DR 4
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December 4
John 19:28-30. The sponge of vinegar.
When our dying Saviour said, "I thirst," he revealed to those around the anguish of his body. He had before declared the anguish of his soul, by crying out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" His soul and body endured intense agony to ransom our souls and bodies from eternal torment. The pain of extreme thirst cannot be conceived by those who have not experienced it. A thick crust encases the inside of the mouth and renders the tongue stiff, while a burning sensation in the throat makes the sufferer feel as if a fire were consuming his whole frame. These were the sensations of the Saviour, and they are described in the Psalms of the prophet David. "My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws." (Ps. 22:15.) "My throat is dried." (Ps. 69:3.) "My bones are burned as an hearth." (Ps. 102:3.)
Yet the Lamb of God would have endured all these pangs in silence, had it not been his Father's will that before he expired he should let men know that he was tormented by thirst. He remembered it was written in Ps. 69:21, "In my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." Therefore he exclaimed, "I thirst." A vessel full of vinegar stood near the cross, designed probably for the refreshment of the soldiers. One of them dipped a sponge into this vessel, and fixing it at the end of a long and straight branch of hyssop, applied it to the Saviour's mouth. The rest (as Matthew relates) continued to utter their profane mockeries, saying, "Let be, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him." By this speech they meant to say to their comrades, "What is the use of your helping him? he has called upon one more powerful than you, even Elijah. Wait a little, and see whether he will not come to rescue him from his misery." We may imagine with what fiendish shouts of laughter these words were accompanied.
Many saints have expired in the midst of weeping friends; the Lord was surrounded by insulting enemies. But now the last insult had been offered. The Saviour had filled up the measure of his sufferings, and had drained to the very dregs the cup his Father had given him to drink. Knowing this, he cried out, "It is finished." This cry was uttered by parched lips and a dried-up tongue. And why were those lips parched, and that tongue dried up? That we might never need a drop of water to cool our burning tongues.
The Saviour was tormented by thirst, that we might quench ours in living fountains of water. We could never have atoned for our own sins. Our tears could not have washed them away. Our good works could not have made amends for them. Therefore Jesus offered up himself a sacrifice for us. But now his sufferings are over. When we hear of them, we have the comfort of knowing that they are past, and that they will never be endured again. It is not necessary that he should ever feel another pang, or bear another insult. Are we troubled by the remembrance of our sins? Let us look with faith on the Lamb of God, and our guilty consciences shall have peace. The Holy Spirit draws the sinner to the foot of the cross, and enables him to feel that the blood once shed has atoned for all his transgressions. A penitent who had long sought for pardon, found peace as she was reading the following words—
Jesus, our great High Priest,
Offered his blood, and died;
My guilty conscience seeks
No sacrifice beside.
His powerful blood did once atone,
And now it pleads before the throne.