When we think about the cross, we’re amazed by God’s love toward us wrath-deserving sinners, supremely grateful for His death paying for the forgiveness of our sins. And for all eternity our astonishment at His mercy and grace shown us at Calvary will enlarge. We think of the torn veil, which gives us unashamed access to God our Father—most definitely! But not so well known is Jesus hanging there as our substitute to purify our thirst. Yet it is the climax of the cross! The cleansing of our thirst may be the most overlooked aspect of Calvary, but O how glorious it is!
After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!” Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
John 19:28-30 NKJV
It’s easy to perceive Jesus’ last words, “I thirst,” purely from a natural standpoint. I mean, Jesus was pretty thirsty. The same Psalm that prophesies of the Messiah’s hands and feet being pierced also predicts “My tongue clings to My jaws” (Ps 22:15). That’s intense thirst! Consider this, though. John in his Gospel account points out how Jesus’ spiritual meaning in common everyday things often confused His listeners. Because they failed to track with His spiritual train of thought, they totally missed the intended heavenly realities. Surrounded by the magnificent temple, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19). The leaders thought He meant Herod’s temple, but Jesus meant His body. “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (3:3). Nicodemus, confused, wondered how he could go back again to his mother’s womb. Jesus meant spiritual birth. “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst” (4:13). The Samaritan woman thought about well water, but Jesus meant the Holy Spirit. “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up” (11:11). The disciples took it as natural sleep, but Jesus meant death. Fast forward to the cross where Jesus’ cry “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” was misconstrued as a call for Elijah to save Him, but that really meant “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Is it any wonder then that when Jesus uttered “I thirst” set in extreme deprivation of drink that we sympathize along natural lines, not perceiving Jesus’ spiritual train of thought? As soon as He’d drank the sour wine, He died. Jesus tasted hell for us but couldn’t have lasted a few more minutes without a drink?
Why did John reference a hyssop branch? No other Gospel mentions this. Hyssop isn’t tossed in for a more visually stimulating narrative. It’s a signpost to fix our attention to the spiritual significance of “I thirst.” Matthew, Mark, and Luke all recorded a similar happening early on in the crucifixion where sour wine (more like vinegar) was offered to Jesus. The myrrh mixed into this wine was a mercy to lessen the pain. Jesus refused it then, for He was to bear the pain for our transgressions in full. But unlike John, neither Matthew nor Mark nor Luke tell us what kind of branch that wine was offered up on. Only John tells us that hyssop was used, an image super-charged with momentous memories for the Jewish people.
Who could forget the Passover night when hyssop was used to sprinkle the lamb’s blood on the doorposts? Now, Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, is being slain, of all nights, on Passover. Excepting one passage, every reference to hyssop in the Old Testament is in a context of purification or cleansing. Hyssop is only twice mentioned in the New Testament, the other one in Hebrews. Intriguingly, Hebrews sheds more light about hyssop’s cleaning usage to include not only the sprinkled blood on the doorpost and the cleansing of the leper but purification of the people, the book of the Law, and the tabernacle.
By Jesus accepting the sour wine in conjunction with the hyssop branch, what does that mean?
Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!”
This is all in response to Jesus’ utterance, “I thirst!” The spiritual import of hyssop here has to do with thirst. On the cross Jesus cleansed us from the penalty our sins deserved, both of transgressions we did and the righteous acts we failed to do. Our forgiveness includes not only legal pardon but washing and cleansing (1Co 6:11, 2 Pet 2:9). This final act, the grand finale, of cleansing had to do with our thirst. The prophet Jeremiah summarizes this blight on the human condition so succinctly: “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jer 2:13). Only two evils, Jeremiah? The root of all the sins of humanity originate from misdirected thirst. Jeremiah continues, “And now why take the road to Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? Or why take the road to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?” (2:18). The world offers its waters and the Lord offers His.
The hyssop, that branch exclusively used to apply the cleansing blood in the Old Testament, points to the spiritual reality of cleansing our thirst. The “It is finished!” pronouncement was at last complete when Jesus cleansed the headwaters of sin—our thirst for the world’s allurements and empty promises of satisfaction. In this final act as our Substitute, He cleansed us of every thirst that leads us away from God. The best the world has to offer us is a sour wine, cheap wine. Jesus redeemed us from all other worldly thirsts that depart from Him as the true thirst-satisfying drink! “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Isa 55:1).
Thirst is a recurring theme in John’s Gospel. Chapter 2 invites us to drink of the water turned into wine and chapters 4 and 7 of the living waters of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ opening miracle in John 2 welcomes us to taste of the best wine. The world’s sour wine offered to Jesus is seen for what it truly is. Wine mixed with myrrh was a mercy to the one being crucified. So the world’s “wine” serves as a temporary pain reliever to mask the pain of death. The best it can do is medicate one to the slow progression toward death. As Ecclesiastes poignantly showcases, all the best life under the sun has to offer—mirth, houses, gardens, marriage, money, music, education, labor, food and drink—is just a house of sour wines that merely deaden that pain of death but don’t satisfy. All is vanity and striving after wind. These are all misdirected thirsts if fearing God and keeping His commandments is not at the center of it all.
Jesus alone offers true drink, true wine, that He created us for. It’s wonderful to marvel at these life-changing, monumental truths of the cross: the cleansing of the blood and all that means for the forgiveness of our sins, a clean conscience, and bold access to approach God, just a name a few. But the climactic event of the cross expresses the summit of Jesus’ heart: the cleansing of our thirst so that He alone is our ultimate satisfaction. The Bible concludes on satisfying our thirst in God Himself. “And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17).
This revelation of Jesus to me is not just another intriguing factoid about Calvary. I’ve been changed by seeing Him as He truly is! Over my Christian life I’ve learned to take a rugged stand on trusting God forgiving my sins because of what Jesus did for me on the cross. I likewise trust the Holy Spirit to systematically dismantle the power of present sin in my life, too, because of Jesus’ finished work. But this fresh revelation of Jesus Christ purifying my thirst opened up a whole new dimension of trusting God, not only dealing with the presence of sin, but actually drying up the fountainhead from which sins flow!
My first venture into trusting Jesus at His word, “I thirst!”, and its result, “It is finished!”, had to do with a long entrenched, misdirected thirst problem I’d been experiencing all my Christian life (33+ years as I write this). As is common to us all, I’d established unclean thirst patterns prior being born again. Although personally embarrassing, I share it to boast in Jesus’ goodness and in hope that you might catch a glimpse of the unlimited potential of trusting Jesus at His word.
My problem had been basically this. In observing or encountering women, whether attractive or not, I had this inner quest that somehow this woman might have something to satisfy me or add a missing piece to my life. It wasn’t a lust after her physical beauty. I had enough fear of God from Jesus’ words that to lust after a women in my heart was the same as adultery. Rather, these were niggling thoughts, popping up unannounced and annoying me like gnats on a damp lawn in summer. These unwelcome intrusions were of varying duration, often quickly forgotten but at times a prolonged effort—trying to bat these displeasing thoughts away was like trying to hold ping pong balls under the water. They’d keep popping up, bothering my conscience afresh until I confessed it to the Lord, calling on Him for freedom.
For instance, if I saw one friendly neighbor lady about my age, married, not saved, of average attractiveness, across the street walking her dog, these niggling thoughts would pop up. It was all illogical and irrational. I didn’t want any part of these thoughts that didn’t reflect the heart of Jesus toward her. Yet they came unexpectedly, making me feel uncomfortable and ashamed within. I’d confess it to the Lord and ask for cleansing. But then the gnats would return. Again. And again.
I mean no disrespect for my wife. The niggling thoughts were almost like I was still on this quest to discover that perfect woman who would somehow complete me. I held this unspoken thirst for validation as a desirable man. I came to the Lord by faith in His promise to cleanse this unclean thirst, and He did! I cried out to Him to apply His finished work on the cross to purify this dead end thirst and replace it with thirst for Him alone. He healed my brokenness from a youth and young man, seeking validation from the opposite sex. As I walk around my neighborhood now, it’s a little surreal passing by ladies without the mental hassle I used to experience. Glory to God!
My theology and personal experience confirm that possessing Christ’s inheritance of power over sin in my daily life is gradual and progressive. Forgiveness of my sins was instantaneous, but becoming like Jesus in word, thought and deed is a work in progress. But just as our actual possession of inheritance for our walking and talking like Jesus is progressive, so too is our thirst. The Israelites inherited their Promised Land little by little. So do we, the main difference being that ours is a spiritual inheritance. Jesus cleanses our thirst little by little until we possess a full inheritance. But my basis for experiencing the power to cleanse my thirst is anchored in Jesus’ words “I thirst!” and all that hyssop branch applied to my worldly thirsts means to Him. I encourage you to trust Jesus with your jealousies or covetousness or any other thirst that leads you away from Him. He’ll do more than you can ask or think!
Glory Unveiled: Discovering Jesus 