In my (Erick) daily devotional I was reading John 19:28-30 describing Jesus’ last moments on the cross as well as His last words “it is finished.”

I’ve always thought of this as His famous last words. He was letting us know that His time on this earth, His physical pain on the cross, His confinement to an earthly body was over. I always thought of it kind of like when you’re done with one of those horrid circuit work-outs during my high school varsity soccer try-outs. “It is finished!” I’d find myself thinking or exclaiming. But leave it up to Pastor Bob Coy and his Active Word Daily Devotionals to widen my perspective on Jesus’ last words on the cross.

Pastor Coy gives us some insight into the original Greek word that Christ exclaims, “teleo.”

“It is used in the New Testament to describe the complete payment of a person’s taxes (Matthew 17:24), the completion of Christ’s thousand-year reign in the last days (Revelation 20:7), and even the power of love to fulfill the law (James 2:8).”

Therefore “teleo” means much more than what I initially thought. It’s more than Christ signifying His end here on earth. Teleo means finishing something so thoroughly and completely that there is absolutely no room for improvement.

It is a BIG reminder to us from God that when He does something, He doesn’t do it half-way, or even 99.9% of the way. He does it 100%, above and beyond, no room for improvement. We can’t improve upon it. Jesus’ life and death and resurrection here on earth was 100% complete and perfect.

Christ’s work on the cross is absolutely and perfectly finished. We don’t need to add a thing to it!