“It Is Finished!”

John 19:28-30, “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” 

“It is finished,” was the seventh and final word spoken by Jesus from the cross. This was not a gasp of defeat but a shout of triumph. The Greek term translated “it is finished” is tetelestai and means “paid in full.” All that the Law demanded, all that prophecy foretold, every shadow of the sacrificial system found its completion in that moment. Dear reader, salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Nothing can be added to Christ’s finished work. Resist the siren song of self-righteousness, rest instead in the perfect sufficiency of the cross. Jesus has canceled your debt. You need to trust His provision, and when you do that by faith, then your life will increasingly become a hymn of thankful obedience, not an anxious attempt to earn favor. Jesus paid it all. Nothing remains to be paid. All to Him I owe. So, I will praise Him for His grace. Sin had left a crimson stain, but He has washed me white as snow. I must trust Him to empower me to serve Him, not to gain acceptance but because in Him I am already accepted.