Read 2 Corinthians 5:21

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Jesus’ sixth statement on the cross was not a cry of anguish; it was a declaration of victory. He had reached the goal and was able to say, “It is finished. Mission accomplished. It’s over.”

Both “finished” and “accomplished” are from the same Greek verb teleo, which means “to bring to an end.” Jesus’ statement on the cross, rendered tetelestai in John 19:30, could be translated, “It has been completed.”

Make no mistake about it. Jesus’ coming was no random afterthought on God’s part. And what Jesus did was never a casual matter. His mission was clear: to do the Father’s will. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else.

When He was hanging on the cross and said, “It is complete,” He meant He had completed the will of God for His earthly sojourn. More specifically, the will of God in this regard had to be satisfied or “finished” in four areas: the atonement, the Scriptures, the Law, and the devil. All four were uppermost in Jesus’ mind when He said, “It is finished!”

When someone or something is a substitute, that person or thing takes the place of someone or something else. Atonement means “to cover over.” So the substitutionary atonement means that Jesus’ death at Calvary was a complete covering over of sin on our behalf. He died in our place. In His death, He covered over our sin.

He died as our substitute and rose again in our place—on our behalf. The Law said that where there was sin, there must be death.

Their own sin drove Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden, and that original sin became a curse upon them and all humankind. After that, only the blood of animal sacrifices could atone for the sins of the people. But those animal sacrifices could never permanently remove sin. Only the perfect sacrifice—God’s only Son—could do that.

“Man of Sorrows!” what a name
For the Son of God, who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim!
Hallelujah, what a Savior!        

Lifted up was He to die,
“It is finished!” was His cry;
Now in heav’n exalted high:
Hallelujah, what a Savior!
—Philip P. Bliss, 1838–1876

Adapted by Insight for Living staff from The Darkness and the Dawn by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2001 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com