It is finished

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: The word "tetelestai" means "it is finished" and was used by Jesus on the cross to signify the completion of God's plan of salvation. Jesus mentally ran through every plan and design of the Father, comparing them to His achievements in His Ministry, and was able to say that everything had been completed and fulfilled. Some of the things that were fulfilled included the promise in the Garden of Eden that the descendant of the woman would give a definitive blow to the serpent (which was fulfilled by Jesus on the cross), the satisfaction of God's justice through Jesus' assumption of death for the contamination of man's sin, and the defeat of Satan and the establishment of God's superiority. Jesus also defeated death many times throughout His Ministry, establishing precedence for the defeat of death and giving a definitive blow to the principle of death in the universe through His death and resurrection.

Jesus defeated death throughout His ministry, established a new mode of access to the Father through His sacrifice, and established His Church. He delegated the continuation of His work to His followers and completed the plan of salvation. We cannot add to or improve on His narrative of salvation, and we must humbly submit to it. We should aim to die with a satisfied heart, having done what God asked of us. May God bless us and may we live our lives with the goal of completing what God has established for us.

Come with me to John chapter nineteen verse thirty, John 19:30. There's seven words, seven expressions, seven statements that Jesus made when He was in the cross that have been recorded in Scripture. He probably made many, many more, it was a long, lengthy kind of process. But the Holy Spirit has seen fit to leave us seven of these ordinances of the Lord in the Scripture and I think with a purpose.

There are no coincidences in the Word of God, each word, each separation has a meaning, has an intention. Each of these words projected some aspect of the cross or His sacrifice or the ministry of Jesus and this is why it was left in such a way. The Holy Spirit has seen fit to illuminate His Church throughout the centuries to dedicate sermons to these words and you will be relieved to know that I do not intend to discuss all seven of them tonight. I'm just going to take one of those Words that I think is very powerful, many reflective of many, many wonderful truths of the Scriptures.