When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:29-30 (NIV)
Right before He dies, the Lord Jesus cries out from the cross “tetelestai” meaning “it is finished”. This word was used on receipts for taxes to mean “paid in full”. Indeed, through the death and resurrection of our Savior, those who have put their faith in Christ Jesus have had their sins paid in full. Whatever His people owed was wiped away forever from the book of remembrance, debtors to God’s justice no longer. No more sacrifices necessary – He has covered them all. The redemptive work was now complete. Amazing. The unblemished Lamb of God had been made sin for the sheep and was slain for each sin. He is the good Shepherd Who laid down His life for His sheep.
Our Savior suffered the penalty of God’s rightful justice which our sins so deserved. His matchless love washed away our transgressions turning our polluted souls from crimson to white like snow and wrapping us in His glorious robe of righteousness. Believers are made complete in the Lord Jesus. It is not Jesus plus something, it is only Jesus. Our sins were laid upon Christ’s head. Our standing is not in ourselves but in Christ. We are now accepted in the Beloved, free from all corruption and complete in Him. Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus.
In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Hebrews 9:22 (NIV)
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:10-14 (NIV)