John 19:29, commentary and pictures

At Calvary outside Jerusalem after betrayal, scourging and hours of agony on the cross had left Him weak and parched with thirst, a Roman soldier in pity filled a sponge from the vessel of vinegar and put it on hyssop to His mouth while the priests mocked and refused Him relief. Having received the vinegar at the close of His suffering after bearing the hiding of His Father's favor and draining the cup of bitterness, He testified that His saving work was completed with It is finished and expired with a cry of broken heart, while those who held the drink to be mixed with gall teach that after tasting it He refused it. In that death He suffered without the gate as substitute for fallen humanity, bearing the wrath of God with the sins of the world imputed to the innocent One so guilty sinners might receive His imputed righteousness and become God's children. His death reveals the love and character of God, vindicates His law and breaks the hearts of all who seek Him, calling their lives into conformity with His will and measuring what His church should be and do.

Setting and Final Drink

The vinegar belongs to the crucifixion at Calvary outside Jerusalem, the place where felons and murderers were executed. It followed betrayal, abuse, and scourging that left Him too weak to carry His cross. Nailed to the cross, He hung there in agony for hours before His death.

As His earthly mission neared its end and after the darkness lifted, He felt the pain of thirst and was parched. From a vessel full of vinegar a sponge was filled and put upon hyssop, a stalk of hyssop, and put to His mouth. A Roman soldier offered it with pity, dipping the sponge in vinegar and lifting it to Him. The priests mocked, refused to relieve His suffering, and said to wait to see whether Elijah would come to save Him, adding insult to His suffering with vinegar and gall.

The drink came at the close of His suffering after bearing the hiding of the Father's favor and draining the last dregs of the cup of bitterness, when the sense of His Father's favor had returned. Having received the vinegar, He then testified that His saving work through death was completed, saying It is finished, and expired. After tasting the drink mixed with gall, He refused it. He died not merely from crucifixion but from a broken heart caused by mental agony, expiring with a shrill agonizing shriek, proved when the spear thrust in His side brought forth blood and water.

Atonement Meaning and Response

He suffered outside the gate at Calvary, outside Jerusalem where felons and murderers were executed, as the substitute for Adam and Eve who were banished from Eden for transgression of the law of God, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood and redeem them from the curse of the law by being made a curse for them. At the end of that suffering He bore the wrath of God with the hiding of the Father's countenance, the innocent One treated as a sinner with the sins of the world imputed to Him, so that guilty sinners might be treated as loyal and obedient and receive His imputed righteousness. Hanging as the bleeding victim, His death makes grace and power available to humanity. His suffering and death at Calvary are the price of redemption by which people may become God's children and be kept by Him.

His death reveals the character and love of God, lifts the law of God to its eternal dignity, vindicates its holy requirements, and gives salvation to all who have an interest in the crucified One. Seeing the result of sin in that death, in the sponge soaked in vinegar lifted to His mouth on hyssop followed by His saying It is finished and expiring through a broken heart caused by mental agony, breaks the hearts of those who seek and find the Lord. That sacrifice by which people may become God's children calls for lives to be brought into conformity with His will.

The taking away of the Bridegroom, when Jesus approached the cross and descended into the depths of humiliation and was lifted up dying as a malefactor in whom the disciples' hopes of eternal life were centered, became a ground of test and trial in gloom and darkness. That time when He was in the hands of wicked men was the time when the children of the bride-chamber had cause to mourn and fast, when their faith would be tried and their hope and courage would fail. Their faith failed as they beheld that death because, having been overcome with sleep instead of watching and praying, they had not received the light about His sufferings and the glory that should follow and had not shared His self-sacrifice. Had they remained watching, some rays of hope would have lighted up the darkness and sustained their faith, but like Peter denying his Lord before His enemies they did not endure the proving. The great sacrifice made on the cross of Calvary is the measure of what the church should be and do in the greatest work ever given to mortals, and measured against that sacrifice the advance the church has made in comparison with past years is small and she is far behind.