Friday, April 06, 2012

"It is finished"

...before He died, Jesus cried, ―It is finished‖ (John 19:30). These three English words translate one Greek word: tetelestai (teh-TELL-ess-tie). With this marvelous word, Christ says, "It stands accomplished." Everything that needed to be done has been done; every bit of the mission the Father gave Him for His glory, the redemption of His people, the defeat of Satan, and the reclamation of the planet, has been brought to completion.

Jesus is saying that everything necessary for the completion of God‘s saving plan has been accomplished. At that moment, the great curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place tore in two, from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51; these compartments were discussed in chapter 4). This was an act of God, trumpeting that the way into the Holiest Place had been thrown open by the sacrifice of Jesus (cf. Heb. 9:8; 10:19–20).

The reality that all the sacrifices had foreshadowed throughout the many centuries of OT history now had come to fulfillment. The picture gave way to the reality, the shadow to the body, the promissory note to the full payment. God‘s very presence was open to sinful man through the substitutionary atoning death of the Son of God. 
(from The World-Tilting Gospel, 128)

7 comments:

Randy Talley said...

Amen, and all praise to our precious, mighty God.

But you must have the Reader's Digest version of TWTG. That's on page 128 in my copy!

Blessings to you and your flock as you celebrate the resurrection together this weekend, Dan.

DJP said...

L, I B. My pdf is all mispaginated. At least the text is right! I'll correct the post, since you shared it with the world.

Better check the one I've got slated for Sunday at Pyro. Thanks!

Gordon Cheng said...

Hey Dan.

I hope this doesn't sound too trivial, I don't mean it to be that.

One dying breath. Surely, to have been heard (and to have been said), it would have been TEH-tell-ess-tie.

DJP said...

Gordon, I only know from the accenting in the standard Greek text, and it has the accent on the second syllable, as I present it here.

Gordon Cheng said...

Hey Dan, same Greek I probably learned. But at the time I learned it, we were taught that no-one really knew how it was pronounced, so that you could say it which ever way you pleased.

But I was speculating (which is all we can do) about what our Lord actually did sound like as he breathed his last, that side of the cross.

All assuming that his final cry was not in Aramaic, of course, which it may well have been.

In any case, Christos Anesteh!!

Ron Van Brenk said...

Thanks Gordon,

And how do think he said, ηλι ηλι λεμα σαβαχθανι (Mat 27:46 BGT)?

Do you think it sounded like Elijah?

Gordon Cheng said...

Ron, for sure some of his hearers thought that.

Which leaves us with another question, how did 'Elijah' sound in those days!