Daily Devotional Thursday 9th April 2020
by William Moody
John 19:28–30
The Death of Jesus
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
(ESV)
How amazing, the One who just spoke and all the oceans came into existence, now cries “I thirst” (v28). Here we see the One who was fully God was also fully man, two natures in one person. Jesus knew all about the suffering and challenges of this life as a human being. He got thirsty, He got hungry, He became tired and He wept. Jesus understands all about what you are going through. He is able to sympathise fully with our weaknesses.
The first phrase ‘I thirst’ speaks of the vulnerability of Christ, the second phrase “It is finished”, speaks of His victory. Jesus doesn’t say ‘I am finished’ but rather ‘It is finished’, in other words the work of salvation has been completed, the price for sin has been paid in full. The Greek term here is ‘tetelestai’ which means that a legal transaction has been completed.
Through His suffering and death Jesus has accomplished the deliverance from sin for His people. There was no other way; this was confirmed to Jesus in Gethsemane when He asked that if possible the cup could be taken from Him. The answer was that the cup of God’s wrath could not be removed from Jesus and us be saved, so He had to drink it down to the very last drop.
Is this where your hope for eternity is placed?
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