Tetellestai

At about this time of day (3 PM) on a Friday outside Jerusalem, a dying man uttered one of his last words. "Tetellestai" is a Greek word meaning, "it is finished" or "the debt is paid." The word was used in accounting, written at the bottom of a page to note that the lender had received full payment for a debt and the borrower was now free. My Lord, the
Son of God, was hanging on a cruel Roman cross outside of the city, away from polite society and in between two thieves, where he carried once and for all, the weight of every sin and everything that sets itself up against God, for every person who has ever lived or who ever will. And by himself, he paid all my debts, and yours.

Jesus could say that word because he, as the Father's emmisary to humanity, had accomplished all he set out to do. Jesus, as the Lamb of God, was the perfect sacrifice (fulfilling all the ancient rituals for blood sacrifice for sin); he was victorious against Satan, and every sin and temptation, perfectly replacing the flawed record of Adam; he substituted for each of us, his death a perfect replacement for our own death as a penalty for our own sins; and his death completely rectified our position with God, so that we are now and forever, completely loved and accepted in the holy love of Father, Son and Spirit, without any doubt or danger of losing our place. As the perfect Son of God, he took care of all the "performance" that we are unable to do anyway, and perfectly stood in for us as the one perfect Person who guarantees us our place with the Father.

It really, really is finished. The debt truly has been paid, with no more to pay. We are free, because of what Jesus suffered through so horribly that dark day at Calvary.