Reflective Bible Study

For the last few episodes, we have been focusing on the time Jesus spent on the cross. In this episode, we will look at how John’s gospel describes Jesus’ last moments before His death, and what we can learn from what happened.

Our passage for this episode is found in John’s gospel, chapter 19, and we will read it using the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 28, John tells us that:

²⁸ After this, when Jesus knew that everything had now been finished, he said, “I’m thirsty.” He said this so that Scripture could finally be concluded.

²⁹ A jar filled with vinegar was there. So the soldiers put a sponge soaked in the vinegar on a hyssop stick and held it to his mouth.

³⁰ After Jesus had taken the vinegar, he said, “It is finished!”

Then he bowed his head and died.

At the end of our passage, we come to the darkest point in all of history. This is the point when Jesus gives up His Spirit.

However, before we focus in on this part of our passage, I am fascinated at the earlier portion of this passage, and a phrase John includes in his gospel. In verse 28, John opened this passage by writing: “When Jesus knew that everything had now been finished, he said, “I’m thirsty.” He said this so that Scripture could finally be concluded.”

This phrase and idea jumped out at me, because what about the phrase “I’m thirsty” was significant so that Scripture could finally be concluded.

After doing a little bit of research, I found the answer in an inconspicuous part of the book of Psalms. In Psalm 69, which was written by David, we find the answer. Let’s begin reading a couple verses before our key verse to give this message some context. Starting in verse 19, David writes:

¹⁹ You know that I have been insulted, put to shame, and humiliated.
    All my opponents are in front of you.
²⁰ Insults have broken my heart, and I am sick.
   I looked for sympathy, but there was none.
   I looked for people to comfort me, but I found no one.
²¹ They poisoned my food,
   and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink.

In verse 21, which is the last verse we read, David describes being given poisoned food and vinegar to drink. This verse is significant because while this translation describes this as poisoned food, the literal reading we find in several other translations is that this food was mixed with gall, which was a specific type of poison.

This is significant because Matthew’s gospel describes the wine being given to Jesus as containing gall, and here in John’s gospel we discover the second half of this verse being fulfilled as well. When Jesus cries out that He is thirsty, He receives vinegar to drink. Within the gospels record of Jesus’ time on the cross, we have two clear prophecies being fulfilled.

I have no idea if David wrote this psalm in a way that would predict what Jesus would face while on the cross, or if God directed David to face some similar experiences and write them down. Regardless of whether David understood that this psalm was prophetic, John draws our attention to the detail that those in the first century believed that Jesus’ words and experience here on the cross were fulfillments of David’s writing.

However, it is amazing to look at how David describes the situation in the verses leading up to this prophecy. I wouldn’t be surprised if the verses leading up to our key idea are also prophetic to Jesus’ time on the cross. In verses 19 and 20, David describes the situation as “You know that I have been insulted, put to shame, and humiliated. All my opponents are in front of you. Insults have broken my heart, and I am sick. I looked for sympathy, but there was none. I looked for people to comfort me, but I found no one.”

While David may have experienced this, I see Jesus also facing this exact same situation on the cross. While hanging on the cross, Jesus was insulted, put to shame, and humiliated. Jesus faced ridicule from all of His opponents.

I don’t know if insults broke Jesus’ heart or if Jesus felt sick, I know that if Jesus looked for sympathy or comfort while hanging there, He would not find any from those present. While there were people at the cross who were followers of Jesus, and a criminal who had a change of heart, there isn’t much comfort or sympathy present for someone who is being publicly executed. I would suspect that Jesus’ enemies outnumbered Jesus’ allies by a wide margin while Jesus was hanging on the cross.

However, Jesus did not face the cross looking for sympathy or comfort. Jesus had a much bigger reason for facing death that day. Jesus’ big reason for facing death included fulfilling scripture, demonstrating to the universe just how much God loves humanity who had fallen into sin and rebellion, and opening the way for salvation of sinners.

Many people living today do not understand why Jesus died. Many people living today discount Jesus’ death because He was resurrected less than 48 hours later. Many people living today simply do not understand why God could not just forgive and wipe a sinner’s slate clean without having to face death.

I will be the first to say that my knowledge is limited, and there are most certainly other reasons for Jesus’ death than what I will briefly describe. However, let me paint Jesus’ death in a way that you might not have seen before.

Before the beginning of this world, when the Godhead and the angels were living peacefully in heaven, we understand that Lucifer decided to break away from this peace. Lucifer, who had been created perfect, became prideful and unhappy with his position. Lucifer began a rebellion in heaven that centered on the claim that God is not just, God cannot be trusted, and that God’s standard cannot be kept.

Lucifer’s claim, which had not been seen prior to this point in heaven’s history, caused one third of the angels to doubt God and to side with Lucifer.

Lucifer was kicked out of heaven, and for some reason we likely will only fully understand once we reach heaven, Lucifer was allowed to come to earth. Lucifer, tricked Eve into eating the fruit and this started the chain reaction of sin in this world.

According to the Biblical record, sin on Planet Earth is not our responsibility or even our choice. We have our ancestors to blame for its presence. In several places in both the Old and New Testaments, the Bible writers make it clear that sin’s punishment is death.

A fully just God must execute judgment on sinners in order to remain just. However, if God executes sinners at the moment they sin, He cannot be trusted, because those left would be left fearing God instead of loving Him. A completely just God ultimately would be feared rather than loved, and God wouldn’t be trustworthy.

However, if God simply wipes the slate clean for all who have sinned, then He would lose respect because He would not be just. God’s word that sin’s punishment is death would lose all value. Lucifer’s claim against God would stand as valid if God simply forgave all who have sinned, because anyone who God forgives would appear like a favorite when compared with those who God would punish.

Through Lucifer’s multiple angles of accusation, God is left in an almost impossible situation, because He both cannot let sin slide while He also cannot punish sin. God’s solution for sin is to take the punishment for sin on Himself. Through the death of a member of the Godhead who had not sinned, and who did not deserve the punishment, a way is opened for God to still be just, since a penalty was paid for sin, while also being loving and trustworthy, because someone born into sin with no other options is given a second chance.

This is where God’s law is tricky. God’s law demands death for all who have sinned, but God’s law does not specify the duration of the death. Jesus describes the effects of God’s punishment as lasting forever, but this is contrasted with the effects of God’s rewards also lasting forever. While some people believe that an eternity in torment is God’s way of punishing sinners, nothing like that is specified in God’s law.

God’s character is one that takes the punishment for sin on Himself because God loves us. Jesus died for us in order to make the way possible for a sinner to be saved while also allowing God to remain just. Through Jesus’ death, God’s character is proved as just and also loving because He punishes sin while also demonstrating His love for sinners.

This means that at the darkest point in history, when Jesus gives up His spirit, while it looked on the surface like evil won, I suspect that a celebration was going on in heaven, because God’s character was proved as both just and loving, and God demonstrated to all the universe that He is trustworthy.

While I don’t know all the reasons why God has allowed sin to persist until this point in history, I do know that because God is delaying the end of history, we all have the opportunity to make a choice to accept Jesus’ death in place of ours. When we accept Jesus’ life, His death stands in the place of the death we deserve, and we receive His life in place of ours. And when we have Jesus’ life in place of ours, we have eternal life that lasts forever!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and accept Jesus’ gift of His life in exchange for yours. Understand that Jesus’ death exposes Lucifer’s lies and it proves God is both just and trustworthy when faced with the problem of sin.

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow closer to God. Through prayer and personal Bible study, develop a personal relationship with God, and discover how the relationship we can have with God starting today can extend into eternity!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or be tricked out of where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

While teaching the disciples about what the signs of the end of the world would be, Jesus inserts a short parable illustration to emphasize that we should be prepared and not surprised when the end of the world happens. While this parable is not the most profound illustration Jesus uses, it does serve a purpose that prompts us to remember God.

Let’s read this parable, with some verses before and after it to give a little bit of context. Our parable and passage are found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 21, and we will read from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 25, as Jesus is speaking to His followers, He tells them:

²⁵ “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. ²⁶ People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. ²⁷ At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸ When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

²⁹ He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. ³⁰ When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. ³¹ Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

³² “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

When reading this short passage, we jumped in during Jesus sharing with the disciples what it will be like when Jesus returns, and this sets up Jesus sharing this short parable about a fig tree sprouting leaves.

In many ways, this parable is not like most of Jesus’ other parables, because this short illustration simply has the disciples watching for the seasons and how the trees react to the weather changing. However, just because this isn’t a long or drawn out parable with a storyline does not make this parable any less significant.

Instead of being less significant, this parable actually may be more significant. When compared with the broad collection of Jesus’ parables, this short parable of the fig tree sprouting leaves is probably the clearest parable with the least likely chance of being misunderstood. In this parable, just like we can see that the fig tree changes and gets ready for summer by sprouting leaves, when we see the things that Jesus described in the earlier verses, we can be assured that the date of Jesus’ return is coming closer.

Jesus never gave us the date of His return, but He did give us what may be the biggest reminder of His promise to return in the simple act of the changing of the seasons.

Every change of seasons is a subtle reminder of Jesus’ parable here. Since Jesus shared this message during the week leading up to the cross, we know that this message was shared in the spring. This makes sense that Jesus would point forward to the next season, which was the summer. But the focus of Jesus’ words isn’t on a specific season as much as it draws our attention onto the seasons changing.

Each time the seasons change, we can see God’s creation preparing for and responding to the change. Nature is like a clock we can use when determining what season we are in and what season is right around the corner. This means too that every time a season changes, and every time nature prepares for this change, we are reminded to pay attention to the events of this world, because we are moving closer and closer to the time of Jesus’ return.

In the few minutes we have left, I want to draw attention to the last two verses of what we read, because in these verses we see a challenge to the detail that Jesus has not returned yet. Verses 32 and 33 record Jesus saying: “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

When we read these two verses, we are challenged by the idea that 2,000 years later, Jesus still has not returned. When Jesus talks about that generation not passing away until everything He described as happened, which includes His returning in the clouds, I can understand why this prompts some people to believe that Jesus did return secretly for a brief period of time but at that time, He didn’t end history.

However, while I can understand why some people might think this, I don’t believe this is what actually happened, because Jesus makes it very clear that His return will disrupt both heaven and earth, causing people to faint from terror. There is nothing secret about Jesus’ return. Jesus’ return will be the most public, visible event this world has ever seen.

Instead, I see Jesus’ closing remarks linking the passing away of this generation with the passing away of heaven and earth, and contrasting that with the eternal nature of His words. In another part of Luke’s gospel, Jesus tells those present that God is the God of the living, and God sees people as alive. This means that until the point that this world’s history is wrapped up, the generation of Jesus’ disciples will not pass away because God sees and knows everything about that generation, including all the good and the bad that generation has to offer.

From God’s perspective, Jesus’ words make complete sense. Only when we try to make this promise fit our perspective do we run into trouble. This is because we only have a tiny sliver of a perspective when compared to what God is capable of seeing. When we talk about the kingdom of God, we are talking about God’s perspective of time and of history, and we would be better served by letting God’s perspective help us reconcile challenging passages.

The two biggest truths in this passage are that Jesus will return in a very public way, and that Jesus’ words will last forever, which is longer than this sin-filled heaven and earth will last. God has promised that His people will be welcomed into eternity and we will avoid passing away with this sin-stained heaven and earth. Let’s keep our focus on Jesus, on accepting what He accomplished for us, and our eyes focused on eternity. With eternity as our perspective, our present circumstances don’t seem all that significant.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As always, continue seeking God first in your life and ask Him give you His perspective. When seasons change, remember that every season that changes is one season closer to Jesus’ return and the end of history.

Also, keep praying and studying the Bible for yourself to intentionally grow your personal relationship with God. Don’t drift through life leaning on others for your spiritual growth. Choose to prioritize your own growth by praying and studying the Bible for yourself and let other people help you on your journey. When we depend on others for our spiritual growth, we can only grow as far as they have grown, and we only are able to learn what they have learned. God wants to teach you so much more, and when we focus on personally growing closer to Him, He is able to teach us exactly what He wants us to know.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or drift away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!