Someone’s last words are often considered important.  Just Google ‘Famous Last Words’ and you’ll find hundreds of them – everything from Winston Churchill’s, “I’m bored!” to Frank Sinatra’s, “I’m losing it!”  Quite frankly I find most of them rather trite and some of them objectionable.  There’s actress Joan Crawford’s rebuke of her housekeeper who was praying: “Don’t you dare ask God to help me!”

In the Bible the Gospel writers considered the last words of Jesus before His death on the cross important too... important enough to record them for us.  In all there are seven sayings from the cross.  They are neither trite nor objectionable but deeply meaningful.  I could easily spend ten minutes on each one of those sayings, drawing out lessons about the person and work of Christ.  They have a lot to teach us about God and our relationship to Him.

Consider for example the last words of Jesus, “It is finished!”  At first glance that may seem like a sigh of relief.  Hours of cruel torture and all the horrors of the cruellest form of execution were finally ending.  Who would not want to end it with a sigh of relief: Finished!  Except for one thing: this was not a quiet sigh!  Both Matthew and Mark tell us that Jesus gave a loud cry and then died.  Only John’s gospel informs us that this loud cry was Jesus calling out, “It is finished!”

So, if this is not primarily a sigh of relief then what is it?  Well, it’s an announcement that the work that Jesus came to earth to do had been completed.  The Bible teaches that Jesus’ death was substitutionary.  He died in our place.  On the cross He suffered the hellish God-forsakenness that we deserved.  On the cross Jesus carried the load of our guilt, the penalty for our rebellion against the Creator of the universe.

It’s interesting that in the Greek language of the New Testament this cry of Jesus from the cross consists of just one word: the Greek word ‘tetelestai’!  It’s a word that was used in the Greek world in commercial transactions.  When a bill of sale was paid by a debtor the Greek businessman would write across the invoice: ‘tetelestai’.  Today we would translate that as “Paid in full!”  I have a personal example of that which I have often shared with others – although not without a pang of embarrassment.  I’m old enough to remember the days when the local constabulary – if they issued you with a fine for a traffic infringement – required you to take it to the local police-station and pay the fine there.  My first infringement – and yes, there have been others since – was due to my failure to come to a complete stop at an intersection’s ‘Stop’ sign.  I still recall that when I paid the fine the officer stamped my infringement notice with a big rubber stamp that read, “Paid in Full!”  It meant that my debt to society for my traffic offence had been dealt with.

That’s the wonderful message of Jesus’ cry from the cross.  It’s finished!  The debt I owed God because of my sin and failure has been paid in full by Jesus.  And if Jesus paid it for me then I no longer have to pay it.

There was a man who died and found himself at the pearly gates.  St. Peter, the gatekeeper told him that he needed one million points to get in.  When he asked how one got the million points the saint ask him to share some good things from his life.  The man replied, well, I always lived by the golden rule to do to others what you would have them do to you.  St Peter said to him, “Well, I can give you one point for that.  What else?”  After a few moments he said, “I was married for forty-five years to my wife and I never cheated on her.”  The apostle replied, “That’s worth three points!”  He related some more good things from his life and soon had a dozen points but by this time the man was getting desperate.  It was a long, long way to get to one-million, so in desperation he blurted out, “Well, I did always believe that Jesus paid the penalty for my sin on the cross of Calvary.”  Peter smiled and said, “Yes, and by that finished work on the cross Jesus earned the million points that we need.  In you go!  Welcome to Paradise.