John 19:28-29; Mark 15:33-38

The next words from the lips of the Savior are another indication that the suffering of the cross is complete.  After the brutal beatings and the bearing the weight of our sins and the forsaking of God, He is only moments from death.

Fifth: I thirst.                                                                                   

You remember that Jesus refused what was offered (the wine mingled with myrrh) that might have mitigated the pain.  Why did He do that?  The answer is bound up in a deep understanding of what was happening on the cross.  Jesus was being perfected, coming to the place where He could say, finished.  Hebrews sheds significant light on this subject.

  ·        Heb. 2:10: The captain (one who takes the lead, who precedes others) of our salvation must be perfected through sufferings.  The goal is to bring many sons to glory; but there is no glory apart from suffering (Rom. 8:17).  

  ·        Heb. 5:7-9: The author of eternal salvation must be perfected.  The Greek term for author comes from the same root as the word Pilate used when he said he found no fault in Jesus.  Pilate was saying he found no cause of death.  Hebrews is telling us that Jesus is the cause of eternal salvation.  Jesus became this when He was perfected and in this passage the definition of being perfected is that He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.  Think about this.  Jesus learned obedience not by overcoming His failures.  He learned obedience by His righteous life in which He had been tested to the fullest without ever giving in to the temptation.  On the cross He did not shy away from the suffering by deadening the pain; He only said I thirst when He had been perfected.

  ·        Heb. 7:28-8:1: The great High Priest that we have, who is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, is the Son who has been perfected forever.  Jesus intercedes for the believer eternally because He is a perfected High Priest.

There was a connection between My God, My God and I thirst.  The two cries were uttered one right after the other.  Those nearby thought He was crying out for Elijah to save Him and someone ran to get a sponge wetted with sour wine.  Extreme thirst is one of the agonies of crucifixion.  But Jesus was thirsty for His God.  As David had prayed, My soul thirst for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water (Ps. 63:1).  

Jesus, the Son of God, had come to the end of suffering for us.  The obedient Son is the author of eternal salvation so that thirsty souls can seek and find God.

Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters (Isa. 55:1). 

If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink (Jn. 7:37). 

And let him who thirsts come.  Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely (Rev. 22:17).