John 19:30; Mt. 5:17-20; Rom. 8:1-4; 10:4

I thirst calls attention to the person, it is finished to the work.  In the Greek it is one word: Tetelestai!

Sixth: It is finished.                                                                       

What did Jesus mean?  What was finished?  Certainly He is saying that the life He came to live is over; He is now going to die.  But the Scriptures will not let us simply say these are His dying words.  We have already seen that the process of perfecting the captain and author of our salvation, the full obedience of the Son, was finished.  But there is so much more that might be said.

·        Jesus finished His Father’s work.  He said that was what He came to do (Jn. 4:23).  In the Upper Room He said, I have finished the work You have given Me to do (Jn. 17:4), knowing the hour had come for the final work (Ac. 2:23).

·        Jesus finished the Law.  He came to fulfill the law (Mt. 5:17-20).  By His righteous life Jesus condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us (Rom. 8:1-4).  Thus Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom. 10:4).

·        Jesus fully took our punishment.  All sinners (i.e. all mankind) abides under the wrath of God (Jn. 3:36).  Christ made propitiation; that is, His blood satisfied the wrath of God for all sinners (Rom. 3:25; 1 Jn. 4:10; Lev. 17:11).  

·        Jesus paid in full the price of redemption (Ps. 49:7-9,15; Heb. 9:12.)  Remember Ruth in the OT.  Boaz loved Ruth and was willing to pay the redemption price that she might become his bride.  So Jesus, in love, paid the full price by which we, being enslaved to sin, might be freed to serve Christ.

·        Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament types involving salvation.   He is the last Adam, the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45).  He is Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 6:19-20).  He fulfills Isaac who willingly went to the Mountain of the Lord with his father Abraham to be sacrificed (Heb. 11:17ff).  There are many more of these types that required the cross for fulfillment.

·        Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophesies concerning salvation.  Jesus was in the line of Eve (Gen. 3:15), Shem (Gen. 9:26f), Abraham (Gen. 12:3), Judah (Gen. 49:8-10) and David (2 Sam. 7:15f).  He was the virgin-born Son (Isa. 7:14), the Branch (Jer. 23:5-6) and the Servant (Isa. 42:1-7).  And many more fulfilled on the cross.

·        Jesus finished His commitment of love.  John said of Jesus and His disciples, He loved them to the end (Jn. 13:1).  Jesus did just that, on the cross.  As the Father said to Israel, so Jesus could say to the world: I have loved you with an everlasting love (Jer. 31:3).  Jesus said, As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love (Jn. 15:9).

TETELESTAI! FINISHED!