"words From The Cross" " I Thirst" Series

In Jesus Holy Name March 19, 2023

Lent IV John 19:29 Redeemer

Words from the Cross: “I Thirst”

It’s Friday morning, 9 A.M. Outside the Damascus Gate there is a road leaving the city on which three men were carrying their crosses. One fell. A 4th man from the crowd was grabbed to finish the task. The one who fell was suffering from the scourging and loss of blood. On his head was a crown of thorns.

In the city, merchants were stirring and rushing around and opening their stalls to make ready for another busy day. This was the beginning of Passover. Lots of last-minute shopping and preparations to be accomplished. The bleating of lambs could be heard as they were being lead into the city for the coming sacrifice. Lots of talk in the city. As the three men were paraded through the streets a hush would come over the visitors and shoppers. Eyes would turn away as the Roman soldiers pushed the criminals.

Outside the city walls they were making ready for another round of crucifixions. Two criminals and a fellow named Jesus of Nazareth. The sun was beating down on their heads as the soldiers placed the beam into the holes in the ground and made ready the stakes, the hammer, the nails. Ropes might be needed if the nails fail to hold.

Some from the city had come to watch. Mostly women who had supported the ministry of Jesus, His mother, Nicodemus and a few Pharisees and soldiers. Three hours have elapsed. Suddenly at twelve o’clock. Darkness. No light from the sun. No light from a moon. Complete darkness. Confusion. There is the sound of panic as feet shuffle. The gambling for clothes stops. Then silence. Thick, oppressive silence upon the land. Three hours pass, an eternity of darkness. City merchants, Pilate in his palace. knows something is different. Is the world as they know it, coming to an end? In a sense, yes.

It’s been dark for 3 hours now. Knowing that all was now completed, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I thirst.’ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so the soldiers soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on the stalk of a hyssop plant, and lifted it to the lips of Jesus.

There are mysteries here which no man can explain. We must never minimize the horror of human sin. Sometimes we laugh at sin and say, “The Devil made me do it,” as if sin were something to joke about. But it was our broken commandments that Jesus carried to the cross that day. It was our broken ethics that caused, God the Creator, to turn away from His Son.

This was the plan from the beginning of creation when Adam and Eve disobeyed their Creator. A rescue plan was needed to restore the harmony and peace that was lost. Death came into our world. Jesus was God’s rescue plan. Without the cross there would be no forgiveness. Without the cross there would be no salvation. Without the cross we would be lost forever. Without the cross our sins would continue to alienate us from our Creator. It cost Jesus everything to redeem us. Let us never make light of His suffering and death, for He was the true Lamb of God sacrificed to take away the sins of the world.

So the soldiers took a sponge, dipped it into the sour vinegar wine, and put it on a stalk of the hyssop—Oh, you’ve heard of the hyssop before. You remember, don’t you, that in the book of Exodus, it was the hyssop plant that was dipped in blood and the blood of the lamb was put on the doorpost. Now the hyssop is used again when the sponge dipped in the sour wine.

The soldier stretched it out. A little would moisten the lips. Moisten the tongue. Moisten the throat. Just enough so you could say one or two more words. Now Jesus is almost dead. Moments will pass and He will be gone. Having moistened His lips He cries out “It is finished.” Another second passes and then “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” He bowed his head and died. In that moment the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom.

Josephus, the first century Jewish historian wrote that “the veil which separated the Holy of Holies from the temple proper was 4 inches thick, 60 feet long and 30 feet wide and even horses tied to each side could not pull it apart.” (The Thickness of the Temple Veil posted by chuckbamgardner April 6, 2010 as quoted in the Ryrie Study Bible, The Orchard Keeper).

The temple curtain maintained the separation of God’s presence in the temple from the priest. The priest could only enter the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement with the sprinkled blood of the lamb. Now with the death of Jesus, the True Lamb of God, every believer has access to God’s presence.