Title: I am thirsty / John 19:28-30
Contents
Title: I am thirsty / John 19:28-30
Korean Presbyterian Church (Gosin) Hwadal Church
"I am thirsty." These are the fifth words Jesus said on the cross. Thinking about these words today, let's think about the suffering of the Lord who was thirsty on the cross.
There are three kinds of thirst.
① There is a physical thirst.
The human body is made up of 70% water. However, it is said that even if we lose 10% of water in our body, we lose life. That's why our body needs water. However, when you lose only a few percent of water, you start to feel thirsty.
As soon as I first enlisted in the military and was assigned to my own squadron, there was a 200km march. That cold winter, starting from Hwacheon, Gangwon-do, going down to Chuncheon, and then back to Hwacheon, I walked a full day for 4 nights and 5 days, and marched 40km at a time.
But even though it was winter, I was so thirsty. Walk for 50 minutes and rest for 10 minutes. Repeat this over and over and over and over again, while resting for 10 minutes, it simply eats the snow that has piled up around it. However, the thirst is severe, but the eyes do not quench the thirst easily. Physical thirst like this is really painful.
② There is a mental thirst.
There are times when a member of the family suddenly becomes ill and has to be hospitalized. When that happens, if you go to and from the hospital, go through hospitalization procedures, and chase after doctors and nurses to find out what happened, your mouth just burns. This is not a physical thirst, it is a mental thirst. When our minds are stressed and anxious, they burn to the brim.
Even today, as the economic situation becomes difficult, many people lose their jobs. How much mental thirst would he even commit suicide? Thirst for money, thirst for fame, thirst for conflict with others, these are all mental thirst.
③ There is a spiritual thirst.
When you are regretful, anxious, afraid, frustrated, and suffering after committing a sin before God, that spiritual thirst at that time is really hard. How does David confess his heart after he sinned? Psalm 32:3-4 says, "When I am not vomiting, my bones fail because of groaning all day long. Your hand is on me day and night; my sap is regenerated, and it becomes dry with the dryness of summer."
Is that all? When we feel the difficulties that we cannot handle on our own, the deep despair and discouragement of our enemies, the situation of being in a deep swamp, and such conflicts as if God is far away and does not promptly help us, we are spiritually thirsty. feel it
Physical thirst, mental thirst, spiritual thirst, all these thirsts must be extremely difficult and painful for us humans. But the thirst of the Lord, who said, “I am thirsty,” on the cross, was a completely different thirst from the kind of thirst we usually feel.
1. Then, what kind of thirst did Jesus feel on the cross?
On the cross, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” What level of thirst did Jesus feel when he said, “I am thirsty?” Jesus must have felt a different kind of thirst when he felt those three thirsts just mentioned, which included all of physical, mental, and spiritual thirst.
㉠ Jesus obviously felt physically thirsty.
Jesus was nailed to the cross. Iron nails were nailed to both hands and feet. The nail is not the enemy nail we think of. The length of the nail is about 15cm and 20cm, and the thickness refers to a nail the size of an adult's thumb. He was crucified with such nails, one in each hand, and one in the two feet together. He must have shed a lot of blood because he had been hanging on for six hours to do so.
Folks, when we see "Comrades" on old TV or war movies, people with gunshot wounds and bleeding profusely say, 'Water! water! water!' That's right. When you shed a lot of blood, you lose a lot of water from your body, so you feel physically very thirsty. It was Jesus who felt this great physical thirst.
Crucifixion is so painful that even the Romans trembled in fear of being crucified. If you just smack your throat with a knife, you'll feel pain for a while, but the crucifixion lasts for at least 6 hours, up to 10 hours, and so on, until you're bleeding and you're out of breath. So, Jesus, how severe was that suffering on the cross?
㉡ Not only that, but Jesus felt spiritual thirst.
Psalm 22 prophesies the appearance of Jesus on the cross so well that it is called “the Calvary of the Old Testament.” If you look at verse 14 there, “I am poured out like water, all my bones are broken, and my heart is like wax, and it melts within me” You can understand roughly how much mental pain Jesus felt on the cross.
Also, under the truth, people ridiculed, "He trusts in the Lord, and he will save you." And "Save yourself, and we will believe." Also, if the body is already feeling extremely thirsty, the thirst will surely come mentally as well. Moreover, in a state of being spiritually abandoned, there is no shortage of spiritual thirst. In this way, Jesus suffered so much mental pain and thirst on the cross.
㉢But above all these things, the spiritual thirst that Jesus received is indescribable.
Jesus already bore the sins of all people and took up the cross. Even the pain that comes when we sin for a short time makes us feel such a strong spiritual thirst in our hearts. Jesus bore all the sins of mankind alone and took up the cross. He felt the thirst for the sins of tens of billions of people at the same time, not the thirst for the sins of one person. So, the spiritual thirst of Jesus is a completely different level of thirst that we cannot even imagine. Therefore, no human being can bear the spiritual thirst that Jesus received.
Above all else, after what words did you say that I am thirsty? After the words “Eli, Eli, Lama sabachthani,” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He said, “I am thirsty.” So, Jesus' thirst obviously includes the thirst that comes from being forsaken by God.
The Triune God is a being with separate personalities and powers, but is also inseparable from each other. So, a stomach can never abandon a stomach. That is, the Triune God is eternally one.
But on the cross, that was not the case. God the Father has forsaken the Lord who bears the sins of all people. That suffering has led to a great spiritual thirst. That is why he had no choice but to cry out, "I am thirsty." Therefore, the theologians say, the thirst that Jesus felt on the cross was the thirst in hell.
Our Lord felt extremely thirsty physically, mentally, and spiritually on the cross. That is why the Lord, who was so filled with the Holy Spirit, full of grace, and full of love, cried out his thirst, “I am thirsty.”
2. So, now that Jesus was thirsty on the cross, what does this mean?
① He clearly showed that the Lord is truly human.
Thirst is a common assumption for all people. Clearly, our Heavenly Father in heaven does not thirst. So are angels. Not only that, in the future, we too will be transformed into a glorious body and live forever in the kingdom of heaven, where we will never hunger and thirst again (Rev 7:16).
But our Lord was thirsty while on this earth. Even at the well in the city of Suga, Samaria, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman who was thirsty and came to draw water, “Give me a drink” (John 4:7)? Why are you so thirsty? Because Jesus not only possessed divinity, but also humanity at the same time, in other words, He thirsted for being fully human.
Therefore, when Jesus said that I was thirsty on the cross, it proves that He is truly a human being.
② The thirst of Jesus was given to me in place of my thirst.
If Jesus had not told me to be thirsty for me on the cross, I would have been thirsty just like that. I will be put to death for my sins, where is the end? Isn't it hell?
Guys, what kind of place is Hell? It is clearly taught in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. Hell is first and foremost a burning place. The Bible says that Satan and the unbelievers will be thrown into the lake of unquenchable fire. In particular, he said that the maggots there also burn and do not disappear. Therefore, it is a place where a person's body is sizzling forever, but does not become ashes, and continues to suffer as it is.
So what did the rich man who went to hell asked Abraham to do? Dip the tip of your finger in water and apply it to your tongue to cool my tongue. You said that I am troubled in the midst of this flame. In other words, hell is a place of eternal thirst.
Jesus met all the thirst in hell for me. Therefore, I, who believe in Jesus, will never have such thirst in hell in the future. Now we will never be thirsty forever like the rich man who went to hell.
Now, for us who believe in Jesus, He will lead us to live forever in heaven, where there is no thirst and nothing to complain about.
In addition, Jesus took on the physical, mental, and spiritual thirst that we would experience while living in this world. Therefore, even if we have many spiritual thirsts because of money, honor, or conflicts with people, if we look deeply at the Lord, all these thirsts will be quenched. Even when we feel spiritually thirsty because of our sins, if we come to the Lord and repent, our hearts will be moistened again.
③ Above all else, to us who believe in Jesus, Jesus gives us living water.
Jesus said in John 4:14, "Whoever drinks the water I will give him will never thirst. The water I will give him will become in him a spring of water springing up to eternal life."
No one in the world can quench the thirst of his heart. No money, no alcohol. No tobacco, no pleasure, no honor and no position can satisfy this thirst. In particular, we who have sinned cannot quench this thirst on our own. They seem to be thirsty for a while with the things of the world, but soon they become thirsty again. Just as the more you drink salt water, the more you thirst, the more you seek the world, the more you thirst.
The only way people can be freed from this thirst is to receive and believe in the Lord who is the water of life, the Lord who gives us infinite living water. When we truly accept the Lord, who is the water of life, our thirsty, dissatisfied, and dissatisfied hearts will not be thirsty.
We have already received the Lord who is the water of life. Now we are satisfied with only the Lord, and we rejoice with the Lord alone. Therefore, money can no longer quench our souls. Fame cannot make our hearts thirsty. In any situation, you will live by saying, “Lord, it is enough”.
Today, I hope that you will be filled with the water of life in your life by believing and relying on the Lord, who took all your thirst for me on the cross, so that you can live a life of faith without thirst.