Matthew 27, we are going to have,
and I consider this to be an instructive Bible study. We're gonna study a particular
subject matter. And I believe you will enjoy
seeing this if you've never seen this before. I really do believe
you will enjoy seeing this. I believe it'll be a blessing
because it'll allow us to enter in more so to what was taking
place at the moment that our Lord was hanging on the cross. Our text will be verses 33 and
34. Matthew 27, verse 33, it says, And when they were come unto
a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
they gave him vinegar to drink, mingled with gall, and when he
had tasted thereof, he would not drink. Verse 32, which is what we looked
at last week, it says that this man, Simon, was compelled to
bear his cross to Golgotha. And then verse 34 says, They gave him vinegar and gall. They offered him vinegar and
gall. But when he smelled it, or it,
you know, touched his lips, he wouldn't drink it. And then verse
35 says, they crucified him and they crucified him. So they came
to Golgotha, they offered him vinegar and gall. And then they
crucified him. Mark's account gives that same
order, but it says that the drink was wine mingled with myrrh. Same thing. Vinegar is, in simple
terms, soured wine. That's what vinegar is. And gall,
or myrrh, was very bitter. It was very, very bitter. And
that drink was given just before crucifixion, just before these
five to nine inch spikes. This is how large the nails or
the spikes were that they used in these heavy, heavy beams just before they were square.
with a large head on the end of them. And just before those
were driven through the wrist and the feet, they offered this
drink to help numb the pain. And they didn't do that to be
nice. They didn't do that as a kind
gesture. It was for the purpose of continuing
torture. Everything that they did to a
man before crucifixion, it was so brutal he could die from it. Every stage of what they did,
a man could die from it or just collapse from it. And they wanted
to see that torture carried out all the way to the end. They
wanted to see an alive, alert man hanging on that cross. They
didn't want to hang a dead man up or a man who was passed out.
They wanted an alive, alert man enduring that torture. So before
they drove those spikes in, they offered a very bitter sedative. but our Lord wouldn't drink it. And I believe he most definitely
wanted to feel all of the sufferings that was owed to his people.
I do believe that, but that's not why he didn't drink it. Because just before he bowed
his head and gave up the ghost, he did drink it. If you look at verse 48, After
much is said and much is done, verse 34, they offered it to
him and he wouldn't drink it. And then by verse 48, it says,
straightway, one of them ran and took a sponge and filled
it with vinegar and put it on a reed and gave him to drink. And he did drink it. John 19
even says, he asked for it. He said, I thirst. That's what he said, I thirst. So it's not just that he wanted
to be extremely aware of everything that was going on. There's a
glorious reason why he didn't drink it and then why he did
drink it. And I want us to see what that
is. And to see it, we have to go back to the book of Numbers.
Turn with me to Numbers chapter 6. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Numbers chapter 6. Verse one, it says, and the Lord
spake unto Moses saying, speak unto the children of Israel and
say unto them, when either man or woman shall separate themselves,
separate themselves, to vow a vow of a Nazirite. There was a vow
that could be made and it was called the vow of a Nazirite. And what it was is, it was the
end of verse two says, to separate themselves unto the Lord. To separate themselves unto the
Lord. And when a man or a woman does this, voluntarily separates
themselves, verse three, he shall separate himself from wine and
strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar
of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes
nor eat moist grapes, and that means young, green, new grapes
or dried. All the days of his separation
shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree from the
kernels even to the husk. The Lord said if someone makes
a vow, if someone willingly, voluntarily makes a vow to separate
himself to the Lord, and meaning to sanctify, or you hear the
word consecrate, we sing a song that has the word consecrate
in it, and you will see here the word consecrate, and what
that word means is Separate, it means to separate from something
in order to dedicate yourself to something else. That's what
it means. Separate me from this to dedicate me to this over here. And he said when a man does that,
he is to separate himself unto holiness. To make a vow of holiness. And he cannot drink wine or vinegar
that comes from wine, while he's in the time frame of that vow,
whatever that time frame is. Also, verse five says, all the
days of the vow of his separation, there shall no razor come upon
his head until the days be fulfilled in the which he separated himself
unto the Lord, he shall be holy and shall let the locks of his
hair, of the hair of his head grow. This vow could be a lifelong
vow. It could be all of a man's lifetime
like it was in the case of Samson and John the Baptist. Both of
those men were lifelong Nazarites. That's why Samson didn't cut
his hair. John the Baptist didn't cut his
hair either. He was a man with long hair. It could be a lifelong vow or
it could be for a very short period of time, whatever amount
of time a person vowed for it to be. And for that span of time, he
couldn't drink wine or vinegar and he couldn't cut his hair.
And verse 6 says, all the days that he separated himself unto
the Lord, he shall come at no dead body. He shall not make
himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother
or for his sister when they die. If they die, he couldn't bury
them. He could not touch anything that was dead, anything. It says at the end of verse 7,
because the consecration, consecrated, separation, of his God is upon
his head. Verse 8, All the days of his
separation he's holy unto the Lord. And if any man die very
suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration,
then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing.
On the seventh day shall he shave it, and on the eighth day he
shall bring two turtles, two turtle doves, or two young pigeons,
to the priest to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,
and the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering and the
other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, for
that he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same
day. And he shall consecrate unto
the Lord the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the
first year for a trespass offering, but the days that were before
shall be lost because his separation was defiled." If he touches something
that's dead, he has to make an atonement for it. He must be
shorn. His head must be shaved. He has to be humiliated. He has
to be humbled. A sin offering must be made.
A lamb must be sacrificed. Verse 13, and this is the law
of the Nazarite when the days of his separation are fulfilled. when it's fulfilled. He shall
be brought unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,
and he shall offer his offering unto the Lord, one he lamb of
the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one
you lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and
one ram without blemish for peace offerings, and a basket of unleavened
bread cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened
bread anointed with oil, and their meat offering and their
drink offerings. And the priest shall bring them
before the Lord and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt
offering, And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace
offerings unto the Lord with the basket of unleavened bread.
The priest shall offer also his meat offering and his drink offering. And the Nazarite shall shave
the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of
the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation,
and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the
peace offerings." Can we not see Christ in all of this? As
we read this, do you see Christ in all of this? The dove, the
lamb, the ram, The bread, unleavened bread, His body, the wine, His
blood, His hair, His glory, being made to suffer the fiery
judgment of God's wrath. He had to put it in the fire
under the peace offering. He had to suffer the judgment
of God's fiery wrath to make peace, the peace offering. Verse 19, And the priest shall
take the sodden shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake
out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon
the hands of the Nazarite, after the hair of his separation is
shaven. And the priest shall wave them
for a wave offering before the Lord. This is holy for the priest
with the wave breast and heave shoulder. They had to take this
and make intercession with it. Wave it before the Lord. This
is the holy intercession, the holy offering that must be offered
to God for appeasement. All right, now, the middle of
verse 20, we pick up in the middle of verse 20, it goes on to say,
After you see the two words, heave shoulder, it says, and
after that, you see those three words? And after that, after
the work of that vow is complete in full, after every jot and
tittle is satisfied for an acceptable atonement, for a fulfillment
of the law, for a complete appeasement to God. After that, the end of
verse 20 says, the Nazarite may drink wine. The Nazarite may drink wine.
After it's all accomplished, the moment that it is finished, The moment that the vow, the
covenant of holiness and sanctification
and redeeming separation, the moment that work is fulfilled,
the Nazarite may drink wine. If he finishes it, if he accomplishes
it, the Nazarite may drink wine. All right, turn with me to Matthew
26. Matthew 26, verse 26. And as they were eating, Jesus
took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples
and said, take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup
and gave thanks and gave it to them saying, Drink ye all of
it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed
for many for the remission of sins. Now watch verse 29. But
I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the
vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's
kingdom. He said, at this moment, I am
separating myself for a holy work. I am willingly sanctifying
myself and my people. He said to them, I am making
a vow of separation. And I will not drink of this
cup again until I fulfill it. And make all things new. For
you, with you. That's exactly what he said to
his father in John 17. Turn over to John 17. John 17, verse 16, praying to
the Father, speaking of His people, He said, They are not of the
world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them, set them
apart, through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth. Sanctify them
through Christ. He's the truth. He said, I am
the truth. Verse 18, as thou hast sent me into the world,
even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their
sakes, I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. He willingly entered into this
vow in order to sanctify, in order to set apart or make holy,
not only Himself, but all of His people with Him. And in His vow, in the middle
of His vow, He touched death. He touched death. When He touched
you and me, He touched death. The death of our rotting depravity
in sin. And therefore, He offered the
atonement. He offered the perfect sacrifice
to appease God. He suffered the humiliation.
He bore the wrath. He endured the judgment. satisfying
every single demand, every demand that was given in that vow, every
demand that was given in that covenant. And to prove that he
satisfied it all and fulfilled it all, this is what he said,
I thirst. I thirst. Turn to John 19, verse
28. John 19 verse 28, it says, After this, Jesus, knowing that all things
were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. It doesn't say that he said that
because he was thirsty. He didn't say, I'm a little parched,
would you mind grabbing me something? that the Scriptures might be
fulfilled, that the end of that vow may be known, that the accomplishment
of that covenant might be published. He said, I thirst. Verse 29, Now there was set a
vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar,
and put it upon hyssop. That's what they used to use
to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. and they 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. The moment he made all things
new, when he said, it is finished, what he meant is, it's all new. It's all brand new. I've put
it all away. It's over and done. He said,
I won't drink it again until I drink it new with you. And when he knew that all things
were made new for his people, he drank the wine. That's beautiful,
isn't it? That is beautiful. That is wonderful assurance and
hope, the finished work of his covenant. Isn't that gorgeous? That's just amazing to me. I
pray the Lord will make that to be a blessing. Amen. You're
dismissed.