Tetelestai

As we enter Holy week, we are reminded of the price Jesus Christ paid for our redemption.  On Good Friday, as He hung between heaven and earth, He cried, "Tetelestai" which means "It is finished".  It comes the Greek verb teleo, meaning finish, accomplish or fulfill.  It was not a cry of defeat but rather of victory.  The use of the perfect tense in Jn 19:30 conveys a completed action that has an ongoing result.  A great exchange took place at the cross:  we have traded
our curses for His blessings
our sicknesses for His health
our poverty for His riches
our doubts for His faith
our strife for His peace
our hatred for His love
our iniquities for His forgiveness and much more ...

Certainly Christ's death on the cross has made it possible for many to enter God's kingdom, no matter what their status in life is.  The good news is that this door of salvation is still wide open.  "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name."   Jn 1:12 (NASB)

What work did Jesus come to accomplish on earth?  In the early part of His earthly ministry, Jesus said to His disciples, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work."  Jn 4:34 (NIV).  He is referring to the work God the Father had given Him to do, and in the context, it had to do with soul winning.  We all know that food gives us the energy to keep on going in life.  Jesus said that the thing that sustains Him on earth is to do and accomplish the will of God.  Some questions we should ask ourselves: "What keeps me going in life?", "Do I know the will of God for my life?"

Towards the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus prayed, "I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do."  Jn 17:4 (NIV).  He recognised the hour of His death is nigh and that He would be going back to the Father.  At Gethsemane, He agonised over the cup He had to partake and submitted Himself to the Father's will (Lk 22:42-46).  He was judged and sentenced by human adjudicators, flogged, beaten and eventually crucified on the cross.  In finishing the work of God, Jesus drank fully of the cup the Father had given Him for the sake of humanity. 

The number 3 is the number of divinity as seen in the three persons of the Godhead.  Jesus was hung on the cross for 3 hours before He gave up His spirit on His own (Lk 23:44).  There were 3 attesting signs that followed Christ's death on the cross:  firstly, God the Father tore the curtain in the temple, signifying man's free access to God without going through a human intermediary (Lk 23:45); secondly Jesus Christ laid down His life willing for humankind with the centurion commenting, "Certainly this man was innocent."  (Jn 10:18; Lk 23:46-47); and thirdly, the Holy Spirit raised the saints of old back to life (Mt 27:52-53).  John the apostle also spoke of three that bear witness, the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement (1 Jn 5:8).  Jesus started His ministry by being water baptized by John the Baptist and was anointed with power by the Holy Spirit.  After His death, it was by the power of the Holy Spirit that He was raised to life  (Rom 8:11).

The death of Jesus Christ on the cross is the climax of His ministry on earth.  How many of us can say on our death bed that we have accomplished what God has called us to do?  Many of us suffer an untimely death but for us who are still alive and believers in Christ, we ought to ask God to help us redeem the time for the days ahead (Eph 5:15-16).