our saviour's death.
John xix. 28 — 30. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were noiv accomplished, that the Scripture might be fdfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar : and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished : and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
NOTHING but Divine grace can change the hearts of men. Signs and wonders may alarm and terrify, and may produce a momentary conviction on the mind; but unless the Spirit of God work in and by them, they will leave the soul unhumbled and unrenewed. It is probable that the darkness which prevailed during the three last hours of our Saviour's life, produced an awe upon the minds of all ; but yet it wrought no permanent change on any : for, when our blessed Lord poured out his complaint respecting the dereliction of his soul, his enemies mocked and insulted him, pretending to understand him as calling Elijah to his aid, when they could not but know that he was crying to his God. We might as easily mis- take the sense of the words, " My God, My God," as they could mistake the import of " Eli, Eli :" the resemblance of the sounds was merely a pretext for venting the malice that reigned in their hearts. One
more opportunity only remained for them to shew the enmity that was in their minds against him ; and they gladly embraced it : but in that very conduct they added another testimony to the truth of his Messiahship. Their conduct towards him in this particular had been the subject of prophecy ; and, when that prophecy was fulfilled, there remained no further occasion for his continuance in the world: he therefore left the world, and went immediately to the bosom of his Father.
Two things are here presented for our consideration ;
I. The completion of prophecy —
There remained now but one prophecy to be ac- complished—
[Every thing relating to the incarnation, life, and death, of the Lord Jesus Christ had been foretold in the minutest manner ; and every thing, except that which is spoken in our text, had been fulfilled. The drought occasioned by his long and excruciating agonies both of body and mind, and the method used by his enemies to allay his thirst, had been par- ticularly foretold by the Psalmista. To look for the accom- plishment of these things in David is in vain. They never were fulfilled in David, or in any other person whatsoever, except the Lord Jesus Christ.]
That prophecy now received its accomplishment in Christ —
[The thirst predicted, came upon him : he complained of it: and the people filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it on a stalk of hyssop to his mouth. The vinegar was there at hand; it being, when mixed with water, the common drink of the Roman soldiers. Before his crucifixion, his friends had offered him a drink of wine mixed with myrrh, as a cordial to support him under his sufferings ; or rather as a stupifying potion, to allay his pain. But of that he would not drink; because he would endure all that was necessary to make satisfaction to Divine justice for the sins of menb. The vinegar was presented to him by his enemies, who had no desire to sooth his anguish, but only to protract the period of his sufferings, and increase their weight. In this, however, they unconsciously fulfilled the prophecy concerning it, and thereby enabled our Lord to say, " It is finished." All was now finished ; all that was
a Ps. xxii. 14, 15. and lxix. 21. b Compare Mark xv. 23. with 3(i
1725. J our saviour's death. 1ST
necessary to be done or suffered for the sins of men