The Fifth Cross Word: “I Thirst”

In this portion of God's Word we are again called to pause at Golgotha, where the Lord Jesus has been crucified. It seems that the Lord Jesus, who was refused every favor of God and man, was one of the greatest criminals. But we know better: He is the holy and innocent One. This is not only the testimony of man, but also of the angel of God. Isaiah said, “There was no deceit in His mouth,” and the apostle testified, “He was without sin.” God the Father gave witness, “This is My beloved Son.”

In His life He showed kindness, love, mercy, and patience as no other person can. His feet did not become tired of going through the country to do well. His hands blessed thousands, and He healed innumerable people. Grace was poured into His lips. His eyes looked in mercy upon the people. This same Jesus was crucified. There He prayed for His enemies and promised grace to the thief who humbled himself. And yet Jesus had to go through such a way; not even a cup of cold water was given to refresh His lips.

This must be for a special reason, otherwise we would begin to doubt God's justice and love, wisdom and mercy. Why did this happen? This is not hidden from us. Paul received the right insight, saying, “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). And the prophet Isaiah wrote, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5a).

This was the holy “why” He had to suffer on the cross. In every part of His suffering, He gave atonement for sin, also in “I thirst.” The words regarding Christ's thirst seem to be words only about His bodily suffering. But it is also related to the suffering of His soul. The fifth cross word follows shortly after the cross word speaking of the agony of hell, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” After this fearful soulstruggle, the body asserted its rights. It had already been about twenty hours since the Lord Jesus had received any liquid—from the cup used at the institution of the Lord's Supper.

The words regarding Christ's thirst seem to be words only about His bodily suffering. But it is also related to the suffering of His soul.

In the meantime so much had happened: He underwent the soulstruggle at Gethsemane; He was taken into custody, maltreated before the Sanhedrin and Pilate, ridiculed by Herod, scourged, crowned with thorns, and led to Golgotha, where the crucifixion followed. The precious Mediator was bleeding as from a thousand wounds. This bitter cup of suffering He had to empty to the last drop. “After this.…” This was after the three hours of darkness, after the descent into hell, and after God as Judge had concluded with Him.

“After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.” It seemed as if all His strength had been exhausted in the previous strife, and yet from His lips was heard, “I thirst.” These words were spoken by the Savior, who is the Fountain of living water. He is the spiritual Rock which strengthened Israël in the desert. At the feast, He had called out that all thirsty ones should come unto Him. Without water nothing can grow or live, and man without Jesus is what the earth is without water, namely, unfruitful.

This thirst of Christ is also according to Scripture, as David once lamented, “I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried.” Thus Scripture was also fulfilled in this suffering of Christ. This thirst was not the suffering of a martyr, but of the Mediator, whose tongue was split by the agony of hell to open a fountain for people who have become thirsty for the righteousness of Christ. When, under the administration of the Holy Spirit, we may learn something of this hunger and thirst for this blessed Person, then we can no longer live without Him. In Him we can find everything, since He fulfilled everything which had to be fulfilled. In this lamentation Christ expressed something of the suffering of hell, which we deserve.

At the beginning of the crucifixion, Christ refused any drink (Mark 15:23). Voluntarily the Lord would undergo the suffering of hell, which also means no drink, as we know from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Now that He had accomplished everything which the Father required of Him to satisfy God's justice and open a way that sinners could be reconciled with God, He took fluid. Then, when He had received the vinegar which was given to Him, He cried out, “It is finished.”

Has this suffering of Christ any meaning for us? Or do we not realize what Good Friday means for a Christian? If we never receive an impression of it on this sideofthe grave, then the end will be terrible. Think only of the rich man who had all the pleasures in his lifetime, but in eternity he was not given even a drop of water for refreshment. How terrible will be the end of all those who have sought their fulfillment in temporal things, which cannot give any true satisfaction.

By nature we try to quench our thirst in this world, but then we stretch forth our hands to the swinefood of sin. We should never forget that a round world cannot fill our triangular heart. Such a dissatisfied person may remain in this world until the hour of death, when for the last time his lips may be made wet. He will open his eyes in the place where the fire of sinful lusts will burn fiercely, but where no sinful fulfillment will be found. There will not be a drop of satisfaction, but the fire of God's wrath will burn in the conscience forever, causing an eternal thirst.

This is the same punishment which Christ experienced in Gethsemane, at Gabbatha, and on Golgotha, which was inexpressibly heavy. For the elect, Christ suffered the wrath of God against the sins of the whole human race, so that at the end, after He had accomplished everything, He cried out, “It is finished.” May the Lord teach us what wretched creatures we have become. Sin is an undermining and deadly disease, but we still live in the time of grace, in which we can be saved by the merits of Christ.

When it pleases the Lord to stop a sinner, then he receives a thirst after God and begins to miss the Lord, against whom he has sinned. He will try to reform his life, but the sin increases instead of decreasing. He feels that anyone else can be saved, but not him. Do you know something of this life? As the hart pants for streams of living water, so my soul longs for God. There is n o peace, because God's justice must be satisfied. Sins cannot be washed away by tears, and he cannot be saved by his own doings. It is the work of the Holy Ghost that brings man to an end with all that is of himself. Then only will there come room for Christ.

They long for the communion with God, but they learn that they deserve eternal damnation. “The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow,” becomes reality. They are made barren and dried up by the Holy Spirit before they will receive the water of life. They are made thirsty by the Lord Himself. We think of the history written by Comrie about Professor Driessen in the Netherlands. He was a professor in theology, but when the Lord called him, he also became a poor sinner. In great fear he crawled like a worm, crying, “O God, if there is a way of deliverance, reveal it unto me.” Before that time he had written a book entitled Gratia Victrix, which means “The Victory of Grace.” In it he had written in a sound way of the labor of Christ as Mediator, but he had not experienced these things for his own heart.

So it is in the beginning and in the further leading. Hagar did not see the well until the Lord opened her eyes, and then she found it. Thus it is necessary to learn about the fountain in Christ. As Ishmael would have died in the wilderness, so this people will also dieifthey are not incorporated into Christ. The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ in the heart of a poor sinner. In God's Word the benefits of Christ are portrayed under the symbol of streams of water. It is the Spirit of Christ who applies the benefits to the heart. Then the unfruitful heart becomes like a fruitful garden, which brings forth all kinds of spiritual fruit. As water refreshes a person and gives new strength to continue on, so the Holy Ghost revives the church.

It is possible there are among our readers those who have fallen down in the desert of this life close to the fountain or well, but they fear to die. No strength is leff in them. They learn more and more the impossibility of delivering themselves, for they have learned that this is the work of the Lord. The Lord Jesus said in John 16:14, “He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you.” Thus the life, the Rock, which is Christ, follows them until they may lay down their pilgrim's staff. Sometimes it happens that God's people are also thirsty on their deathbed, but when the Lord will lead them into the mediatorial thirst of Christ, then there will come an end to their murmurings. What is our thirst compared to the thirst of Christ? Soon it will end, to be filled forever out of the fullness of Him who cried out, “It is finished.” May it become for us, for the first time or by renewal, Good Friday.

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