Reading: John chapter 19 verse 30
In this series of studies:
• We are considering the seven statements of Jesus from the cross:
• These statements are very important to us:
• Not only because of the Person who spoke them;
• But, also because of the place where they were said.
• Remember the context that these great words were spoken in;
• It was when our Jesus was doing His greatest work on earth,
Quote:
“These seven last words from the cross are windows that enable us to look into eternity and see the heart of God.”
• This morning we are looking at the sixth statement that Jesus made on the cross;
• “It is finished!”
• Our last two studies have been occupied with the tragedy of the cross;
• Today we shall see the triumph of the cross.
Quote: A.W. Pink:
“In his words “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” we heard the saviours cry of desolation.
In his words “I thirst” we listened to his cry of lamentation; now there falls upon our ears his cry of jubilation – “it is finished”.
From the words of the victim we now turn to the words of the victor.”
When you read the Gospel records concerning the death of Jesus Christ:
• You discover that the last words of Jesus were not whispered;
• Or even the quietly spoken murmurings of a man about to do.
• In fact the very opposite is true, we read words like these:
• ‘With a loud shout’ or ‘in a loud voice’ or ‘Jesus cried out’.
Note:
• Each of the four gospels record for us how Jesus spoke;
• He did not mummer or mutter his words in fact the opposite, he spoke up loud and clear;
Ill:
• Matthew writes (chapter 27 verse 50):
• “When Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit”.
• Mark writes (chapter 15 verse 37):
• With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last”.
• Luke writes:
• Jesus called out with a loud voice…..”.
Matthew, Mark and Luke:
• Tell us the way in which Jesus spoke; “In a loud voice”.
• John alone tells us what Jesus said “It is finished”.
• Remember John was the eye-witness who stood at the cross and so he heard it himself!
• And recorded these important words of Jesus.
• He did not say, "I am finished." This was not a cry of defeat;
• Instead it was a shout of victory! "It is finished!"
• Jesus was not referring to himself;
• But rather to the work that he was accomplishing on the cross.
Though Jesus ended His earthly days with distress and trauma:
• He would die with the satisfaction of knowing
• That the purpose for His coming had been successfully fulfilled.
Ill:
• In the Greek language in which John wrote,
• This statement is one ten lettered word: ‘tet-el-est-ai’.
• Translated into English as three words, it simply means;
• It is finished, it stands finished, and it always will be finished."
Quote: The nineteenth-century preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon said:
“That this one word…..would need all the other words that were ever spoken, or ever can be spoken, to explain it…..It is altogether immeasurable. It is high; I cannot attain to it. It is deep; I cannot fathom it."
• Well if the great Charles Haddon Spurgeon couldn’t adequately explain this word;
• I’ve got no-chance!
• So although this morning we will only scratch the surface of its meaning;
• I think we will find enough there to help us appreciate what Christ achieved.
(1). A familiar word:
(a). A word used by Servants.
• Servants and the slaves used this word.
• A master would tell his servant to go do something,
• And when the servant had completed the task, he would come back and say,
• "Tet-el-est-ai - I have finished the work that you gave me to do."
Jesus - Gods perfect servant:
• The Lord Jesus Christ was God’s suffering servant.
• Philippians 2 informs us that Jesus Christ came as a servant.
“Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. 6Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. 7He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form.”
• When Jesus entered our world He did not come as a sovereign but as a servant,
• Not as a ruler but as a slave.
• And every slave or servant has work to do.
• So too with Jesus!
Ill:
Turn with me to Luke chapter 2 verses 41-49:
• When Jesus was aged twelve He was separated from his family;
• They found him in the temple and said, “We’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
• The reply of Jesus is simple but very meaningful;
• "Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?" (Luke chapter 2 verse 49)
• At age twelve Jewish boys have their Bar-Mitzvah;
• Which means “able to do good deeds”
• When a Jewish boy reaches this age; he becomes responsible for his own behaviour.
• From this time on he becomes a man.
• At this point he also becomes a partner with his father;
• In whatever trade or profession his father has.
According to Jewish custom:
• On a large family journey the women went ahead of the men;
• This enabled them to put up tents and cook a meal for when the men arrived.
• The children under twelve travelled with their mothers,
• And boys over twelve travelled with their fathers.
• Jesus may well have travelled there with Mary;
• As he had always done.
• But now he was twelve;
• It was normal for him to travel back with Joseph.
This of course gives us an insight into the first recorded words of Jesus:
"Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?"
• Jesus was aware even at this young age;
• Who he was and why he had been born into the world.
• His true business was with his heavenly father in the temple;
• Not his earthly father Joseph in the carpenters shop.
• And even at this young age, Jesus was aware of this;
• Yet notice verse 51:
“Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.”
A servant does not please himself:
• And God’s perfect servant lived in obedience to the will of his heavenly Father.
• Which would mean another eighteen years working in a carpentry shop in Nazareth.
• Then when the time was right he would step out on a ministry of suffering and affliction;
• Which would culminate in the cross.
Ill:
• We know that elsewhere in the New Testament Jesus could say:
• John chapter 8 verse 29: “For I always do what pleases the Father.”
(b). A word used by Priests:
• Priests also used this word.
• The Jewish people had to bring their sacrifices to the priest to be examined,
• Because, it was against the law to offer an imperfect sacrifice at the altar of God.
• After the priest had examined the sacrifice, he would say, "It is perfect."
• Of course, he would use the Hebrew or the Aramaic word,
• But it would be the equivalent of this word "Tet-el-est-ai”.
Jesus - Gods perfect Priest:
• In our recent studies in the book of Hebrews;
• We have seen in detail how Christ has fulfilled the whole of the O.T. rites.
• The whole scheme of the priesthood and temple ceremonies;
• Were fulfilled and completed in his perfect death upon the cross.
• The Old Testament sacrifices were a for-shadowing of this great sacrifice;
• They were a representation, a prefiguring of what was to come.
• They were like signposts pointing towards the future;
• When the substance, the perfect sacrifice would be made.
THINK OF THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE TWO:
(a).
• Old Covenant: Repeated sacrifices.
• New Covenant: One sacrifice.
(b).
• Old Covenant: The blood of animals.
• New Covenant: His own blood.
(c).
• Old Covenant: Sin was covered.
• New Covenant: Sin was put away.
(d).
• Old Covenant: Was for Israel only.
• New Covenant: Was for all sinners.
(e).
• Old Covenant: High Priest Left the holy of holies and came out to bless the people
• New Covenant: Great High Priest will come to take His people to heaven.
• In short, the work of Christ is a completed work;
• Final and eternal.
Ill:
• To show this truth God gave a visual aid.
• The curtain in the temple ‘was torn in two from top to the bottom’.
• Instead of entry into God’s presence;
• Being restricted to the high priest entering the Holy of Holies on only one day in the year,
• Entrance into God’s presence was now available to all who came through Christ.
• From now on there was a new way had opened up to God; the old way is redundant.
(c). A word used by Artists:
• Artists also used this word.
• When a painter completed his work,
• He would step back and say, "Tet-el-est-ai -it is finished!"
• Meaning: "The picture is completed."
Jesus - Gods perfect Artist:
• The Old Testament was God’s picture gallery:
• It contains ceremonies, types, prophecies and symbols.
In this verse Jesus fulfilled the final prophecy concerning his first coming:
• The very first prophecy was in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15:
• “That he would be the woman’s seed”
• The very last one was when he was given a drink in fulfilment of Psalm 69 verse 21:
• “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst”.
The Old Testament was God’s picture gallery:
• It contains so many pictures of Jesus;
• And when Jesus Christ came, He completed the picture!
Ill:
• Remember Luke chapter 24;
• Where two discouraged men were walking on the road to Emmaus.
• A stranger joined them,
• And they started telling the stranger about the death of Jesus their messiah.
• Then the stranger (who was the risen Christ)
• Said to them;
“How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.”
Jesus the artist painted for them a completed picture from the scriptures:
• Although the Jewish Old Testament is the same as ours is arranged differently;
• e.g. last book in out O.T. is Malachi in a Jewish O.T. it is second Chronicles.
• This was the order that Jesus knew and referred to;
• In Matthew chapter 23 verse 35 you have a strange an obscure verse quoted:
“And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar”.
• To us that verse does not make sense;
• But to a Jew it makes perfect sense.
• Abel is mentioned in the first book of the Old Testament – Genesis.
• Zechariah son of Berekiah is the last righteous man mentioned in second Chronicles.
• The example Jesus gives is like saying form first to last;
• From beginning to end, from cover to cover.
A Jewish Old Testament is divided into three sections:
• Section 1: ‘The Torah’ – The Law.
• Section 2: ‘The Nabine’ – The prophets.
• Section 3: ‘The Ketuvim’ – The writings.
• It was from these three sections that Jesus the artist in Luke chapter 24 verse 44:
• Painted a picture to these disciples regarding himself:
“He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses (Torah), the Prophets (Nabime) and the Psalms (Writings).”
(d). A word used by Merchants:
• Among merchants this was a familiar word.
• To them, it meant "the debt is fully paid."
• If you had purchased something,
• The merchant would take your money and then would give you a receipt.
• That receipt would say "Tetelestai-it is finished."
• The debt had been fully paid.
Ill:
• In Bible days when somebody owed a debt and was un able to pay it;
• The mans creditors would shame him or his family into paying up.
• They would write the mans name and the size of the debt on a piece of paper;
• And fix it, by nailing it to the city gates.
• As people went in and out of the city, the debt was there for all to see;
• A constant embarrassment to the man and his family.
But a kind relative might pay the mans debt:
• In doing so they would fold the debt in half;
• This meant you could not see the debtors name or debt
• And they fixed it to the gates until the creditor was paid in full;
• Then it would be removed.
• Many commentators think Paul had this picture in mind;
• When he wrote in Colossians chapter 2 verse 14:
“Having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross”.
14”Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross”;
14”God wiped out the charges that were against us for disobeying the Law of Moses. He took them away and nailed them to the cross”.
14”The slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant cancelled and nailed to Christ’s Cross”.
IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES:
• This word "Tet-el-est-ai” was in common use,
• It was a familiar word that meant.
• The servant had finished the work. The perfect sacrifice had been offered.
• The picture had been completed. The debt had been paid.
Ill:
• Some years ago there was an eccentric evangelist whose name was Alexander Wooton.
• Was taking down his tent after a series of tent meetings.
• A young man came to him one day and said, "Mr Wooten, what must I do to be saved?"
• Without looking up, Alexander Wooton replied, "You’re too late young man!"
• The young man was rather taken aback and asked;
• "Do you mean that now the meetings are over, it’s too late to be saved?”
• Alexander Wooton replied,
• “You are nineteen-hundred years too late to do anything – Jesus did it all!”
• That is the message of the gospel;
• The work of salvation is completed. “Tetelestai - it is finished!”
In shouting "Tetelestai!"
• Jesus gave the most triumphant cry in all of human history.
• He affirmed that He had successfully completed a great and mighty work.
• His life on earth closed,
• Not as a failure but as the culmination of an eternal plan.
• The script had been written before Bethlehem,
• And now the curtain was about to close with everything in place.
