“I thirst.”  These words were spoken by the suffering Savior a little before He bowed his head and gave up the spirit.  They are recorded only by the evangelist John.  We shall see that they are evidence of His humanity and His Divine glory too.

The Spirit of God moved David to say of the coming Messiah, “They gave Me also gall for My meat; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink” (Psalm 69:21).  Every important detail of the great tragedy had been written down beforehand.

• The betrayal by a familiar friend. (Psalm 41:9)
• The forsaking of the disciples through being offended at Him (Psalm 31:11)
• The false accusation (Psalm 35:11)
• The silence before His judges (Isaiah 53:7)
• The being proven guiltless (Isaiah 53:9)
• The numbering of Him with transgressors (Isaiah 53:12)
• The being crucified (Psalm 22:16)
• The mockery of the spectators (Psalm 109:25)
• The taunt of the non-deliverance (Psalm 22:7-8)
• The gambling of His garments (Psalm 22:18)
• The prayer for His enemies (Isaiah 53:12)
• The being forsaken of God (Psalm 22:1)
• The thirsting (Psalm 69:21)
• The yielding of His spirit into the hands of the Father (Psalm 31:5)
• The bones not broken (Psalm 34:20)
• The burial in a rich man’s tomb (Isaiah 53:9)

All plainly foretold centuries before they came to pass.

What a convincing evidence of the Divine evidence of the Scripture!

Christ’s Humanity

The Lord Jesus was God but He was also man.

He himself warned us, “No man knoweth the Son, but the Father” (Matthew 11:27).  And again, the Spirit of God through the apostle Paul declares, “Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifest in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16).

The Lord Jesus was not a Divine man, nor a humanized God; He was the God-man.  Forever God, and now forever man.

The one born in Bethlehem was the Divine Word.  The incarnation does not mean that God manifested Himself as a man.  The Word became flesh; He became what He was not before, though He never ceased to be all He was previously.

He who was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God, “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Phillipians 2:6,7)

The Babe of Bethlehem was Immanuel – God with us – He was more than a manifestation of God, He was God manifest in the flesh.  He was both Son of God and Son of Man.  Not two separate personalities, but one Person possessing two natures – the Divine and the human.

Proof of His Diety

While here on earth the Lord Jesus gave full proof of His Diety.

• He spake with Divine wisdom
• He acted in Divine holiness
• He exhibited Divine power
• He displayed Divine love
• He read mens’ minds, moved mens’ hearts, and compelled mens’ wills.
• He was pleased to exert His power over all Nature.
• He spoke and disease fled.
• He spoke and the storm was stilled.
• He spoke and the Devil left Him
• He spoke and the dead were raised to life.

Proof of His Humanity

While here among men the Lord Jesus gave full proof of His humanity – sinless humanity.

• He entered the world as a babe and was “wrapped in swaddling clothes” (Luke 2:7)
• He “increased in wisdom and stature” (Luke 2:52) as a child.
• He was found “asking questions” (Luke 2:46) as a boy.
• He was “wearied” in body (John 4:6) as a man
• He was “an hungered” (Matthew 4:2).
• He “slept” (Mark 4:38)
• He “marvelled” (Mark 6:6)
• He “wept” (John 11:35)
• He “prayed” (Mark 1:35)
• He “rejoiced” (Luke 10:21)
• He “groaned” (John 11:33)

And here in our text He cried, “I thirst”.  That evidenced His humanity.

Intensity of Christ’s Suffering

“I thirst.”  This was more than ordinary thirst.  There was something deeper than physical sufferings behind it.  Let us remember that the Savior had just emerged from the three hours of darkness, during which God’s face had been turned away from Him as he endured the fierceness of His out-poured wrath.

This cry of bodily suffering tells us, then, of the severity of the spiritual conflict through which He had just passed!  His “thirst” was the effect of the agony of His soul in the fierce heat of God’s wrath.  It plainly expressed His yearning for communion with God again, from who for three hours He had been separated.

Submission To The Father’s Will

The Savior thirsted.  Remember, He that thirsted possessed all power in Heaven and earth.  He could have readily satisfied His need.  He that had caused the water to flow from the smitten rock for the refreshment of Israel in the wilderness, had the same infinite resources at His disposal now.  He who had turned the water into wine at a word, could have spoken the word of power here, and met His own need.  But He never performed a miracle for His own benefit or comfort.

Why did he hang there on the Cross with parched lips?

Because in the volume of the Book which expressed God’s will, it was written that He should thirst.  Also that while he was thirsting He should be “given” vinegar to drink.  He had come to do God’s will, and therefore He did submit.

In death, as in life, Scripture was for the Lord Jesus the authoritative Word of the Living God.  In the temptation He had refused to minister to His need apart from that Word by which He lived.  And so now He makes known His need, not that it might be ministered unto, but that Scripture might be fulfilled.

He simply says, “I thirst;” the vinegar is tendered, and the prophecy is fulfilled.

Expression of a Universal Need

We see and hear the natural man, the world over, crying “I thirst,”

Why does man have this consuming desire:

• To acquire wealth?
• To crave for honors and accolades?
• For a mad rush after pleasure, turning from one form of it to another with persistent and unwearied diligence?
• For eagerly searching for wisdom
• For scientific inquiry
• For pursuit of Philosophy
• For searching the writings of the ancients
• For ceaseless experimentation of what is modern
• For an insane craze for that which is novel

Why?  Because there is an aching void in the soul.  Because there is something remaining in every natural man that is unsatisfied.  This is true of the millionaire equally as much as the pauper.  It is true of the globe-trotter equally as much as of the country home body who has never been outside the bounds of his native country.  Travelling from one end of the earth to the other and back again, he fails to discover the secret of peace.

So it is with the religious man or woman.  How many there are that go weary of religious performance, and find nothing to meet their deep need.  There are members of any denomination, who attend church regularly, contribute from their means to the support the church, read their Bibles occasionally, and sometimes pray, or, if they use a “pray-book” say their prayers every night.  And yet, after all this, if they are honest, their cry is still “I thirst.”

The Thirst is a Spiritual One

That is why natural things cannot quench it.  Unknown to themselves their soul “thirsteth for God” (Psalm 42:2)  God made us, and He alone can satisfy us.  The Lord Jesus said, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst” (John 4:14).  Christ alone can quench our thirst.  He alone can meet the deep need of our hearts.  He alone can impart that peace which the world knows nothing of and can neither give nor take away.

How is it with you?

Have you found that everything under the sun is only vanity and vexation of spirit?  Have you discovered that the things that this earth has to offer are unable to satisfy your heart?

There is good news!

There is One who can satisfy you.  One person, not a creed, not a form of religion, but a Person – a living Divine Person.  He it is who says, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).  Take notice of this sweet invitation.  Come to Him now, just as you are.  Come in faith, believing He will receive you.

You who are “thirsty” come without delaying.  You are the one He is seeking for, “Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).

“I Thirst”

Reject not the Savior, for if you die in your sins your eternal cry will be “I thirst!”  This is the moan of the damned.  In the Lake of Fire the lost suffer amid the flames of God’s wrath forever and ever.

If Christ cried “I thirst” when He suffered the wrath of God for but three hours, what is the state of those who have to endure it for all eternity!  When millions of years have gone, ten millions more lie ahead.  There is an everlasting thirst in Hell which admits to no relief.  Remember the awful words of the rich man, “And he cried, and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame” (Luke 16:24).

Think again my friend.  If physical thirst in the extreme is insufferable even now when endured but a few short hours, what will that thirst be which is infinitely beyond any present thirst, and which will never be quenched.

Do not say, it is cruel of God to deal this way with His disbelieving, sinful, creatures.  Remember how He exposed His own dear Son, when sin was laid upon Him.  Surely the one who despises Christ is deserving of the hottest place in Hell.  Receive Him now as your very own Redeemer.  Receive Him as your very own Savior, and submit to Him as your very own Lord.

Have a GREAT day . . . someday it will be HISTORY!

 

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