Tetelestai

"...So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them...When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, 'It is finished,' and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." 
- John 19:16-18, 30

Tetelestai is the original Greek word from which we get the translation "It is finished." In Jesus' time, tetelestai was the word written on documents and receipts to show that a bill was paid in full.

My sin and death separated me from God adding up to a debt I could never repay, and the only way back into right relationship with God was Jesus' declaration of "tetelestai," which for me literally means Jesus in my place.  He paid my sin-debt and he paid yours, accomplishing everything necessary for salvation as he defeated sin and death.  What grace, what love, what hope!  Through His death and resurrection I have been freely given life everlasting and communion with God, not because of anything I have done, but because of what Jesus accomplished in my place.

Today, I am remembering the sorrow of Good Friday while looking to the cross with overwhelming joy knowing that my hope is found in nothing less than the saving blood of Jesus Christ. 

"Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands." Isaiah 49:16