I Thirst

A.W. Tozier shares in his book, “The Knowledge of the Holy” Paraphrased, ‘The most important thing a Christian could do, is to think rightly about God!’

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

Out of the last seven words, this is the shortest statement Jesus utters!

Moreover, it’s singular location (being only documented in John’s gospel) informs us of a key thrust!

John deals with the nature and person of Christ and spends his writings in this gospel with detailing that Christ is the divine Son of God.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

John sees Him coming and says, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world.

John reflects on when Andrew goes to bid Simon Peter, his brother, to come for...”We have found the Messiah,”

Nathaniel asked if anything good could come out of Nazareth, Philip said come see. “Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no guile” How do you know me? I saw you under the fig tree before Philip came to get you... …Nathaniel answered and said unto him, Rabbi, thou art he Son of God; thou art the King of Israel

In chapter 4 there is a woman that meets Christ at Jacobs well who runs to Samaria to tell the people about him…after Jesus talked and spent time with them for two days... And they said to the woman, now we believe, not because of thy sayings: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.

Savior of the world

Another push toward revealing Christ’s divinity is by focusing on displaying His deity in the series of “I AM” statements

6:35- I AM the bread of life, -(you get with me and you will never hunger and thirst again)

After woman caught in adultery....8:12-I AM the light of the world, -(if you follow after me you wont walk in darkness but have the light of life)

10:7- I AM the door of the sheep,

11-I AM the good shepherd, 14, 11;25, 14:6,

15:1- I AM the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.”

Yet another thrust by John to demonstrate that Christ is the divine Son of God is that he details human actions of Jesus like hunger, thirst, weariness, pain and death.

I offer to you, that John was considering his audience.

* Aiming to demonstrate a defense against the multiple ways in which Jesus was being denied His full nature.

Who was this audience?

Audience of Docetics- did not believe that Christ had a real or natural body while on earth, but only an apparent or phantom one. Believed He was born without participation of matter and all acts of suffering were mere appearances.

Gnostic- matter is evil and only knowledge is good. Salvation is achieved by what you know, not by anything or anyone to believe in.

Jews- expected Messiah to come and perform many signs, rule with a strong arm, etc-suffering servant

Gentiles- who had plenty of other gods and saw no value in Christ

Believers/Converted-those who had experienced Him and accepted Him as Lord

It is to this audience Jesus says, “I thirst!”

In His statement, “I thirst,” demonstrates the only general address! He says this to His audience.

Father forgive them…in this statement, he addresses God

Today you will be with me in paradise…in this statement, he addresses the thief

Woman behold your son, son your mother…in these statements, he addresses Mary and John

My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me…again in this statement, he addresses the Father

I Thirst…seems to be a general address to the audience of accusers and the on-looking doubters

*** This vulnerable and honest statement was said to a people that had mocked Him, spat on Him and was actively crucifying Him.

At first glance- this looks like failure, conceding, defeat…On the contrary, He was embarking on the ultimate victory!

Gnostic- matter is evil and only knowledge is good. Salvation is achieved by what you know, not by anything created.

Jews- expected Messiah to come and perform many signs, rule with a strong arm, etc

Gentilles-

It is to THIS crowd that Jesus Christ says, “I thirst”

It is His last bid before giving up the ghost to demonstrate He is the divine Son of God....

This statement seems to lay out His hypostatic union.

Hypostatic union- the combination of divine and human natures in the single person of Christ. It is where He is fully God and fully man - at the same time. Jesus has all of the characteristics that are true of a person, and all of the characteristics that are true of a divine being. Both natures fully exist in one person.

This statement spoke to both sides of the aisle

Illustration: in a normal union, you can take the color blue and add yellow and obtain a third color - green. On the contrary, when you take the color blue and merge it with yellow, you get a blue and yellow swirl.

AND THIS IS THE CHRIST THAT HUNG ON THE CROSS, FULLY GOD, FULLY MAN…HE DEMONSTRATES THEM BOTH BY SAYING…I THIRST!

Even at this stage, Christ is still in control:

This statement spoke to both sides of the aisle. How so, Sharmal?

He said I thirst to show He is God

{B clause}, …in order to fulfill the scripture, he says I thirst...-Here, He demonstrates His control as God while still on the cross. He takes His Holy hand pulls out …

...He said, I thirst..to show He is man

21 They also gave me gall for my food

And for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

By verbally confessing his thirst he would precipitate the soldiers’ effort to give him some sour wine.

Jesus’ mind is so steeped in Scripture that he understands the relevance of the Davidic texts to himself.

In that case, the fulfillment clause could be rendered. ‘Jesus, knowing that all things had been accomplished, in order to fulfil [the] Scripture [which says “They … gave me sour wine for my thirst”] said “I thirst” ’.

This should have got the attention of the Jews in the audience for they knew the Psalms and should have understood this prophetic type regarding the Messiah.

This should have alerted the Gnostics to the amazing knowledge He had

Yet trying to get them to see He is fully God and fully man...

He said, I thirst..to show He is man

a man scourged, bleeding, and hanging on a cross under the Near-Eastern sun would be so desperately dehydrated that thirst would be part of the torture.

This should have gotten the attention of the Docetics, for the appearance of a man or a phantom, does not need liquids

His humanity was made real

He said I thirst to show He is fully God and fully man

Holy hand reaches back to - Passover

They were instructed to put the hyssop branch into the basin of the blood of a”perfect” lamb and swipe it on the lintel and two door posts. So when God sent the death angel to kill all the first born boys in the land, when He saw the blood, he would passover their home and not harm their sons.

Passover was a memorial and as Jesus was hanging on the cross, the land was preparing for Passover

See that He is the perfect lamb, it is His blood on the lintel and door posts, and instead of taking the first born sons, God is giving up His only begotten Son!

Getting them to see His hypostatic union, and understand His Lordship was essential to His goal - to get them to thirst after Him.

See my humanity and see my divinity and you will then thirst after me.

He is getting ready to give up the ghost…but before He does, He puts out the last call for those who would realize who He really is.

He wanted them to think rightly about God, so that their appetites and desires can be fulfilled only in Him.

The most important thing a Christian could do, is to think rightly about God!’

(NASB95)

Why This Gospel Was Written

30 Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book;

31 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.

Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John (p. 619). Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans.

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