Thirsty⤒🔗

The Bible gives us many details about the final hours of Jesus Christ’s life: his arrest, his brutal treatment, his trial, the trip to Golgotha, the crucifixion, his descent into the three hours of darkness and absolute God-forsakenness, and a number of things that He said from the cross. One thing that is very striking in all of this is the deep awareness and consciousness of Jesus Christ himself as He endures these terrible things. Clearly, Scripture wants to leave no doubt in our minds that Jesus Christ willingly and knowingly made atonement for our sins.

One of the things we learn about our Lord Jesus Christ is that in the last minutes of his life He said: “I am thirsty.” This comes as no surprise to anyone – of course He is thirsty! Had He received anything to drink or to fortify himself since He celebrated the Passover the previous day? He had been dragged around, beaten, made to carry his own cross to Golgotha; He had been hanging on the cross for several hours already; the relentless sun, pain, taunting, and emotional agony would have left him parched and dehydrated beyond anything most of us would ever have endured! We read in Matthew 27 that earlier He had been offered wine and gall to drink, but He had refused it. Therefore it is not a wonder that He was unbearably thirsty, and that at this moment, a drink would have been deeply satisfying.

The thought-provoking question is this: why did our Lord say He was thirsty? Why was He basically asking for a drink? Particularly after He had denied a drink earlier! We might even have a little bit of a problem with it. Was He not supposed to suffer for our sins? What was He doing, taking a drink which might alleviate his suffering?

Easier or Harder?←⤒🔗

The question becomes: would a drink alleviate his suffering or increase it? Would a drink make things easier or harder? We take note of what He has already endured. Besides all the suffering we already mentioned, He had also cried out “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He had been brought to the open doors of hell and experienced the reality of eternal and spiritual death. He endured unspeakable anguish, pain, terror and agony. He suffered the anguish and torment of hell. We might even say that the worst for our Lord Jesus Christ is over by far. Having endured God-forsakenness in its most extreme form, what was there left for Him that would be harder to bear? What is harder than hell and the second death? Surely He had fulfilled what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:21:

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And yet, Jesus Christ is not finished. In fact, Scripture was not yet fulfilled. Something else had to be done. Jesus Christ also had to suffer physical death in order to make full payment for sin. It was not just spiritual and eternal death He had to suffer, which He had already done. He also had to suffer physical death and be laid in the grave. This is why He said: “I am thirsty.”

Revival←⤒🔗

What has the quenching of thirst to do with Jesus Christ suffering physical death? Think about it. Looking at all that He had endured on the cross so far, what could be easier now than to slip away in sweet, gentle death? What could be nicer after all of this, than to breathe his last and bow his head as his spirit departs? But then the question is this: who of us could be sure that this was a true high-priestly sacrifice – a conscious, willing, thoughtful laying down of his life in physical death so that we may be assured that He has paid the full price for all our sins?! It is for this reason that Jesus Christ announced that He was thirsty. It is for this reason that He asked for some of the cheap, weak wine of the soldiers. It was not to ease his suffering. It was not to take the edge off his pain. It was to revive himself. It was to make him fully conscious and aware of what He was doing.

It was to show beyond the shadow of a doubt that He is the good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. No one takes his life from Him. And no one may think that this death just happened. He entered physical death, like He had entered the three hours of darkness, as the great highpriest who took our sins and curse upon himself in order that we might never come into condemnation.

Our Comfort←⤒🔗

Jesus Christ completed his work. He died. He bowed his head. It is all finished. That is to say, Jesus Christ completed his work of atonement, of paying for the sins of his people. Now there is a new beginning of a resurrected and victorious King who would start his work of gathering his sheep from every tribe, tongue and nation.

Knowing the full story of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is a source of never-ending comfort to us. We know that it was the will of the Father that his Son suffered this. We know that for the joy set before Him, Jesus Christ endured the cross. We see how willingly and consciously He bore our curse and shame. We see his struggle to revive himself and to remain conscious to the bitter end. And then we see his lifeless, bloody, bruised body slumped on the cross. His head is bowed down in death. He did that so that through faith in Him our sins are completely washed away and we are liberated from the weaknesses of our old sinful nature.

This has tremendous implications for our daily lives as children of God. Daily we contend with trials, temptations and our own weaknesses. What does the teenager do who struggles with immorality or addictions? What does the older person do who is haunted by past sins? Look to Jesus Christ who not only knows exactly what we are going through and loves us very dearly, but who made full satisfaction for our sins on the cross of Golgotha. No matter how terribly we have sinned or how often we have sinned, the blood of Christ is sufficient to cover it and wash it away. Remember the cross and what He endured for us. By approaching God in faith and prayer, bringing to Him our trials, our temptations and our weaknesses, and asking for help and forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ, is to experience the sweet and certain truth of forgiveness and renewal.

Jesus Christ’s thirst on the cross was his obedience in drinking the cup of God’s wrath.