Key points
- 1
1The entire Old Testament — from the Garden, to Passover, to the sacrificial system, to the bronze serpent — was one unified picture pointing forward to the cross.
Illustration
The film The Sixth Sense used as an analogy: just as the movie's ending reframes everything you watched, the cross reframes and clarifies the entire Old Testament.
- 2
2The Greek word tetelestai ('it is finished') carried three everyday meanings in Jesus' time: a debt paid in full, a sentence fully served, and a military victory fully accomplished on someone else's behalf.
“this book is not about what you and I have to do to get to God. It's actually so much better than that. This book is about everything God has done to get to us”
Illustration
Three first-century uses of the word tetelestai — a business receipt stamped 'paid in full,' a judicial file marked 'sentence fully served,' and a military evangelist declaring victory to a city that did none of the fighting — used to unpack the full meaning of Jesus's words on the cross.
- 3
3Our salvation was accomplished entirely by Christ; the only thing we contributed to it was the sin that made it necessary.
- 4
4Many people live as though it 'was' finished, 'is kind of' finished, or 'will be' finished — but Jesus declared it definitively and presently finished.
“the only thing that you and I contributed to our salvation was the sin that made it necessary”
“he did not say it was finished. He did not say it's kinda finished. He did not say it it will be finished. He declared it is finished”
Illustration
A comedic imagined scene at heaven's gate in which the thief on the cross arrives and, when asked by a 'bouncer angel' on what basis he deserves entry, answers only that the man on the cross said he could come.
- 5
5The thief on the cross is the clearest picture of grace: he contributed nothing but his sin, yet Jesus welcomed him into paradise solely on the basis of what Christ had done.
“And if you and I stand before God one day and he says, basis do you deserve to be here? And we start that in the first tense we've gone horribly wrong. Because I believed, because I'm good enough, because I've gone to church, you've gone horribly wrong. That answer is in the third tense. It's because he and everything he did”
- 6
6Because it is finished, God loves us as we are — not merely as we should be — and we stand before Him completely forgiven and fully justified.
“God loves you as you are, not even as you and I should be”
A story from life
Pastor Rocky shares the story of the birth of his fourth son, including the nurse handing him a hairnet at the hospital, and reflects on the unconditional love he felt holding his newborn.
Application
Pastor Rocky's call is simple and personal: stop trying to earn or maintain God's love through performance, and rest in the finished work of Jesus. If you've been living as though it 'was' finished, or only 'kind of' finished, or 'will be' finished once you clean yourself up — let this be the moment you take Jesus at His word. The debt is paid. The sentence is served. The victory is won. Your one move is to turn toward Him and say, 'I believe it is finished.' For those who already follow Jesus, let tetelestai move from head knowledge to soul-deep confidence that fuels genuine, grateful worship every single day.
