A Visit With Jesus Bible Narrative

What was "Accomplished" on the Cross?

Tetelestai!" It was a Greek expression most everyone present would have understood. It was an accounting term. Archaeologists have found papyrus tax receipts with "Tetelestai" written across them, meaning "paid in full."

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

John 19:28-30

Seven hundred years before our Savior went to Calvary, God revealed through the prophet Isaiah what Jesus would endure and accomplish for us on the cross. Isaiah saw the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, and he prophesied about it in incredible detail. There’s so much in chapter 53 about what the Lord suffered on our behalf, that one cannot help but be amazed

Verse 3 says…"He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him."

Centuries later, Jesus was utterly rejected, but not just by men. He was rejected by the world that He had created, by the nation from which He sprang, by the brothers with whom He grew up and even by His own disciples. Worse, He faced the ultimate rejection when He was rejected by His own Father as He took our sin upon Himself. As He hung upon the cross and the sky turned dark, He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” The Father with whom He had eternal fellowship had turned His face away when Jesus identified with our sin.

Isaiah says Jesus was a Man of sorrow and acquainted with grief.

"Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted."

As a substitution. Christ took our place and bore the full brunt of sin for us. While we often think of griefs and sorrows as emotional and mental suffering. there’s more than just soul suffering. The word translated to "sorrows" is translated elsewhere in the Scripture as physical pain, with the Hebrew word translated as grief literally meaning sickness and disease. Later, the Holy Spirit used Matthew to translate Isaiah 53:4. by saying,

"When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 'He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.'” (Matthew 8:16–17 )

Christ put your sin to death on the cross, breaking its power over you. Verse 5 of Isaiah 53 says, "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." Peter references this later in 1 Peter 2:24, stating that Christ Himself… "bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed." The past tense was used here because the power of sin had been broken. Jesus bore our sins in His own body on the tree so we can live in His righteousness.

The power of sin, oppression, sickness, all of the offspring of sin has been broken. Jesus has defeated the enemy, and He divides the fruit of His conquest with us.The Scripture says that we are more than conquerors through Him. He conquered for us and we, through Him, are now more than conquerors. He bestows upon us what He has won.

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The Greek word “τετέλεσται” (tetelestai) is used in the Gospel of John as Jesus’ last words (“it is finished”) before He gave up His spirit on the cross. “Tetelestai” comes from the Greek root word of “telew” meaning to bring to an end, finish, or complete.

In the entire Bible, the word “tetelestai” is used only twice. In both instances, it appears in the Gospel of John. The verb is used once in John 19:28 and again in 19:30. In 19:28, the author references Jesus' knowledge that everything had been finished; the final fulfillments of scripture would soon be addressed.

Jesus had come to “finish” the work of the Father (John 4:34) which is accomplished through His ministry and with His death on the cross crowning it as a complete act. While it might seem that Jesus was saying that His life and ministry were over, a more thoughtful reading reveals that He had fully and triumphantly accomplished the work He came to do. By dying, Jesus was bringing to completion the redemption of God for His people, making “It is finished,” a victory cry. The death of Christ in John’s Gospel does not consist only in suffering, ignominy and complete desolation—but it is the beginning of a great triumph that will last all of eternity.

Study of the word “tetelestai” reveals that is was often used as the abbreviated word for the phrase “paid in full.” This would be stamped on a receipt for one previously in debt, indicating that the sum of payment has now been paid. One can ascribe the same usage to Christ, whose sacrifice paid in full the price of sin for all peoples in order to save the world.

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Narratives

There are many dozens of bible narratives that have become deeply engrained in western culture. Most are best understood when the culture and customs that surround them are known.

Also, the study of history and archeology often provide us with a foundation for a more complete picture of people and events found within bible narratives.

Evidence continues to be discovered in architectural inscriptions, artwork and other artifacts that encourage us to believe in the historicity of the bible.

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