John 19:28-30 | Sunday December 22, 2024
God’s timing is always amazing. We have been in a study of the gospel of John and have come to the pinnacle moment on the cross right at Christmas. This is a passage we traditionally think about at Good Friday and Easter and yet it has so much impact to consider at Christmas time. In all the parties and gift giving we aim to remember that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. Yet at times I wonder if we are remembering the reason the birth of Jesus is important. The angel that appeared to Jospeh was very clear as to why Jesus’ birth was important.
Matthew 1:18-23 ESV
(18) Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
(19) And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
(20) But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
(21) She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
(22) All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
(23) “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Mary and Jospeh were betrothed, which can be thought of as a legal form of engagement. His whole world would have been shaken when He found out Mary was pregnant. As he started making plans to divorce her in a way that would not shame her but also not ruin His own reputation an angel appeared. It is no accident that the angel calls Jospeh the Son of David. Jospeh had royal blood in Him and this is why Mary and Him end up having to go to Bethlehem for Jesus birth. The angel lets Jospeh know that Mary has been faithful, this Child is from the Holy Spirit. Then the angel gives Jesus’ purpose, “He will save His people from their sins.” This child has an extraordinary purpose that would have been hard to fathom for Jospeh. Jesus fulfilled the prophecy from Isaiah 7:14, God had come to dwell with man. The promise that was made all the way back in Genesis 3 was coming closer to being fulfilled.
Genesis 3:8-9 ESV
(8) And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
(9) But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
Last week we saw the moment Adam and Eve rebelled against God for the first time. They became spiritually dead. Humanity now had a sin problem. As sinners Adam and Eve’s default was to run away and hid themselves from God. A separation had come into what once had been a close fellowship, but notice it is Adam and Eve that hid. And look at how gracious and loving God is. In a moment that deserved to be met by pure justice and wrath for sin instead God pursues. He is the one who called out to us! He is the one who went out looking for us. Often this is not how God is talked about. We emphasize His holiness and that He cannot be in the presence of sin. These truths do not represent the whole story. God had a plan that would satisfy His justice and His wrath toward sin while restoring the relationship He desired to have with His creation.
Genesis 3:10-15 ESV
(10) And he said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
(11) He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
(12) The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
(13) Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
(14) The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
(15) I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
Sin caused a close relationship to be replaced with fear. Adam immediately starts to shift blame and accuse both Eve and God of being responsible for his sin. Eve points out that she was decided by the serpent. As God starts to give the just curses that sin deserves something amazing happens, He gives a promise of hope. These curses, this separation and fear that Adam and Eve feel will not last forever. Eve will have an offspring who will defeat the serpent. To give the killing blow to the serpent’s head this offspring will be struck by the serpent in the heel. God was pursuing humanity and had a plan to restore fellowship. Humanity’s sin had to be paid for and the wrath it deserved had to be given out. This promise was finished on the cross.
John 19:28-30 ESV
(28) After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”
(29) 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.
(30) When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
Last week we looked at how many details of Jesus going to the cross pointed to the fact that He was the perfect sacrifice. We also saw Jesus take time to care for His mother and entrust her to John. Verse 28 starts out with “After This,” this refers to the 3 hours of darkness that took place right near the end of Jesus’ time on the cross.
Matthew 27:45-46 ESV
(45) Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
(46) And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
The sixth hour in Roman time to the ninth hour would have been noon to 3 p.m. What was happening in this moment on the cross was so divine, so private that God shut the lights off. It was a moment between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This cry was given at the end of the period of darkness. This was the holy and terrible moment when Jesus became sin and was separated from God the Father and God the Spirit. The separation that was created back in the garden was now being experienced personally by God the Son. After three hours of darkness, and after being forsaken, He then says:
John 19:28-29 ESV
(28) After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”
(29) 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.
This was the fifth of seven saying of Jesus on the cross. Even in this terrible moment as He has taken on sin and is separated from God, He is still obedient to the Word. Even in His great physical need He says “I thirst” primarily to fulfill scripture. The Psalm He is fulfilling gives an insight as to what truth was on His heart during this terrible moment.
Psalm 69:14-21 ESV
(14) Deliver me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
(15) Let not the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the pit close its mouth over me.
(16) Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
(17) Hide not your face from your servant, for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
(18) Draw near to my soul, redeem me; ransom me because of my enemies!
(19) You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you.
(20) Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
(21) They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.
David wrote this Psalm but its ultimate fulfillment is in Jesus. He pleads with God not to let the difficulty of the trial overwhelm Him but for God’s steadfast love to show through. He pleads for God not to hide His face, Jesus is in despair. For the first time in all eternity the unity within the trinity has been broken. Then in verse 21 is what Jesus fulfilled. He thirst and they gave Him sour wine to drink. This is the same Jesus who made this offer to the Woman at the well.
John 4:13-14 ESV
(13) Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,
(14) but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
He made a similar offer to the crowd at the feast of tabernacles (John 7:37-38). Jesus is able to provide living water that would cause people never to thirst again. Being in fellowship with God satisfies unlike anything else. His physical thirst represented His separation from the Father. He had taken on sin and was separated from the eternal life that is found in fellowship with God. This sour wine He is willing to drink must be distinguished from a drink He was offered earlier, that He rejected.
Mark 15:22-23 ESV
(22) And they brought Him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull).
(23) And they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He did not take it.
This wine was mixed with myrrh, and was used to deaden physical pain. Jesus refused to let anything minimize or disorient what had to be accomplished on the cross. The sour wine on the other hand was a wine vinegar mixed with water that soldiers drank. It would have helped His thirst so He could say His last two statements and made Him more alert and aware.
John 19:30 ESV
(30) When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
This one word in the Greek tetelestai speaks more truth then we can every fully understand. Tetelestai means something is complete, brought to an end, finished. In a narrow sense Jesus death was finished and the very next thing He does is give up His Spirit. Yet it means so much more. This term has actually been found on Papyri receipts for taxes and it meant paid in full. Jesus had perfectly paid the sin debt that stood against us.
Hebrews 9:11-12 ESV
(11) But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)
(12) He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
He had to offer His own blood as the perfect sacrifice. This was the only thing that could secure an eternal redemption. We are not called to believe in the mercy or grace of God to be saved. Meaning our salvation and forgiveness is not based on God feeling extra generous. His character would be violated if this were true.
Hebrews 9:22 ESV
(22) Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.
Hebrews 10:4 ESV
(4) For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Sin cannot be forgiven without blood. Without death. Without God’s wrath and justice being perfectly dealt with. The animal sacrifices in the Old Testament were not enough.
There is no earthly sacrifice that could have done the job. No one in the Old Testament was saved by the blood of animals. It was always about what that blood pointed to.
Romans 3:23-26 ESV
(23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
(24) and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
(25) whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.
(26) It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Jesus was the propitiation meaning He was the offering that appeased God’s wrath. His blood satisfied God. As a believer you will never experience God’s wrath. When Jesus says “it is Finished” He meant it. He took all the wrath of God for sin. All of the sins of the Old Testament were not paid for by animals, they were paid for on the cross.
The animals were a placeholder waiting for the real payment. Salvation is based on receiving Jesus by faith. It is trusting in His payment. Jesus suffered, experienced God’s wrath for sin and died not merely on our behalf but in our place.
1 Peter 3:18 ESV
(18) For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
The righteous took the place of the unrighteous. This is what it took in order to bring us to God. He became the sin bearer. These truths alone are astounding but that does not even come close to fully encapsulating what was finished. His final act of obedience through death on the cross finished His own perfect righteousness.
Philippians 3:8-9 ESV
(8) Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
(9) and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of My own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—
We are not made right by following the law. We did not have a righteousness of our own. We are given Jesus’ righteousness. His perfect obedience that was finished is then given, imputed to us. The sin debt was paid for by His blood and His perfect righteous life was then credited to our account. His death actually ended the law.
Romans 10:4 ESV
(4) For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
The law shows us our sin, but we have been given Jesus’ righteousness that has no sin it. So because of what He finished we are free from the law. We have our freedom in Him! With all that Jesus finished on the cross what do you and I think we can add to that equation? If we try to add one work then it is no longer grace (Rom 11:6). God can show us so much unmerited love and grace because of what Jesus finished, because of His perfect life and His perfect blood payment.
John 19:30 ESV
(30) When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
He laid His life down. It was not taken from Him. He had the authority to lay it down. It is Finished! This is a tremendous cry of victory. A truth that we will worship and praise Him all eternity for. The serpent’s head was crushed. The separation, fear, wrath, and pain that sin caused had been fully dealt with.
Matthew 27:50-51 ESV
(50) And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit. (51) And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
God ripped the separating curtain from top to bottom we can have fellowship with Him again. He pursued us again. The best Christmas greeting we can hear is: It is Finished!
The seven sayings of Jesus on the cross:
1. “Father forgive them” Luke 23:34;
2. “today you will be with me in paradise” Luke 23:43;
3. “Woman, behold, your son!” John 19:26-27;
4. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Mat 27:46, Luke 15:34;
5. “I thirst” John 19:28;
6. “It is finished” John 19:30;
7. “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit!” Luke 23:46.
Verses describing what was finished by Jesus on the cross.
Hebrews 2:9- He tasted death for everyone.
1 Peter 3:18- He suffered for sin so that He might bring us to God.
1 Timothy 2:6- The ransom payment for sin was paid.
Galatians 3:13-14- He became the curse so that the blessing could come to the gentiles.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19- We are fully reconciled to God.
Colossians 2:13-15- He canceled the debt that stood against us and defeated all demonic forces.
Hebrews 2:14-17- He destroyed the one (Satan) who has the power of death.
Ephesians 2:11-18- He brought peace between Jews and Gentiles, uniting us into His body.
Revelation 5:5-14- He became worthy to open the scroll.
Philippians 2:8-11- Through His obedience His name is exalted above all others.