One of the last words Christ spoke from the cross before yielding up His spirit in death was: “Τετέλεσται”tetelestai. In the Greek it’s just one word, in the English it could be translated as “it has been finished.” It comes from the word telos, meaning goal or end, the consummation. Jesus isn’t just saying that He’s about to die and His life is finished; He’s saying that the goal for which He came has been accomplished! It’s not just His life which is ended, but the purpose for which He came is fulfilled and completed, now and forever, in His death.
Which is Christ’s goal? What is the telos that He came to complete? The Father sent the Son so that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it abundantly. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many. He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession. Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. In His sacrificial death upon the tree of the cross, that goal has been completed. It is finished!
Christ has come to bring us life, and that goal has been accomplished for us! Today is perhaps a very somber and reverent day in which we recall the death of God and remember His great sacrifice for us, but it is a good day! Today is not a funeral for Christ, it’s not a day to be sad and mourn that Jesus died, but a day to be filled with the profoundest joy that only a Christian can have. “For behold, by the wood of the cross joy has come into all the world!”
Yes, dearly beloved by God, the battle against Satan, the world, death, our sinful flesh, all of it is completed! It is finished! “Sing my tongue, the glorious battle; sing the ending of the fray! Tell how Christ, the world’s redeemer, as a victim won the day.” This faithful cross and the corpse upon it is a true sign of triumph and the noblest tree! As we enter Spring with trees in blossom, there is no other tree so fair. It is the symbol of the world’s redemption, because on this tree hung God who died for thee.
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