Just minutes before his final breath, Jesus cried out, ‘Tetelestai!’ from the cross. In English, it is translated as ‘It is finished.’ It was the same word that was written on receipts in New Testament times, indicating that a debt had been paid in full. Jesus’ death on the cross was the final instalment on sin. The entire debt for every sinner who comes to Him for salvation has been paid in full at Calvary. Paul wrote: ‘Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.’ Did you catch it? ‘Much more!’ The mercy bank is never closed. And there are never insufficient funds. The supply of grace is always greater than the demand of sin. The split second we confess our sin, a miraculous transaction happens. All our sin is transferred to Christ’s account and paid in full. But as good as that is, it’s only half the gospel. There’s a second transfer that takes place. All His righteousness is credited to our account, and God says, ‘Let’s call it even!’ Paul explained it this way: ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them…For He made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him’ (2 Corinthians 5:19, 21 NKJV). To be ‘in Christ’ means we stand in His righteousness rather than our own. So, when we stand before God, we won’t have to account for our sin, because it was already accounted for at the cross. The Father will see the righteousness of His Son that has been credited to our account.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.