The Fulfillment of Scripture

“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” 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.”

(John 19:28-29 ESV)

 

Fluids are essential to us. They are essential to our body. We cannot, in fact, live without them.

 

I’m a pastor, and not a doctor or a biologist. And, for this reason, I don’t know the accuracy of this statement. But I’ve always been told that we can live for only a few days without water.

 

This, of course, may depend upon the environment in which we find ourselves. We’ll die faster from dehydration in a desert than we will in a temperature-controlled building. But we all understand that we’ll die faster from dehydration than we will from starvation.

 

For this reason, as Jesus hung on the cross, as he carried out the will of the Father, it’s obvious to us why he would become dehydrated. It’s obvious to us why he would become thirsty. He had been brutally beaten. He had lost a great deal of blood. He was completely exposed. And, hanging on the cross, he had no access to food or water.

 

It’s of little surprise to us, then, that Jesus was thirsty. It’s of little surprise to us that he expressed this need. And there seems to be little, if any, spiritual significance to this statement, made by Jesus from the cross.

 

However, as we read the above passage, something significant stands out. Jesus made this statement, John says, to fulfill the Scripture. Knowing that all was now finished, Jesus made this statement that Scripture might be fulfilled.

 

The term used here, to fulfill Scripture, means to accomplish Scripture or to execute Scripture. It means to complete Scripture, or to make it perfect.

 

Jesus, then, said that he was thirsty to do just that. He said that he was thirsty to complete Scripture. He said that he was thirsty to accomplish what the Scriptures said.

 

Although he does not cite it for us, the Scripture to which John is referring is Psalm 69. In verse 21 of that chapter, we read: “They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.” This was written by King David as he pleaded with God for help, as he pleaded with God for salvation from his enemies.

 

This passage not only shares with us what was going on in the life of David, at that moment in time. It points us forward to Jesus. It points us forward to his suffering at the hands of his enemies. And it points us to his thirst, along with the provision of sour wine, in the face of it.

 

We see, then, that Jesus does this in every way. He accomplishes, he completes, all that Scripture says. Scripture, you see, directs us to Jesus. All of Scripture, both the Old and the New Testaments, point us to Jesus. It’s not merely a book of stories, a book of history, or a book of laws. It’s a book that directs our attention to the Savior of the world that, by believing in him, we might receive salvation.