It Is Finished (Victory On Calvary)

The word translated “finished” (Greek tetelestai) was used in commerce to mark a debt paid in full. Jesus was not announcing that His life was over but that His saving work was complete. “So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” (John 19:30, NKJV). The whole price of redemption had been paid.

It was the decisive victory of God. Though it looked like ruin, the death of Christ accomplished everything the Father purposed. John records that Jesus died “knowing that all things were now accomplished” (John 19:28, NKJV). The cross is not the failure of the gospel but its triumph, where sin was condemned and salvation secured.

Penal substitution means Christ bore the penalty His people deserved, dying in their place under the wrath of God. He was the substitute who satisfied divine justice. The Westminster Confession states that Christ “fully satisfied the justice of His Father” (WCF 8.5). At the cross our guilt was laid on Him, and He paid it completely.

In Exodus the blood of a spotless lamb spared Israel from death, and no bone of it was to be broken. Christ fulfills that picture. “For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV). His blood shelters His people from judgment, and as the true Lamb His bones remained unbroken.

The soldiers broke the legs of the two criminals to hasten death, but found Jesus already dead. “But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs” (John 19:33, NKJV). John sees this as fulfilling Scripture: “Not one of His bones shall be broken” (John 19:36, NKJV), the very requirement for the Passover lamb.

When the soldier pierced Jesus, “immediately blood and water came out” (John 19:34, NKJV). This confirmed His real death and pointed to the cleansing His sacrifice provides. The Reformed tradition has long seen here a sign of the double benefit of the cross: pardon for sin’s guilt and washing from its defilement, both flowing from Christ alone.

Nothing. Because the work is finished, no penance, merit, or human work can be added to it. To attempt to add anything is to deny that it was truly finished. Scripture says Christ “offered one sacrifice for sins forever” and “by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:12, 14, NKJV). His cross needs no supplement.

Justification rests on a completed work received by faith, not on works we perform. We are counted righteous because Christ’s obedience and satisfaction are credited to us. The Confession teaches that God justifies sinners “by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them” (WCF 11.1). Faith adds nothing to the cross; it rests on what is already done.

If salvation depended on our finishing, assurance would be impossible. But the work is Christ’s, and He declared it complete. Because He “fully discharge[d] the debt” of all whom the Father gave Him (WCF 11.3), believers can rest. There is now no condemnation for those in Christ (Romans 8:1), for the price has been paid in full.

He gave it freely. John writes that “bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” (John 19:30, NKJV). His life was not taken by force; He laid it down in willing obedience to the Father. The sovereign Lord was in command even in death, accomplishing redemption exactly as the eternal plan required.