Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on John 19:31-37.
But one of the soldiers
with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water (John
19:34).
The soldier likely thrust the spear into Christ’s side to
verify his death. So Calvin observes: “he did so for the purpose of
ascertaining if he were dead.”
There have been many explanations, physical and metaphorical,
for the “blood and water” that flowed from Christ’s lifeless body.
Physically, it suggests that the spear pierced the
pericardium, from which flowed both the watery fluid and blood.
Metaphorically, many interpretations have been suggested,
including:
The water represents his divinity and the blood his humanity.
The water represents his baptism and the blood his
crucifixion.
The water represents the Holy Spirit and the blood the
Incarnation of the Son of God.
The water represents sanctification and the blood
justification (Matthew Henry).
One of the most popular interpretations has been sacramental.
The water represents baptism and the blood the Lord’s Supper. John Chrysostom
said that when believers took the cup, they were “drinking from His very side.”
J. C. Ryle, however, warned that to draw such a conclusion here may tend to
“vulgarize” the sacraments and “bring them into contempt.”
Some have drawn parallels to 1 John 5:6-8 which begins: “This
is he that came by water and blood” (v. 6) and continues by speaking of the
three that bear witness in heaven: The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost (v.
7), and of the three that bear witness on earth: “the Spirit, and the water,
and the blood” (v. 8).
John offers us no inspired interpretation of any symbolic
meaning related to the blood and water. At the least, we can affirm this as a
historical reality. It really happened. And I think we can say that the primary
purpose of this description is to affirm the real and actual death of Christ on
our behalf. Christ tasted death for us. The older we get the more the
realization comes to us that we too will one day pass over that river of death.
And the closer we come to that reality, the more we appreciate the one who died
and bled for us.
Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle
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