It Is Finished: What the Cross Settled for You

Introduction

On June 23, 2024, at Porte Ouverte Chrétienne, Benjamin Peterschmitt dwells on the three words Jesus speaks in John 19:30: "It is finished." In New Testament Greek, a single word: tetelestai. A word artists would pronounce over a finished work, that merchants wrote across a paid debt, and that judges wrote in large letters on the indictment of a released prisoner. This message is not just one biblical topic among others: it is the heart. Without the cross, there is nothing. And the cross, Benjamin is convinced, goes far beyond what we imagine, it settles your past, your present, your spiritual world, your death, and your relationship with the Father.

Message Outline

1. The problem and the stakes: a weak and bland Christian life

• We grow used to familiar subjects the way we grow used to a daily commute, and nearly 64% of fatal accidents happen on short trips, for lack of attention.
• Few believers today experience the deep repentance Charles Finney witnessed in the 19th century: entire days spent weeping over sin.
• We too often treat sin lightly, like an insistent guest we tolerate a small place for, a sign of insufficient revelation of what Christ paid for.
• Many Christians doubt their salvation, let themselves be accused by the enemy, and live a faith of highs and lows because it is not anchored in the cross.
• What's at stake: living a weak and bland Christian life, invisible to those around us, when Christ has given us access to a powerful life.

2. The fullness of Christ: everything is in him

• Colossians 1:15-20: Christ is the image of the invisible God, in him all things were created, visible and invisible, and all things hold together in him.
• John 1:1-5: the Word was in the beginning, all things were made through it, nothing that was made was made without it.
• Every fiber of your body, every particle of the cosmos, every part of the spiritual world, Christ is their origin.
• The cross is not a second choice: it is God's perfect plan since the foundation of the world.
• Just as the high priest carried the names of the twelve tribes on his garment when entering the Most Holy Place, Christ goes up on the cross carrying everything he created.

3. It is finished : for all creation

• Colossians 1:20: God was pleased through him to reconcile all things to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
• Creation, contaminated by man's sin, can once again be in communion with a new humanity that knows how to care for it.
• We do not deify creation (we are not our animals or our planet), but we have again received the mandate to care for it.

4. It is finished : for your relationships

• Colossians 3:9-15: in the new man, there is no longer Greek or Jew, no Alsatian or Parisian, no Swiss or Senegalese, Christ is all, and in all.
• If there is racism in your heart, you insult Christ's tetelestai.
• Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, and forgive one another as Christ forgave you.
• Grieving the Holy Spirit, in Ephesians, is directly tied to how we handle our relationships in the Church. We are not parishioners, we are brothers and sisters.
• Perhaps you think you're incapable of loving because you're too wounded, Benjamin says it again: it is finished for your own relationships too, despite your shortcomings.

5. It is finished : regarding your sins

• 1 Peter 2:24: Christ bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that, having died to sin, we might live for righteousness.
• It is finished for your past, present, and future sins. No trace remains before the Father's eyes for those who are his children.
• Do not come and carry a burden that Jesus has already unloaded on the cross.
• On the cross, Jesus paid the price so that you would be forgiven, and also so that you would be free, so that you would no longer need to constantly fall.
• "By his wounds you have been healed": the original word first speaks of complete restoration, body, soul, and spirit. Sin no longer has the right to open a door to sickness; if it is God's will, there is no longer any obstacle to healing.

6. It is finished : over your past

• 2 Corinthians 5:17-19: if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away, all things have become new.
• Your past (your upbringing, your sufferings, your mistakes, even abuse you've endured), can no longer keep you from moving forward with Christ if you walk in the tetelestai of the cross.
• Benjamin speaks from experience: he had suicidal thoughts, was rebuilt in Jesus, and learned to forgive.
• You are a new man, you are a new woman: don't settle your problems with the old mindset.
• Nothing justifies staying stuck (not that you can get through it alone, the Church is there), but because Christ has finished it all.

7. It is finished : in the spiritual world

• Ephesians 1:21-22: Christ is above every rule, authority, power, and dominion, God has put everything under his feet.
• Colossians 2:13-15: he canceled the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands, he nailed it to the cross, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, triumphing over them by the cross.
• The spiritual world is a reality, and sin has disrupted its order by giving spiritual authorities rights over families, places, and generations.
• Satan and his demons did not know what was happening at the cross, otherwise they would have done everything to keep Christ from it. They played the part God had planned all along.
• If you are in Jesus, stop letting yourself be accused because of your family, an uncle who practices witchcraft, or generational curses: you are a new branch in Jesus.

8. It is finished : facing death and facing God

• Christ descended to the lower regions to conquer the last enemy: death. For the believer, death is no longer a full stop, it is a comma toward a new beginning.
• Romans 8:38-39: neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come will be able to separate us from the love of God shown in Christ Jesus.
• Before God, it is finished: I can come before him with confidence, as a son, neither timid nor with my head lowered.
• The obstacles in our relationship with the Creator have been removed, we can now enter into strong communion.

9. The power of the word tetelestai

• The Greek tense used is the perfect: the action is past, but its results continue into the present, and nothing will stop them.
• In the Greco-Roman world, the artist would say tetelestai before a work to which nothing more needed to be added.
• The servant who had fully completed the task his master requested would say tetelestai.
• The priest who found the animal without blemish, fit for sacrifice, would pronounce tetelestai.
• The merchant who received the final payment on a debt would write tetelestai on the contract.
• When a prisoner had served his sentence, the judge would write tetelestai in large letters over the list of his crimes posted at his cell door, and if anyone later tried to accuse him, that paper was his proof. Over all your condemnations, it is written in large letters: tetelestai.

Key Takeaways

• The cross is not just one biblical topic among others: it is the center. All of Scripture leads back to it.
• "It is finished" is not a nice-sounding phrase, it is a literal fact. Christ carried everything and settled everything on the cross.
• Tetelestai applies to your creation, your relationships, your past, present, and future sins, your past, the spiritual world, death, and your access to the Father.
• The verb tense is a Greek perfect: the work is finished once for all, but its effects continue today, and nothing will stop them.
• A weak and bland Christian life is a sign of insufficient revelation of the cross. Walk in the tetelestai and your walk as a disciple will be solid.

Personal Application

1. Where exactly in your life do you keep carrying a burden that Christ already took on the cross, a past sin, an accusation from the enemy, an old wound?
2. Is your Christian life one "of highs and lows," better during a week of fasting and weaker in the summer? Where does your anchoring in the cross need to be renewed?
3. In which relationship do you need to apply the tetelestai, forgiving as Christ forgave you, or setting down a bitterness you carry against a brother, a sister, a loved one?
4. Is there an area where you let your past (your upbringing, your failures, your sufferings), decide what you can or cannot become in Christ?
5. Are you ready to do the exercise Benjamin suggests: writing down, one by one, the sins that come to mind, crossing them out while saying "tetelestai over this one," and then burning the paper?

Scriptures Cited

• John 19:28-30 · "It is finished"
• Ephesians 1:15-23 · A spirit of wisdom and revelation
• Colossians 1:15-20 · All things created by him and for him
• John 1:1-5 · In the beginning was the Word
• Colossians 3:9-15 · Christ is all, and in all
• 1 Peter 2:24 · He bore our sins in his body
• 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 · A new creation in Christ
• Colossians 2:13-15 · He disarmed the rulers and authorities
• Romans 8:38-39 · Nothing will separate us from the love of God

Further reading

• Someone Who Monopolizes the Conversation: What to Do?
• Why Do Small Groups Disappear?
• How to Prepare a Small Group Bible Study

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly does the word "tetelestai" that Jesus speaks on the cross mean?

It is a single Greek word, translated in English as "it is finished." Used in the perfect tense, it signifies that the action is past but its results continue into the present and will never end. In the Greco-Roman world, it was spoken over a finished work of art, a completed servant's task, a blemish-free sacrifice, a paid debt, or a fully served prison sentence. Jesus uses it to say that everything is settled, definitively.

Does "it is finished" mean I will automatically be healed of my illnesses?

Benjamin makes this clear in the message: 1 Peter 2:24 speaks first of the complete restoration of body, soul, and spirit, not of an automatic healing of every illness. On the cross, sin lost its right to open doors to sickness. If it is God's will, there is no longer any obstacle to healing. But the Gospel is not reduced to a power of healing, and some godly men and women die of illness. Our bodies eventually age, that is not a failure of the cross.

If Christ has finished everything, why does my Christian life remain fragile?

Because your everyday faith is directly tied to your faith in the work of the cross. An insufficient revelation of "it is finished" produces a weak and bland Christian life, marked by doubt, accusation, and inconsistency. Benjamin calls us to ask the Lord for a fresh revelation of the cross, to anchor ourselves in it through the Word, prayer, and fellowship, and not to settle for a Sunday morning service when Christ has offered so much more.