Have you ever been so thirsty that you would have done anything for a drink of water?
Later,
knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be
fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."
A jar of wine vinegar was
there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop
plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. John
19:28-29
John 19:28
gives us a powerful picture of Jesus on the cross. I’m told that crucifixion is
an agonizing death by suffocation and dehydration. Not only is it difficult to
lift your chest and breathe when you’re hanging by your hands, but when your
life’s blood is draining out, you feel an intense thirst. This reminds us that
Jesus felt every pain. Just because he was God, he didn’t take the easy way
out. He cried out, “I thirst!” Physically, the reason he was thirsty was
because all his body fluids were draining out. But, spiritually, he was thirsty
because he was emptying himself.
Verse 28 is amazing: It fulfills prophecy, but it also fulfills Scripture that hadn’t even been written at that time. Philippians 2:7 says Jesus “made himself of no reputation”, but the Greek literally says, “he emptied himself.” I wish the translators had used the literal phrase, because he was emptying himself of the Water of Life to give it to us. That’s why he was thirsty!
In John 7:37 we read about a time when Jesus attended a feast at the Temple. On the last day of the feast, it was customary for the priest to pour out a cup of water. As he did this, he prayed for God to quench their thirst for God as the water quenched the parched ground. At this, Jesus cried out, “If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink!” That’s because, as Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4, for those who trust in him be will cause a well of water to spring up within us unto eternal life.
“I am the Way,” he said in John 14:6. On the cross, Jesus opened the way to the Water of Life. He told the believing thief that very day they would be together in Paradise. Revelation 22:1 says the River of Life that flows through Heaven’s paradise bursts forth from the Throne of God and Jesus. It’s when God is on the throne in our hearts and Jesus is Lord that we have eternal life. When Jesus thirsted on the cross, he was pouring out the Water of Life for us. He finished all that was needed to make that River possible. But, we have to give him the throne of our hearts.
Verse 28 is amazing: It fulfills prophecy, but it also fulfills Scripture that hadn’t even been written at that time. Philippians 2:7 says Jesus “made himself of no reputation”, but the Greek literally says, “he emptied himself.” I wish the translators had used the literal phrase, because he was emptying himself of the Water of Life to give it to us. That’s why he was thirsty!
In John 7:37 we read about a time when Jesus attended a feast at the Temple. On the last day of the feast, it was customary for the priest to pour out a cup of water. As he did this, he prayed for God to quench their thirst for God as the water quenched the parched ground. At this, Jesus cried out, “If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink!” That’s because, as Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4, for those who trust in him be will cause a well of water to spring up within us unto eternal life.
“I am the Way,” he said in John 14:6. On the cross, Jesus opened the way to the Water of Life. He told the believing thief that very day they would be together in Paradise. Revelation 22:1 says the River of Life that flows through Heaven’s paradise bursts forth from the Throne of God and Jesus. It’s when God is on the throne in our hearts and Jesus is Lord that we have eternal life. When Jesus thirsted on the cross, he was pouring out the Water of Life for us. He finished all that was needed to make that River possible. But, we have to give him the throne of our hearts.
Be wise today and always - be quenched by Jesus.
