"I thirst."
Review: John 19:28-29 | Matt 27:47 | Exodus 12:22 | John 7:4 | Psalm 23 | Psalm 69:21
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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Open up your Bibles with me please to John 19.
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Verses 28 and 29.
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Are you there?
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John 19.
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Verse 28 says, "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, to fulfill the Scripture, "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there.
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So they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.
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God's Word records seven statements that Jesus Christ made from the cross.
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And today, we're going to examine the shortest statement of the seven.
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Actually in the Greek, it's one word.
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So the equivalency would be basically here Jesus saying, "Thirsty." Now on the surface, it seems pretty unremarkable, doesn't it?
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I mean, show of hands, who here has ever been thirsty?
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Yeah.
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So what's so remarkable about this?
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Jesus was thirsty.
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I mean, it's a common human experience, right?
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And we've already talked about the horrible beating that Jesus endured, and the blood loss, so it makes sense, I guess, that He's dehydrated.
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And so it would make sense that he is thirsty.
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But if "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." If that was the most gracious thing that Jesus had ever said.
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If "Today you will be with me in paradise." Is the most comforting thing that Jesus ever said.
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"Women, behold your son," is the most caring thing that Jesus ever said.
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And if "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" is the most heart-wrenching thing Jesus ever said, I can tell you that "I thirst" could be the most profound thing Jesus ever said.
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We never do this, but we have to today.
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I want you to hold your place there in John.
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And I want you to turn back to Matthew 27.
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Verse 47, because you have to see this.
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Matthew 27.
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47.
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Just go back a few books.
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Because you have to see this.
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As a response to Jesus screaming, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" You see, specifically, the Bible tells us the original language in which He said it, because we're supposed to catch something here.
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Remember we saw that, "Eli, Eli, lemah sebachthani." As a response to that, look at verse 47, "And some of the bystanders hearing it said, 'This man is calling Elijah.'" My best understanding of that is more mocking, right?
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That's all we've seen throughout the whole ordeal is mocking Jesus.
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And they would have known exactly what He was saying.
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I believe what they were doing here again is more mocking.
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"Oh, listen to him.
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He's calling for Elijah.
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Oh, listen to him." Why would they say that?
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Well, according to Malachi 4, the Bible says Elijah is going to accompany the Messiah.
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So sometime after verse 46 is when Jesus said, "I thirst," because though Matthew doesn't record that, Matthew records the response to that statement.
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Because look at verse 48.
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It says, "And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink." So you see that's obviously the response.
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We saw the parallel account to that in John.
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Verse 49 says, "But the others said, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him." Again, that's more mocking.
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There wasn't anyone there, none of the bystanders that we've seen at any point in this account that had a sincere seeking of Christ being the Messiah.
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We've seen nothing but ridicule and mock.
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Now, Jesus was, if you recall, offered a drink earlier while He was on the cross.
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Matthew 27.34, Mark 15.23, we're not going to turn to there, but earlier while He was on the cross, Jesus was offered a drink and the Bible says He refused that drink.
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And the question that I had was, "Why did Jesus refuse the earlier drink, but at this point he actually asked for a drink. Well, there's a very specific reason for that.
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The first drink, the Bible says, the first drink that he was offered was actually called gall, and it was a sedative. You see, it was a bit of mercy for somebody being crucified. Basically, like, "Here's an aspirin." But don't miss this.
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Jesus refused the gall because He didn't want the sedative.
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Because He chose to feel the full impact of God's wrath on Himself.
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He wanted to feel that! He wanted to bear God's wrath for my sin.
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And he just refused to be drugged for that to any degree.
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And I'm just going to be honest with you.
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I can be honest, right?
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Can I be honest with you?
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I would have taken it.
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When you consider the horrible pain, the ridicule, the shame, this is a scene more horrific than we can fathom.
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I would have taken it in a second.
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Anything you can do to get my mind off of this.
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Jesus refused that.
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But here, the drink that he drank at this point, the Bible specifically says, was sour wine.
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What was that?
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Well, some people have said, well, the soldiers drank that.
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That was basically their Gatorade.
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They kept it out and drank that.
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Some people have suggested it was to sort of rehydrate people that were suffering, not to really alleviate their suffering, but to extend it.
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Say this will help them live longer, help them suffer longer.
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It was a cheap wine, it was actually almost vinegar, and it would have had almost zero alcohol content in it.
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Okay, so we get to this passage, we have this scene on the cross, And we've seen the drama, we've heard the cries, and at this point Jesus says, "I thirst." If you're taking notes, I want you to jot down a couple of things here.
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This statement, "I thirst," it is going to stagger you in three ways and on three levels.
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The first way, the first level, The first thing that's so staggering about this statement is simply this, it shows us that the physical suffering of Jesus was real.
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This wasn't play acting.
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You see, in our day, people that doubt Jesus, in our day, the people that doubt Jesus doubt that Jesus the man was actually God, right?
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He was just a man, he was just a rabbi, he was just a good teacher, but we don't think he was God, but did you know, closer to the time of these events, there was a completely different heresy.
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Because Jesus was so awesome, there was a whole heresy, the other end of the spectrum saying, "We don't think he was human.
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We don't believe Jesus the Spirit was actually flesh and blood because he couldn't have been human." Because he wasn't really human, he didn't really suffer.
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Because he wasn't actually flesh and blood, the spirit Jesus wasn't actually a man.
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Well, the first thing this statement shows us is that Jesus was fully God and man at the same time.
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It was a genuine cry of agony.
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And when you think in your mind or you see a depiction of the crucifixion, you can't think to yourself, "Well, he was God.
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He probably didn't feel that the way I would have felt that.
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Right?
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I mean, he healed the lame and he healed the blind and he healed leprosy.
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I mean, let's be honest, he probably could have just healed himself, right?
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Absolutely.
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He could have.
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Just like he refused the gall, he refused to heal himself.
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Don't think for a second at any moment he could have just walked off the cross and said, enough of this. He just walked right to heaven and said, "They're not worth it!" But He chose in His humanity to feel it. All of it.
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The second staggering thing, when Jesus said, "I thirst." The second staggering thing is this, it recreates the Passover drama. I want you to look at verse 29 again because God's word is so specific. Look at verse 29. It says, "A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth." I want you to notice the type of branch that is specifically identified.
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It is a hyssop branch.
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Why is that so significant?
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Jot this down, you can turn here later, but not now.
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Exodus 12, verse 22.
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I want to take you back to the Old Testament.
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Remember at this point in history, Israel, they were slaves in Egypt.
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And they were delivered by God.
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Do you remember Israel living in Egypt?
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God said, "I'm going to send these plagues on Egypt, and that's going to force Pharaoh to let you go free from your slavery." Well, do you remember what the 10th plague was?
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The 10th plague was the death of the firstborn, or the Passover.
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God promised with the 10th plague that he was going to come through Egypt And he was going to kill the firstborn in every home.
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But Israel was told, remember they were slaves living in Egypt, Israel was told every household was to take a spotless lamb and they were to kill it and they were to put the blood of that spotless lamb on the doorpost and the cross piece.
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And what would happen is, God says, "When I come through Egypt, if I see the blood of a spotless lamb, I'm going to pass over that house and not kill the firstborn." That's where that word "passover" comes from.
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And interestingly, at this very moment that Jesus was being crucified, Passover was being celebrated and remembered in Jerusalem.
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So Jesus is outside the city, inside the city, the Jews are celebrating the Passover.
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Well back to the Exodus account.
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Interestingly, when God told Israel to apply the blood of the spotless Lamb to their doorposts and the doorframe.
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Do you know how God told them to apply it?
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He said, "Use a hyssop branch to apply the blood of the lamb." So, when the hyssop branch was extended to give Jesus a drink, I want you to put yourself in the sandals of a Jew in Jerusalem during this time.
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What would that have looked like to them?
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Hyssop branch extended, hyssop branch extended, reaching with the hyssop branch.
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They would have thought immediately, "This is like the Passover." You see, God was proclaiming, God was graphically portraying This is the true Passover lamb.
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This is the true lamb that saves from death.
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So the second staggering thing that we see is God providentially using what looked like a simple act of giving Jesus a drink to actually be the playing out of events of the original Passover.
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Which, by the way, the events of the original Passover were to serve as a foreshadowing and a prophecy for the events of the coming Christ, the perfect spotless Lamb of God.
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But there's more to what's happening here.
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The third mind-blowing, staggering thing from Jesus saying, "I'm thirsty." The third thing takes us to why Jesus said this.
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And it goes much deeper than, "He said it because he was thirsty." Yes, that is true.
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But there's a much deeper reason that He said it.
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And I want you to look at verse 28 again.
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And I want you to look very closely at the specific wording in verse 28.
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It says, "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, 'To fulfill the Scripture, I thirst.'" First of all, look at that phrase, knowing that all was now finished.
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"All" obviously refers to, specifically, His earthly ministry and suffering.
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I think that goes without saying, right?
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Jesus wasn't like, "I'm done with everything," because we still had - spoiler alert - resurrection coming in a couple of days.
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We still had commissioning of the disciples.
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We still had, I don't know, all the second advent stuff that is yet to come.
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So it's not like Jesus is completely done with everything.
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When Jesus says "all" here, it's obvious that He's referring specifically to His suffering.
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And it takes us back to what Jesus said in John 17 forward.
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You remember when He prayed, "I glorify you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do." So here it is.
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Listen closely.
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Jesus, in order for Jesus to actually be the Messiah, He had to fulfill all of the Old Testament prophecies surrounding the suffering of the Messiah.
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He had to fulfill all of them.
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And when you go through the Old Testament, there's a lot.
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The Old Testament says the Messiah would be despised and rejected.
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The Old Testament says that the Messiah would have His hands and feet pierced.
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The Old Testament says the Messiah would be mocked.
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The Old Testament says people would be gambling for His clothes.
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The Old Testament says the Messiah's bones would not be broken.
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All through the Old Testament.
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Exodus 12, Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, Zechariah 10.
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I can go on and on and on and on.
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All through the Old Testament.
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There's so many prophecies concerning the suffering of the Messiah.
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And at this moment, Jesus knew He had exactly one left.
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That's why verse 28 says, "Knowing that all was now finished," Jesus knew, despite everything that had happened to Him, in His mind and in His heart, He knew, there's exactly one more thing that needs done.
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Jesus remembered Psalm 69 verse 21 that says, For my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink." And John 19.28 says, "He said he was thirsty to receive that drink in order to fulfill this prophecy." Understand on the cross what was happening in Jesus' mind.
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He knew, "Everything's done.
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I fulfilled everything that I came to do.
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Oh, there's one left." The Scripture says, "This has to happen." So it's going to happen.
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This is the last one to fulfill, so I'm not going to fulfill it." And before somebody says, "Well, that just sounds like He manipulated the prophecy." Really? That's what you think?
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You think He manipulated the prophecy?
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He somehow convinced them to crucify Him?
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He chose the drink that they offered Him?
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He just said He was thirsty.
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They gave Him sour wine.
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And that's exactly what the Old Testament said the Messiah was going to have.
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Oh, the sovereignty of Jesus, in control of every single detail, even while He's nailed to the cross, even while He's moments away from His death.
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Oh, it looks otherwise in this moment, right?
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To everyone, whether it was the bystanders, the religious leaders who were mocking Him, or the Roman guards, to everybody, it looked completely otherwise in this moment, but Jesus was in total control the whole time.
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And my question to you, church, is what does that tell you about God?
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What does that tell you about God?
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Here's what it tells me.
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It tells me that God always keeps His promises.
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This testifies to the absolute trustworthiness of God's Word.
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Every promise comes true, no matter how minor a detail, like taking a drink.
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No matter how major the obstacle, like being nailed to a cross.
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God always delivers what He says.
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And there's somebody sitting here today that needs to know this.
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God always does everything He promises.
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God always does everything that He promises.
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Can you take the Bible too literally?
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Jesus didn't.
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He took it all the way.
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There is no such thing in Jesus' mind as too literal.
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He's like, "Every word of God is true." So no, we can't take God's Word too literally.
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Jesus demonstrated that here in these last moments by fulfilling exactly the one more prophecy of the suffering of the Messiah.
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What you need to know today, God always does everything that He promises. Everything.
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For example, God has promised in His Word that He's going to use your trials to ultimately bless you.
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God has promised in His Word that He's going to provide all your needs.
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God has promised to never leave you or forsake you.
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God has promised that everyone who receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will be saved and become a child of God.
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And God has promised to one day eradicate all pain and suffering.
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So Jesus' final act, not His final word, But Jesus' final act of His earthly ministry is right here.
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His final act was to prove that He is the Messiah.
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And it demonstrates to us, graphically and forever, that no matter how things may look, no matter how hard things get in your life, No matter how hopeless, everything appears before you.
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God always keeps His Word.
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Pray with me.
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Father in heaven, we stand in awe of You.
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Father, what a testimony to Your Word this statement is.
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That Jesus would fulfill every last little tiny detail from the Old Testament.
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And He knew exactly what He was doing.
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A sovereign God, even while on the cross!
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A sovereign God!
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Who has made so many promises to us.
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Father, help our unbelief.
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There's times, Father, that we sinfully and wrongfully wonder, "Can God really keep His Word?
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Is God really going to do what he says?
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Can I really trust God's word?
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And what a testimony to the glorious truth.
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Jeremiah says that you are watching over your word to perform it.
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That not only did you give us your word, that your word tells us right now you are seated in heaven, watching every little detail take place, making sure everything is fulfilled exactly as you promised.
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So God, I pray today that we would find a renewed, or maybe there's somebody in here, they would find a new confidence in your word.
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We thank you God for your faithfulness.
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We thank you for your trustworthiness.
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We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read John 19:28-29
Why did Jesus drink this sour wine when He earlier refused to drink (Matthew 27:34)?
What is the significance of the statement "I thirst"? Why is this more than just a declaration of a physical need?
What does Jesus' fulfilling this last prophecy teach us about God's Word as a whole?
What is significant about the hyssop branch being used to take wine to Jesus? What was God communicating with this?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.