Reading: John chapter 19 verses 28-30.
In this series of studies:
• We are considering the seven statements of Jesus from the cross:
• These statements are very important to us:
• Not only because of the Person who spoke them;
• But, also because of the place where they were said.
• Remember the context that these great words were spoken in;
• It was when our Jesus was doing His greatest work on earth,
Quote:
“These seven last words from the cross are windows that enable us to look into eternity and see the heart of God.”
• This morning we are looking at the fifth statement that Jesus made on the cross;
• “I thirst?”
Note:
• Jesus was crucified at nine o'clock in the morning,
• And He spent the first three hours on the cross in the sunlight.
• Then darkness came, and the cross was shrouded in darkness for three hours.
• At the end of that darkness,
• Jesus made his fourth statement:
• "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew chapter 27 verse 46).
The last three statements Jesus made from the cross are cantered upon Himself:
• His first three statements centred upon others;
• His enemies, the thief, and John and Mary.
• The fourth statement Jesus made;
• Centred on God himself.
But in the last three statements that Jesus made from the cross:
• We see a different focus, now the Lord focuses upon Himself,
• And in particular the three elements that make up a human being:
• (a). His body:
• "I thirst" (John chapter 19 verse 28);
• (b). His soul:
• "It is finished" (John chapter 19 verse 30);
• Isaiah chapter 53 verse 11;
• “After the suffering of his soul”, or “He shall see of the travail of his soul”.
• (c). His spirit:
• "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Luke chapter 23 verse 46).
• On the cross we see that Body, soul and spirit;
• Were all offered by Jesus in perfect obedience to His Father.
The shortest of the seven statements that Jesus made from the cross:
• Is this one found in John chapter 19 verse 28:
• "I thirst."
• In the Greek New Testament it is one word of four letters.
• It is the only statement in which Jesus referred to His body and His physical suffering.
• It may only be one simple word;
• But it reveals to us the heart of Jesus in a deeper loving way.
• When we hear Jesus say, "I thirst,"
• We are able to see three portraits of Christ:
(The 1st portrait): The suffering Son of Man.
• Jesus Christ was truly a man,
• Fully human!
NOTE:
• Non-Christians struggle to believe in the deity of Jesus;
• They accept him as a great human teacher but not the Son of God.
• Some Christians struggle with the humanity of Jesus,
• They struggle to appreciate that he was fully human!
Ill:
• We see the two natures of Jesus in perfect unity and harmony.
• Just like the parallel lines of a railway track.
• 100% the Son of Man.
• Man as though he was not God.
• He was 100% God the Son.
• God as though he was not man.
In the early church there was no question about the deity of Christ.
• But there were those who questioned His humanity;
• And who said that He really was not really a man.
• They said that He just appeared to be a man.
• This is one reason why New Testament letters like ‘One John’ was written.
• John wrote his letter (1 John);
• To reaffirm once again the fact that Jesus Christ was truly man as well as truly God.
As you scan the New Testament the evidence is there that he was fully human:
(a). He had human names:
• Expression “Son of Man” occurs 80 times in the gospels.
• New testament refers to him again and again, calling him a “Man”.
(b). He possessed a human body.
• Ill: John chapter 1 verses 14: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”
• Quote “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see….incarnate deity”.
(c). He had a human nature:
• He was born after a full term pregnancy (Luke chapter 2 verse 7).
• He grew to maturity & manhood (Luke chapter 2 verse 40).
• He got tired (John chapter 4 verse 6).
• He became thirsty (John chapter 19 verse 28).
• He slept (Mart chapter 8 verse 24).
• He loved (Mark chapter 10 verse 21).
• He had compassion (Mart chapter 9 verse 36).
• He was angry (John chapter 2 verses 12-25).
• He felt pain (Matthew chapter 27 verses 27-31)
• Both physical & emotional.
• He wept (John chapter 11 verse 35).
• He died (Mark chapter 27 verse 50).
• All of these experiences belong to humanity.
• They are the sinless experiences of humanity.
WHEN JESUS WAS ON THE CROSS:
• He felt the full depths of suffering;
• Both physical suffering and spiritual suffering.
• We read he was offered the same narcotic drug to drink;
• That the two thieves were offered (Matthew chapter 27 verse 34).
• Apparently they partook of it;
• He did not.
• He refused to drink the wine that was mingled with gall or myrrh,
• Because he did not want His senses to be stupefied in any way.
• When Jesus died on the cross, he was in perfect control of His faculties;
• He did not seek to escape pain in any way.
Note: The symbolism; remember the high priest in the Old Testament,
• When he was ministering in the tabernacle or the temple,
• Was warned not to drink strong drink.
• When Jesus Christ (our High Priest) offered Himself as the sacrifice for sin,
• He too refused any strong drink or sedative drug.
As Jesus endured the agonies of the cross:
• He was in full control of his facalties; he was in full control of Himself.
• He was the suffering Son of Man.
The first portrait we see in the words "I thirst" is that of the suffering Son of Man.
(Second portrait): Is of the obedient
servant of God.
Question:
• Why did Jesus say, "I thirst"?
• (John chapter 19 verse 28b).
Twofold Answer:
(A). Physical reasons.
• It is hardly surprising that Jesus thirsted.
• Crucifixion is an agonizing form of death.
• As Jesus hung on the cross,
• Exposed to the searing heat and penetrating rays of the sun,
• His body was dehydrating fast. He had not had anything to drink for hours;
• And all his physical juices were draining right out of him.
Ill:
• Psalm 69 (a Messianic Psalm, a psalm about the Messiah) talks about this;
• When it describes His sufferings (verses 19-21);
“You know how I am scorned, disgraced and shamed;
all my enemies are before you.
20 Scorn has broken my heart
and has left me helpless;
I looked for sympathy, but there was none,
for comforters, but I found none.
21 They put gall in my food
and gave me vinegar for my thirst”.
(2). Prophetic reasons:
• The answer to the question ‘Why did Jesus say, "I thirst"?’;
• Is found in the first part of the verse (John chapter 19 verse 28a):
‘That the Scripture might be fulfilled’.
• Jesus lived in complete harmony with the will and therefore the Word of God.
• In Psalm 69 (a Messianic Psalm, a psalm about the Messiah) in verse 21 we read:
• “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst”.
• That prophecy was being fulfilled in this verse.
Matthew, Luke and John tells us:
• That Jesus was offered drink three times at his crucifixion.
• At the beginning, in the middle and at the very end.
• At the beginning of his crucifixion Matthew clearly tells us;
• That Jesus refused the tranquillizing drink he was offered.
• But here at the very end of his life in verses 29-30;
• We are told that Jesus accepted a drink; So that ‘the Scripture might be fulfilled’.
Quote F.W. Grant:
“The terrible thirst of crucifixion is upon him, but that is not enough to force those parched lips to speak; but it is written; ‘In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink’ – this opens them up”.
• Every detail including the kind of drink given,
• Had to come to pass as predicted.
• The soldier could not have given him just water;
• Nor could the soldier have given him new wine.
• The prophecy called for vinegar and vinegar it must be.
• The ordinary drink or Roman legionaries was called ‘Posca’.
• It was made up of sour wine vinegar, water and beaten eggs;
• They dipped a sponge into their pot, then via a spear they placed it to his lips.
(Third portrait): The loving Saviour of sinners.
• We looked at our last Word & Worship service at the time when;
• Jesus experienced three hours of darkness,
• When God shrouded the cross with darkness.
• And no-one could see the judgement of God that was taking place.
Jesus Christ, in that time of darkness, cried out:
• "My God, my God, why have you forsaken/abandoned me?"
• (Matthew chapter 27 verse 46).
• I believe it was at this time;
• Jesus was bearing the weight of the worlds sin in his own body!
• Here he was being judged as if he was the greatest sinner that ever lived;
• It was here that he completed that great transaction for our salvation,
I think we could rightfully say that he endured our hell for us:
• Hell is a place of solitude, abandonment and also of thirst.
• e.g. In Luke chapter 16 Jesus told the story of ‘The rich man and Lazarus’.
• In this story
• Jesus spoke about a rich man who died and woke up in the place of judgment,
• And in that place of judgment,
• Jesus said that the rich man ‘Was thirsty’.
• I would suggest to you that hell is a place of eternal thirst,
• Where people will thirst endlessly and will not be able to be satisfied.
• When Jesus Christ was made sin for you and me, He thirsted.
• He endured the hell and separation that you and I deserved!
Quote Warren Wiersbe:
“Please notice that there were several cups at Calvary.
There was the cup of charity-they offered Him wine mingled with myrrh, an opiate to deaden His pain, but He rejected it (see Mark 15:23).
There was the cup of mockery-the soldiers offered Him sour wine (see Luke 23:36).
There was the cup of sympathy-somebody put some vinegar on a sponge and lifted it to His dry lips (see John 19:29).
But the greatest cup of all was the cup of iniquity. He said in the Garden, "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink of it?" (18:11)”.
Quote Hymn:
“Death and the curse were in our cup;
O Christ, ‘twas full for thee!
But thou hast drained the last dark drop,
‘Tis empty now for me”
• The Lord Jesus Christ thirsted on the cross;
• That we might never thirst again.
• He is the suffering Son of Man,
• He is the obedient servant of God,
• He is the loving Saviour of sinners.
Prayer:
• Lord we can never understand how the one who said; “I am the water of life”
• Could also say “I thirst”.
• We can never understand how the one who created the rivers and the oceans could have parched lips.
• We can never understand how the one who spoke to the raging sea and brought it to submission could long for a few drops of refreshment.
• Thank you that he endured the thirst of hell,
• So that its fires might be quenched for us.
