What caused Christ to cry from
the cross, I thirst? Well, probably many of you have
never really thought about that particularly, but let me give
you a little insight. What was taking place at this
time when Christ cried, I thirst, was monumentous. You see, Jesus
went to the cross to save his people from their sins. And in order to do that, he had
to do battle with hell. Do you know that the greatest
battle that has ever been fought was fought at Calvary 2000 years
ago, Christ on the cross. Do you understand that the devil
there at Calvary did his very best to kill Jesus, to take his
life? from him to stop the crucifixion
from being a successful redemption. And if Christ had have died in
that battle, certainly we would not have been enjoying the victory
that we're enjoying today. Hell emptied itself that day
on Galgatha. Every demon in hell attacked
Jesus Christ. Satan himself leading the way
to take his life from him. And so when we hear the cry,
I thirst, it's a cry in the middle of this battle. In the heat of
the battle, someone has said there is no thirst like the thirst
when one is dying or very, very sick. Christ was experiencing
tremendous pain in body and soul and spirit, during this time. And he cried, I thirst." What
an amazing thing it is. They went and got vinegar and
touched his lips. As you read the story of the
crucifixion, you watch as if Christ is getting weaker and
weaker. And you're kind of wondering, everybody deserted him. No one's
there seemingly for him. And you wonder, will this battle
be won? Will redemption be bought and
paid for? Will he be victorious? The truth is, at the end of the
crucifixion, he looked up into heaven and he cried with a loud,
strong voice, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. In other words, his life was
not taken from him. Satan was not successful in killing
him. We've heard previous to this
the cry of, it is finished, it is accomplished. So Christ on
the cross knew that he had bought and paid for his people's sins,
that he was victorious. I thirst, remember there's a
battle going on, a real war. There's never been a battle like
this in the history and there never will be another battle
like this where God against demonic forces and human forces was bearing
our sins in his own body on the tree.