Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The shout of victory.
Sunday, April 4, 2004
Palm Sunday is a future celebration to usher in the Millennial reign, the thousand-year reign of Christ on earth from His second advent to the end of human history.
His first advent was for the purpose of coming to die for the sins of the whole world not to set up His kingdom, therefore, the cross must come before the crown.
Palm Sunday is about a crowd who gathered together for political expediency, not spiritual recognition.
LUK 23:21 but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!”
The branch of the palm tree is the sign of Messiahship, JER 23:5-6; ZEC 3:8; 6:12-13; ISA 11:1, but at the beginning of the Millennial reign.
The first advent, which we are still in today, was designed for the celebration of the cross.
1. LUK 23:34 “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
2. LUK 23:43 “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
3. JOH 19:26-27 He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”
4. MAT 27:46, MAR 15:34 – Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
5. JOH 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.”
6. The sixth statement can be described by one word, victory, Tetelestai – it is finished!
When the Lord Jesus Christ uttered the words “it is finished,” He evidenced the fact that salvation was complete.
There never will be any member of the human race who deserves something as wonderful and as marvelous and as precious as the blood of Jesus Christ, which, as a representative analogy of His spiritual death, cleanses from all sin.
When He said, “It is finished,” He made it very clear that to add anything to the finished work of salvation is sheer blasphemy. “He that believeth on the Son has eternal life.”
He said, Tetelestai – “Finished in the past with the result that it stands finished forever.”
Tetelestai – perf-pass-ind – teleo = to end, to be finished, completed, fully executed, concluded, to discharge a debt totally and completely.
Intensive perfect = a completed action with emphasis on existing results of that past action.
HEB 8:12 “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.”
Intensive perfect – teleo = “Finished in the past with the result that it stands finished forever” – a completed action with emphasis on existing results of that past action.
Present state = salvation is available.
Past action = Jesus Christ was judged for our sins.
“It is finished in the past with the result that it stands finished forever.”
Passive voice – represents the subject, Jesus Christ, as being acted upon by someone else, God the Father, who imputed our sins to Jesus Christ and judged everyone of them.
ROM 5:8 “God commends His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died as a substitute for us.”
Indicative mood – teleo = declarative for a dogmatic statement of doctrine; salvation is totally complete.
JOH 19:30 – the work of salvation was completed on the cross.
By adding anything to faith for salvation, man is in competition with God, and that alone is blasphemous.
Anytime anyone adds baptism or any system of works like joining a church or raising a hand or walking an aisle, or anything that man can do, he has rejected the work of Christ on the cross.
PHI 3:18 – an enemy of the cross of Christ,
All things had been done which the law of God required.
All things established which prophecy predicted.
All things brought to pass which the types foreshadowed.
All things accomplished which the Father had given Him to do.
All things performed which were needed for our redemption.
The costly ransom was given, the great conflict had been endured, sin’s wages had been paid, divine justice satisfied.
It was the declaration on the part of the Divine Redeemer that all for which the Lord came from heaven to earth to do, was now done.
All which was needful to reveal the glorious character of God had now been accomplished.
Everything necessary for the putting away of the sins of His people, providing for them a perfect standing before God, securing for them an eternal inheritance and fitting them for it, had all been done.
Crucifixion meant shame, torture and a slow and agonizing death.
Our Lord Jesus was “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” PHI 2:8.
Tetelestai was a familiar word.
The Greek of the New Testament was the common language of the people of that day – Koine Greek (common Greek).
“It is finished” – tetelestai – does not belong to some heavenly vocabulary, although it certainly has a wonderful heavenly meaning.
It was a familiar word used between a Master and his servants.
A master would tell his servant to go do something, and when the servant had completed the task, he would come back and say, “Tetelestai – I have finished the work that you gave me to do.”
He did not come as a sovereign but as a servant, not as a ruler but as a slave.
They have Palm Sunday before Easter or Resurrection Sunday, when the divine order is resurrection Sunday before Palm Sunday.
Death had to take place before there could be a resurrection.
JOH 17:4 I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do.
The priests also used this word.
After the priest had examined the sacrifice, he would say, “It is perfect.”
When the Lord Jesus was baptized, God the Father spoke from heaven and said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,” MAT 3:17.
MAT 3:16 And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, {and} coming upon Him,
MAT 8:29 And behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with You, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”
His enemies had to admit that He was faultless, because they had to hire liars to bear false witness against Him.
Pilate said, “I find no fault in this man,” LUK 23:4.
Even Judas said, “I have betrayed innocent blood,” MAT 27:4.
Tetelestai! The priests used this word; it means “a perfect, faultless sacrifice.”
When a painter completed his work, he would step back and say, “Tetelestai – it is finished!”
In the Old Testament are ceremonies, types, prophecies, and some mysterious symbols.
The Old Testament was God’s “picture gallery” in the shadows.
LUK 24:25 “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!”