John 19:30

Jesus’ reception of the sour wine did not relieve His pain, though it did moisten his parched throat so He could speak. It also fulfilled Scripture (Psalms 69:21).

"The ’vinegar’ was probably the cheap sour wine the legionnaires drank. Though it provided some refreshment, it was a strong astringent that could contract the throat muscles and prevent the condemned victim from crying out with pain. [Note: Tenney, "John," p. 184.]

Nevertheless Jesus cried out with a loud voice (Mark 15:37), "It is finished" (Gr. tetelestai). He probably shouted with a cry of victory. The verb teleo denotes the completion of a task. Jesus was not just announcing that He was about to die. He was also declaring proleptically that He had fulfilled God’s will for Him (cf. John 17:4). The use of the perfect tense here signifies proleptically that Jesus had finished His work of providing redemption completely and that it presently stands finished. Nothing more needed or needs to be done. This finished work of Jesus Christ is the basis for our salvation (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21).

"Papyri receipts for taxes have been recovered with the word tetelestai written across them, meaning ’paid in full.’" [Note: Blum, p. 340.]

Having thus spoken, Jesus handed over (Gr. paredoken) His spirit to His Father (cf. Luke 23:46) and bowed His head in peaceful death. Normally victims of crucifixion experienced the gradual ebbing away of life, and then their heads would slump forward. All the evangelists presented Jesus as laying down His life of His own accord. No one took it from Him (cf. John 10:10; John 10:14; John 10:17-18). He did this in harmony with His Father’s will (cf. John 8:29; John 14:31).

John did not record Jesus’ final utterance from the cross (Luke 23:46). He evidently ended his account of Jesus’ death as he did to stress the completion of the work of redemption that Jesus’ sixth saying expressed. John stressed Jesus’ divine sovereign control over His own destiny in submission to His Father’s will.