John 18:28-30 (NKJV): After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
On Good Friday, we observe/reflect on, Jesus dying on the cross. He did this with the intent of our sins being paid for. Many may already know this but, when He said “It is finished”, the actual word He said in Greek was “Testelestai”. Let’s take a look at the menaing of this word:
(taken from https://bible.org/question/what-does-greek-word-tetelestai-mean 04/30/18, 3:55pm MST)
What does the Greek word “tetelestai” mean?
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Literally translated the word tetelestai means, “It is finished.” The word occurs in John 19:28 and 19:30 and these are the only two places in the New Testament where it occurs. In 19:28 it is translated, “After this, when Jesus knew that all things were now completed, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled, he said, ‘I thirst.’” Two verses later, he utters the word himself: “Then when he received the sour wine Jesus said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
The word tetelestai was also written on business documents or receipts in New Testament times to show indicating that a bill had been paid in full. The Greek-English lexicon by Moulton and Milligan says this:
“Receipts are often introduced by the phrase [sic] tetelestai, usually written in an abbreviated manner…” (p. 630). The connection between receipts and what Christ accomplished would have been quite clear to John’s Greek-speaking readership; it would be unmistakable that Jesus Christ had died to pay for their sins.
One of my professors in college said that this word is an active past tense verb. What that means is this, that “Testelestai” means it is finished from the past, present and future. But what led up to Him saying this? Let’s take a look at Luke’s account prior to Him dying:
Luke 23:44-46 (NKJV): Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. 45 Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. 46 And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’” Having said this, He breathed His last.
It is believed that during the time that it was dark, Jesus took all of our sins on Himself, so that when He died, He was the perfect sacrifice for them. The reason it was dark is that God, The Father, being Holy, Righteous, and Perfect, will not allow sin to be near Him. In fact, that is why He told Moses, “You cannot see my face, because if man sees my face, he will surely die.” (My paraphrase of Exodus 33:20) So, in this same concept of Jesus taking all of our sins, past, present, future, unto Himself, it is believed that God, The Father turned His Back on Jesus until He died.
Now, think about that, Jesus took on our sins, to take our place, to give us access to The Father through Him. That is any sin. However, it is conditional on this for us to have access to The Father:
Romans 10:8-13 (NKJV): But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
John 3:14-21 (NKJV): And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 8 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.
I know that these may be familiar passages to everyone but, do you really see what is being said here? The fact is this, the only Way to The Father is through a Relationship through The Son. You need to have a Relationship with The Son in order to receive forgiveness and hear from The Father.
This does not mean we have license to sin. Many would believe that with this understanding of Jesus paying for our sins, and then having a Relationship with Him, we are covered and go and sin more. Not at all. What this should mean is that through a Relationship with Jesus, you would seek to not sin. However, if you do mess up, you need to seek forgiveness and you will be forgiven. Don’t just say you’re sorry and not change. You need to recognize the sin and make a change after you recognized this sin and sought forgiveness. This should be an encouragement to you that if you do mess up, you are not kicked out of The Family of God forever. (The exception to this is if you refuse correction and choose to walk away. Jesus did not go through all of what HE went through for us to return to our old ways. He did this to help us to change and grow and please The Father.)
If you don’t have a Relationship with Jesus/Yeshua or you need to rekindle that Relationship, do it now. Call out to Him and seek his Love and Forgiveness. It really is as hard or easy as you make it.
We should look to Him daily to seek a relationship with Him. I want to encourage you to seek Him today, if you haven’t already. If you need help, have questions or need direction in this regard, please, feel free to let me know.
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Any scripture referenced here is taken from New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted
(Just a quick note on the celebration of Good Friday and Easter:
- Easter in of it self is not truly a Christian Holiday, although it had been adopted as such in the church many years ago. The Easter celebration is a celebration of the God Esther, the God of Fertility.
- Eggs and the bunny do not have anything to do with Jesus’ death and resurrection. In fact, it is believed that they are part of the celebration for Esther
- The time that this is recognized that we remember Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, is not necessarily that time that He died. When this holiday was adopted by the church, the church decided to use this time to remember Jesus’ Death and Resurrection. It is believed that the reason this was done was so that people would be reached that celebrated this pagan holiday.
- The actual time that Jesus died was during the Passover. Remember that this was the time when God delivered Israel from Egypt and is celebrated about the same time every year, in remembrance of this. In a sense, if you think about it, Jesus’ (Some call Him Yeshua, so, don’t let this stumble your walk) death is a deliverance for all of us out of an Egypt of sorts, if we accept that.
With that said, don’t let others berate you because you choose to take this time to remember His Death and Resurrection. That you choose to take this time to remember why He did this. Although, it would be good to always keep this in your mind and heart.
I personally do not call this Easter but instead, Resurrection Sunday. This is to remember that this is a time to reflect on what He did for us. Also it is a time that many will be receptive to hearing The Word of God. And those who truly know me, know that I do not do Easter egg hunts or things related to them. Instead, I love to share and reflect on His Love for us.)
