The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross-32

"I thirst"

1. Here we have an evidence of Christ’s humanity.

The Lord Jesus was very God of very God, but he was also very man of very man. This is something to be believed and not for proud reason to speculate upon. The person of our adorable Saviour is not a fit object for intellectual diagnosis; rather must we bow before him in worship. He himself warned us, "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father" (Matthew 11:27). And again, the Spirit of God through the apostle Paul declares, "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh" (1 Tim. 3:16). While then there is much about the person of Christ which we cannot fathom with our own understanding, yet there is everything about him to admire and adore: foremost are his deity and humanity, and the perfect union of these two in one person. The Lord Jesus was not a divine man, nor a humanized God; he was the God-man. Forever God, and now forever man.

When the Beloved of the Father became incarnate he did not cease to be God, nor did he lay aside any of his divine attributes, though he did strip himself of the glory which he had with the Father before the world was. But in the incarnation the Word became flesh and tabernacled among men. He ceased not to be all that he was previously, but he took to himself that which he had not before - perfect humanity.

The deity and the humanity of the Saviour were each contemplated in Messianic prediction. Prophecy represented the coming one sometimes as divine, sometimes as human. He was the Branch "of the Lord" (Isa. 4:2). He was the Wonderful Counsellor, the mighty God, the Father of the ages (Hebrews), the "Prince of peace" (Isa. 9:6). The one who was to come forth out of Bethlehem and be ruler in Israel, was one whose goings forth had been from the days of eternity (Micah 5:2). It was none less than Jehovah himself who was to come suddenly to the temple (Mal. 3:1). Yet, on the other hand, he was the woman’s "seed" (Gen. 3:15); a prophet like unto Moses (Deut. 18:18); a lineal descendant of David (2 Sam. 7:12, 13). He was Jehovah’s "servant" (Isa. 42:1). He was "the man of sorrows" (Isa. 53:3). And it is in the New Testament we see these two different sets of prophecy harmonized.

The one born at Bethlehem was the divine Word. The Incarnation does not mean that God manifested himself as a man. The Word became flesh; he became what he was not before, though he never ceased to be all he was previously. He who was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God "made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men" (Phil. 2:6, 7). The babe of Bethlehem was Immanuel - God with us -he was more than a manifestation of God, he was God manifest in the flesh. He was both Son of God and Son of Man. Not two separate personalities, but one person possessing two natures - the divine and the human.

While here on earth the Lord Jesus gave full proof of his deity. He spake with divine wisdom, he acted in divine holiness, he exhibited divine power, and he displayed divine love. He read men’s minds, moved men’s hearts, and compelled men’s wills. When he was pleased to exert his power all nature was subject to his bidding. A word from him and disease fled, a storm was stilled, the devil left him, the dead were raised to life. So truly was he God manifest in the flesh, he could say, "he that hath seen me, hath seen the Father."

So, too, while he tabernacled among men, the Lord Jesus gave full proof of his humanity - sinless humanity. He entered this world as a babe and was "wrapped in swaddling clothes" (Luke 2:7). As a child, we are told, he "increased in wisdom and stature" (Luke 2:52). As a boy we find him "asking questions" (Luke 2:46). As a man he was "wearied" in body (John 4:6). He was "an hungered" (Matthew 4:2). He "slept" (Mark 4:38). He "marvelled" (Mark 6:6). He "wept" (John 11:35). He "prayed" (Mark 1:35). He "rejoiced" (Luke 10:21). He "groaned" (John 11:33). And here in our text he cried, "I thirst". That evidenced his humanity. God does not thirst. The angels do not. We shall not in glory: "they shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore" (Revelation 7:16). But we thirst now because we are human and living in a world of sorrow. And Christ thirsted because he was man: "Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren" (Heb. 2:17).