To Fulfill the Scriptures

 

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

 Last week we looked at Psalm 22 and how, not only did Jesus quote directly from that passage on the cross, but He fulfilled the prophecies contained within the psalm.  Today I want to expand on that idea a bit, also starting from the cross.  In John's gospel we see another of what has been called the Seven Last Words of Christ.

The quote from Jesus is short.  He simply said, "I thirst".  It made sense.  He was dying, dehydrated and losing fluids.  On a physical level, he wanted water.  Oh, but John, the "disciple whom Jesus loved", saw something significant beyond the mere physical.  He knew that Psalm 69:21 said, "They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink."  

Slipped into this song written by King David a millennium before was this prophecy that John wanted the followers of Jesus to notice.  In this same song David wrote in verse 9, "For zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me."  John had already cited this Psalm when Jesus drove the merchants out of the Temple (see John 2:17).  Here, though, John wanted to show yet another prophecy that the Master fulfilled.  The religious leaders of the day had rebuked Jesus, and held Him in reproach.  John wanted his readers to know that the Pharisees not only disrespected Jesus, but also His Father who had sent Him.  David wrote in Psalm 69:19 and 20, "You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to You.  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."  Did John intend to point us to this Psalm so that we could apply this passage to Jesus as well?  I think so.

Let's look at one more of the final words that Jesus spoke from the cross.  Luke 23:46 says, "Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, 'Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit.'  And having said this He breathed His last."  This is a quote from Psalm 31.  Verse 5 says, "Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God."  Just before Jesus breathed His last breath, He spoke this prayer to God His Father.  It was a dying declaration of the fulfillment of His mission.  Jesus' death would become the ultimate sacrifice for all mankind.  When David spoke these words, he expressed ultimate trust in God, because he knew that God would provide a means of redemption for him, and that God was faithful.  I think Jesus knew this as well--God is faithful, and that He would provide a way to redeem us from our sins.  

Paul spoke of this divine plan of redemption in Ephesians 1:7-10.  "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth."  We therefore ask with David in Psalm 2:1, "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?"  Why, when God has very clearly set forth this plan of redemption through the blood of His Son, Jesus--why do people "kick against the pricks?" (see Acts 26:14).

It is because they do not see that Jesus was the Anointed One that David wrote about in Psalm 2:2.  According to Chad Bird in his book The Christ Key:

The NT quotes, alludes to, or adopts the language of Psalm 2 about 17 times.  Most notably, the early Church quotes Psalm 2 after Peter and John were arrested for preaching Jesus and the resurrection (Acts 4:25-26).  These early Christians confessed that the Father "through the mouth of our father David...said [the words of Psalm 2] by the Holy Spirit" (Acts 4:25).  David the poet was the mouthpiece of the Spirit.  Their interpretation takes the form of this prayer: "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, a long with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your plan had predestined to take place" (Acts 4:27-28).  The Lord's Messiah of Psalm 2:2 is "your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed" (Acts 4:27).  The nations, peoples, kings and rulers of Psalm 2:1-2 who "rage...plot...set themselves...[and] take counsel together" are interpreted as "Herod and Pontius Pilate, a long with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel" (Acts 4:27).  In short, the Christians read this Psalm as a Spirit-inspired, poetic prophecy of specific events that happened during the Passion of Jesus.  

God has given us the good news of the Gospel, which is that Jesus was sent by God to live a perfect life and to die an agonizing death, taking on the sin of the world as the ultimate sacrifice; and that three days later He would rise again to new life, as will we who belong to Him by faith.  It is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone that this is accomplished.  Those who reject this message do so at their own peril, as they will die in their sins apart from the saving knowledge of Jesus.

If you read the Scriptures you will hear the very words of God Himself.  Do not stop up your ears and scream against those who speak the truth of God's mercy, as the Jews did who stoned Stephen (Acts 7:57).  If the world does decide to shoot the messenger, we can say with Stephen (who quoted the words of Christ on the cross), "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." (Acts 7:59).