John 19:28-30, “After this, Jesus knowing that all was now finished, said to fulfill the scripture [Psalm 69:21], ‘I Thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch, and held it to His mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It Is Finished!’ and He bowed His head, and gave up His Spirit.” Note, it does not say it was taken from Him, but that He gave up His Spirit. This fulfills John 10:18 where He said He came to give His life “willingly.” (emphasis mine)
The Greek word for “It Is Finished” is tetelestai, which means “paid in full.” Nothing further is to be done, as this account is settled once and for all. The only issue is, the original account holder who owes the debt (everyone on earth) must accept the extremely generous offer of the One who settled the obligation for us. No one is exempt from this debt, which includes me. Anyone who does not accept this will be liable for their entire sin-debt, that we can never ever possibly pay for.
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, or the unforgivable sin, is to ignore the “voice” of the Holy Spirit, and reject Salvation through our Lord and Savior, Jesus. The person who does this totally rejects Jesus with no intent of ever repenting.
Matthew 12:22-24, “Then a demon oppressed man, who was blind and mute, was brought to Him, and He healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed and said, ‘Can this be the Son of David?’ But when the Pharisees heard it, they said ‘It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.'”
Going to Matthew 12:30-32, “Whoever is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. For this reason, I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy; but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age, or in the age to come.”
There are actually people who worship Satan, that hate the name of Jesus and have no intention of ever changing. They have totally bought into his lies that hell is not real; and if it is, God would not send anyone there forever.
When we accept the sacrifice our Savior freely made for us, His perfect, pure, sin-free blood washes away our sins completely when we confess them and ask His forgiveness (1 John 1:8-10). There is no other sacrifice that will meet the perfect standard that the Father will accept.
Hebrews 10:10-18, “By His will, we have been made Holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands day after day serving and offering the same sacrifices again and again; sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when this Priest (Jesus) had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, He sat down at the right hand of God; where He is now waiting until His enemies are made a footstool at His feet. For by one offering, He has perfected for all time, those who are made Holy.
“And the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after saying, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws on their hearts, and I will write them on their minds’; and then He says, ‘their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no longer.’ Now, where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.” (tetelestai)
Take a look at Psalm 103:8-12, “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love [also 2 Peter 3:9]. He will not always chide [scold or rebuke], nor will He keep His anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear [believe in] Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.”
God knows we are weak humans, and all are subject to sin as Paul said in Romans 3:23; “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Just because we may have called out for Jesus to save us (Acts 2:21 and Romans 10:9-13), does not mean we never sin again. That will only happen once we’re finally at home and rid of these mortal bodies. There we will have immortal, imperishable forever bodies, and a mindset that will not be subject to temptation. Our human sin nature will never be a part of us again.
Hebrews 10:26-29 tells what will happen if we call out for forgiveness, but are not sincere about repenting, and not truly accepting Jesus as our Savior. “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses, dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood covenant by which He was sanctified, and has outraged [blasphemed against] the Spirit of Grace?”
For people who believe they can “pull one over” on our Heavenly Father, consider Galatians 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked; for whatever one sows, that will he [she] also reap. For the one who sows to his [her] own flesh [accepts Satan] will from the flesh reap corruption; but the one who sows to the Spirit [accepts Jesus] will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
Review John 14:6, “Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by Me.” Then go to Acts 4:12, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved.”
Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, John and others warned what the times would be like near the end of this age. In a nutshell, evil would increase rapidly. Look around you, and compare today’s worldly attitudes against just a decade ago. If someone does not see a rapid decline in morality, and a rapid increase in violence and all evil, that person is blind. For true believers, we see all this, along with changing weather patterns and increased volcanic and earthquake activity; and as strange as it may sound, we’re excited. Our Hope in Jesus is about to pay off with our being called up to finally meet Him in the air to avoid the rapidly approaching 7-year Wrath/Tribulation.
All true believers, no matter what their “organized religion” is, will gain what we are so longing for now; Home in Heaven with Jesus.
For those who believe this is foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:81), their future is very bleak; very miserable. On the positive side, no one needs to be subjected to this. A true acceptance of the sacrifice our Savior made for us can change our destiny from the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:11-15) to a Home in Heaven built by Our Lord and Savior Himself (John 14:1-3).
It’s totally each person’s choice that no one else can make for us. God will turn no one away who receives the gift that was paid for at Calvary. Likewise, He will not allow anyone into Heaven that refuses His Son.
When the shout of the Archangel calls, and the trumpet of God sounds (1 Corinthians 15:51-53 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17), we who are a part of His flock can truly cry out, “Tetelestai” – “It Is Finished!”
Maranatha – Come Lord Jesus