What Is The Importance Of The Wound In Jesus’ Side? Series

- This sermon series is examining several of the parallels between the early chapters of Genesis and the late chapters of John. In particular, we are largely talking about the way that Jesus is “re-creating” things.

- On the subject for today, there are actually four parallels within the larger point, so we’ll start by unpacking these four aspects of this one parallel and then we’ll close out by summing up the larger point that’s being made.

FOUR GENESIS/JOHN PARALLELS ON JESUS' WOUND:

1. THERE IS A WOUND IN THE SIDE.

- Genesis 2:21; John 19:34.

- The major parallel here is that we have two wounds in the side.

- In Genesis we have the creation of the woman. Throughout the creation narrative God has pronounced His creation to be “good.” But then we come to v. 20b and a discordant note is sounded: “for Adam no suitable helper was found.” What follows seems an odd choice, but our overall point this morning helps it make a lot more sense.

- Rather than creating out of nothing, God chooses to create the woman from the man. Verse 21 is translated “he took one of the man’s ribs,” which is a fair rendering. The Hebrews actually just says “he took part of the man’s side,” which makes that a little closer to the John statement that we’ll unpack in a moment.

- Going over to John 19, we have Jesus dead on the cross. The soldiers come around to break the legs of those being crucified and find that Jesus is already dead. To confirm that death, one soldier pierces Jesus’ side and out of it flows blood and water.

- A couple side points before getting back to the main point:

a. I have often heard it preached that the blood and water indicates that Jesus’ heart was physically broken by all He went through.

- I can’t confirm that medically but it is a compelling idea spiritually: Jesus’ heart was broken for us.

b. The other point (and this one is beyond question) is that the spear in the side followed by blood and water flowing out is definitive proof that Jesus was truly dead.

- A perpetual critique of Christianity over the centuries has been that perhaps Jesus wasn’t really dead when He was taken down from the cross. Perhaps He simply had a heartbeat that wasn’t detectable because He was in such bad shape. Then He was put in the tomb barely alive but nonetheless alive, only to get the strength to recover three days later.

- This is known as the “swoon theory.” That is, that Jesus wasn’t dead but rather He just swooned on the cross, only to revive later.

- There are multiple avenues for critiquing this idea but we’re just going to focus on the obvious one in front of us this morning. Having someone shove a spear into your heart so that blood and water come pouring out of the gash in your side is a pretty good indication that you’re actually dead.

- Jesus didn’t swoon. He was resurrected by the power of God.

- Now, having discussed those two side issues, let’s get back to the main issue here. That is the parallel between the two passages.

- We have noted multiple times in this sermon series that the series’ title is “Re-Creation.” The idea that we are unpacking is that there are interesting and important parallels between the beginning of Genesis and its Fall and the later chapters in John and the redemption that Jesus brings.

- Here we have another parallel. The wound that is in the side of Adam foreshadows the wound in the side of Christ. This is not accidental. Jesus’ wound is connected to Adam’s wound.

- In order to plunge fully into finding that meaning, there are three other details that I want to share regarding these two wounds before summarizing the overall point.

2. THERE IS A TIME OF SLEEP.

- Genesis 2:21; John 19:33.

- Passages speaking of sleep as death: Matthew 9:24; Acts 7:60; 1 Corinthians 15:51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15.

- A second aspect of this parallel starts just before God taking something from Adam’s side in Genesis. In 2:21, it says that God made man fall into a deep sleep before He took something from the man’s side. I guess you might say this was the first surgery and the first anesthesiology!

- So before the wound in Adam’s side, there was a sleep.

- Going to John, in the verse before the wound in Jesus’ side, we find John telling us that they came to Jesus and found He was already dead.

- What’s interesting here is that there are at least four places in the New Testament where death is referred to as, guess what, sleep. One of the best known is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15. Read.