Completed work of Christ — Faves of Dave - Bible Study

John 19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 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. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

I know that this is a brief section. It’s only three short verses. But, there is so much here. The first thing I want to call to your attention is that John says that Jesus knew “that all was now finished” and it led him to say, “I thirst.” In fact, that simple expression fulfilled Scripture. But, what was finished? The answer is Everything the Father gave Jesus to do. From early in this gospel there has been a consistent message that everything Jesus did was according to what his heavenly Father revealed to him to speak and do. In chapter five Jesus said, “The son can do nothing on his own” (v. 19) and “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.” (v. 30) Jesus perfectly obeyed God the Father. This is why the Apostle Paul compares and contrasts Jesus to Adam in Romans 5:12-17. (Read that passage sometime this week and see if it doesn’t make sense that what we are reading about right now was necessary for our benefit through God’s amazing grace.) Because of Adam’s one act of unfaithfulness and disobedience, sin came into the world and death impacted everyone because we all descended from Adam. But, Jesus, the God-Man came into the world and provided hope of conquering sin and death. His perfect obedience to the point of accepting the punishment of the sins of the world in his own death has the same kind of effect Adam’s offense did in that it had implications for others in the world. It would not have been possible if Jesus had disobeyed the Father in any way. We don’t receive forgiveness of sin and hope of a resurrection because we have lived perfectly. We haven’t. Our hope is solely based upon the perfect obedience of the Son of God becoming flesh and living perfectly according to God the Father. Back in John 17 in his priestly prayer Jesus said, “ I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.” (v. 4) Now, it’s all finished.

So, what does this have to do with “I thirst?” Is this just moving on to his physical need and suffering? The fact that John mentions this is said to fulfill Scripture suggests that there is more to it than his physical need. The Scripture is Psalm 69:21 “21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink” and Psalm 22:14-15, “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast; 15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.” Considering what Jesus had been through, we understand how parched and dehydrated he was and how these prophetic psalms foretell this reality. However, stop for a minute and ask yourself if the theme of thirst has been manifest before in this gospel.

We first see the concept of drinking in the account of Jesus’ first miracle when he turned water into “good wine.” (John 2) [NOTE: It was “good” wine, not sour wine.] In chapter four, Jesus travels through Samaria and asks a woman for a drink of water and then quickly tells her that he could give her “living water.” (4:10) In fact, he said that the water he could give would be like a spring within them leading to eternal life and never being thirsty again. Clearly, the water is an analogy for something much greater. In chapter six Jesus said, “He who believes in me shall never thirst.” (6:35) In John 6:55-56 Jesus tells those following him they must drink his blood in order to have eternal life. John records in John 7:37-38 “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Finally, in John 7:39 he explained, “Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Ah! Now we have it. The living water represents the Holy Spirit. Is it not reasonable then to understand Jesus’ expression “I thirst” as the point which the Spirit is departing him? The Holy Trinity has completed everything planned for Jesus’ Incarnation and ministry in his time. Now, Jesus is at the point of death and is about to “give up his spirit.” That which quenches all spiritual thirst is departing from him. Perhaps this was even more agonizing than the nails holding him to the cross.

At the very end of his life, the one who had made water into good wine is given sour wine representing death. The one who offers living water welling up within us so that people might never thirst and have eternal life was now giving up his spirit.

Well . . . this seems a dark and depressing point to stop at. But, as the old expression goes, “Sunday is coming.” For today, let us remember that the resurrection has no value unless the Lamb of God, God’s perfect sacrifice, gave up his spirit and died to make atonement for our sin possible. How horrible it would be to be resurrected and live forever in our sin and a world experiencing the consequences of that sin. That’s what Jesus did at this moment. He laid down his life so that in our resurrection we can be made like him without the guilt constantly upon us for our disobedience. Praise be to God!