'_It is finished!_'
It is really only one word: the greatest word ever uttered; we must
examine it for a moment as a lapidary examines under a powerful glass a
rare and costly gem.
It was a _farmer's_ word. When, into his herd, there was born an animal
so beautiful and shapely that it seemed absolutely destitute of faults
and defects, the farmer gazed upon the creature with proud, delighted
eyes. '_Tetelestai!_' he said, '_tetelestai!_'
It was an _artist's_ word. When the painter or the sculptor had put the
last finishing touches to the vivid landscape or the marble bust, he
would stand back a few feet to admire his masterpiece, and, seeing in it
nothing that called for correction or improvement, would murmur fondly,
'_Tetelestai! tetelestai!_'
It was a _priestly_ word. When some devout worshiper, overflowing with
gratitude for mercies shown him, brought to the temple a lamb without
spot or blemish, the pride of the whole flock, the priest, more
accustomed to seeing the blind and defective animals led to the altar,
would look admiringly upon the pretty creature. '_Tetelestai!_' he would
say, '_tetelestai!_'
And when, in the fullness of time, the Lamb of God offered Himself on
the altar of the ages, He rejoiced with a joy so triumphant that it bore
down all His anguish before it. The sacrifice was stainless, perfect,
finished! '_He cried with a loud voice Tetelestai! and gave up the
ghost._'
This divine self-satisfaction appears only twice, once in each
Testament. When He completed the work of Creation, He looked upon it and
said that it was very good; when He completed the work of Redemption He
cried with a loud voice _Tetelestai_! It means exactly the same thing.