Metaphorically understood, thirst is dissatisfaction, the craving of the mind for something which it has not, but which it pines for. "We, whose proneness to forget Thy dear love, on Olivet Bathed thy brow with bloody sweat; "We whose sins, with awful power, Like a cloud did o'er thee lower, In that God-excluding hour; "We, who still, in thought and dead, Often hold the bitter reed To thee, in thy time of need.". And yet, though he was Lord of all he had so fully taken upon himself the form of a servant and was so perfectly made in the likeness of sinful flesh, that he cried with fainting voice, "I thirst." I will give you one of his thirsty prayers "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory." He is exiled from their friendship, too. I cannot think that natural thirst was all he felt. There is the complete justification of the believer, since the work by which he is accepted is fully accomplished. away with him." Fathers and confessors, preachers and divines have delighted to dwell upon every syllable of these matchless cries. O my hearers, beware of praising Jesus and denying his atoning sacrifice. I saw the other day the emblem of a serpent with its tail in its mouth, and if I carry it a little beyond the artist's intention the symbol may set forth appetite swallowing up itself. March 1st, 1863 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892). While thus we admire his condescension let our thoughts also turn with delight to his sure sympathy: for if Jesus said, "I thirst," then he knows all our frailties and woes. More solemn still is the reflection that according to our Lord's own teaching, thirst will also be the eternal result of sin, for he says concerning the rich glutton, "In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torment," and his prayer, which was denied him, was, "Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame." (John 19:11) Jesus answered, . Borrowed from his lips it well suiteth my mouth. "It is finished" is the last word but one, and there you see the perfected Saviour, the Captain of our salvation, who has completed the undertaking upon which he had entered, finished transgression, made an end of sin, and brought in ever lasting righteousness. Some of these were persons of considerable rank; many of them had ministered to him of their substance; amidst the din and howling of the crowd, and the noise of the soldiery, they raised an exceeding loud and bitter cry, like Rachel weeping for her children, who would not be comforted, because they were not. Our Lord felt that grievous drought of dissolution by which all moisture seems dried up, and the flesh returns to the dust of death: this those know who have commenced to tread the valley of the shadow of death. "He that taketh not up his cross and followeth not after me," says Christ, "is not worthy of me." "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" here we see the Mediator interceding: Jesus standing before the Father pleading for the guilty. wherein we see the Son of man in the gentleness of a son caring for his bereaved mother. I cannot say that it is short and sweet, for, alas, it was bitterness itself to our Lord Jesus; and yet out of its bitterness I trust there will come great sweetness to us. But ye ask me where is the spouse, the king's daughter fair and beautiful? He is not allowed to worship with them. What, then, dear friends, should be the sorrows excited by a view of Christ's sufferings? He did not spare his Son the stripes. With "I thirst" the evil is destroyed and receives its expiation. "'Twere you my sins, my cruel sins, His chief tormentors were; Each of my grimes became a nail, And unbelief the spear. Lectures to My Students - Charles Haddon Spurgeon 1889 Lessons from the Apostle Paul's Prayers - Charles Spurgeon 2018-02-19 Why study and pray the prayers of the Apostle Paul? Always was he in harmony with himself, and his own body was always expressive of his soul's cravings as well as of its own longings. III. Perhaps, dear sister, you carry about with you a gnawing disease which eats at your heart, but Jesus took our sicknesses, and his cup was more bitter than yours. It is done. Methinks Death thought it a splendid triumph when he saw the Master impaled and bleeding in the dominions of destruction; little did he know that the grave was to be rifled, and himself destroyed, by that crucified Son of man. What whips of steel for you, what knots of burning wire for you, when conscience shall smite you, when the law shall scourge you with its ten-thonged whip! Romish expositors, who draw upon their prolific fancy for their facts, tell us that he had a rope about his neck with which they roughly dragged him to the tree; this is one of the most probable of their surmises, since it was not unusual for the Romans thus to conduct criminals to the gallows. Christ does exempt you from sin, but not from sorrow; he does take the curse of the cross, but he does not take the cross of the curse away from you. You have been ill, and you have been parched with fever as he was, and then you too have gasped out "I thirst." Next Saturday all eyes will be fixed on a great Prince who shall ride through our streets with his Royal Bride. He can receive vinegar, but not lukewarm love. Calvary was like our Old Bailey; it was the usual place of execution for the district. Dear friends, we must remember that, although no one died on the cross with Christ, for atonement must be executed by a solitary Savior, yet another person did carry the cross for Christ; for this world, while redeemed by price by Christ, and by Christ alone, is to be redeemed by divine power manifested in the sufferings and labors of the saints as well as those of Christ. Christ was spit upon with shame; sinner, what shame will be yours! The Via Dolorosa, as the Romanists call it, is a long street at the present time, but it may have been but a few yards. The mind of man is like the daughters of the horseleech, which cry for ever, "Give, give." But my Prince is hated without a cause. Christ must die a felon's death, and it must be upon the felon's gallows, in the place where horrid crimes had met their due reward. A river of the water of life, pure as crystal, proceedeth to-day out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, and yet once he condescended to say, "I thirst," before his angelic guards, they would surely have emulated the courage of the men of David when they cut their way to the well of Bethlehem that was within the gate, and drew water in jeopardy of their lives. Do we not see here the truth of that which was set forth in shadow by the scape-goat? London shall see the glory of the one: Jerusalem beheld the shame of the other. Believing this, let us tenderly feel how very near akin to us our Lord Jesus has become. We are in the world, but we must never be of it; we are not to be secluded like monks in the cloister, but we are to be separated like Jews among Gentiles; men, but not of men; helping, aiding, befriending, teaching, comforting, instructing, but not sinning either to escape a frown or to win a smile. No longer sink below the brim; But overflow, and pour me down A living and life-giving stream.". The conquest of the appetites, the entire subjugation of the flesh, must be achieved, for before our great Exemplar said, "It is finished," wherein methinks he reached the greatest height of all, he stood as only upon the next lower step to that elevation, and said, "I thirst." Beloved, let us thirst for the souls of our fellow-men. Let me add, that when we look at the sufferings of Christ, we ought to sorrow deeply for the souls of all unregenerate men and women. And said, Hail, King of the Jews!_ Spurgeon left this earth for his heavenly hope in 1892. They put on him his own clothes that the multitudes might discern him to be the same man, the very man who had professed to be the Messias. No, no; we must not make a cross of our own. My Lord is not altogether without his espoused one. And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou ? Say not that the comparison is strained, for in a moment I will withdraw it and present the contrast. So he was thirsting then. Amen. Though Simon had to bear the cross for a very little while, it gave him lasting honor. It was pain that dried his mouth and made it like an oven, till he declared, in the language of the twenty-second psalm, "My tongue cleaveth to my jaws." Shall it ever be a hardship to be denied the satisfying draught when he said, "I thirst." Oh! Our sinful tongues, blistered by the fever of passion, must have burned for ever had not his tongue been tormented with thirst in our stead. All this is a blessed clog upon us, and a means of keeping us more near the Lord. Come let us pour out full flagons, until his joy is fulfilled in us. Oh, shame that men should find so much applause for Princes and none for the King of kings. Let the sympathy of Christ, then, be fully believed in and deeply appreciated, since he said, "I thirst." 19:1-18 Little did Pilate think with what holy regard these sufferings of Christ would, in after-ages, be thought upon and spoken of by the best and greatest of men. There are some who in company hold their tongues, and never say a good word for Christ. Great and worshipful being that he is, truth is to be altered for him, the gospel is to be modulated to suit the tone of his various generations, and all the arrangements of the universe are to be rendered subservient to his interests. If you will look, there is the mark of his blood-red shoulder upon that heavy cross. I have shown you, believer, your position; let me now show you your service. V. Lastly, the cry of "I thirst" is to us THE PATTERN OF OUR DEATH WITH HIM. Shake off the thought, any of you who suppose that God will have pity on you because you have endured affliction. I like to think of our Lord's saying, "It is finished," directly after he had exclaimed, "I thirst"; for these two voices come so naturally together. When you are molested for your piety; when your religion brings the trial of cruel mockings upon you; then remember, it is not your cross, it is Christ's cross; and how delightful is it to carry the cross of our Lord Jesus? "His way was much rougher and darker than mine; Did Christ, my Lord, suffer, and shall I repine?". See, brethren, where sin begins, and mark that there it ends. Jesus took the wrath; Jesus carried the sin; and now all that you endure is but for his sake, that you may be conformed unto his image, and may aid in gathering his people into his family. Jesus thirsted, then let us thirst in this dry and thirsty land where no water is. He hath traversed the mournful way before thee, and every footprint thou leavest in the sodden soil is stamped side by side with his footmarks. You do suffer. No man dare call him friend now, or whisper a word of comfort to him. If he carried all the cross, yet he only carried the wood of it; he did not bear the sin which made it such a load. That little rising ground, which perhaps was called Golgotha, the place of a skull, from its somewhat resembling the crown of a man's skull, was the common place of execution. May we not despise our loaded table while he is neglected? Ah, that I cannot tell, except his own great love. The excitement of a great struggle makes men forget thirst and faintness; it is only when all is over that they come back to themselves and note the spending of their strength. Come to him in prayer, come to him in fellowship, come to him by perfect consecration, come to him by surrendering your whole being to the sweet mysterious influences of his Spirit. God forbid! It is not likely that we shall be able to worship with their worship. They are these Weep not because the Savior bled, but because your sins made him bleed. He knew once how to turn water into wine, and in matchless love he has often turned our sour drink-offerings into something sweet to himself, though in themselves, methinks, they have been the juice of sour grapes, sharp enough to set his teeth on edge. No sufferings of ours have anything to do with the atonement of sin. It is calculated that one soul passes from time into eternity every time the clock ticks! Remember that, and expect to suffer. There is bread upon your table to-day, and there will be at least a cup of cold water to refresh you. The most careless eye discerns it. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Take up your cross, and go without the camp, following your Lord, even until death. He had no sooner said "I thirst," and sipped the vinegar, than he shouted, "It is finished"; and all was over: the battle was fought and the victory won for ever, and our great Deliverer's thirst was the sign of his having smitten the last foe. Beloved, can you say he carried your sin? O brother, if he says, "I thirst" and you bring him a lukewarm heart, that is worse than vinegar, for he has said, "I will spue thee out of my mouth." But power is wanted to dash down those idols, to overcome the hosts of error; where is it to be found? why hast thou forsaken me?" After preaching his first sermon at the age of 16, he became pastor of the church in Waterbeach at the age of 17. So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. . He bears a cross, not that you may escape it, but that you may endure it. John 19:28 . 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