It is finished

“It is finished.”  John 19:30

It is finished – What do you want to be the last word of your life?  This is not a trivial question.  What word will summarize everything that describes who you are?  What single word would you choose as your remembrance?

Jesus uttered this last word with his dying breath.  His Aramaic word was translated into the single Greek word Tetelestai.  This word comes from the root word telos – the goal, the end, the completion.  No one can utter this word as the last word of life unless life has been a long commitment toward an ultimate purpose.  Jesus said that he came into the world to die, and in this moment, on the cross, his life was fulfilled.  Jesus accomplished his purpose for living.

This is a word of incredible power.  We can see a bit of the depth here when we notice that it is a perfect indicative passive tense.  Don’t roll your eyes yet.  This is important.

An indicative mood makes a statement (rather than a question or a command).  It points out a fact.  Here is the most important fact of human existence.

The perfect tense describes a completed action in the past that has continuing results for the present.  Jesus did not die on that day for himself or for that time.  His death is the death for all time.  Its results will go on forever, even after the end of this world.  The perfect tense does not emphasize the past.  It focuses our attention on the present consequences of the action.  Jesus death is not about the past crucifixion.  It is about the present expiation of sin.

The passive voice indicates an action that happens to the subject, not something that the subject does.  The subject here is “it”, an added English pronoun.  In Greek, this word implies the subject.  What is “it” that is finished?  For that answer, we must go back to the beginning of God’s redemptive plan.  Thousands of years in the making, Jesus’ death completes the plan of God.  God’s purpose is finished in Jesus’ act. 

Perhaps we see more clearly if we translate this word, “It has been accomplished.”  It is not about the end of his life.  It is about the new beginning of everything.  This is the summary word of the plan of God.  It is the word that redeems Mankind, restores the creation and fulfills God’s intention.  It is the word that announces a new heaven and a new earth.  There has never been, and never will be, another word like it.

And what about you and me?  The root of this word is the same root word for our completion.  When you utter your last, summary word, will you reflect the Lord of the living?  Will you be able to say with Him, “It has been accomplished”?