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As Jesus hung on the cross, after six hours of unspeakable agony, He uttered a final, victorious cry: “It is finished” (John 19:30). With that declaration, the earth trembled, the veil of the temple tore in two from top to bottom, and the great work of redemption was complete. These three words—just one word in the Greek, tetelestai—carried the weight of eternity. It was not the cry of defeat, but the shout of triumph. The mission the Father had sent Him to accomplish had been fulfilled in full. The debt of sin, insurmountable and crushing, was now paid.

Jesus did not say, “I am finished.” He was not ending in weakness. He said, “It is finished”—the work was done. The righteous demands of a holy God were satisfied. The perfect Lamb had been sacrificed. The wrath of God had been poured out, not upon the guilty, but upon the Innocent, who bore our guilt in our place. The sin that once separated man from God had been atoned for by the blood of Christ. As Hebrews 9:12 says, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”

From the beginning, all of Scripture had pointed to this moment. The sacrifices of the Old Testament, the prophecies of Isaiah, the promises in the Psalms—all found their fulfillment at Calvary. Jesus didn’t leave any part of the work undone. There is nothing left to add, no ritual to complete it, no human merit to finish it. “It is finished” means salvation is entirely by grace through faith in Christ alone. The burden of our sin, the curse of the law, the grip of death—it all lost its power when the Savior gave up His spirit in full obedience to the Father.

Today, let that cry echo in your soul. “It is finished” means your sin has been paid for, your past is covered, your salvation is secure. You do not have to strive for what Christ has already accomplished. You need only to believe and rest in His finished work. As you reflect on the cross today, rejoice in the completeness of your redemption. Let the weight of guilt fall away, and let worship rise in its place. The Lamb has done it. The blood has been shed. The work is done. It is finished—forever.