After Jesus was crucified, one of the soldiers used a spear to pierce the side of Jesus and there was blood and water coming out. Jesus had already died according to John 19:33
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.John19:34
Reading more about the torture according to medical terms, we realize that Jesus died of a ruptured heart. When we read what John the writer wrote in the Bible we see an unfolding truth which revealed far more than what we realize. John recorded the blood and water as a proof of who Jesus was and by what He fulfilled.
The appearance of Jesus was predicted in the Tanach. We can now experience a revealing and new aspect of John 19:34
But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” John 19:33 -37
They cast lots for his garments - Fulfillment of Psalm 22:18
Old Testament: they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. Psalm 22:18
New Testament: so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,“They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things, John 19:24
His legs were not broken - Passover fulfillment of Exodus 12:46
Old Testament: It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. Exodus 12:46
New Testament: But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” John 19:33 -37
He was pierced - Fulfillment of Zechariah 12:10
Old Testament: “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. Zechariah 12:10
New Testament: But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.” John 19:33 -37
The blood and water - Fulfillment (Read further)
“On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. Zechariah 13:1
On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. Zechariah 14:8
Divine spirit is also symbolized by water, for Jesus said: Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:38
John adds Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7: 39 because Jesus wasn't yet glorified," John 7:38, 39 (in this verse glorified means crucified ).
Although we may find slain lambs and their blood in Exodus and a spirit-water in Zechariah Jesus not having his legs broken by the Roman soldiers correspond to the Passover Lamb not having its bones broken in Exodus 12:46, implying to John that Jesus must be the new Passover "lamb of God”.
John recalled the Egyptian Passover and the Passover in his day. In the first Passover there was no temple. The tabernacle had not been set up as yet and this did not occur until the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and encamped at the foot of Mount Sinai where they received Torah, the Law.
At the first Passover the lambs were slain at home and eaten at home, Exodus 12:1-8.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Exodus 12:1-8
Since there was no tabernacle or temple, there was also no central sacrificial altar for the slaying of such animals. However, by John's and Jesus' time centuries later, there was a resplendent white limestone temple on top Mount Moriah (today's Temple Mount in Jerusalem) where hundreds of lambs were slain. As a result, thousands of gallons or liters of lambs’ blood had to be disposed, by being poured out at the "base of the altar". This was a rule that applied to both tabernacle and temple.
And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the Lord that is in the tent of meeting, and all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Leviticus 4:7
And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is in the tent of meeting before the Lord, and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Leviticus 4:18
Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. Leviticus 4:25
And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering. Leviticus 4:29
Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar.Leviticus 4:34
The First Temple (Solomon's) required ten lavers of water for rinsing blood from sacrificial meats.
He also made ten basins in which to wash, and set five on the south side, and five on the north side. In these they were to rinse off what was used for the burnt offering, and the sea was for the priests to wash in. 2 Chronicles 4:6
Therefore in the Second Temple in John’s time, large amounts of water were poured into the altar's drainage system to flush away the blood of lambs. Since the Temple Mount was a hill with a flat limestone surface it flushed down the drains and streamed into the Kidron Valley below. The Temple faced east, toward the rising sun and the Mount of Olives. The depressed area between these two hills is called the Kidron Valley or Brook (The valley is normally dry, becoming a brook only during the Passover spring rains). Jesus' choice place for schooling his followers was the Mount of Olives, and from there he would descend and pass by the Kidron, and then walk upwards to the Temple Mount where he preached publicly. Since sacrifices were offered morning and evening daily, with more on high holy days such as Passover, every Jew knew that blood and water routinely spilled into the Kidron Valley below; and evidently the Temple drains made such a profound impression on John that when he saw the blood and water streaming from Jesus' side he concluded Jesus’ be must be the new Passover lamb.
The Book of John is the only one which mentions the Kidron, John 18:1. The riveting image of the temple drains spewing their torrent of blood and water into the Kidron is the blood and water fulfillment. The blood and water was proof enough that the Temple building and its sacrifices corresponded to Jesus’body and hiscrucifixion.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. John 18:1
John recorded that Jesus compared his own body to the Temple. In "fulfilling" the Passover scriptures, Jesus became the new temple and new atoning Lamb of God through whom the Divine spirit are symbolized by water.His Spiritcould now flow to the masses, as had been depicted by the gushing drains of King Solomon’s Temple, and lastly King Herod’s Temple.
But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. John 2:21-22
Jesus compare his physical body to a temple that’s about to be “destroyed” so that a new one may arise in its place in “three days,” John 2:21, 22
In his mind, the outflow from Jesus’ side mirrored the copious discharge from the Temple’s drains. After all, Jesus – like the lambs – was also slain during the Passover festival. But because the Church remained on earth, it became the visible representation of the new temple.
For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Hebrews 9:16-28
Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 1 Corinthians 3:16-19
The new body of Jesusare described in(Ephesians 5:30, 32; Romans 12:4, 5) after his resurrection and ascension.
And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Acts 1:9-11
This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. I John 5:6-8
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 2 John 7
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Leviticus 17:11
When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30
God intervene with a miracle and cause the two fluids to momentarily and visibly flow from Jesus “that you may believe,” In Matthew 21:21 he says that miracles depend on prayer, faith, and avoidance of any doubts.
Jesus himself died in faith, believing He would be raised from the dead in three days.
He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. John 19:35
Whatever one may think of Jesus’ body-temple remarks or the meaning of the blood and water, his resurrection from the dead is asserted at least six times in the Book of Acts alone
let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. Acts 4:10
but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, Acts 10:40
But God raised him from the dead, Acts 13:30
And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ Acts 13:34
but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Acts 13:37
because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:31
|
