Words of Frailty: "I Am Thirsty" (John 19:28)

In the incarnation, God the Son, having existed eternally as God and with God, added humanity to his divinity without diminishing or compromising either nature (John 1:1–3, 14). So, on the one hand, Jesus Christ is, was, and always will be truly God (e.g., John 20:28; Rom. 9:5; Tit. 2:13; Heb. 1:8). We can—and should—sing with full scriptural conviction, “Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see / Hail the incarnate Deity!”At the same time, from the moment of his conception, Jesus Christ is, and always will be, truly human. At a moment in history, the invisible God became visible, and the God who is spirit became tangible (1 John 1:1–3). During his earthly life, wrapped in flesh, our Lord experienced human limitations—weakness, frailty, fatigue, temptation, pain, and death. Jesus’s true humanity allowed for his great suffering, and that suffering, in turn, showcased his deep desire.