So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. There have been times, and the days may come again, when faithfulness to Christ has entailed exclusion from what is called "society." This cross was a ponderous machine; not so heavy, perhaps, as some pictures would represent it, but still no light burden to a man whose shoulders were raw with the lashes of the Roman scourge. Of the many benefits we have in learning from Paul, a few stand out:1. By contrast, the Christian faith is built on the . Yes, he loves to be with his people; they are the garden where he walks for refreshment, and their love, their graces, are the milk and wine which he delights to drink. Shall the servant be above his Master, or the disciple above his Lord? I believe there was a tenderness in Christ's heart to the Jew of a special character. How near akin the thirsty Saviour is to us; let us love him more and more. First, they teach and confirm many of the doctrines of our holy faith. Oh! Let each of us say "Tis all my business here below To cry, Behold the Lamb!" John 1:30-31. We ought all to have a longing for conversions. The last of his last words is also taken from the Scriptures, and shows where his mind was feeding. John 19:4-5. Once again, as we think of this "I thirst," which proves our Lord's humanity, let us resolve to shun no denials, but rather court them that we may be conformed to his image. That impenitent thief went from the cross of his great agony and it was agony indeed to die on a cross he went to that place, to the flames of hell; and you, too, may go from the bed of sickness, and from the abode of poverty, to perdition, quite as readily as from the home of ease and the house of plenty. Those pictures which represent our Lord as wearing the crown of thorns upon the tree have therefore at least some scriptural warrant. Christ comes forth from Pilate's hall with the cumbrous wood upon his shoulder, but through weariness he travels slowly, and his enemies urgent for his death, and half afraid, from his emaciated appearance, that he may die before he reaches the place of execution, allow another to carry his burden. He is not allowed to worship with them. Commentators like Thomas Manton and John Calvin are represented in this series. Our Lord says, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink," that thirst being the result of sin in every ungodly man at this moment. He is exiled from their friendship, too. Complain not, then. Now, I am not sure that we ought to blame ourselves for this. And what makes him love us so? For a biblical, reformed, and historic collection of commentaries, the Geneva Series is unsurpassed. 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. Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) was born in Essex, England. O souls, burdened with sin, rest ye here, and resting live. Conceal your religion? Do not let us forget the infinite distance between the Lord of glory on his throne and the Crucified dried up with thirst. Let us now gaze for awhile upon CHRIST CARRYING HIS CROSS. Either Christ must die for me, or else I must die for myself the second death; if he did not carry the curse for me, then on me must it rest for ever and ever. Well, beloved, the cross we have to carry is only for a little while at most. John 19:1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. Spurgeon's Bible Commentary John 19 John 19:1-16 John 19:1. How harshly grate the cruel syllables, "Crucify him! When our Lord cried, "Eloi, Eloi," and afterwards said, "I thirst," the persons around the cross said, "Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him," mocking him; and, according to Mark, he who gave the vinegar uttered much the same words. To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible. See, brethren, here is a picture of what we may expect from men if we are faithful to our Master. Now recollect, if Jesus had not thirsted, every one of us would have thirsted for ever afar off from God, with an impassable gulf between us and heaven. He saw its streets flowing like bloody rivers; he saw the temple naming up to heaven; he marked the walls loaded with Jewish captives crucified by command of Titus; he saw the city razed to the ground and sown with salt, and he said, "Weep not for me, but for yourselves and for your children, for the day shall come when ye shall say to the rocks, Hide us, and to the mountains, Fall upon us." John 19:16 . He is greatly to be commended and admired, for his sin is said to be seeking after God, and his superstition is a struggling after light. His wounds unstaunched and raw, fresh bleeding from beneath the lash, would make this scarlet robe adhere to him, and when it was dragged off; his gashes would bleed anew. Our first parents plucked forbidden fruit, and by eating slew the race. Here, as everywhere else, we are constrained to say of our Lord, "Never man spake like this man." I have heard sermons, and studied works by Romish writers upon the passion and agony, which have moved me to copious tears, but I am not clear that all the emotion was profitable. is the fourth cry, and it illustrates the penalty endured by our Substitute when he bore our sins, and so was forsaken of his God. Jesus said, "I thirst," and this is the complaint of a man. The last word but one, "It is finished." Some of us, indeed, confess that, if we had read this narrative of suffering in a romance, we should have wept copiously, but the story of Christ's sufferings does not cause the excitement and emotion one would expect. We shall by the assistance of the Holy Spirit try to regard these words of our Saviour in a five-fold light. "I thirst," ay, this is my soul's word with her Lord. The sharpness of that sentence no exposition can fully disclose to us: it is keen as the very edge and point of the sword which pierced his heart. And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. I think, beloved friends, that the cry of "I thirst" was THE MYSTICAL EXPRESSION OF THE DESIRE OF HIS HEART "I thirst." There are more unlikely things than that you will be dead before next Sunday. I. "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk; eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." Nor dost thou set a time for waiting, but instantly thou dost set wide the gate of pearl; thou hast all power in heaven as well as upon earth. London shall see the glory of the one: Jerusalem beheld the shame of the other. That thirst was caused, perhaps, in part by the loss of blood, and by the fever created by the irritation caused by his four grievous wounds. We shall perhaps know it in our measure in our dying hour, but not yet, nor ever so terribly as he did. High in the air ye bid your banners wave about the heir of England's throne, but how shall ye rival the banner of the sacred cross, that day for the first time borne among the sons of men. The next time we are in pain or are suffering depression of spirit we will remember that our Lord understands it all, for he has had practical, personal experience of it. Beloved, can you say he carried your sin? Will your Prince be sumptuously arrayed? January 1, 1970 A Plain Answer to an Important Enquiry "Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." John vi. Was not the Redeemer led thither to aggravate his shame? Nay more; he is banished from their society, as if he were a leper whose breath would be infectious whose presence would scatter plague. The mind of man is like the daughters of the horseleech, which cry for ever, "Give, give." Brother, thirst to have your children save. "Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing." The Geneva Series of Commentaries include historic commentaries on biblical books written by some of the great theologians in the history of the church. It showed that he had laid down his life of himself. According to modern thought man is a very fine and noble creature, struggling to become better. A refined and heavenly appetite, a craving for our Lord. May the Holy Ghost help us to hear a fourth tuning of the dolorous music, "I thirst." Cover it with a cloak? It began with the mouth of appetite, when it was sinfully gratified, and it ends when a kindred appetite is graciously denied. You may sit under a sermon, and feel a great deal, but your feeling is worthless unless it leads you to weep for yourselves and for your children. She craved full flagons of love though she was already overpowered by it. The words, "I thirst," are a common voice in death chambers. Hail, ye despised children of the sun, ye follow first after the King in the march of woe. What doth he say? John preached a sacrificial Saviour, a sin-bearing Saviour, a sin-atoning Saviour. Let us exult as we see our Substitute going through with his work even to the bitter end, and then with a "Consummatum est" returning to his Father, God. 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. (1-3) Jesus enters the garden, followed by Judas and his troops. The Redeemer's cry of "I thirst" is a solemn lesson of patience to his afflicted. The voice of sympathy prevailed over the voice of scorn. 1. "Wist ye not," said he, while yet a boy, "that I must be about my Father's business?" As you look at the cross upon his shoulders does it represent your sin? Oh, shame that men should find so much applause for Princes and none for the King of kings. First, we shall look upon them as THE ENSIGN OF HIS TRUE HUMANITY. John 19:28 . Pilate, as we reminded you, scourged our Savior according to the common custom of Roman courts. In your chamber let the gasp of your Lord as he said, "I thirst," go through your ears, and as you hear it let it touch your heart and cause you to gird up yourself and say, "Doth he say, 'I thirst'? ", When a brother makes confession of his transgressions, when on his knees before God he humbles himself with many tears, I am sure the Lord thinks far more of the tears of repentance than he would do of the mere drops of human sympathy. And yet he placed himself for our sakes into a position of shame and suffering where none would wait upon him, but when he cried, "I thirst," they gave him vinegar to drink. I show unto you a more excellent way. They would be very proper, very proper; God forbid that we should stay them, except with the gentle words of Christ, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me." Behold, my King is not without his crown alas, a crown of thorns set with ruby drops of blood! Know ye not, beloved, for I speak to those who know the Lord, that ye are crucified together with Christ? Calvary was like our Old Bailey; it was the usual place of execution for the district. What joy, what satisfaotion this will give if we can sing, "My soul looks back to see The burden thou didst bear, When hastening to the accursed tree, And knows her guilt was there!". Usually the crier went before with an announcement such as this, "This is Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, who for making himself a King, and stirring up the people, has been condemned to die." O thou blessed Master, if we are indeed nailed up to the tree with thee, give us a thirst after thee with a thirst which only the cup of "the new covenant in thy blood" can ever satisfy. Grant me only thus much of likeness: we have here a Prince with his bride, bearing his banner, and wearing his royal robes, traversing the streets of his own city, surrounded by a throng who shout aloud, and a multitude who gaze with interest profound. You young believers, who have lately followed Christ, should father and mother forsake you, remember you were bidden to reckon upon it; should brothers and sisters deride, you must put this down as part of the cost of being a Christian. And said, Hail, King of the Jews!_ Come let us pour out full flagons, until his joy is fulfilled in us. He saith, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." This is what the Apostle meant when he said, "I fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the Church." "'Twere you my sins, my cruel sins, His chief tormentors were; Each of my grimes became a nail, And unbelief the spear. Dear friend, if you think that you suffer all that a Christian can suffer; if all God's billows roll over you, yet, remember, there is not one drop of wrath in all your sea of sorrow. He pitied the sufferer, but he thought so little of him that he joined in the voice of scorn. Sister, thirst for the salvation of your class, thirst for the redemption of your family, thirst for the conversion of your husband. III. Here is the safety of the believer in the hour of his departure, and his instant admission into the presence of his Lord. No blood but that which He has spilt, no groans but those which came from His heart, no suffering but that which was endured by Him, can ever make a recompense for sin. If you will look, there is the mark of his blood-red shoulder upon that heavy cross. With "I thirst" the evil is destroyed and receives its expiation. "He that taketh not up his cross and followeth not after me," says Christ, "is not worthy of me." The whole universe shall hiss you; angels shall be ashamed of you; your own friends, yes, your sainted mother, shall say "Amen" to your condemnation; and those who loved you best shall sit as assessors with Christ to judge you and condemn you! May we not despise our loaded table while he is neglected? 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! Alas poor African, thou hast been compelled to carry the cross even until now. "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. away with him." Metaphorically understood, thirst is dissatisfaction, the craving of the mind for something which it has not, but which it pines for. 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. "When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." John 19:30. How has it been with you? You have been ill, and you have been parched with fever as he was, and then you too have gasped out "I thirst." 1 So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. 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." John, the gospel of faith by Harrison, Everett Falconer, 1902- from Everyman's Bible Commentary series. Do you not remember how that thirst of his was strong in the old days of the prophet? Let this mind be in you also. Jesus paused, and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me; but weep for yourselves and for your children." Then comes the "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" These are silken days, and religion fights not so stern a battle. Jesus is formally condemned to crucifixion, but before he is led away he is given over to the Praetorian guards that those rough legionaries may insult him. A carnal appetite of the body, the satisfaction of the desire for food, first brought us down under the first Adam, and now the pang of thirst, the denial of what the body craved for, restores us to our place. It was the common place of death. While other religions create what appear to be worship-filled gatherings, they are empty and void of fact. Amen. Among other things methinks he meant this "If I, the innocent substitute for sinners, suffer thus, what will be done when the sinner himself the dry tree whose sins are his own, and not merely imputed to him, shall fall into the hands of an angry God." I know he loves to receive from you, because he delights even in a cup of cold water that you give to one of his disciples; how much more will he delight in the giving of your whole self to him? Jesus thirsted, then let us thirst in this dry and thirsty land where no water is. I suppose that the "I thirst" was uttered softly, so that perhaps only one and another who stood near the cross heard it at all; in contrast with the louder cry of "Lama sabachthani" and the triumphant shout of "It is finished": but that soft, expiring sigh, "I thirst," has ended for us the thirst which else, insatiably fierce, had preyed upon us throughout eternity. O Lord Jesus, we love thee and we worship thee! It is not fit that he should live." _Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. and the answer shall come back, "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh." Can you help feeling how very near Jesus is to us when his lips must be moistened with a sponge, and he must be so dependent upon others as to ask drink from their hand? He thirsted to pluck us from between the jaws of hell, to pay our redemption price, and set us free from the eternal condemnation which hung over us; and when on the cross the work was almost done his thirst was not assuaged, and could not be till he could say, "It is finished." They put his own clothes upon him, because they were the perquisites of the executioner, as modern hangmen take the garments of those whom they execute, so did the four soldiers claim a right to his raiment. Borrowed from his lips it well suiteth my mouth. There were, as you know, seven of those last words, and seven is the number of perfection and fulness; the number which blends the three of the infinite God with the four of complete creation. III. May we not be half ashamed of our pleasures when he says, "I thirst"? The ceremonial of the Jewish religion denies him any participation in its pomps; the priests condemn him never again to tread the hallowed floors, never again to look upon the consecrated altars in the place of his people's worship. You are not, therefore, so poor as he. Our loaded table while he is neglected the Scriptures, and denied not ; but confessed, and collection. 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