Drinking God’s Wrath

Title: Drinking God’s Wrath

Scripture: John 19:28–30

Introduction

In 1994, Sprite debuted their iconic slogan: “Obey Your Thirst.”

This slogan emerged at a time when conventional advertising often talked down to youth. But what Sprite did was different—it issued a call to action. It told consumers to trust their instincts, follow their passions, and fully own their individuality. In doing so, Sprite made its mark as a countercultural icon.

“Obey Your Thirst” urges consumers—particularly younger generations—to embrace their individuality and remain true to themselves rather than conforming to outside pressures. The campaign celebrates authenticity and encourages the defiance of conventional expectations.

Now, this is a very clever campaign—genius, even—because it taps into something universally true:

We all have thirsts. You have thirsts. I have thirsts. And our thirsts involve more than liquid!

We all have desires—needs that demand to be met.
There are longings within us that cry out for satisfaction.

So in a very real sense, every person—young or old, rich or poor, across every political, religious, and cultural background—feels the urgency to obey their thirst.

But here is the question we must ask:

What are our most basic thirsts?
If we strip everything down—if we narrow our desires to their core—what do we actually want?

Two Thirsts

To answer that question, I want to look at two thirsts:

1. The human thirst
2. And then, Christ’s thirst

The Human Thirst

When we turn to the Bible, we are told very clearly what the fundamental desire—the deepest want—the most pressing thirst of every human being truly is.

In Genesis 6, we read:

“The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Notice what the Lord observes:

The wickedness of humanity is not superficial—it is comprehensive.
It is not occasional—it is constant.

Every intention—every plan, every goal, every internal inclination of the human heart—

And that word heart is not merely emotional language. It represents the core of who we are:
our desires, our will, our thirsts.

And what is the verdict?

Only evil—continually.

This is an uninterrupted, unhindered, undeterred pursuit—a relentless thirst—for what is opposed to God.

The prophet deepens this diagnosis in Jeremiah 17:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick.”

The human heart, compared to everything else that could be called deceitful, stands in first place.
It is the champion of deceitfulness—the very emblem and symbol of human depravity.

And because this is true, it is desperately sick.

Now when we hear the word desperately, we tend to think in terms of urgency—as if a solution might still exist. As if, with the right plan, we could heal the human condition.

We imagine:

• Better environments
• Better education
• Better neighborhoods
• Better incentives
• Better role models

And perhaps then—maybe then—the heart could outgrow its sickness.

But that is not what the prophet means.

The word does not mean severely sick but treatable.

It means incurably sick.

There is no remedy.
There is no solution.
There is no rehabilitation program for the fallen human heart.

God does not improve the sinful heart.

He replaces it.

That is why Scripture speaks of a new birth—of being born again.

Not reformed.
Not repaired.
But recreated.

And that…

is the human thirst.

Do You Feel It?

Do you feel that thirst welling up inside you?

That desire to do what you want—
when you want—
how you want—
and for whatever reason you want?

You feel that thirst:

• That thirst for vengeance and hatred when you are wronged
• That thirst for suspicion of God’s purposes when life becomes hard
• That thirst to elevate your goals, your priorities, your ideas, your ambitions above God and His purposes

Do you feel that deep down inside?

Even as, almost instinctively, you find yourself resonating with the anthem of autonomy from Frozen:

“It’s time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me—
I’m free

Let it go, let it go
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You’ll never see me cry…”

Does that sound like someone who needs help?

Does that sound like someone who is incurably sick—
devastatingly corrupted—
beyond moral repair?

Oh, how often we fail to recognize:

• The misery of our sin
• The tragedy of our rebellion

If we could but catch even a glimpse—
just a glimpse—of the true horror of our depravity,

we would not linger,
we would not delay,

we would flee—

At once—

To the cross of Christ,

and seek refuge in the blood of the Lamb who was slain for us.

Christ’s Thirst

In order to understand the thirst of Christ, we must consider it in three realms:

• Physical
• Scriptural
• Theological

Physical

The physical thirst that Jesus experienced was real.

It was the natural reaction of His body under extreme suffering:

• The weight of the crossbeam He was forced to carry—so heavy that He could no longer bear it, and it had to be given to Simon of Cyrene
• The brutal effects of scourging
• The agony of crucifixion itself

One commentator describes it this way:

“The weight of the hanging body made breathing difficult, and death came from gradual asphyxiation… To prolong the death and increase the agony… death came only after several days and resulted from the cumulative impact of thirst, hunger, exhaustion, exposure, and the traumatic effects of the scourging.”

And yet, Jesus did not last for days.

His suffering was so intense—so severe—that He died in approximately six hours.

So when we hear Jesus say, “I thirst,”
we must understand:

This is not symbolic language.

This is not metaphor.

This is real, physical thirst.

But it is not only physical.

Scriptural

Look at John 19:28:

“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’”

By this point:

• Jesus has entrusted His mother to the beloved disciple
• He has ensured her care
• He knows that His mission is reaching completion

And then John tells us something critical:

He speaks in order to fulfill Scripture.

Now, this does not mean Jesus is artificially saying something just to check a box.

He truly thirsts.

His body is crying out for relief.

But at the same time, Jesus is so perfectly aligned with the will of the Father—so saturated in the Word of God—that He understands His suffering through the lens of Scripture.

He knows that what was written about Him must be fulfilled.

Most likely, this is pointing us to Psalms 69.

There, David—the anointed king—describes his suffering:

• He feels overwhelmed, as though waters have risen to his neck
• He is sinking, with no firm footing
• He is weary from crying out
• His throat is parched
• His eyes fail as he looks for God

And why?

Because of his enemies:

• They seek his humiliation
• They are stronger than he is
• They are more numerous than the hairs on his head

He cries out for help.
He seeks comfort.

But finds none.

And then, in verse 21:

“They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.”

What David experienced in shadow—
Jesus now endures in reality.

What was written in poetry—
Christ fulfills in history.

So this thirst is not merely physical.

It is Scriptural.

It is the outworking of God’s redemptive plan foretold centuries before.

In the very moment of His agony, Jesus is consciously fulfilling the Word of God.

Theological

So the thirst of Christ is:

• Physical
• Scriptural

But lastly—

and most importantly—

It is theological.

You see, moments earlier in John’s Gospel, when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, a band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees came seeking Him.

A commotion broke out.

Simon Peter drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.

And in that moment, Jesus said:

“Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?”

That raises the question:

What is this cup?
What is the cup that the Father has given to the Son?

When we trace this theme throughout Scripture, the answer becomes unmistakable:

It is the cup of God’s wrath.

In Jeremiah 25:15, God speaks of giving the nations the cup of His wrath to drink.
In Isaiah 51, the same imagery appears—God’s wrath poured out like a cup.
In Habakkuk 2, even the king of Babylon is said to drink the cup of divine judgment.
And in Revelation 14, those who oppose God will drink the cup of His wrath to the dregs.

We all understand what it means to drink something to the dregs.

Whether on a scorching summer day or in the cold of winter, we have all drained a cup completely—fully satisfied.

But here is the terrifying reality:

God describes His wrath in the same way.

Those who oppose Him will drink it down—
fully—
completely—
to the last drop.

They will be overwhelmed by it, as a man is overwhelmed by strong drink.

And that…

is the cup that Jesus is drinking.

He is drinking God’s wrath to the dregs.

He is imbibing the full fury of divine judgment.

And of all the aspects of Christ’s thirst, this is the most profound—
and the one that cannot be captured by images.

You can watch films about Jesus.
You can see portrayals of Him being offered a drink.

But what cannot be depicted—
what cannot be visualized—

is that in that moment,

He is drinking the wrath of God.

Everything about the scene points to it.

Look at how the drink is given:

“A jar full of sour wine stood there…”

This sour wine would have acted as a kind of anesthetic—
a temporary relief meant to prolong suffering.

And yet, notice the method:

A sponge filled with sour wine is lifted to His mouth on a branch of hyssop.

That is not incidental.

Hyssop takes us back to the Exodus—to the Passover—

Where the people of God used hyssop to apply the blood of the lamb to their doorposts.

Now here is Jesus—

The true Passover Lamb—

Drinking the wrath of God,
while shedding His blood for the salvation of His people.

And then we read:

“When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished,’ and bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”

The Direction of the Cross

When we think about this scene, we often assume that the primary focus is humanity—

That the cross is mainly about our reconciliation to God.

And that is true—

But if we stop there, we misunderstand both the cross and God.

As one theologian has said:

“Crucial to a right understanding of the cross is realizing that it is God who needs reconciling to mankind, far more than mankind to God…”

Yes, we are hostile to God.
Yes, we flee His presence.
Yes, we suppress the truth.

Yes, we ar born children of wrath…

But no change in us would ever be possible—

unless first,

God’s righteous anger was addressed.

So we must understand:

When Jesus drinks the wrath of God,
He is not merely doing something for us—

He is doing something toward God.

The primary work of the cross is Godward.

It:

• Deals with the righteous anger of a holy God
• Pays the penalty required by divine justice
• Propitiates God
• Intercedes before God
• Satisfies God’s justice
• Pacifies God’s wrath
• Secures God’s favor
• Seals God’s covenant love
• Fulfills God’s eternal purpose and grace

The cross is not primarily about you and me.

It is primarily about God.

And therefore, Christ’s thirst is theological in the deepest sense:

It is Godward before it is ever manward.

He Drank It for You

Jesus drank the wrath of God—

• When His eyes burned with sweat and blood—for every lustful glance
• When His mouth was struck—for every lie and false word
• When His ears endured abuse—for every piece of gossip and corrupt speech we delight in
• When his legs and feet were scourged—for all times we run toward evil
• When his hands experienced chastisement—for the times we have made idols to worship

Jesus drank the wrath of God—

And in doing so,

He satisfied divine justice—

for you,
and in your place.

And now he offers you free drink that will satisfy your thirst…

John 7:37–38

³⁷ On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”^[1]

^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Jn 7:37–38.