part0364

No endeavor is ever complete until it is finished, and in Jesus' sixth statement from the cross, He announced that it is finished. The Greek word that He used for finish was "teleo ," and that word means to bring to a close, to finish, to end, or to close. The word was used in business to indicate when someone had fully paid an outstanding debt, and in using it, Jesus was saying that the sin debt for humanity had been paid. In the Old Testament, an animal was killed to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness after they had sinned and been shamed by their lack of clothing. When Cain and Abel had had their dispute, it was because God had expected both of them to present an animal offering to Him. During the times of Moses, the Law was written, and the children of Israel began their routine of periodically offering animals to appease the Lord for their sins.

But when Jesus announced that the debt had been paid, He was telling the people that no more animal offerings would be required. Those offerings had not been the actual payment for sins, but instead, they had only symbolized the true Offering or Payment that was to come. As John the Baptist indicated in John 1:29, Jesus was and is the true Offering, and there will not be another. John 1:29 says, "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!'" Many people think that salvation is somehow connected to being good or to doing great religious works, but the biblical truth is that a person is saved simply and only by accepting the finished work of Jesus, the Christ, on the cross. No amount of good works will gain a person anything with God because His plan says that Jesus is the only Way to be reconciled to Him. John 14:6 says, "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."