A ministry exalting the glorious Person of Christ is always precious. The Spirit of God delights to dwell upon the excellencies of the Son of God. It is His divine mission to glorify the Lord Jesus. Details of the moral beauties of Christ when He was bearing the indignities placed upon Him by men are of infinite value to all who are redeemed. Some of the sweet incense, used in the tabernacle service, was to be beaten small, and stored within the veil. This teaches the inexhaustible preciousness of the Person of Christ. There was always a reserve of fragrance. This meditation presents the sweetness of Christ in the hour of His bitterest grief.

Most of the Lord's people know and appreciate that Christ was offered vinegar on two occasions at Calvary. I believe there were three distinct occasions when the vinegar was offered. Let the reader ponder carefully the following Scriptures: Matthew 27:33, 34; Mark 15:22, 23; Luke 23:36; Matthew 27:48; Mark 15:36; John 19:28-30. On the arrival of the Lord at Calvary, "They gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with gall" (Matt. 27:34), shortly before His crucifixion. Then, when He was on the cross, before the darkness of the sixth hour, the soldiers offered Him vinegar to drink (Luke 23:36). Lastly, after the darkness was past and shortly before He dismissed His Spirit, again they offered Him vinegar (Matt. 27:48). The Lord Jesus refused the first draught, did not taste the second, but received the last offer of the vinegar from the sponge.

The vinegar mentioned in these passages was a sour wine given to the Roman soldiers for their refreshment in the heat of the day. This bitter drink was offered to the Lord on these three occasions. The first could be called the cup of mercy, the second, the cup of mockery and the third, the cup of majesty.

The Lord Jesus refused the wine mingled with myrrh that was offered to Him just before He was crucified. This drink, which was a painkiller, was offered in mercy by the mothers of Salem. Christ entered the conflict of Golgotha apart from any opiate to alleviate His distress.

The high priest of Israel was to approach God in the sanctuary with reverence and holiness. He must never come to God with wine or strong drink. Our Lord Jesus was approaching God to make the atonement for human guilt. In the refusal of the merciful cup we behold His priestly glories. We know from the epistle to the Hebrews that our blessed Lord was not a priest on earth (7:14). His official priesthood commenced upon His ascension to the right hand of God (5:5). However, we believe that the offering of Himself was a priestly act (1:3). It was in His priestly character that He refused the vinegar mingled with gall, although the first part of Psalm 69:21 was fulfilled, "They gave Me also gall for My meat."

After He was lifted up on the cross, a series of bitter mockeries commenced, in which the scribes, the thieves and the soldiers joined. The cruel crown of thorns suggested the coronation of a king, and the tree was a mockery of a royal throne. To mock His kingly glories a soldier poured wine into a cup and raised it as a toast to the good health of His majesty. It was the mockery of a cup of coronation. Our Lord Jesus will one day enter into His official glories as the universal King. In that day He will drink the fruit of the vine in the joy of His kingdom, but on the tree on this day, He refused the sour wine of scorn.

About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani." The throng at Calvary said that He called for Elias. One of the soldiers ran and filled a sponge with vinegar and gave Him to drink. It was a merciful act, on the part of this Roman, to share his ration with the Saviour. The sponge was used by the soldier to wipe their blood-stained hands and the instruments of death. They had brought the vessel full of vinegar with the hyssop to quench their own thirst. However, God had arranged that these things would be there so that His Word would be fulfilled.

"After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst" (John 19:28). Here we see the Lord in His glories as the great Prophet and the Fulfiller of prophecy. The words of Psalm 69:21 must be fulfilled; not one word of the prophetic revelation can fall to the ground. "In my thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink." In the giving of the vinegar which the Lord received we perceive the mercy of the soldier and the majesty of the Lord.

In the three drinks presented to the Lord at Calvary we see the greatness of the Priest, the grandeur of the King and the glory of the
Prophet.