The Revelation of Death Fulfilled
John 19: Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” 37 and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”
A couple of years ago my wife and I decided to have a foreign exchange student live with us for a year. Several weeks before she arrived I wanted to call Germany and try and talk with her. However, I ended up calling the wrong number. So here I was, trying to speak German with this lady over a thousand miles away. I could spit out some “ja’s” and “nein’s”. That wasn’t the hard part. But when she responded in German, that’s where the trouble came in. All of the sudden I became silent and said, “ach du lieber, nicht so schnell! Ich weis nicht was du hast gesprecht.” Whenever I try and speak a foreign language with someone, I have a real hard time comprehending what they’re saying. My heart goes out to the immigrants who move up here and have to try and understand what we’re saying. The only way that some recognition is possible is if we speak . . . . very. . . . slowly, and they concentrate on every word.
In our Lenten series we’ve been talking about how Jesus revealed different things to us during his last days as our Redeemer on earth. He revealed what it meant to be the Son of God - that he was the Christ - who His betrayer was - things that people didn’t know before. As I prepared for these sermons, I was able to gain new insights on words that I had read many times before. That’s the neat thing about the Word of God. The more you study it, the more that is revealed! Therefore, like young Samuel - it is our duty to “let none of his words fall to the ground.” Who knows what God may have revealed in His Word that we are not even aware of!
John’s Gospel makes mention of two prophecies that very easily could have fallen through the cracks - or at least been difficult to decipher before the fact. Tonight we are going to carefully listen to these words, like listening to a foreign language - and try and see
The Revelation of Death Fulfilled
I. The revelation of the bones
We pick up tonight’s story after Jesus finally cried out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” After His Father had treated him like a criminal and put him through hell on the cross, Jesus payment was complete. Jesus had conquered sin. He had conquered Satan. With this payment finished, Jesus was now able to refer to God as His “Father” once again - and return to his Father in His spirit. There was only one more enemy to conquer - death. And so Jesus allowed his body to go through the disgrace of death. With that, he bowed his head and gave up his life. You would think, then, that all of the predictions about Jesus would be fulfilled until the resurrection. But tonight we see two more come to play.
The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. One expert in crucifixion remarked,
Crucifixion seriously interfered with the breathing process. Because of the weight of the body and muscular contractions caused by the arms being nailed to the cross, air inhaled into the lungs could not be properly exhaled. The victim soon learned that he could exhale by using his feet to push his body up and by flexing his elbows and shoulders. But this would result in muscle cramps and searing pain in the wrists and feet. Each effort to inhale and to exhale caused agony and increasing weariness. The victim would be soaked with perspiration and experience great thirst. The pain and shock often led to mental impairment. The two main causes of death were shock and suffocation, both of which brought on asphyxia - too little oxygen and too much carbon dioxide in the blood.
So in order to keep the criminals from pushing their legs up to gain a breath, the soldiers would break their legs so they couldn’t push up on their torsos from the cross. 33 But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Why did John especially mention this fact? He says why. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”
This prediction was found in Psalm 34 where it says A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all; 20 he protects all his bones, not one of them will be broken. Also, in the laws of the Passover in Numbers 9 the LORD told Moses: “Tell the Israelites: They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12 They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones.
Doesn’t this seem like a rather strange prediction? If Jesus sacrifice was already made at this point, what would be the big deal if his bones were broken or not? When a bull was slaughtered and sacrificed in the Old Testament, the meat would be eaten and the bones would be burned. With the sacrifice complete, there would be no more use out of the animal. But God said of Jesus - “his bones will not be broken.” Doesn’t this insinuate that God had other purposes left with Jesus? His bones were NOT to be broken, even after his sacrifice, giving us the message loud and clear - “His ministry ISN’T DONE! THIS BODY IS STILL IMPORTANT! It still is holy and needs to stay that way!” Even though this body may have been marred with the sin of the world and scarred with scourges and looked worthless in the world’s eyes, God would not allow a broken bone to happen upon it.
Why not let the bones be broken? In Leviticus 21 God said, “`For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; no man with a crippled foot or hand, or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores. . . No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the offerings made to the LORD by fire. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. Any imperfection in the Levite disqualified from service in God’s temple.
Whether it was the actual animal being sacrificed or the person sacrificing the animal, there could be no deformities - no imperfections - because God is a HOLY God. That’s why none of us could serve as the High Priest. Our bodies are all marred with sin and imperfections. If God was that particular when it came to these animal sacrifices - which didn’t even pay for the people’s sins, then obviously He would maintain the same standard when it came to His Eternal High Priest? Romans 8 says, Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Since Jesus still serves as our High Priest, God in his perfection could not allow his bones to be broken. So we thank God that Jesus remained unbroken in his body. Now we have the assurance that our High Priest’s sacrifice, prayers and intercession are still acceptable to our God - because our High Priest is still holy - no broken legs - no imperfections. As Hebrews 4 says, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
II. The revelation of the piercing
The second prediction fulfilled is just as intriguing. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 35 The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. 36 These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: . . . “They will look on the one they have pierced.” This was a prediction found in Zechariah 12:10 - referring to Josiah the king and also pointing forward to Jesus - that he would be pierced. John added the detail that blood and water even flowed from Jesus’ side. One sight on the internet said this:
Post mortem clotting of the blood can be delayed, especially if death is associated with severe pain. The effect is that the red cells can separate from the plasma within thirty minutes. ‘Blood and water’ would then emerge in sequence by gravity from a body cavity pierced by a sharp object.
The point of blood and water illustrates the simple fact that Jesus was dead. It was very clear. He was not faking it - he couldn’t have been. The centurion had probably seen hundreds of these deaths, and this was a tell tale sign of death. But the reason that John makes mention of it is because it was also predicted in the Scriptures that Jesus would be pierced - and they would look on the one they have pierced. This statement in itself seems to signify that Jesus would be in a prominent place where people would naturally be able to SEE him - indirectly pointing to the fact that Jesus would be on the cross.
The most comforting thing for us in the piercing of Jesus - was the reason WHY he was pierced. You see all kinds of people getting their bodies pierced today - through the belly buttons, their lips, their eye lids, their tongues. They are trying to stand out- make a statement - be fashionable in some strange kind of way. As far as I am concerned it isn’t a very attractive thing to look at. But that’s not why Jesus was pierced. Isaiah 53 tells us why: But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. The statement Jesus was trying to make was completely different - it was - “you are forgiven! Your sins are paid for in full! Look at me! See what I have done - for you!” Seeing Jesus hanging on the cross and seeing blood and water pour from his side is not an attractive sight. But we put this on our walls - because the message to us is clear - we are healed by his wounds. You might compare it to donating blood. It isn’t pretty getting poked with a needle. It hurts. But it also gives someone else life.
Jesus has been continuing to tell us to look at Him - the one who has pierced - today. And just as blood and water flowed from his side after His death - they continue to flow to us in a different way. The waters of baptism flow from his side - as this water connects us with Jesus’ righteousness and forgiveness. The blood of the Lord’s Supper continues to strengthen us in the faith and give us spiritual life to face the trials of each day. The power of these sacraments flow from the sacrifice of Christ. Without his sacrifice, they would be worthless. But connected with it - they impart life!
In today’s text John revealed two predictions about Christ that seem rather obscure - his bones not being broken and how they would look on the one they had pierced. So what was God trying to prove? It first of all shows us how concerned God was with every detail of our salvation - He even had a plan for Jesus’ bones and how he would be seen. God would not rest easy until every last detail of our salvation would be fulfilled.
God also predicted what would happen with Jesus’ body as an assurance to us. As Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Before Joshua died, he wanted to assure His people of God’s trustworthiness, so He stated the same thing. 14 "Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.” And so the point for doing this is clear. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled.
So many people today are full of promises. They’ll say, “yes, pastor, I’ll be in church this Sunday”, and never show up. Many kids will swear to their parents that they aren’t going to cause any problems or get in trouble, and then the parents will find out their children went out drinking. It’s come to the point where you just can’t trust people today. You can’t take them at their word. It’s no good.
But God’s Word is. He made sure of it - by making sure that Jesus’ bones would NOT be broken and that he would be pierced. Just think, if Jesus had his bones broken - then we really couldn’t trust any of God’s Word. We wouldn’t know if Jesus really died for us. We wouldn’t know if there really was a heaven. We wouldn’t know if we were really saved just by faith. But since even this little prophecy was fulfilled, now we know that God’s Word is completely reliable. If He promises us something, then it will come true. We know that God does have the hairs of our head numbered. We are saved by grace, through faith. He does have a mansion prepared for us in heaven. How do we know this? Because God gives us His WORD.
There’s a new show on the air called “Crossing Over with John Edwards.” Have you ever seen it? If you have ever seen it, he claims to be able to give seemingly amazing details about people. I have watched bits and pieces of it. But to me, it’s boring. He tells these people, “so and so says he still loves chips and salza.” Or, “he’s saying something about the carpet - don’t fret over the carpet.” I’m thinking to myself, “who cares?” If that’s all they supposedly had to say from the dead, what’s so important about that? Thanks for the revelation John, but no thanks.
When God reveals things to us - like these unknown before prophecies of the bones and piercing of Jesus - some people may say, “who cares?” But these prophecies show us that Jesus remained holy. They show us that Jesus truly had DIED for our sins. Some may ask, “who cares?” I feel sorry for them on Judgment Day - when they will cry, “we should have cared! We had a Savior, but we didn’t want to pay attention!” How will we respond? Do we care? Yes we do! The revelation of Jesus’ death fulfilled assures us that God had every plan of our salvation fulfilled. With bones unbroken and side pierced, we can trust him when he says, “by his wounds we are healed.” Amen.
