This is one of the incidents in the life and suffering of Christ which is prophesied in the Old Testament, and so it one of the many things which Jesus completed in his work of salvation for us in his life and death. Jesus did not simply determine to say this in order to make the prophecy come true, but his saying of it did fulfil the prophecy, and show it to be true, and therefore give veracity to the truth and inspiration of the Old Testament. The fulfilment of this saying also confirms the fact that all the life of Jesus was according to the purpose and will of God. Jesus came into the world, not to do his own will, but the will of His Father. This will was purposed by God before the world was created. God determined to save sinners through the sacrifice of his only begotten Son before the world was. This is too great for our minds to truly comprehend, but it gives wonderful secure foundation for our faith.

The question we have to ask is what Scripture in the Old Testament is fulfilled by these words of Jesus. Immediately we ask this question we enter the deep and profound workings of prophecy with their immediate reference and their more remote and future meaning. We have to go to two Psalms of David to find reference to this prophecy. They are Psalm 69 and Psalm 22. Both Psalms are psalms where David is describing his own sufferings and trials, and calling to God for his help and strength, but also when we read them there are references so remarkable that they are plainly referring to the future and specially to the suffering of Christ. This is a fact about much prophecy. The people who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to utter them did not understand all that they were saying, and the prophecy came in context of their own experiences, but we know that these prophecies refer to Jesus because under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the New Testament writers say that this is so. Here in verse 28 of John 19, John tells us that the words of Jesus saying that he is thirsty are a fulfilment of prophecy, and John spoke as he was carried along by the Holy Spirit.

In Psalm 69:21 David is moved by the Holy Ghost to say “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst”. In Psalm 22:15 we read David saying “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death”. This a more indirect reference to thirst, but it does describe such thirst at the point of death that Jesus suffered. These saying are far too descriptive of Christ’s sufferings on the cross and what happened then to be a coincidence. The Holy Spirit used the experiences of David to put into his mouth things that also described accurately the suffering of the Messiah and Saviour who was to come from the human line of David as far as his humanity was concerned. What also is amazing is that not only does the Old Testament in such passages speak of Christ and fulfil prophecy, but also they give us deeper insight into the experiences and suffering of Jesus on the Cross.

What was Jesus expressing when he said “I am thirsty”. Much to our regret John is not led by the Holy Spirit to give us an explanation or further understanding. Instead we are left to deduce what we can ourselves, and so we must do this prayerfully and carefully. Certainly the words of Jesus here give us full evidence that Jesus was truly human and that his suffering on the cross was not feigned or simply a mirage, but that Jesus truly suffered, and that his sufferings were true because he was without doubt human in body and soul. It is known well that raging thirst is one of the terrible bodily experiences of crucifixion.

I believe these words of Jesus also have an even deeper meaning. If you remember that in the story of the rich man in hell recorded in Luke 16:19-31 Jesus describes the suffering of the rich man in hell by hearing the rich man saying that he needed his burning tongue cooled by a drop of water. This describes a raging thirst, and this is a thirst deeper than mere physical thirst though including this, but describes the awful pains of eternal suffering which those in hell have to suffer on account of sin. When Jesus said he was thirsty he was describing the suffering and torment of hell he suffered in our place. The great Puritan commentator on the Bible, Matthew Henry, says of this “The torments of hell are represented by a violent thirst, in the complaint of the rich man who begged for a drop of water to cool his tongue. To that everlasting thirst we had all been condemned, if Christ had not suffered on the cross, and said, “I thirst.”

I may be fanciful but could there also be here and expression of the heart of the Saviour at this moment near the completion of his work of Salvation of the motivation that drove him to fulfil the will of God in suffering in our place. Did Jesus give a glimpse in these words of the great thirst he had for the dying souls of sinful human beings, and expressing his thirst for their salvation and release from the pains their sins demanded. Perhaps not! but Jesus certainly longed with a deep longing for the salvation of sinners.

The Roman soldiers showed great compassion as they tried to relieve a little the suffering expressed in this cry, for they gave Jesus, through a sponge soaked in their wine vinegar, the opportunity to cool his burning lips. Jesus did not refuse this, not to mitigate his suffering which he took to the full for our sake, but because he would always be gracious to those who seek to do acts of compassion. This was not like the wine mixed with gall that Jesus was offered before he was nailed to the cross, which Jesus refused because it was to dull the pain of the suffering. Jesus refused this drugged wine because he would drink to the bitter dregs the cup of suffering for our sin, so that he may work complete redemption for us.