"It is finished"

Tetelestai!

Unfinished business. Most people's lives are rife with it. There's the unfinished project you meant to complete this weekend, but something came up. Or that college diploma you are going to get when you go back to school. Or the back of the house, but why paint it? You can't see it from the road anyway.

Bargain hunters can find the exercise equipment we were going to use. Or the old car we were always trying to find time to work on. Even jigsaw puzzle makes have had to downsize their puzzles, because they say Americans won't stick through to completion if the number of pieces are too great.

We rarely focus on seeing a task all the way to completion. We know we should, and we believe we could if we put our mind to it. The inconsistency of our lives causes us to live at a level far below God's best for us. If we could just stay faithful.

The Greeks used to end their prayers with this word - tetelestai. The word can also mean goal or finish line. As in I have run the race to the finish, to the completion. I have accomplished my goal.


30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, "It is finished!" Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30 (NLT)

Yet here Jesus yells in victory, "It is finished!, (completed!) (done!)

What's finished?

Sin's power over the believer is finished.

Until Christ's sacrifice, thousands of animals gave their lives every year in an effort to pay for sin. Picture the priests at the temple as they spend hour after hour ritually sacrificing these animals. Hear their cries as they are slaughtered. See the rivers of blood flow from the temple into the Kidron Brook.

Day, after day, after day. When Jesus cried "It is finished!" sin's power died.

Once for all time He took blood into that Most Holy Place, but not the blood of goats and calves. He took His own blood, and with it He secured our salvation forever.Heb 9:12 (NLT)

Once for all time, Jesus paid the price for our sins. Now our past is just that - past. Don't let guilt strangle the life out of you. If you've confessed your sins to Jesus and accepted His forgiveness, you should experience the freedom of Christ.

As we prepare to celebrate Easter, make sure you thank God for the finished work of Christ.

"It is finished!"