unmistakable that Jesus Christ had died to pay for their sins.  Strong’s Concordance has this definition:

• To bring to a close, to finish, to end; passed, finished
• To perform, execute, complete, fulfill, (so that the thing done corresponds to what has been said, the order, command etc.)
• With special reference to the subject matter, to carry out the contents of a command
• With reference also to the form, to do just as commanded, and generally involving the notion of time, to perform the last act which completes a process, to accomplish, fulfill
• To pay, as of tribute

Jesus said “It is finished.” What was “IT?”

Jesus only did what he saw God the father do or what the father told him to do. He did it in the way that he was supposed to, whether it was a task, a chore, or an assignment. And whatever he started, he completed. According to Jesus himself, that included:

• To fulfill the scriptures
• To take on our sins, trespasses, guilt, punishment, and the payment for them
• To take on our diseases, ailments, sicknesses, weaknesses, pains
• To reclaim the authority over planet earth that Adam traded away

“But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” (Luke 12:50)

“Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. ” (Luke 18:31)

“For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, ‘And he was reckoned among the transgressors:’ for the things concerning me have an end.” (Luke 22:37)

“After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.” (John 19:28)

“…having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:14 NASB)

“Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

“For he hath made him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor. 5:21)

“And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Matthew 28:18)

“When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.'” (Rev. 1:17-18)

IT, all of it, is accomplished!

PAID IN FULL!  FINISHED.