freak.

John 19:28-30

[After this, Jesus knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture) "I thirst." A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished," and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.]

Isaiah 6:5-7

[And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.]

DANG. I recently heard from a preacher that the stick with the sponge that the soldiers used to feed Jesus the sour wine is probably one of those public toilet scrubbers back then since they didn't have toilet seat covers or anything like that. They made that stick because the people back then realized that the toilet seat caused infections because it wasn't cleaned.

The dirtiest thing a person could ever think of touching the mouth of the clean and innocent Savior's mouth before He said, "It is finished."

I used to think that the soldiers had at least a little bit of compassion in offering Jesus something to drink, even if it was sour, nasty wine, because Jesus said that He was thirsty. Man, I was dead wrong.

That stick was not only full of sour, nasty wine. It was probably also infested with millions of germs and just more nastiness. I dread the thought of public bathroom floors, but to imagine the vileness of the scrubber. It makes me shudder. That nasty toilet scrubber was the last thing to touch the mouth of my Savior before He said His last words.

Hearing that and thinking more about it reminded me of that passage in Isaiah 6 where the seraphim took that coal from the altar to cleanse the lips of Isaiah.

Look at the irony! It's so insane. What grace! What mercy! What love! The innocent lamb carries the weight of sin on His shoulders while we the vile sinners are being cleansed and forgiven..? So unbelievable, yet it's so true....

To think that my sin was represented on that sponge, and the willingness of Christ to take that and die so that I might have life with God, I am in awe. Jesus took the sponge so that I might be free of guilt and my sins be atoned for.