Every word Jesus spoke was pregnant with meaning, perhaps none more so than His final cry from the cross: “It is finished!” (John 19:30). When we understand more about the Jewish faith in Jesus’ day, we can start to grasp how significant this statement was and how staggering the events surrounding his death were.
Consider, for instance, that even as Jesus uttered these haunting words, Passover lambs were being slaughtered in the temple, barely a mile away from Calvary. According to the Old Testament sacrificial system, the blood of lambs was spilled at Passover: it was the faithful Jews’ offering as an atonement for their sins. On this remarkable Passover, though, this longstanding system was replaced by the once-and-for-all sacrificial death of Jesus. The spilled blood of the perfect, spotless Lamb of God paid for the sins of all humanity, from eternity past to eternity future.
The gospel writer Matthew reported that as Jesus spoke these final words, the curtain in the temple separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies was ripped cleanly in two from top to bottom. No man could have torn the curtain from the top down—it was about sixty feet high and four inches thick! This curtain had served as the “Do Not Enter” sign for the place where, just once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would offer blood sacrifices for the sins of the people. In that moment when Christ said, “It is finished,” the curtain separating a holy God from sinful men and women was removed forever!
Can you imagine what that must have been like for the priests who were in the temple that day? They must have realized that only one hand could have done this, the hand of God.
When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He declared that He had done what God had sent Him to do: die on behalf of sinful humanity. Because Jesus died and rose again, our sins are forgiven and we are washed clean. So anytime the Enemy tries to make us feel guilty or causes us to doubt whether we have actually been forgiven, let’s quote our Savior and remind the deceiver: “It is finished!”
Our sins are forgiven once and for all. It is finished!
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
Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Matthew 27:50–51
Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
Isaiah 1:18 ESV
The accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth—the one who accuses them before our God day and night. And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony.
Revelation 12:10–11
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:29
Five Minutes in the Word 