72    The Bible and the Future of the World 

A Sponge on Hyssop (John 19:28 30) 

     A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the 

vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the 

vinegar, he said, `It is finished'; and he bowed his head and gave up his 

spirit.  (John 19:29 30). 

    During the Jewish Passover, hyssop reeds were used to put the blood of 

the sacrificed lamb on the lintel and doorposts of the entryways to Jewish 

homes. Moses explains this in the book of Exodus. 

      `Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, 

and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood which is in the 

basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the 

morning.'   (Exodus 12:22). 

    One of the bystanders offered Jesus vinegar on hyssop reeds. This 

charitable act was part of the fulfillment of the Passover rites in Jesus, the 

Pascal Lamb. See how the events and religious rites of the ancient Israelites 

were a symbolic prophecy of future events, especially of Jesus' life and the 

manner of His death. 

    So too are some events which occurred to Jesus and His disciples a 

foreshadowing of future events in the Church. Many Israelites did not 

realize that the Passover sacrifice was a symbolic prophecy of the Messiah's 

One Sacrifice, which was yet to happen. And many Christians do not realize 

that some events described in the New Testament occurred as a living 

prophecy of the future of Christianity. 

    Jesus' Passion and Crucifixion is our salvation, the One Sacrifice which 

reconciles God and humanity. Jesus' Passion and Crucifixion is also a map 

of the future sufferings of the Church. 

The Earthquake after Jesus' Death 

     And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And 

behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and 

the earth shook, and the rocks were split....  (Mt 27:50 51). 

    After Jesus' death, there was a great earthquake. After the Church's great 

suffering has ended, there will be a series of punishments for the wicked, 

including a great earthquake (Rev 16:17 21). 

    After Jesus' death, He did not immediately rise from the dead, but rose on 

the third day. Likewise, when the Church's suffering ends, the Church must 

wait a little longer before entering into her glory on earth (Dan 12:12). The 

period of time that Jesus spent on earth after His Crucifixion, from His 

Resurrection to His Ascension to Heaven, foreshadows the time after the 

Church's great suffering, when the Church will have great glory on earth.