Have you ever wondered what Jesus really meant when He cried out, “It is finished” on the cross?
For many of us, those words have been tucked inside transactional atonement theories or legal frameworks that separate God from humanity. But what if this was never about appeasing an angry deity—but revealing the face of eternal Love? What if Tetelestai was the declaration that heaven and earth had finally kissed, and the human story had just been rewritten?
Drawing from the early church fathers—Athanasius, Irenaeus, Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus the Confessor, and more—this article invites you to step beyond religious striving and into the mystical, grace-drenched reality of what Christ truly finished… and what that means for all of us.
It is finished. Three simple yet powerful words Jesus Christ declared that changed the cosmos. Tetelestai in Greek—spoken not in defeat, but in radiant victory. In that moment, Jesus didn’t whisper resignation. He proclaimed the cosmic conclusion of redemptive history.
The word tetelestai (τετέλεσται) is a perfect passive indicative verb. It means “it has been completed,” “fully accomplished,” “brought to perfection,” and carries the weight of a divine mission fulfilled, a debt paid in full, and a new creation born from the old. But what exactly was finished?
For the early church fathers—those mystics of the first centuries who dwelt in the mystery of Christ with unveiled faces—the cross was never a place of appeasement. It was the place of revelation. It was not where God was changed, but where humanity was healed.
“God became man so that man might become God.”
— St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation
The cross is the unveiling of God’s eternal intent, not to punish mankind already living in the weight of self punishment, but to reclaim, restore, and reconcile all of humanity into what was known as the divine dance of Perichoresis—the life of the Father, Son, and Spirit drawing us into union.
It is finished meant:
- The veil was torn. Separation was a lie exposed.
- The accusation of the law was silenced.
- The dominion of death was broken.
- The shame of Adam was removed in His glory.
- Humanity was no longer lost—but found in Him.
This is not metaphor. This is cosmic reality.
As Maximus the Confessor proclaimed, “The Word of God, very God, wills that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth… so that in Him all things might be united—things in heaven and things on earth.”
Christ on the cross is not simply forgiving sin—He is undoing death. He is lifting the entire fractured cosmos into Himself. He is restoring our deluded estrangement and forgotten likeness.
“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” — 1 Corinthians 15:26
Christ destroyed it not by avoiding it, but by entering it fully—and transfiguring it from the inside out.
“It is finished” is the proclamation of a new creation.
It is the voice of Love who has descended into our deepest darkness, absorbed every false identity, and emerged as the firstborn of a resurrected humanity.
He didn’t come to start a religion.
He came to restore relationship.
He didn’t die to change God’s mind about us.
He died to change our mind about God.
What Happened After Jesus Said, “It Is Finished”?
So what happened to humanity?
The moment Jesus declared “Tetelestai”, everything shifted—not just in heaven, not just a temple curtain—but in the entire fabric of all human existence.
What the average western evangelical rarely hears, is that when the veil tore, it wasn’t just the veil of a physical temple—but the veil over our eyes, our minds, and our hearts. The veil of separation that darkened humanity’s perception and understanding, “knowing” God; was torn from top to bottom, and it was not so we could enter God’s presence, but to Christ revealed we’d never left it, and our Father doesn’t do abandonment.
Gregory of Nazianzus wrote: “What has not been assumed has not been healed.”
And Jesus assumed all of humanity—not just the good parts, not just those who believed, but the full scope of human experience: our sin, shame, confusion, despair, and even death itself.
When He died, all died.
Not metaphorically, but mystically, universally, and eternally.
The Apostle Paul writes—“One has died for all; therefore, all have died.”— 2 Corinthians 5:14 (NRSV)
This is the mystery Paul unfolds: that in the death of Jesus, the Adamic identity—the illusion of separation—was buried. And in His resurrection, Jesus Christ raised a new humanity. This is the Finished work of the cross and the Good News of the Gospel.
That we were co-crucified. We were co-buried. We were co-raised. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
The Church Fathers saw this not as some theological poetic language, but as divine reality. He died, we died. He was buried, anything existing in the delusion of the first Adam was now buried in the Last Adam—Jesus Christ. He was then raised by the power of the Holy Spirit, we were raised with Him.
Irenaeus declared: “In His infinite love, He became what we are, so that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself.”
What was the declaration at the cross when Jesus Christ, Savior of the World cried out—It is Finished?
- That lie of separation was shattered.
- Death was defeated.
- Sin was not “covered”, it was absorbed, removed and undone.
Most profoundly, our old self died, and a new humanity was born—**not something we earned, nor achieved, but revealed in Christ. Every drop of blood poured out with resurrection new life.
Humanity’s sin-sickness removed and our predestined belonging declared:
No longer were we orphans.
No longer slaves to fear.
No longer fragmented from our source.
At the cross, we were placed in Christ—caught up in the eternal embrace of Father, Son, and Spirit—Eternal Truth whether we know it or not, believe it or not, agree with it or not. Beloved friends, “You are dead, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”— Colossians 3:3 (NIV)
This is the scandalous power of the Gospel:
That He who knew no sin would become one with us and become one of us. As Christ didn’t just die for us—He died as us.
And in rising, He didn’t just secure a place in heaven—He pierced earth with Heaven, unveiling unbroken union with heaven here and now.
Not a transaction but a transfusion, the entire cosmos being healed in the wounds of Christ. As it is written—Heaven must take Him in until the time comes for the restoration of all things, which God announced long ago through His holy prophets. “It is finished.”
What Did the Resurrection Accomplish for All of Humanity?
What about the Resurrection?
It is Finished didn’t just stop on the cross and the cross was not the final word. Jesus is alive!
What about the resurrection? The resurrection of Jesus Christ was not the undoing of a cosmic defeat—it was the unveiling of a victory already won. Christus Victor, Christ’s victory on our behalf over sin, death, hell and the devil. It is Finished. The resurrection is the epilogue to the crucifixion—the cosmic explosion and raising up of “many sons”, in Jesus Christ now marked by His divine life woven into the entire fabric of creation. When Jesus walked out of the tomb, we can celebrate that humanity walked out with Him.
“For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:22
Christ didn’t escape death—He transfigured it. He took death into Himself, and deconstructed it from the inside, rising with a new kind of life—not just revived breath, but indestructible union. He wasn’t resuscitated as if to be hit with the “paddles”—He was raised up and glorified. And in Him, so were we.
St. Gregory of Nyssa put it this way: “The resurrection is the re-creation of our nature.”
Paul writes to a Roman church—“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” – Romans 6:4
- The curse of death was broken.
- The illusion of separation dismantled.
- The false self buried.
- The true self revealed—in Christ, as Christ, with Christ.
“He has made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms.”
— Ephesians 2:5–6
The early church didn’t see the resurrection as a selective reward for the faithful. They saw it as the first fruits of a reconciled cosmos.
Maximus the Confessor wrote: “In the resurrection, Christ recapitulates all things in Himself, gathering the fragmented pieces of creation into one single harmony.” And Athanasius, echoing Paul, proclaimed: “Death has been swallowed up in victory… the body can no longer be held by it, for it is now joined to the incorruptible.”
Christ is the Last Adam—and in Him, humanity has been rewritten.
Resurrected.
Re-membered.
Restored.
Restoration is in Christ Alone
In closing, when Jesus said It is finished, it wasn’t a hopeful wish He had—it was a blood-bought declaration of divine finality.
Nothing could we ever be the same again. On the cross, He absorbed all trauma of the world. In the tomb, He baptized humanity into rest. In the resurrection, He carried us into eternal, unbreakable union.
This is the Gospel of Grace. This is the Good News we proclaim to the world yet to know Him. Let it go deep that the Gospel is not a transaction to appease a distant deity, but God was in Christ reconciling the cosmos back to our rightful place, It was but a revelation of a Father who never left us, a Son who embodied us, and a Spirit who indwells us. It is Finished proclaims the Gospel truth that Jesus Christ accomplished it all! He opened up the heavens on our behalf, enraptured us into Love’s embrace, His cosmic presence and we are in beloved union with God.
“The Word became flesh to make us partakers of the divine nature.” — St. Irenaeus
Let us tell the world of this wonderful Good News! That heaven has embraced earth, that humanity has been caught up in Christ, and that nothing—absolutely nothing—can ever separate us from His love.
This is the Greatest Story Ever Told. Tell the world – It is Finished!
✧ Sources & References:
- Athanasius, On the Incarnation
- Irenaeus, Against Heresies
- Maximus the Confessor, Ambigua
- Gregory of Nazianzus, Orations
- Gregory of Nyssa, The Great Catechism Download a free version here.
- New Testament (1 Cor. 15, Eph. 2, Col. 3, Rom. 5–8, John 19)
- Strong’s Concordance: Tetelestai (τετέλεσται – G5055)
Featured Programs:
- Unveiled Horizon with Bill Vanderbush – The Last Adam’s family, a study on the finished work of the cross EP19
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- Digital Cathedral with Don Keathley: What is the “it” in Finished | Don Keathley
