During the approximately six hours Jesus Christ hung on the cross, our Lord spoke seven final statements. One of those statements is recorded in John 19:28, “Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I am thirsty.’”
I Thirst Meaning
The Apostle John links Jesus’ statement “I thirst” to the fulfillment of Scripture. There were at least 20 Old Testament prophecies fulfilled during the 24 hours surrounding the Lord’s death.
By highlighting how Old Testament scriptures were fulfilled throughout Jesus’ crucifixion, John showed that everything was happening according to God’s plan.
When Jesus said, “I thirst,” from the cross, He was alluding to a prophecy in Psalm 22:15: “My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.”
The Apostle John had cited this same psalm earlier regarding the dividing of Jesus’ garments among the Roman soldiers (John 19:23).
In response to Jesus’ request for something to drink, the soldiers offer Him wine vinegar: “A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips” (John 19:29). Wine vinegar was the cheapest and easiest wine for soldiers to acquire. It was probably diluted with water.
Earlier, Jesus refused a drink of vinegar, gall, and myrrh offered to Him to relieve His suffering (Matthew 27:34; Mark 15:23). After that, the soldiers mockingly offered Him wine vinegar but did not allow Him to drink (Luke 23:36).
But here, several hours later, Jesus states, “I am thirsty,” thus asking for a drink. This time, the soldiers give Him some. This action was a fulfillment of Psalm 69:21: “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.”
Immediately after receiving the drink, Jesus says, “It is finished,” and then bows His head and gave up His spirit (John 19:30). There is another, very practical reason Jesus says, “I thirst,” from the cross. The Lord asks for a drink so that He might clearly and powerfully declare His final statement, “It is finished.”
Why Did Jesus Say 'I Thirst'?
Hanging on the cross, Jesus suffered bitter agony and darkness while covered in our guilt, sin, and shame. When the act of purchasing our redemption was complete, nothing more was needed. Everything Jesus had come to do on earth was now finished.
The scriptures were fulfilled. Christ’s work was done, the battle was over, the victory was won. All that God had purposed, and all the prophets had foretold was complete, and Jesus surrendered Himself to death.
From the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we learn that, as Jesus died, He cried out with a loud voice (Matthew 27:50; Mark 15:37). Luke reports, “Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’ When he had said this, he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46).
Jesus said, “I thirst,” from the cross because He wanted His lips and throat moistened to utter one final victorious shout before He died. The death of Jesus Christ finished His work of redemption, atonement, and reconciliation.
Through Christ’s substitutionary and sacrificial death on the cross, the Lamb of God paid our debt and took away our sin. Our ransom complete, Jesus, with a resounding voice, wanted all people to hear these words — words that still ring strong today: “It is finished!”
Those who gathered around the cross, on that dusty hill, could feel Jesus’ raspy cry reverberate in their dry throats: “I thirst!” These are the words of One, whose vitality was almost dried up to death.
Yet, in those words, we witness the thoughtful tenderness of the Good Teacher as He breathes these words into Scripture for our edification (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The words I thirst reveal rich truths about their speaker.
Jesus Fulfilled Scripture
Jesus’ cry of thirst would have arrested the attention of those familiar with the Old Testament. In at least two ways, “I thirst” confirmed Jesus’ promise that in Jerusalem, “Everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished” (Luke 18:31).
First, God foretold that His Messiah would thirst. Jesus had just cried out those penetrating opening words of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
When Jesus publicized His thirst, He spotlighted the fifteenth verse: “My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.” It is difficult to imagine a more complete fulfillment of this prophecy.
Second, before Christ came to earth, He said through David that He would drink bitterness: “For my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink” (Psalm 69:21).
Ironically, the psalmist was drowning in deep waters (vv. 1,2,15), yet his throat was dry (v. 3), and his only drink was bitterness. Jesus, swirling in a sea of sorrow, received only bitter wine to wet His parched tongue.
Jesus Suffered as a Real Man
Jesus was not pretending to be thirsty to illustrate spiritual truths. Our High Priest fully sympathizes with all the pains and discomforts that come from living in a sin-afflicted world (Hebrews 4:15).
If ever there were understanding ears into which we should speak our hurts and cry out for grace and mercy, it is those ears that on Calvary heard the sticky crackling of His dry mouth (v. 16).
Jesus Bore Our Thirst-Curse
In the Old Testament, God threatened to make unfaithful Israel a “parched land, and fill her with thirst” (Hosea 2:3; Deuteronomy 28:48).
The tongue of the one afflicted by God’s judgment “sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst” (Lamentations 4:4; Amos 8:11). Such was the curse for spiritual adultery (Psalm 137:6).
Startlingly, Jesus inserted Himself into His parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In hell, the rich man cried out for mercy, pleading for Lazarus to “dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame” (Luke 16:24).
The rich man’s croaking screams for relief are denied. So long as He endured the hellish agony of God’s wrath against sin, Christ’s tongue, likewise, rattled in His mouth. Even when His tongue tasted the sour wine from the sponge, it felt little relief.
Did it not burn as the vinegar washed over His withered cells? Was it not a further portrait of the cup of God’s wrath that our Lord had consented to drink? Only hours before, Jesus shuddered over His anticipated cup of suffering (Matthew 26:36-46).
Then He drank the wine like a man who drinks salt water to assuage dehydration. On the cross, the Mediator of the covenant of grace experienced the thirst-curse earned by covenant breakers.
Jesus Thirsted for His People
By nature, because we have forsaken God, “the fountain of living waters,” and have hewn ourselves “broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13), we are the thirsty ones. God’s wayward ones are “parched with thirst” (Isaiah 5:13).
We are spiritually dehydrated — a deadly condition. But here, Jesus musters a cry from His dry, hoarse throat — and all He gets is sour wine. Why? Because, on the cross, He “redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).
Jesus announced His thirst, knowing that “All was now finished” (John 19:28). Of our salvation, He could say, “It is finished” (v. 30).
Christ is the rock from which the wandering Israelites drank in the desert (1 Corinthians 10:14) and the Living Water that rehydrated the woman at the well (John 4:13-14).
On the cross, the Living Water became thirsty, securing the salvation that His spiritually thirsty people desperately needed.
Jesus Refreshes His People
Jesus died thirsty, but He arose refreshed. In His suffering, Jesus thirsted after the full restoration of His Father’s fellowship, that the smile of His Father’s face might be turned toward Him and His people again (Psalm 69:16-17).
In His glorification, beginning with His resurrection, His thirst was quenched. God will hear the cry of His thirsty people (Isaiah 41:17). He now says to us, “whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).
In response, we echo the Man of Sorrows: “I thirst! Give me the water of eternal life gained for me at the cross that I will thirst no more!” The answer to this request is a picture we see in the last book of the Bible: “They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore” (Revelation 7:16).
For further reading:
What Does Living Water Mean in the Bible?
What Was the Significance of the Woman at the Well?
How Can I Identify Messianic Prophecies in the Old Testament?
Did Jesus' Desire to Give God the Cup Diminish His Love on the Cross?
Why Did Jesus Have to Suffer So Badly?
What Is the Medical Account of the Crucifixion?
Meaning and Significance of John 19:30 — ‘It Is Finished’
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Hope Bolinger is an acquisitions editor at End Game Press, book editor for hire, and the author of almost 30 books. More than 1500 of her works have been featured in various publications. Check out her books at hopebolinger.com for clean books in most genres, great for adults and kids. Check out her editing profile at Reedsy.com to find out about hiring her for your next book project.
