When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:30)

Learn how to look up the meaning and form of Greek verbs!

1. Search: "Biblehub Greek analysis John 19:30", and select the search result.

2. Locate the Greek verb "tetelestai" for "it is finished," and place your cursor on its morphology in the last right column, or record "V-RIM/P" and look up the abbreviations.

3. A text box should pop up and informs that the verb "tetelestai" is in the perfect tense, indicative mood and passive voice.

Q: What did the verb mean? What did Jesus finish? Was He talking about accomplishments in life?

About Jesus' Life? About Jesus' Death?

Reference: What does "It is finished" mean? A word study of John 19:30

This question causes us to examine the character of God.

Q: Does God work in a capricious or whimsical manner?

Q: Or does God work in a judicial manner?

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18) You shall appoint judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19) You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. 20) Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you. (Deut 16:18-20, ESV).

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15) A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. (Deut 19:15, ESV)

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22) You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. 23) And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. 24) But I have said to you, 'You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.' I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. 25) You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. 26) You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine. (Lev 20:22-26, ESV)

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"And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you." (Gen 17:7)

3b) The Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: 4) 'You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5) Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6) and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel." (Ex 19:3-6, ESV).

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In keeping with a judicial framework, God's statutes and rules were codified in the conditional Mosaic Covenant known as the Law of Moses.

The Law taught human beings how to be holy as God was holy by:

1) Teaching what sin was.

2) How to pay the judicial price for sin to:

a) satisfy God's wrath of judgment of sin, and

b) redeem one from the penalty of sin.

Those who were Law abiding received the priviledge of entering the Promised Land.

Reference: Divine Covenants… the Law…

1) And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2) "Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord's commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them, 3) if it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the Lord for a sin offering. (Lev 4:1-3, ESV)

Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. (Lev 16:15, ESV)

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. (Lev 17:10, ESV)

Q: Who is offended by someone's sin? Who is the one seeking justice?

Q: What is the significance of blood?

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The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29, ESV)

Without knowledge of the Old Testament, careful observation of the New Testament is challenging. John the Baptist is the first to see Jesus as the link between Passover and the Day of Atonement. Why?

The Lamb? Who Takes Away the Sin of the World?

Atonement is a term that describes God's concept of redemption, which is about making a payment in exchange of and saving someone. What do you observe about these verses?

Q: What did Jesus pay and to who?

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45, ESV)

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. (2 Pet 2:1, ESV)

Q: Who and what was the benefit of Jesus Christ's payment?

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, (Eph 1:7, ESV)

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"— (Gal 3:13, ESV)

Ransom Redemption? Liberation Redemption?

Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest enters the inner sanctuary of the temple to make a sacrifice for the sins of the entire nation of Israel. The sacrificial ritual required two male goats that were physically perfect in age and condition. Sacrificed as the sin offering, one goat's blood and flesh was offered as a substitute payment of the nation's sin. On the head of the surviving goat (scapegoat), the high priest confessed all of the nation's sins and released to the wild to signify that sin left the Hebrew nation (Lev 16:1-34).

Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies once a year to sprinkle the blood of the sacrificed goat on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant. Known as the Mercy Seat, a more accurate translation for the lid is "place of propitiation." A a slab of pure gold (approximately 45 inches wide x 27 inches long), the lid of the Ark of the Covenant was where God met and communicated with Moses.

The idea of substitution was based on God's prescribed method for restoring a relationship with Him that was broken by intentional or unintentional sin. The sacrificed goat is the substitute and the scapegoat symbolizes carrying away the sins of the nation. Implicit in this is the recognition of God's judicial penalty for sin is death.

The sacrifice applied to all in the Hebrew nation.

Carefully note all of your observations of the text and compare them to Leviticus 13 where the Day of Atonement is described.

11) But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13) For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14) how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Heb 9:11-14, ESV)

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Learn how to use a lexicon! Note carefully the words translated for the Greek noun hilastērion.

23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24) and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25) whom God put forward as a propitiation (Greek: hilastērion) by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (Rom 3:22-25, ESV)

Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat (Greek: hilastērion). Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. (Heb 9:5, ESV)

How to Use a Lexicon Click After Discussion

Reference: A Word Study of the Greek Terms Hilastērion and Hilasmos: Expiation verses Propitiation

The night before the Exodus, God instructs the Hebrews to sacrifice a year old male lamb or goat without any blemishes (Ex 12:5) and use its blood as protection against God's judgment and final plague against Pharaoh (Ex 12:12-13).

12) For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13) The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. (Ex 12:12-13, ESV)

This feast would become a lasting memorial (Exodus 12:14), celebrated annually (Lev 23:4-6) and testament of the historical reality of God (Ex 20:2; Deut 5:6).

Carefully note all of your observations!

7) Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8) Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Cor 5:7-8, ESV)

17) And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18) knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19) but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. (1 Pet 1:17-19, ESV)

14) Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" 15) They cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar." 16) So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. (John 19:14-16, ESV)

this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. (Acts 2:23, ESV)

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Jesus was the High Priest who was sacrificed at the prescribed time to provide His own blood at the place of propitiation in substitution of all human beings for their intentional and unintentional sins committed in the past, present, and future.

Jesus' sacrifice paid the judicial price of sin (expiation) and appeased the wrath of God (propitiation).

Jesus Christ's expiation and propitiation of sin on the lid of the Ark of the Covenant connects the Mosaic Covenant with the New Covenant, which enabled the restoration of the image of God and one's relationship with God!

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The real outcome to atonement, for those who have a genuine faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work, is reconciliation.

10) For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11) More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Rom 5:10-11, ESV)

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Reference: Does God reconcile Himself or is it man who is reconciled?

God enables the fulfillment of His covenant promise to Abraham "to be God to his offspring."

And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8) And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God." (Gen 17:7-8, ESV)

39) They answered him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40) but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. (Jesus, John 8:39-40, ESV)

7) Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8) And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "In you shall all the nations be blessed." 9) So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. (Paul, Gal 3:7-9, ESV)

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To Be God to You

God chooses to be God to only those who have the faith of Abraham, which Jesus defines as a descendant of Abraham (John 8:39-44) as well as the apostle Paul (Rom 4:13-15; Gal 3:6-9). God does not determine who comes to faith; God only wants to be God to those who choose to have faith in Him.

Only those whom God is God of can enter and possess the Promised Land. When the Abrahamic Covenant is ratified, God defines the physical dimensions of the Promised Land (Gen 15:18), which match the physical dimensions of the eschatological New Jerusalem (Rev 21:15-16)!!

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, (Gen 15:18, ESV)

15) And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16) The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. (Rev 21:15-16, ESV)

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God fulfills His covenant promise made in the New Covenant. "To be God to Abraham and his descendants" is a commitment to a real life relationship, a spiritual communion with a Believer. It is an agapē love relationship that sanctifies. It is a concept of love the world has never known before until its introduction by God's word.

"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God." (Ezek 36:25-28, ESV)

Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves (agapaō) Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love (agapaō) him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. The one who does not love Me does not follow My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.
These things I have spoken to you while remaining with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you." (John 14:23-26, ESV)

18) For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20) built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21) in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22) In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Eph 2:18-22, ESV)

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The complete destruction of Satan's work!

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. (1 John 3:8, ESV)

13) And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14) by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15) He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Col 2:13-15, ESV)

The final and ultimate end of Satan!

14) Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15) and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Heb 2:14-15, ESV)

9) And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10) and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Rev 20:9-10, ESV)

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With an understanding of atonement, the meaning of John 3:16 takes on special significance.

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

God gave His only Son to do all of the work of atonement, following a prescribed process and time, that provided the means for a sinner to reconcile himself to God!

In fitting conclusion, when God chooses to be God to you because of your faith, He brings you to Himself and possesses you "among all the peoples." This possession occurs immediately, and in the future, when all Believers are in the presence of God, there will be eternal life in the absence of "mourning, crying, or pain."

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." (Rev 21:1-4)

There is no temple in the new Jerusalem!

With God and His Son as the temple (Rev 21:22), God's royal priesthood will be in the physical presence of God and His Son Jesus Christ (Rev 20:6); there is no separation between the holy God Himself and His holy nation of people.

Reference: On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ (William D. Edwards, MD; Wesley J. Gabel, MDiv; Floyd E. Hosmer, MS, AMI, 1986)