“After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst,” John 19:28.
I wish to emphasise in this last study of this verse, the absolute importance of the Scriptures to Christ. I read Luke 18 on Saturday past and the verse appears there. “Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished,” Luke 18:31.
- The Saviour was fully acquainted with all the Scriptures. This is because He is the WORD of God. John 1:1, 14. He it is that is referred to in Gen 3:8, “ . . . the voice of the LORD God”. This ‘Voice’ is the Son of God, the eternal Word, who appeared in human form, as a foreshadowing of his future incarnation.
- This being so, He could do nothing but fulfil all that He said about His undertaking of the redemption of His people. From a human point of view, the Lord Jesus read and familiarised Himself with Scriptures. “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man,” Luke 2:52. As He grew in body, the faculties of his soul opened, and received gradually large measures of wisdom and knowledge, in things natural and spiritual, through the indwelling of his divine nature in Him, and the Holy Spirit that was, without measure, upon Him.
- If we are to live so as to leave nothing undone that we should do, we must study and obey God’s Word. How wonderfully this is set out in Psalm 119. “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee,” Verses 9-11.
“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight,” 1 John 3:22. Here is the secret of a victorious life!