Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty” (John 19:28 NIV).
When a person loses much blood, sometimes he or she becomes very thirsty. This was illustrated by Bethany Hamilton, the young lady who had her arm bit off by a shark in 2003. Only age 13 at the time of the tragedy, she then wrote a book at age 14, along with a professional writer, entitled Soul Surfer. Bethany told of her extreme thirst in the hospital.
New Testament Scripture reveals this verse was a fulfillment of a prophecy, and Psalm 69:21 fits the details. (Likewise, Psalm 22:1 foretold Christ’s statement which we learned about last week, and Psalm 31:5 foretold His statement which we will learn from next week.) Yet Psalm 69:21 was simply the foretelling, plus in an indirect manner. Whereas Jesus was living it, fulfilling the prophecy as He was probably desperately thirsty. Jesus was fully human. Indeed it is an orthodox theological standard to acknowledge that Jesus was fully human once born into this world, and still fully God.
This is important, because we need to recognize that when Jesus was on the cross, He was physically suffering, and also suffering in His spiritual heart, which is holy. It was the ultimate agony.
God used this tragedy to offer salvation to people. The consequence of sins is physical and spiritual death. Suffering on the cross, Jesus became the atonement for the sins of anyone.
Then Jesus was gloriously resurrected. The One who was tragically thirsty on the cross is now in heaven offering eternal satisfaction for the spiritual thirst of anyone.
Recorded in Revelation 21:6 is the promise: “He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him or her who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.’”
Hunter Irvine
Scripture Love Blog
