Knowing the Christ of Easter (Philippians 3:10)

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To paraphrase a popular song of the Christmas season, “It’s beginning to look a lot like … Easter.” On a recent trip to a store, I saw all the usual signs: bunnies and eggs, baskets and candy, flowers and lots of pastel things. These are the things that represent “Easter” to our culture. However, to the child of God, the real significance ought to so dwarf those cultural expressions that they become virtually insignificant. Easter for the Christian should be a time of reflection, of meditation, of prayer, and devotion, wherein we contemplate the amazing triumph and glory of our risen Lord Jesus Christ. Easter, for us, is a celebration of all that He accomplished on our behalf. He lived a completely sinless life, satisfying the righteous standard of God that we could not. He died on Calvary’s cross in our place, for our sins, to bear the wrath that we deserve. He rose from the dead, conquering sin and death for us, and making His righteousness available to us through faith. Easter ought to bring all this realities rushing over us like a tumultuous wave, shaking us from our complacency, our indifference, and our spiritual anemia.

Easter should be for Christians an annual wake-up call which says, “If Christ did all this for me, then the only appropriate response I can offer is to live every moment of my life for Him.” That is not a decision you can make one time, years ago at a church altar. It is a decision that must be made moment-by-moment every day of our lives. It is a great time of year to revisit our commitment to Christ, and rededicate ourselves to Him afresh. In fact, so significant is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that the early church did not consider it worthy of celebrating just once a year. One of the primary reasons that Christians have traditionally made Sunday our day of worship is so that we could commemorate His victory over sin and death every week! Every Sunday, we have our own “Easter” service together all year long.

The annual observance of Easter is also a great time to give your life to Him for the very first time. There is never a bad time to do that, but at Easter, we are reminded anew of all that Christ has accomplished for us. Because of this, Easter presents Christians with a very natural opportunity to share our faith with others. I was reading something recently which said that an overwhelming number of people who do not attend church would accept an invitation to attend church with a friend or family member. Easter is a good occasion to invite someone to attend with you. I also read that every year at Easter, somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of those who call themselves atheists or agnostics will attend church. So, I want to encourage you to invite your friends and family members who are lost and unchurched to our Good Friday and Easter Sunday services, but you don’t have to wait until then. Anytime is a good time to invite someone to church or to share your faith in Christ with them.

As we move rapidly toward Easter Sunday over the next few weeks, I want to leave our study of the Gospel According to John temporarily and focus on a passage in Philippians today in order to prepare our hearts for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. I am calling this message, “Knowing the Christ of Easter.”

The Apostle Paul was writing these words near the end of his life. It is believed that he was born between the year 0 and 5 AD, and that he was in his mid-thirties when he became a follower of Christ. At the time this letter was written, he had been serving Christ for twenty to thirty years. And after that many years, the cry of his heart was still expressed with these words, “I want to know Christ.” So what does this mean?

Well, for one thing, we need to differentiate between knowing Christ and knowing about Christ. Paul is not saying, “I wish I could acquire more information about Jesus. I wish I could enroll in some higher level academic courses where I could learn about the theological controversies and dilemmas.” It is possible for a person to know much about Christ without really knowing Christ. I am an avid fan of ice hockey. When I have the time, I enjoy going to games and watch them on TV. I read about it as often as I can and study the game. I guess I could say that I know a lot about hockey. But here is the really embarrassing truth—I can just barely stand up on ice skates, and I have never played ice hockey in my life. So I know a lot about it, but I have never known ice hockey in a way that I can say I have experienced it. I know a lot about the game’s greatest players and can tell you more than you care to know about them. But I have never met them personally. I don’t know them. If you were in an airport and saw Wayne Gretzky, and said, “Hey I heard about you from Russ Reaves.” He would say, “Who is Russ Reaves? I don’t know him and he doesn’t know me.”

When Paul says, “I want to know Christ,” he doesn’t mean that he wants to know about Christ. He means he wants to know Him. It is true that a person “knows Christ,” once he or she is saved. We even use that terminology, and I think it is appropriate, to say, “I came to know the Lord.” It was July 31, 1992 on the grounds of Fort Caswell, when I came to know the Lord. Before that day, I didn’t know him at all. For Paul it was on a journey to Damascus, as he set out to persecute Christians. Acts 9 tells the story of his miraculous encounter with the risen Jesus, and instantly, Paul came to know the Lord. For some of you, you can remember a time and a place. Others maybe cannot remember a time and place, but you know it happened. Others perhaps, have not yet come to know him. It could be that you would come to know Him today even. But at the point that a person comes to know the Lord, a relationship has begun, which will deepen and develop over the course of a lifetime of walking with Him by faith. In Christ, there is as F. F. Bruce says, “an inexhaustible fullness.” So, Christians can say that we have come to know Him, we are coming to know Him more and better, and we will one day know Him even as we are known to Him.

I met my wife in July of 1994. We have known each other now nearly 22 years, and have been married nearly 19. But she would agree with me in saying that we know each other much more deeply today than ever before, and that our knowledge of one another grows daily. Many of you have been married longer than I have been alive, and you would agree that as time goes by, you just come to know one another more and more with each passing day. So it is in our relationship with Christ. I came to know Him nearly 24 years ago, but I know Him much more deeply today, after 24 years of walking with Him than I ever have. You grow in your relationship with Him, in your knowledge of Him, as you daily experience His presence and power in your life. For Paul, after more than 20 years of walking with Christ, his greatest desire was still to come to know Christ more fully until the ultimate moment when we stand before Him face to face. So, how can we know this Christ of Easter in our daily lives?

Paul says that as he goes through the days of his life, he deeply desires to know two specific things in his walk with Christ: the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering.

I. The Power of His Resurrection

When Paul says he wants to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, he is not just referring to an end of life experience in which he hopes that He will be resurrected. While surely he does hope for that, and expresses it in the next verse, here, his focus is on the daily experience of the power of God that raised Christ from the dead. This Christ who conquered death has come to dwell within us in the person of the Holy Spirit. And that means that we have unlimited supernatural power available to us here and now. This power enables us to rise above our natural desires, weaknesses, tendencies, and habits. The opportunity is available for the Christian to yield to God and say, “Lord, I am incapable of handling this in the power of my own flesh, so in this very moment, I want to know the power that conquered even death, that Christ might deliver me right now.” Knowing the resurrection power of Christ means that there is nothing that this day will bring us that God cannot handle. There is no challenge, no obstacle, no trial, no temptation, in which God cannot give us victory.

So, why is it that we are often overwhelmed by these things in our daily lives? It is because none of us have exhausted the fullness of this knowledge yet. None of us have mastered it. After two dozen years of walking with Christ, Paul still said, “This is what I want to know.” I don’t know it well enough yet. As I learn to depend upon Christ and His resurrection power in my time of need, I begin to experience victory in all these things. And every time I experience defeat, I am reminded of how desperately I need to know Him and the power of His resurrection. How are you going to overcome that besetting sin that continues to plague you? Resurrection power. How are you going to handle that antagonistic person who ridicules you for your faith? Resurrection power. How are you going to handle the discouragement that sets in when wave upon wave of bad news overwhelms you? Resurrection power. So here is Paul, writing from prison in Rome, not knowing if he is going to live or die. How is he going to handle that? I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. If Christ conquered death through that power, then there is nothing that I cannot have victory over as well, if I will yield to Him in that moment.

But to know the Christ of Easter in life is not just about resurrection power. The very fact that we need this resurrection power in our lives is a testimony to the other aspect in which Paul desires to know Christ.

II. The Fellowship of His Suffering

See, if there weren’t any opportunities for suffering, there would be no need for resurrection power. If there was no cross of Christ, there would be no empty tomb. So, we are tempted to hear Paul saying, “I want to know Christ,” and we smile and close our eyes, and say, “Yes, Jesus.” And he says, “and the power of his resurrection,” and we say, “Hallelujah! Amen.” And he says, “And the fellowship of His suffering,” and we say, “Wait, what? I didn’t sign up for any suffering.” You didn’t have to. Paul says in Philippians 1:29 that God has given you to opportunity to suffer as a gift of His grace. He says there that “to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Wow. We might say, “Thanks but no thanks, God.” But you see, you can’t really know Christ apart from suffering. Suffering is part of life in this fallen world and these corruptible bodies. We are all going to suffer, so there is suffering-free way to come to follow Christ. But the good news is that God can use our suffering for our good and His glory. That is what makes Christian suffering different from all other suffering. That is why Paul desires the resurrection power first – so that he can endure the suffering, when it comes (and it surely will). There are several reasons why suffering draws us into a deeper knowledge of Christ:

            A. Suffering enables us to know Christ more deeply because it drives us to depend all the more on Him.

As I read about the state of Christianity around the world, I read about declining churches and thriving churches. But the surprising thing is that by and large, the places where the church is declining are the places where there is freedom, prosperity, and ease. Areas where the church is thriving are the places where Christians are persecuted, where there is virtually no religious freedom, where churches have to meet in secret, etc. Why is that? How do we explain that? I have a theory, and I don’t know if one could do enough research to confirm it, but my theory is that liberty and affluence and influence lull the church into slumber. Christians become lazy when they don’t have to depend on the Lord for survival every moment of every day. We get very comfortable with our status, and our income, and our position, and our social acceptability, and we depend less and less on the power of God. However, in those other areas – the hard places where the church is thriving – there is no false sense of security in things of this world. There is, however a rock-solid confidence in the power of God, as they experience Him daily in their suffering.

Therefore, though we do not rejoice to see the cultural climate changing in America and Christianity becoming less and less tolerable in our society, we have to appreciate that God is sovereign over this and is able to use it for His own glory. As we are awakened to the difficult realities that Christians have experienced in other places throughout history, we join Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings, and find occasion to rest in His resurrection power. Suffering kicks the crutches out from under us and helps us to see that the only real security we have in this life comes from knowing God and experiencing His presence and power in our daily lives. So, first of all, knowing the fellowship of His suffering enables us to know the Christ of Easter more deeply because it drives us to depend on Him all the more.

B. Suffering enables us to know Christ more deeply because it gives us a platform to witness for Him.

The world is not interested in a Christianity that keeps us smiling when life is good, and the money is good, and everything is going to suit us. You can believe in magic rocks and enchanted trees when life is good. No big deal. But when the Christian suffers, and still demonstrates the peace of Christ in the midst of that suffering, it is an attractive testimony to the unbeliever. The Bible does not offer us a religion which exempts us from the trials and tribulations of this world. In fact, the way I understand the New Testament, you better expect trials and tribulations as you follow Christ. But in the midst of them, you can still know the peace of God that surpasses all understanding and display Jesus Christ through your suffering to all those who are watching your life. His resurrection power is made more visible through your fellowship in Christ’s suffering. The Jesus who is worth suffering with and suffering for is a Jesus that the world desires to see and know.

C. Suffering enables us to know Christ more deeply because through it we enter into a special fellowship with Christ.

Jesus was prophesied in Isaiah 53 to be a man of sorrows and acquainted with our griefs. So, as we suffer, if we are suffering for Him, there is a depth of fellowship that we enter into with Christ. He suffered for us, and in Him we have been considered worthy to suffer for Him. So, we are never alone. He is with us as we suffer. We are in fellowship with Him and have a share in His sufferings, and He has a share in ours. Paul asks in Romans 8, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” No, he says in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Christ. And he concludes by saying that ^“neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 8:35-39].

Let me ask you something: have you come to know Christ? He died for your sins and conquered death for you in the resurrection, and offers you forgiveness if you will turn to Him and place your faith and trust in Him as Lord and Savior. Many of you have done that. But like Paul perhaps, now 20, 30 years later, maybe more or less, you say, “I don’t know Him nearly as deeply as I would like to. I want to know this Risen Christ of Easter!” So, today, why not say to Him, “Lord Jesus, I want to know You! I am tired of just barely getting by. I want to fully live the life You died to give me. I want to know you more deeply than I ever have before. I want to know You in the power of Your resurrection. And I want to know you in the fellowship of Your sufferings.” I believe this is a prayer that God will always be faithful to answer. If you long to know Christ more intimately, and are willing to embrace the fellowship of His suffering in order that you might experience the power of His resurrection, you will find that He never disappoints.

No More Secrets! (John 19:38-42)

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A popular theme in literature and movies is that of the person with a secret identity. Clark Kent is the unassuming journalist, until a crisis arises and he whisks into a phone booth to become Superman. By day, Bruce Wayne is an eccentric billionaire; but by night he is Batman, the clandestine warrior for justice. Other examples abound, and I am sure we could all name plenty. The secret identity, however, is not limited to realms of fantasy and fiction. All around us everyday, we are unknowingly surrounded by some who maintain their secret identity at great lengths. Unlike many in our stories of crime-fighting heroes, however, these never let down the masquerade and show off their true identity. We can respect those like Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne who rise to the occasion and demonstrate great ability in a moment of crisis. But what of those who never rise to the occasion? What would we think of Clark Kent if Superman never showed up to save the day? What would we think of Bruce Wayne if he turned a blind eye to injustice? Yet, this is exactly how many of the real-life examples of those with secret identities conduct themselves. In a world that is perishing in sin and shame, there are far too many Christians who are content to keep their identity as followers of Jesus a secret and never step up to be a voice and agent of God in a world gone haywire. Maybe you know some of them. Maybe you are one of them. We meet two such individuals in our text today.

Joseph of Arimathea is mentioned in all four Gospels. In all four Gospels, he is mentioned only in connection with the burial of Jesus. From the information that is imparted in the four Gospels, we know this much about him: he was from the Jewish city of Arimathea (Lk 23:51), but the exact location of that city is not certain); he was rich (Mt 27:57); he was a prominent member of the Council, that is, the Jewish Sanhedrin – the ruling body of Israel (Mk 15:43). In addition to these details, Luke tells us that he was a good and righteous man (23:50). These words likely mean that, contrary to many of his colleagues among the religious leadership of Israel, Joseph’s faith in God was genuine, and his piety was heartfelt, exceeding the ritualistic external charade of others. It is probably for that reason that Luke tells us that he had not consented to the plan and action of the Pharisees regarding the crucifixion of Jesus (Lk 23:50). Luke and Mark tell us that he “was waiting for the kingdom of God” (Lk 23:51; Mk 15:43). There were those in Israel who rightly understood the prophecies and promises of the Old Testament and who were eagerly awaiting the salvation that the Lord God had promised to bring. Joseph of Arimathea was one of them.

Concerning Nicodemus, outside of the Gospel According to John, nothing more is known of him. He must have made quite an impression upon John, for he mentions him three times. We meet him in John 3 when he came to Jesus by night to converse with Him. There, Nicodemus is described as “a man of the Pharisees,” and “a ruler of the Jews” (3:1). Jesus called him “the teacher of Israel” (3:9). Jesus spoke at length with him of the need to be born again. All of the ritualistic religiosity of his traditions could not bring him one step closer to heaven. If one were to see and enter the Kingdom of God, a new birth by the Spirit is necessary (3:3-8). That new birth, Jesus said, would come about through the gift of God’s only begotten Son (3:16), who must be lifted up even as Moses had lifted up the serpent in the wilderness (3:14). Jesus assured Nicodemus that those who believed in God’s Son by faith would be saved and have eternal life (3:15-18). Nothing is recorded of Nicodemus’s response to Jesus’ words on that night, but we know that Nicodemus remained somewhat intrigued by Him. In John 7:50, we find him offering something of a defense of Jesus against the unjust plan of the Pharisees to apprehend Jesus, albeit an unpersuasive one. He emerges for the final time here in our text today, where John reminds us that he is the same one who had come to Jesus by night.

What is most surprising here in the moments following our Lord’s death on the cross is that these two men emerge from the shadows to reveal that they had somehow, and at some time, become believers in Jesus. Of Joseph it is said specifically; of Nicodemus it is merely implied, but the implication is almost unmistakable. Perhaps Joseph had heard Jesus speak and heard reports, perhaps seeing with his own eyes, the marvelous works that Jesus had done. Here was One who accorded perfectly with the Redeemer that the Lord had promised. If ever One had come from heaven to earth to establish the Kingdom for which Joseph had been longing, surely it must be this Jesus. For Nicodemus, perhaps it was the sight of Jesus hanging on the cross that brought his memory back to that night when he spoke at length with Him and heard Him speak of being lifted up as the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness. Whenever and however it was, they had decided to become followers of Jesus. But John tells us concerning Joseph, and by extension and implication, perhaps concerning Nicodemus as well, that their relationship with and faith in Jesus was something that they had kept secret until that point.

So, from our text today, we want to examine the “secret discipleship” of Joseph and Nicodemus – the cause of it, the test of it, and the disclosure of it – even as we consider ourselves in this regard. Some of us perhaps are like them – secret disciples of Jesus, who believe well enough in Him, but who are afraid or intimidated to be known publicly as His followers. Surely the temptation is ever present for us all. So why are we prone to keep our identity as followers of Jesus a secret? How is that secret challenged? And how can the secret be broken so that there would be no more secrets?

I. Fear is the most common hindrance to declaring our faith publicly!

Joseph of Arimathea is not the first “secret disciple” we encounter in the Gospel of John. In John 12:42-43, he writes that “many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.” Perhaps Joseph was one of these, but he was not the only one apparently. Notice that it was fear that hindered them. They feared that they would lose the approval and esteem of their peers, and that they may become socially outcast. Being put out of the synagogue would mean complete ostracism in that society. For the Jewish religious leaders, it would mean a loss of position, stature, security and reputation. Notice there in John 12 that this fear was a serious problem. They believed, but fear kept them from confessing Christ and their faith in Him. That’s a bigger problem than one might realize. After all, confessing Christians are the only kind of Christians there are. Paul said, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Rom 10:9). That’s both/and, believe and confess, not either/or. There is no genuine unconfessed belief in Christ. So fear was actually keeping them from eternal life!

Joseph had also fallen prey to this same kind of fear. John says that he was secretive about his discipleship “for fear of the Jews.” It may also have been this kind of fear that prompted Nicodemus to come to Jesus “by night,” when no one would notice him fraternizing with Him. And it is this same kind of fear that threatens to silence so many of us from publicly declaring our faith in Jesus. We are prone to fear what others will think of us, or how others will treat us. Increasingly in our society, we may fear that identifying as a follower of Jesus will limit our opportunities or present challenges in our jobs, our communities, or even our families. Isn’t it ironic? Once upon a time in America, there was a social pressure to identify as a Christian even if a person was not a Christian. There was a fear to be considered something other than a Christian. And today, the table has turned completely to the point where genuine Christians are intimidated and fearful to make their faith known.

In addition to the fears already mentioned, there are other fears that tempt us to bite our tongues rather than openly acknowledging our faith in Christ or sharing the good news of Jesus with others. We may fear not knowing what to say or how to broach the subject with someone. We may fear being asked a question we don’t know how to answer. And so we battle the temptation to remain secret disciples, just as Joseph and Nicodemus did. Fear is the most common hindrance to declaring our faith. We see it in our text, and in our lives.

From this we move on to see how …

II. Crises present an opportunity for the proving of our faith.

Considering how John spoke of so-called “secret believers” in Chapter 12, it is a wonder he included anything about Joseph or Nicodemus at all here in this passage, much less the fact that they had been secret disciples. But John was in a unique position to observe something commendable about these men. Remember that when Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Gospels record that all of His disciples abandoned Him (Mt 26:56; Mk 14:50). Peter followed from a distance until he denied the Lord in the courtyard of Caiaphas. But when it came time for Jesus to die, only John had returned to the scene. John could not help noticing that, in this critical moment, as Jesus’ lifeless body hung on the cross, when no one else would step forward to do anything for Him, Joseph and Nicodemus did.

In that day and time, the remains of executed criminals were typically given to the next of kin. In the case of those who had been crucified for charges of sedition, as Jesus was, it was different however. Their bodies were left on their crosses, exposed as a warning to all passers-by. To increase the shame and humiliation of their earthly fate, they were left for vultures and other carrion birds and wild beasts to devour, until at last whatever was left of them would be thrown into a common pit with other criminals outside the city. In some rare instances, the family or friends of a crucified man may buy back the body in order to provide a decent burial. But even still, it would have been considered taboo to bury a crucified person in a family tomb, so other arrangements would have been necessary. Jesus’ family would not likely have had the means to acquire His body, nor would they have been likely to gain an audience with Pilate to do so. As for His friends, they had all forsaken Him.

Well, then, I guess the body of Jesus will just be left to the buzzards and heaved into the pit then, right? God forbid. And I mean literally, God forbid! For God had declared two very specific things in the prophecies of the Old Testament regarding the body of the crucified Savior. First, in Psalm 16:10, David speaks in a way that foreshadows his Messianic offspring, saying, “My flesh also will dwell securely. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.” The phrase “undergo decay” could be translated as “see corruption” or “the pit.” Had Jesus’ body been left to the scavenger beasts and carrion birds, and then thrown to the pit, this promise would have failed. But God has never uttered a promise that failed and so He made a provision for the care and handling of the body of His Son. That provision came in fulfillment of another Old Testament prophecy. In Isaiah 53:9, the prophet says of the Messiah, “His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death.” Indeed, Jesus died between two criminals and otherwise fulfilled every other aspect of Isaiah’s rich imagery of His sacrificial death. But where was this rich man to be found? God raised up Joseph of Arimathea, described by Matthew as a rich man, to come and beseech Pilate for the body of Jesus in order that it would not undergo decay.

In this critical moment, when the very promises of God were at stake and all the faithful had forsaken the Lord, the previously secret faith of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus was proven as they step out of the shadows of secrecy and into the spotlight of public scrutiny, unable to hide their allegiance to Christ any longer. The crisis of the moment was a proving ground for their faith. And my friends, though you may have been ensnared by fear and intimidated to voice your allegiance to Christ in the past, the current cultural climate is critical enough to call you forward. Calvin astutely comments here, “Not that all fear, by which believers guard against tyrants and enemies of the church, is faulty, but … weakness of faith is manifested whenever the confession of faith is withheld through fear.”[1] If the crises of our present day, when it seems that everyone else is unafraid and unashamed to come out of the closet and boldly announce their sin, do not compel us to come out of hiding and boldly proclaim the Savior, we have to wonder what crises ever will compel us to do so? If you have been waiting for the “right time” to tell the world you are a follower of Christ, then I suggest that the right time is “such a time as this.”

So, we have seen that fear is the most common hindrance to declaring our faith, and that crises are opportunities for proving our faith. But now we move on to consider what it was that prompted such a demonstration of faith from Joseph and Nicodemus here in our text.

III. The death of Jesus compels us to bold action for His sake.

When the sun rose on the morning of Good Friday, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus seemed content to keep their true identity as followers of Jesus a secret from the world. But before sundown, something had happened to embolden them to forsake all fears and step out of the shadows and into the spotlight, unashamed to be known as His disciples. That “something” was the death of Jesus. Calvin says of their otherwise inexplicable transformation, “It is therefore certain that this was carried out by a heavenly impulse, so that they who were afraid to give Him due honor while He was alive now run to His dead body as if they had become new men.”[2] And indeed, they had. The death of Jesus enables us all to become new men and new women. It was by this death, in which the Son of God was lifted up like Moses’ serpent in the wilderness, that the new birth which Jesus had spoken of to Nicodemus was made possible as He bore our sins under the flood of God’s judgment that we might be saved. One look to the Savior on the cross, and these men were transformed. Notice how radical the change was.

They made an audacious request. Joseph had the audacity to approach Pilate – surely it was not an easy thing to do. As a member of the Sanhedrin, he was probably the last person Pilate wanted to see at that moment. And then to ask for the body that his very council had demanded the execution of? But Mark says that Joseph “gathered up courage and went in before Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.”

They took a courageous action. Not only were they unashamed to be known before Pilate as followers of this Crucified One, they also were willing to bear the reproach of their peers, their colleagues, indeed their entire nation as they bore the body of Jesus to its burial place.

They made a costly sacrifice. And by costly, I mean here, literally. It likely required a price to be paid to Pilate, and one could suspect a significant one, in order to secure the body of Jesus. Not only this, but there were the spices that Nicodemus brought. A mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about a hundred pounds (literally a hundred litrai, which would be about 65 pounds on our standard). Mark tells us that Joseph bought a linen cloth in order to wrap Jesus. This was, of course, in keeping with Jewish burial customs as John says in verse 40, but it exceeded what was customary. The amount of spices brought was fit for a king. And it was a tribute to their king. Jesus had spoken to Nicodemus about the kingdom of God, and Joseph was described as waiting for the kingdom of God. It seems that they found in the crucified Savior the King of this everlasting kingdom and paid tribute to Him with the costliness of these materials. Not only this, but Joseph made an additional sacrifice. John says that nearby was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. The rapidly approaching sunset, which would initiate the Sabbath necessitated that Jesus be buried quickly, and in God’s providence there was a tomb nearby. But Matthew tells us that it was Joseph’s own tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock. He was willing to give up his final earthly possession for Jesus. 

They spared no expense. They regarded no other concern. They went to great lengths. Why? Because they had beheld with their eyes and with the eye of faith the One who died, and died for them and their salvation! This same Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame for our sake as well. Therefore, like Joseph and Nicodemus, we must be bold in our appeals. The Apostle Paul said that we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us. And that appeal is this, in Paul’s words: “We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor 5:20-21). We must make this appeal boldly to the world around us. You may say, “They don’t want to hear it!” Friends, the world never has wanted to hear this message. In Acts 4 (vv19, 29-31), we read of how they threatened the early church to cease speaking in the name of Jesus, and what did those Christians do? They replied, “We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard!” And then they went to the Lord in prayer and said, “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence.” And after they had prayed, the Bible says that they began to speak the word of God with boldness! We most be bold in our appeal to a lost and dying world!

And because Jesus has died for us, we must be courageous as we identify publicly with Him. There has been much clamor in our society about how people “identify.” People want to “identify” as a different gender or different ethnicity, and so on. It is time for us to be courageous and identify to a different nature of who we are and have become in relationship to Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “[E]veryone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven” (Mt 10:32-33). Are you willing to be known publicly as a disciple of Jesus? Jesus warns us that if we do not recognize ourselves as such, neither will He. It will require courage, but it always has.

Because Jesus has died for us, we must make great sacrifices for His cause. Innumerable billions are perishing in our world apart from access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And what is happening to change that? Our International Mission Board, for the first time in its history, has had to decrease the size of our missionary force! Over the last five months, more than 1,100 Southern Baptist international missionaries have had to leave their work. Why? Because there are not enough funds to support the work! This is not the time for reducing the work of Christ in the world! This is the time to make great sacrifices so that more laborers can be thrust forth into the harvest field! This is the time to reexamine our church budgets and our personal giving so that more and more resources can be devoted to reaching lost people! And this must not be done begrudgingly! Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, “he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” With confidence in the God who is able to meet our every need, we must joyfully give of our own resources to ensure that no one steps from this life into eternity without an opportunity to hear about the Christ who died for them.

And because He has died for us, we must act urgently. A Chinese Christian in the 20^th Century said, “When small men begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set.” I don’t know that we could find any statement more descriptive of our day. The sun is setting on this fallen world. Our eternal Sabbath rest approaches. But before the sun goes down and no more work can be done, we must act with urgent haste to serve our Lord while it is day, testifying openly of Him and His power to save. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the cure for this world’s ills, but the world will perish if we keep that message and the testimony of our faith in Him a secret. It is far too late in the day for us to be secret disciples anymore. There must be no more secrets! Because He has died for us, we must live for Him.

Let me conclude finally by again quoting Calvin. Speaking of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus as we find them in our text, he writes, “We must learn from their example what duty we owe to Christ. Those two men, as a testimony of their faith, not only took Christ down from the cross in great danger, but boldly carried him to the grave. Our slothfulness will be base and shameful if, now that He reigns in the heavenly glory, we withhold from Him the confession of our faith.” He speaks of those who try to continue on as secret disciples, comparing themselves with men like Nicodemus who kept their faith in Christ a secret. Calvin says, “In one thing, I admit, they resemble him, that they endeavor, as far as lies in their power, to bury Christ; but the time for burying is past, since He has ascended to the Father’s right hand, that he may reign gloriously over angels and men and that every tongue may proclaim His dominion.”[3]

The hour is late. The sun is setting. The Sabbath draws near. Christ does not now need burial. He has risen! Now is the time for every knee to bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Php 2:9-11). For Christ’s sake, let there be no more secrets!

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[1] John Calvin, John (Crossway Classic Commentaries; Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1994), 439.

[2] Calvin, 438.

[3] Calvin, 438. 

Jesus Was Dead:A Lenten Story (John 19:31-37)

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MARLEY was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don't know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain.

The mention of Marley's funeral brings me back to the point I started from. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. 

Do you know those words? That is the beginning of one of my favorite Christmas stories: Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. But this is not the Christmas season; this is the Lenten Season. It began last Wednesday, “Ash Wednesday,” and is a season of 40 days (excluding Sundays) leading up to Easter. But unlike Christmas, we don’t have a lot of “Lenten stories.” For the season of Lent, there is only one story. It is the story of Jesus’ death, and it ends with the celebration of His victory over death in His resurrection. So, to paraphrase Dickens, our Lenten story may begin like this:

Jesus was dead. There is no doubt whatsoever about that. Jesus was dead as a door-nail. John knew he was dead. He had been his disciple for three years, and was the only apostle present at the crucifixion. And John’s testimony was true. There is no doubt that Jesus was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the rest of the story.

The Christian faith is rooted in historical events that have spiritual significance. The ancient creeds of Christianity express the core tenets of our beliefs. The Nicene Creed contains this line: “For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate; He suffered death and was buried.” The Apostles’ Creed says that Jesus “was crucified, died, and was buried.” In our text of Scripture today, John goes to great lengths to describe the death of Jesus. But why? Is it not enough to simply say that He died, without all the added detail? Well, for reasons we shall see as we move through the text, these important details are significant for us as we consider the fact that Jesus died, and was assuredly dead, upon the cross.

I. The Physical Certainty of Jesus’ Death

The record of Scripture is attested to by secular history to such an extent that there should be no serious dispute about the fact that Jesus really lived and died. However, this fact of His death has long been debated by various groups of people. By the time John wrote this Gospel, near the end of the first century, a group known as the Docetics argued that Jesus neither lived nor died. They believed that God was far too holy to ever defile Himself by taking on human flesh. For them, Jesus only seemed to take on human form, but His humanity was nothing more than an illusion. Their writings suggest that Jesus could alter His appearance at will, and that He left no footprints in the sand when He walked. By the same token, they believed that He never actually died, but only appeared to have died.

Still today, there are those who believe that Jesus did not really die – at least not then and there at the cross. Many Muslims, for example, believe that Jesus did not die at all. With a view that is strikingly similar to that of the Docetics of the First Century, the Qur’an says concerning Jesus that “they did not kill him, neither did they crucify him; it only seemed to be so” (Surah 4.156). Though not all Muslims agree on the exact meaning of this statement, many believe that God would not expose a great prophet like Jesus to such a shameful death, and therefore, Jesus was actually substituted in His death by another, who was transformed to look like Jesus.

And then there are the rational skeptics who deny the possibility of miracles. Because of their anti-supernatural bias, they go to great lengths to explain away the miracles that are recorded in Scripture with merely naturalistic explanations. Alternative explanations are offered for the resurrection of Jesus, for example. One that is frequently heard is that Jesus did not rise from the dead when He emerged from the tomb on the third day, because He was not really dead when He was placed in the tomb. It is argued by some that He merely fainted, or swooned, as a result of agony and blood-loss on the cross. Then, after less than 72 hours of convalescence in the cool and arid tomb, He mustered enough strength to unwrap Himself from the grave-cloths, roll away the massive stone, fight off an entire detachment of soldiers, walk seven miles to Emmaus, and convince His disciples that He had actually conquered death in a glorified body.

John leaves no room for such alternative theories as these as he demonstrates the physical certainty of Jesus’ death. According to John’s account, the physical death of Jesus was ensured. Notice in verse 31 that the Jews were concerned that the bodies of the crucified men not remain on the cross after sunset, so as to not defile the Sabbath. Jesus died on Passover, the 14^th of Nisan on the Hebrew Calendar, which happened to be a Friday that year. Every Friday is regarded as “the day of preparation” for the Sabbath. Passover is always considered to be a Sabbath, no matter what day of the week it falls on; and since the following day was actually the Sabbath, it was considered to be a “high day” – the Sabbath of a major festival week. The Mosaic Law actually specified that those who had been executed by hanging from a tree could not remain hanging on the tree all night, but had to be buried the same day, that the curse of that criminal not defile the entire land. Of course, the Roman authorities had no regard for Jewish religious customs. Their normal custom was to leave crucified men on their crosses until the vultures and scavenger animals had devoured them. But because it was a high holy day, and religious fervor was high, there seems to have been an increased sensitivity to the wishes of the Jews. So Pilate granted their wish to hurry things along.

Because death by crucifixion could take days, a common way of speeding the process was to break the legs at the knees. This made it impossible for the crucified man to push himself up to draw breath, ensuring that death would come quickly. In June of 1968, the bones of a young man who had been crucified were discovered just north of Jerusalem. His bones revealed that a single nail had been driven through each forearm, and a single nail had been driven through both heels together. In fact, the nail had bent from the force of the hammer and was unable to be removed, and so the nail was still present. One of this man’s legs had been shattered by the blunt force of a single blow so strong that the other leg was cracked as well.[1]    

Upon Pilate’s acquiescence, the soldiers began the gruesome ordeal of breaking the legs. One took to the thief on the right side of Jesus, and another to the thief on His left. “But coming to Jesus,” the Bible says, “they saw He was already dead.” This was quite remarkable in itself, for no one died that quickly on the cross! Crucifixion was a long, slow, horrific death, and yet Jesus had died within a few short hours. For most men it would take days. But Jesus was not like most men. No one can simply decide to die and then do it – no one! But Jesus could. In John 10, Jesus speaks of laying down His life. He says there, “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.” And when He had said, “It is finished” (Jn 19:30) and then, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit,” He breathed His last (Lk 23:46). Never did a man live like Jesus, and never did a man die like Jesus.

Because Jesus appeared to already be dead, His legs were not broken. But in order to ensure that He was really dead, John tells us that one of the soldiers “pierced His side with a spear.” He was already dead, but if He hadn’t been, this would have done the job. His death was ensured. And then it was evidenced. Blood and water flowed from His side. Medical experts have set forth several plausible theories about this blood and water, and we won’t go into them here and now. John’s point was not to perform an autopsy, but to indicate that there was no mistaking the fact that Jesus was dead.

Jesus’ death was a physical certainty. The Jews and Romans went to great lengths to ensure His death, and the flow of blood and water from His side are evidence of His death. But, the physical certainty of Jesus’ death is not the only point that John intends to make. He also wants to be sure that we observe…

II. The Prophetic Significance of His Death

John has carefully explained throughout his Gospel how many of the things that Jesus said and did fulfilled prophecies that were spoken through the prophets of the Old Testament. But Old Testament prophecy was not limited merely to spoken or written words. There are also prophetic people and events that point forward to the person of Jesus, types and shadows of what the Messiah would be and do. And all of them find their fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth.

As we have already observed, day of Jesus’ death was the day of Passover. This was no coincidence. The entire observance of Passover always pointed to Him from its institution in Egypt in the days of Moses. Just as the blood of the Passover lamb applied to the doorposts of the Hebrew homes in Egypt spared them from the plague of death and delivered them from Egypt’s bondage, so the blood of Jesus delivers us from bondage to sin and saves us from the plague of eternal condemnation. Therefore, Jesus is described by John the Baptist as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29),  and by Peter as “a lamb unblemished and spotless” (1 Pet 1:19). Paul speaks of “Christ our Passover” who has been sacrificed (1 Cor 5:7).

Now, for the original Passover lamb that was to be slaughtered and eaten on that fateful night in Egypt, the Lord gave a very specific instruction – “you are not to break any bone of it” (Ex 12:46; Num 9:12). And so John says here that when the soldiers decided not to break Jesus’ legs, they were unknowingly fulfilling the Scriptures. In verse 36, he says, “these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, ‘Not a bone of Him shall be broken.’” We began our service today with a reading from Psalm 34. There, David writes, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken” (34:19-20). The Lord Jesus is the perfection of righteousness, and so in a unique way this passage points to Him. It would not be uncharacteristic for John to have had both of these passages in view as he wrote, and his point may be that because Jesus is the Righteous One, He is uniquely fit to be our Passover Lamb, and as such not a bone of His body would be broken, for God would not allow it. In His death, He fulfills the Passover in an ultimate and eternal way for us.

There is further prophetic significance mentioned in verse 37. Not only is Jesus the Passover Lamb of prophecy, but He is also the Messianic King of prophecy. John says, “And again another Scripture says, ‘They shall look on Him whom they pierced.’” It is originally found in Zechariah 12:10. Notice how John says that this “Scripture says,” not that this Scripture was fulfilled. This prophecy actually points to something yet future – the return of Christ at the end of the age. It has not yet been fulfilled – at least not in total. This promise, in its original context, points us forward to the Messiah – the God who is King – and assures us that He will come, He will be pierced, and then He will return and be seen again. So in order for this prophecy to be fulfilled, there had to be a piercing when He came. And here John describes how the soldier pierced His side so that blood and water came forth. This One who was pierced was none other God Himself in human flesh. In Zechariah’s prophecy, the Lord says, “They will look on ME whom they have pierced.” They will see the One who was executed unjustly, but who willingly laid down His life for our sins.

Remember that after the resurrection, Jesus invited Thomas to investigate the wounds in His hands and in His side. In His glorified body, Jesus still bears the wounds He suffered for our redemption. He is coming again, and when He does, every eye will behold Him. They will see the One whom John describes in Revelation as “a Lamb standing, as if slain.” The wounds of His piercing will be visible to every eye on that day when He returns in glory. For those who have trusted in Him as Lord and Savior, it will be a great day of joy and salvation. For those who have not, it will be a day of terrible judgment and wrath.

In describing the death of Jesus in such great detail, John is showing us its prophetic significance. In His death, we see Jesus as the Passover Lamb and the Messianic King that had been promised, foreshadowed, and symbolized through the centuries as God was working out His eternal plan of redemption. And that brings us to our final point …

III. The personal response to His death

Several decades ago, the late Southern humorist Lewis Grizzard wrote a book entitled, Elvis is Dead, and I Don’t Feel So Good Myself. Well, after reading and examining in some detail the fact that Jesus was dead, some may be tempted to say, “Jesus is dead, but what does His death have to do with me?” Perhaps John knew that some who read his Gospel would feel that way, and so he pens a personal note in verse 35.

He says, “He who has seen has testified.” John began his Gospel by saying of Jesus that “we saw His glory.” In 1 John 1, he says that we have heard Him, we have seen Him with our eyes, we have looked at Him, and touched Him with our hands (1 Jn 1:1). John was among those who saw the Lord Jesus performing amazing signs and wonders among the people of His day. But John was the only one of the twelve apostles to witness the greatest display of Christ’s glory. That display of glory was seen ultimately in His death on the cross. Though the other disciples had all fled and forsaken Jesus before He went to the cross, John says, “I saw it.” He was there. And this is his testimony of the things that happened there on that day. And John says of his own words, “his testimony is true.” In other words, it is an eyewitness account, and it is trustworthy. He says, “he knows that he is telling the truth.” He knows that he has not included any details that are not factual or left out anything of importance. And this trustworthy, eyewitness account has been recorded for a specific purpose: “so that you also may believe.”

Belief is the personal response that we are invited to make to the death of Jesus. But what is it we are to believe? In Chapter 20, verses 30-31, he writes, “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

That passage tells us that life comes through believing that Jesus is the Christ – the Messiah who was promised to come for our salvation; the Son of God – that is God in human flesh. He has fulfilled all the prophecies. He is the Passover Lamb and the Messianic King. He is the God who became man, to live among us, and to die for us – that our sins could receive their full penalty in Him as He died in our place, and we can be forgiven. Just as blood and water flowed from His side when He was pierced, so His atoning blood flows freely to us to cleanse us from our sin and reconcile us to God in a covenant relationship. We are washed in the living water of the Holy Spirit as He shapes us to be like Christ while we live by faith in Him. Believe in Him, that you may have abundant and eternal life in His name as a free gift of God’s grace. 

Jesus was dead. One day, if He tarries His return, we will all be dead. The season of Lent serves in part to remind us of this fact. Just as we behold the death of the Savior, so we know that we are all mortal, and will die as the wages of sin takes effect in our lives. But the Bible promises us that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23). Death is nothing for the believer in Christ to fear, because it has been swallowed up in His victory over it (1 Cor 15:54). As we approach death, we are following by faith the One who has died our death for us, and overcome it in resurrected glory! Jesus has died, and we will too. But we follow Him to death, and we follow Him by faith through death into everlasting life if we believe upon His name!

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[1] F. F. Bruce, The Gospel and Epistles of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 1.367-368, 375.

It is Finished! (John 19:30)

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In the Creation account that we find in the Book of Genesis, we are told that on the seventh day, God rested from all His work which He had done. In the Book of Exodus, we find the Fourth Commandment, which instructs us to rest on the seventh day in honor of what the Lord Himself did during creation. Now for us, the rest is necessary because after six days of work, our bodies are tired and need time to recover. But for God, He did not rest on the seventh day because He was tired. He rested because He was finished. The Bible says that by the seventh day, “God completed His work which He had done” (Gen 2:2). We serve a God who completes whatever He begins. And in the sixth word that Jesus speaks from the cross, recorded for us in John 19:30, God the Son declares, “It is finished.”

In English, we read three words, but in the Greek New Testament, we find it is only one word: Tetelestai. This single Greek word is so profound that the great preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon said it contains “an ocean of meaning in a drop of language, a mere drop. It would need all the other words that were ever spoken, or ever can be spoken, to explain this one word. It is altogether immeasurable. It is high; I cannot attain to it. It is deep; I cannot fathom it.”[1] Obviously we cannot say all that needs to be said about such a word in the time we have today. We must find some way to limit the discussion, and I have chosen to limit it by the bounds of this text and its context. The words of John 19:30, and the surrounding context speak of the finishing or completion of two particular aspects of the work of Christ. It speaks of the fulfillment of all the prophecies about Him, and it speaks of the completion of His mission to save the world from sin.

I. The prophecies have been fulfilled.

Last Sunday, we dealt with the saying of Jesus in John 19:28, “I am thirsty.” And we discussed the necessity of this saying in order to fulfill prophecy. John said in verse 28, “Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill Scripture, said, ‘I am thirsty.’” One of the reasons He said, “I am thirsty,” was to fulfill Scriptures that stated that the suffering Messiah would thirst in His dying, and that He would be offered vinegar to drink. Every other promise that had ever been made by God’s prophets about the coming of the Messiah, His earthly life, His ministry, and His suffering, had taken place. Of course there were more prophecies that had not been fulfilled yet, and those would have to follow His death. But the prophecies concerning how He would come, who He would be, what He would do, and how He would die, had all been fulfilled. Now that He has announced His thirst and been offered the sour wine-vinegar to drink, He can say at last, “It is finished.”

Spurgeon said, “There is not a single jewel of promise, from that first emerald which fell on the threshold of Eden, to that last sapphire of Malachi which was not set in the breastplate of the true High Priest.”[2] The Messiah had been prophesied as the Seed of woman (Gen 3:15); born of a virgin (Isa 7:14); born in Bethlehem (Mic 5:2); a descendant of Abraham (Gen 12:3, et al.), of Judah (Gen 49:10), and of David (2 Sam 7:12-19). Of course all of these are uniquely true of Jesus. In addition to these and many other aspects of His birth, there were explicit prophecies concerning His ministry on the earth. When Jesus entered the synagogue of Nazareth at the beginning of His public ministry, He was handed the scroll of Isaiah, and the reading for the day was from Isaiah 61 – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord." And then Jesus closed the book, and sat down, and said to the congregation, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:18-21). Those words describe perfectly the earthly life and ministry of the Lord Jesus. He did preach the Gospel to the poor. He did proclaim liberty to those who are captive in sin. He did grant sight to the blind. And He did many other things that the Old Testament had announced in advance that He would do. When John the Baptist was in prison awaiting his execution at the hands of Herod Antipas, he sent word to Jesus: “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” And the word Jesus sent back to John was this: “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them” (Matt 11:2-5). In other words, “I am doing everything that the prophets said the Messiah would do.

And of course the prophets also spoke of His suffering and death. In recent weeks, we have mentioned the prophetic images in David’s Messianic Psalms, particularly Psalm 22 and Psalm 69, which spoke of His manner of death. But nowhere will you find a more exact description of the suffering of the God’s Anointed Servant than in Isaiah 53.

He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering … Isaiah 53:3-10 (NASB)

And now each one of the multitude of prophecies has been finished, fulfilled, and completed. They are completed in Jesus Christ and in Him alone. Spurgeon notes, “Brothers and Sisters, what a wonderful thing it is, that a mass of promises, and prophecies, and types, apparently so heterogeneous, should all be accomplished in one Person!”[3] Indeed, if we were to read all of the prophetic descriptions of the Messiah apart from knowing Christ we might consider them to be contradictory and impossible to find fulfillment in a single person. In the words of Spurgeon, “He must be a Prophet like unto Moses, and yet a champion like Joshua; he must be an Aaron and a Melchizedek; he must be both David and Solomon, Noah and Jonah, Judah and Joseph. No, He must not only be the lamb that was slain, and the scapegoat that was not slain, the turtledove that was dipped in blood, and the priest who slew the bird, but He must be the Altar, the Tabernacle, the Mercy Seat, and the Showbread!” Where can all of these promises, pictures, and prophetic words and images come to pass in one person? Only in Jesus. Spurgeon says, “Take away Christ for one moment, and I will give the Old Testament to any wise man living, and say to him, ‘Take this. This is a problem; go home and construct in your imagination an ideal character who shall exactly fit all that which is herein foreshadowed.’” [4] If Christ had not come to fulfill all of these things, then they could not have been filled in any other individual. And thus, as He died, the Lord Jesus is able to examine the catalog of biblical prophecies, including and up to His thirst, the drink He would be offered, and now His impending death, and say with confidence about the entire array, “It is finished!”

These words, or the singular Greek word Tetelestai, indicate that the prophecies are all fulfilled. Now, a second truth is expressed in these words as well, and that is …

II. The mission has been accomplished.

If you are like me, I imagine that you often start more things than you finish. My library is filled with books I never finished reading. Around my house and my office are the remnants of projects that I started and never got around to finishing. Marathon runners have unintentionally taught me a lot about life. Once upon a time, if I heard someone say that they had run in a marathon, I may have asked naively, “Did you win?”, or, “What place did you come in?” But marathon runners have taught me that most people don’t run marathons to win. They run to finish the race. The victory, for them, is found in crossing the finish line after 26.2 miles. The more I think about that, the more I think that life is a lot like that. What matters is not how fast we run the race, or even what place we come in, but whether or not we finish what we set out to do. When Jesus died, He could say in a unique sense that no one else ever could, “It is finished.” He had completed what He came to do.

The mission of Jesus was announced by the prophets in advance, and it was declared to Joseph in Matthew 1:21 before His birth: “you shall call His name Jesus (which means “Yahweh, or Jehovah, is salvation”), for He will save His people from their sins.” He came to save His people from sin. And how would He do that? Jesus said of His own mission, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45; Matt 20:28). His mission was to serve humanity by giving up His life as a ransom to save us from our sins.

We understand this word “ransom,” and usually associate it with a payment that is made for the release of hostage or someone who has been abducted. We envision movies where someone glues letters clipped from a magazine or newspaper together to make a ransom note, and then someone shows up with a briefcase full of money in exchange for the release of the victim. Well, in the case of our predicament and Jesus’ ransom, the situation is somewhat different. We have not been abducted or kidnapped. We have willingly entered a state of slavery – slavery to sin. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, chose to disobey God, and by that act, humanity was taken captive in the slavery of sin. Each of us is born in that state by virtue of their sin, but each of us makes our own sinful choices as well. So we are sinners from birth by nature, and we demonstrate that through our own sinful choices and actions. Our predicament is utterly helpless and hopeless apart from the delivery of a ransom. But Jesus did not come to earth from heaven with a briefcase full of unmarked bills. He came into the world with all that He would need to pay the ransom – a human body with blood coursing through its veins. The ransom to deliver us from sin was to be paid with His blood as He becomes our substitute and sacrifice on the cross. At the cross, He bore the sins of humanity beneath the full measure of God’s wrath. As He carried our sins, the fellowship of God the Father and God the Son was ruptured for the first time in eternity, prompting Jesus to cry out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” But now, with the ransom price having been paid through the sacrifice of our substitute, Jesus can say, “It is finished.”

For centuries, on the altar before the Tabernacle and the Temple, countless animals bled and died as sacrifices for sin. But the work of the priest was never done. These animals did not pay the price. They were like purchases made on credit. They promised that payment would be made, but the payment had not yet been delivered. And so, one after another, at times by the dozen, by the hundreds, or by the thousands, more and more blood flowed from lambs and bulls and goats. But the price had not yet been paid. It is interesting that when the Lord gave Moses the instructions for building the Tabernacle, He specified how every furnishing was to be constructed. But there was one piece of furniture noticeably missing. There was to be no chair, because the work of the priest was never done. There was no time for sitting and resting, for there was always more to be done, more blood to be shed. And so the writer of Hebrews says, “Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He (Christ), having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God” (Heb 10:11-12). He rested from His work, for His mission of redemption was finished.

Archaeologists have discovered ancient papyri in the Near East which were receipts for taxes that had been paid. And across those papyrus pages are written the single Greek word, Tetelestai. It means “paid in full.” If you were to write out all of your sins, and the penalty that they deserve in the justice of God, and staple that list together with that of every human being who has ever lived or ever will, you would find that Jesus has written in His blood across every page, Tetelestai, “Paid in full!” It is finished. Our sin debt is paid for by His blood in His substitutionary death on the cross. Paul says in Colossians 2:14 that Jesus has “canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” The record of sin and condemnation was nailed to the cross as Christ became sin for us. He received our wrath and paid our debt. It is finished and it is paid in full.

This means that nothing more is required. How will you be saved? By looking to Christ as your sin-bearer and seeing the debt of your offenses before God as paid in full in Him. What more then can you add? Can you add your own works to this? Can you add participation in some ritual, or observance of some holy day, or financial contribution to any religious institution to this? No, because the debt is fully paid. There are some things that can be improved by addition. You can improve your paycheck by adding an extra digit. But there are other things that addition only destroys. Imagine if you were to add a “g” to the word “love”? Would it make it better? Would you rather have “love” or a “glove”?[5] I remember my high school science teacher mixing chemicals in the lab one day. He mixed the liquid from one bottle with another liquid from another, and nothing happened. But then he dropped just a few flakes of another chemical into the beaker, and a small explosion occurred. That is what happens when we try to add anything to the completed work of Christ. It doesn’t enhance our salvation, it destroys it. Spurgeon said, “Will you pin your rags to the fine linen of Christ’s righteousness? Why will you add your counterfeit farthing to the costly ransom which Christ has paid into the treasure-house of God?”[6] You have nothing to contribute; all you can do is receive. The price has been paid by grace, in blood, and in full for you.

Over the years, I have asked many people a simple question: “Suppose you were to stand before God and he were to ask you, ‘Why should I let you into heaven?’” Many of those people have said to me, “Because I am a good person, and I’ve done some good things,” and so on. I explain to them how God has offered Jesus as a substitute to receive our penalty in Himself on our behalf in His death on the cross. I ask them, “Have you ever put your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior?” Some have said no. But some have said, almost as an afterthought, “Oh sure, that too.” Friends, it can never be “That too!” It must be “That only!” Our only hope is to be found in Christ alone, and we can add nothing to the salvation that He offers us freely by His grace. If we try to add to it, we are saying that Jesus was not telling the truth when He said, “It is finished.” It is either finished or it is not. If it is, then you need nothing but Christ. If it isn’t, then we have no hope at all before God. It is as simple as that.

Perhaps you are here today and recognize that you have never fully trusted in the finished work of Jesus Christ to save you. You have never turned to Him in repentance of your sin and faith that He died to save you by taking your sins upon Himself at the cross. Today, you can look to the cross and find all of your sins forgiven because Jesus has paid the full debt and finished the work of your redemption. He has paid your ransom completely. There is nothing you can do to add to that or take away from it. You can simply trust Him to fulfill what He has promised. And He has promised that all who trust in Him will have their sins forgiven and receive His own righteousness in exchange before God, and be reconciled to God and granted eternal life as a free gift of His grace. It is finished, and it is offered to you if you will only trust Him to save you.

Undoubtedly there are others here today who would call themselves “Christians,” who think that being a Christian is about something you do. If you describe your Christianity as something that you have done, then that is not Christianity. The Good News of the Christian Faith is that you cannot do anything to make yourself right with God. It has all been done for you by Jesus. Your part is not to do but to receive what has been done for you. He has paid your ransom from sin in full. I heard it said a long time ago when I was just a young Christian, “Christianity is not spelled D-O, but D-O-N-E.” All that is required to reconcile you to God and rescue you from sin has been done by Christ, and when it was completed, He said with finality and full confidence, “It is finished!” And because His work of redemption is finished, you can rest in Him. Rest from your tireless effort of trying to earn God’s love and favor. Rest from the anxiety and fear of never being good enough. Rest from the constant struggle of trying harder and doing better. Say to Him, “God, I am a hopeless sinner apart from Christ, and I receive what He has done for me and trust Him to save me.” And the Lord Jesus will say to you, “It is finished.”

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[1] Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “Christ’s Dying Word for His Church,” in Sermons on the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1966), 170.

[2] Spurgeon, “It is Finished.” Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 421, December 1, 1861, p. 2. Available online: http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols7-9/chs421.pdf. Accessed March 28, 2012.

[3] Spurgeon, “Finished,” p. 2.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Philip Ryken, “Mission Accomplished,” in James Montgomery Boice and Philip Ryken, The Heart of the Cross (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1999), 57-58.

[6] Spurgeon, “Finished,” p. 6. 

"I Thirst" (John 19:28-29)

Audio 

The four Gospels record for us a total of seven statements that the Lord Jesus made while He was dying on the cross. In rather short succession, John records three of them. We looked at one last Sunday – chronologically the third – in which Jesus entrusted His mother Mary into the care of His disciple John (the author of this Gospel). Today, we come to another. In chronological order, it would be the fifth saying. Here Jesus says simply, “I am thirsty.” These words seem rather pedestrian to us perhaps. What could be significant about the fact that dying Savior is thirsty? We may be tempted to think that this expression is relatively unimportant. But be sure of this, the words are of tremendous importance. If for no other reason, they are important because it is Jesus who spoke them, and no word that ever crossed His holy lips is unimportant. This statement is also important because the Holy Spirit inspired the inclusion of this statement in the Word of God. For some reason, God the Holy Spirit deemed it necessary for all generations to know that the Lord Jesus declared that He thirsted upon the cross. His thirst is significant for us. But why? I don’t know that we can ever exhaustively answer the question, but we can at least begin to make an attempt at an answer. And in so doing, I want to point out four aspects of His thirst on the cross that are of the utmost importance for the world to know.

I. The Human Thirst of Jesus

Several years ago, I took my family to a museum to view an exhibit of mummies from around the world. It was fascinating on so many levels, but one thing that really impressed me was a short video that is shown prior to entering the exhibit. In that video, the visitors are reminded that the mummies they are about to see are real people who lived real lives and died real deaths, and as such, they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. It would be easy to view them as merely historical artifacts or even to some degree objects of ancient art, and forget that they were real human beings. We can sometimes run into a similar dilemma regarding the humanity of Jesus.

Ever since the first century, people have customarily made three errors regarding Jesus. Some have considered Jesus to be fully God, and not at all human. Others have made the opposite error, considering Jesus to be fully human, and not divine at all. I would suspect that this has been the most common misunderstanding about Jesus throughout history. The third error that people have made about Jesus is to see Him as something of a half-and-half being, a demigod perhaps, greater than a man, but not quite God.

Well, if all of these are incorrect, what is the correct view of Jesus? The only proper way to understand who Jesus is would be to recognize Him as fully man AND fully God. This is how He is presented to us in Scripture. He is not half-and-half, but all-and-all. We see His full deity in His virgin birth, His miracles, His limitless knowledge, and most vividly in His resurrection from the dead. Certainly, it is wrong to miss the fact that He is fully divine. But we must be careful to remember that Jesus was also completely human in addition to being fully God. We see His humanity on display as He grows from infancy to adulthood, and matures physically and grows in obedience to His earthly parents. We see Jesus being tired and sleeping; we see Him hungry; we see Him weeping. And on the cross, He demonstrated several very human experiences. He hurt. He suffered. He bled. He died. But before He died, He tells us that He thirsted. He was fully God, yes, but never forget, also fully human. And thank God He was. We need Him to be fully human.

If Jesus is going to redeem humanity from sin, He has to be human to make the sacrifice.  If He is going to bear our sins, He has to identify completely with us. If He is going to be our eternal High Priest, then He must be one who can sympathize completely with our human experience. And Hebrews 4:15 assures us that “we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” If He were not fully human, it would make no difference that He was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. If He were only God without a human nature, those temptations would have no effect upon Him, and His victory over them would not be significant. But because He was fully human, He could be our righteous and sinless substitute. As a man, He fulfilled every command of God’s Law and withstood every temptation that humans can experience. The Apostle Paul put it this way: “There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5).

It would be easy for you to think that God cannot relate to your hardships in life. But that would be a mistake. Remember that Jesus, in the flesh as a human being, was tempted in all things as we are. Have you been betrayed? So has He. Have you been mistreated? So has He. Have you known sorrow? So has He. Have you ever been thirsty? Yes, so has He! And because we have such a great high priest who can sympathize with our every human experience, Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we can “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” We must never fail to worship Christ as our God, our fully divine Lord and King. But in so doing, we will be greatly helped in our daily Christian lives to remember that He was fully human also. He lived this life that we live. And as if to remind us never to forget, He says as He dies, “I am thirsty.” It is a very human experience—a very human thirst.

II. The Prophetic Thirst of Jesus

“I thirst.” It helps us understand and remember that Jesus was fully human in addition to being fully divine. That is the effect of the statement. But the effect of a thing is often different from the purpose of it. Did Jesus say these words for the purpose of telling us that He possessed a human nature? How could we ever know why He said this? Well, it would help if the Bible told us. And it does! Look at verse 28, and let’s read it together slowly.

• “After this” – After what? What precedes this in John’s Gospel is the third saying, when Jesus entrusted Mary into the care of John. But we know from comparing the accounts of the four Gospels that darkness had covered the land and from the depths of that darkness, Jesus had cried out “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” as He bore in His body and soul the wrath that the sins of the whole human race deserved. So, it was after this.
• “Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished” – That is, He knew that the ransom had been paid, the debt had been settled, the penalty of sin had been satisfied and that death was rapidly approaching.
• “To fulfill Scripture, [He] said, “I am thirsty.” – Ah! So here is the reason then plainly stated! Why did Jesus say, “I am thirsty?” He said it to fulfill Scripture.

Every prophecy that had ever been written about the coming, the ministry, and the suffering of the Messiah had nearly been fulfilled. Just a small number of things remained, and they would be completed momentarily. But there was one specific aspect of the suffering of the Messiah that needed to be acknowledged before His death: His thirst. In Psalm 22, David spoke of His own suffering, but what he wrote exceeded his own experiences. He wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of a far off day in which the Messiah, the royal offspring of David, would suffer a torture that no one in David’s day ever experienced or witnessed. The 22^nd Psalm speaks of the forsaking by God that Jesus endured, and the betrayal and despising He experienced at the hands of men. It speaks of His bones being out of joint, the rupturing of His heart, the piercing of His hands and feet, the dividing of His garments. And in the midst of all this prophetic imagery of the cross, it says, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws” (Psalms 22:15). It was prophesied that the Messiah would thirst in His suffering.

Not only this, but in the 69^th Psalm, we read that the very drink that Jesus was offered was prophesied in Scripture as well. David is again writing of his own suffering as a foreshadowing of the suffering of the Messiah. And in the midst of the description we read in Psalm 69, we read, “They also gave me gall for my food and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Psalms 69:21). And all of this was fulfilled with precision at the Cross. When He arrived at Golgotha, Matthew 27:34 says that they offered Jesus wine mixed with gall to drink. The word gall can have many meanings, but in this context it refers to a bitter-tasting poisonous herb that was mixed with sweet wine to make it palatable, and which was used as a rudimentary anesthetic to kill pain. It was prophesied that Jesus would be given gall for His food. But it was not prophesied that He would take it. And He didn’t. Matthew and Mark both tell us that Jesus refused this concoction when it was offered to Him. He would not deaden the pain or soften the suffering of His ordeal, nor would He dull His senses or His faculties as He bore the sins of the world. It was also promised that they would give Him vinegar to drink. And when He said, “I am thirsty,” there just happened to be a jar of “sour wine” standing nearby, and it was offered to Him and He received it. It was a cheap wine vinegar that soldiers often used to slake their thirst. It could not have been water. It could not have been freshly made wine. It had to be the wine-vinegar that the NASB translates “sour wine,” because that is what had been prophesied.

The Scriptures are very specific about the Messiah: who He would be, how He would come, what He would do, how He would suffer. And every jot and tittle of those prophecies had to be fulfilled with precision, and they were. Jesus had to announce His thirst so that the world would know that He was thirsty, and so that someone would raise the vinegar to Him. Thus, His thirst, and even the beverage He was offered, are testimonies that confirm that He alone is the promised Messiah and redeemer of Israel and the world. He said what He said so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

III. The Enduring Thirst of Jesus

I want you to imagine, to pretend, for a moment with me that you were at the cross witnessing the death of Jesus. Pretend that you were there, and that you were standing nearby. You are close enough to hear Jesus speak with labored breath these sayings, and you hear Him say with a faint groan, “I am thirsty.” Looking around you, you see the jar of wine vinegar. You see a sponge laying there, and a stalk of a hyssop bush that you can use to raise the vinegar-soaked sponge to His parched lips. Are you there in your mind? Now, let me ask you, do you do it? Do you offer Him drink to satisfy His thirst? Think it through carefully. If I do this, what will the consequences be for me? Will I be punished for doing this? Is it appropriate? Is it permissible? Others perhaps say immediately, “Of course! Here is a thirsty man! Here is drink! Why should I not give Him drink? Yes! I would do it! I would give the thirsty Jesus a drink!”

Even the youngest children know that it is fun and easy to play pretend. You can pretend to be anything or do anything you can imagine. And in some of our daydreams and fantasies we always do better than we do in real life. So, the next time you see Jesus thirsty, what are you going to do? Are you going to give Him a drink? Now you say, “Pastor, when are we ever going to see Jesus thirsty?” Well, in fact, Jesus Himself said that we will find Him thirsty, and we will have the opportunity to satisfy His thirst.

In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us what it will be like in the day of judgment, and He says that the angels will gather the nations before Him. He will separate the entire human race as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. The sheep will be on His right and the goats on His left. And to the sheep He will say, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me” (Matt 25:34-36). And these who are His righteous sheep will say to Him, “Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?” And Jesus says that He will say to them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me” (Matt 25:37-40).

Now, who are these brothers of Jesus? Elsewhere, Jesus speaks of His brothers being His disciples (Matt 12:48-49; 28:10). This corresponds to the experience of the Saul on the road to Damascus, when the risen Jesus appeared to him and said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). Saul was unaware that he had been persecuting Jesus; in his mind He was only persecuting Christians. But Jesus seems to indicate that how we treat His followers is in effect how we are treating Him. What we do to them, we do to Him. But there is another sense in which the Christian is compelled to act in a charitable way to any person, regardless of whether or not they are believers in Christ. That seems to be the point of the parable of the Good Samaritan. My neighbor, whom I am to love as myself, is anyone who has a need that I can meet. So, it seems that when Jesus says that, whenever we have given drink to the least of His brethren, we’ve given it unto Him, that He intends to say that we should help anyone who has a need, giving particular attention to those of the family of faith. That, after all, is what the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 6:10 – “ So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.”

So, would you give Jesus a drink to satisfy His thirst? Know that around you today may be a thirsty follower of Jesus, a brother or sister in the family of God who has a need that you have the means to meet. Will you serve them and meet that need? Jesus says that if you would, then what you are doing to them, you are actually doing for Him. And you are doing the same as you aid even the total stranger who may not even know Jesus. But your cup of cold water for the thirsty stranger may be the beginning of his or her journey to Jesus as they see Him in you through your act of lovingkindness. Jesus was thirsty on the cross, and His thirst endures. Will you offer Him drink?

IV. The Vicarious Thirst of Jesus

In the study of Christian doctrine, we sometimes encounter unfamiliar words that are difficult to understand. One of these hard words that we encounter, which is actually very important for us to understand, is the word vicarious. We use this word to refer to Jesus as our substitute. In His death on the cross, He became for us a vicarious atonement for our sins. He died in our place to atone for our sins so that they can be forgiven and we can be reconciled to God. So, we understand that a vicar is someone who stands in for another. Christ’s suffering and death is vicarious in that He is our substitute and our sacrifice as He takes our place under the judgment of God.

Now, there is a sense in which we can point to the thirst of Christ even as a vicarious act. He thirsted for us. His thirst reflects the physical reality that He was dying a slow death of dehydration as His blood and sweat poured from His body. And He did this for us. His thirst was not only physical but spiritual as well. As the Psalmist said, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You O God” (Psalm 42:1). Jesus, having been forsaken by His Father under the penalty of sin, thirsts for the presence of His Father once again. And He endured this for us. And in that forsaking, as He bore the penalty of our sin, it is as if He endured all of the fury and fire of hell on our behalf. We might recall that story that Jesus tells in Luke 16 of the rich man and Lazarus. Both men died, and Lazarus found himself transported to paradise with Abraham while the rich man went to Hades, the place of separation from God where the unrighteous await their eternal destination in hell. And Jesus says that the rich man could see across the great gulf that separated those two locations, and he cried out to Abraham asking him to send Lazarus to bring him aid. Do you remember what he said? In Luke 16:24, the rich man says, “send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.” The agony and unquenchable thirst that this rich man experienced in the torment of the flames of wrath were the same that Jesus experienced on the cross. And He experienced it for us. It was a vicarious thirst. He bore the penalty and the wrath of judgment that we deserve for our sins. There has never been a human being to live who did not deserve this. But in His loving grace and mercy, Jesus thirsted in the agony of judgment vicariously. He did it for us.

This was not the first time in Scripture that Jesus was thirsty and asked for drink. You may be familiar with that story in John 4 when Jesus came to Jacob’s well and asked the Samaritan woman for a drink. As they begin to dialogue about the well and the water there, Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14). You see Jesus was thirsty, and this woman had water that could satisfy His thirst, but it wouldn’t last forever. But Jesus wanted this woman to know that she also had a thirst in her life. And Jesus had water that she knew not of – living water that would spring up within her to eternal life. He said, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (4:10). He said something similar in John 7 – “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:37-38).

You see, every one of us was born with a thirst for something that nothing in this world will satisfy. People try to satisfy it with money and possessions, with knowledge and power, with relationships and sex, with drugs and alcohol, with therapy and medication. But the emptiness is still there and the thirst is unquenched. We are like people adrift in a salt-water sea, dying of thirst. We are surrounded, in the words of Coleridge, by “water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.” If we drink from the salt-water, it only adds to our thirst. You see, over-top of every fountain in this world that you are tempted to think will satisfy you, you need to envision the emblazoned words of Jesus: “Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again.” C. S. Lewis put it this way in the most brilliant sermon he ever preached: “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by an offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased.”[1] But that is the thing, you see, we are NOT pleased. We try to tell ourselves that we are, but soon enough we thirst again. Augustine said it this way: “You made us for Yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in You.”[2] But we are cut off from that rest and from the only living water that can eternally satisfy our thirst. Our sins have fixed a great gulf between us and our God and King who alone can satisfy our deepest longings. But thanks be to God, He has bridged the gap! In the person of Jesus Christ, He has borne our sins and their penalty. He has died our death! He has taken vicariously upon Himself our unquenchable thirst so that our thirst can be quenched eternally!

It is because Jesus thirsted for us that we find this description of heaven in Revelation 7:16-17 – “They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” And it is for this reason that the Bible concludes with a glorious invitation: “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost” (Rev 22:17). The living water that satisfies eternally is freely offered to us by the grace of Him who thirsted in our place! Every longing that you have is pointing you to Him like thirst drives you to water. And nothing outside of Him will ever satisfy that thirst. Come and drink deeply from Christ. He thirsted for you so that you will never thirst again!

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[1] C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory (New York: HarperCollins, 2001), 26.

[2] Augustine, Confessions (Penguin Classics edition; translated by R. S. Pine-Coffin; New York: Penguin Putnam, 1961), 21.