Not Broken! Pierced!! Why?

Adam and Eve, our foreparents disobeyed the commandment of God and became one with Satan and therefore they lost their happy joyful life and had to live a life of trouble and tribulations.

In His love, our Father in heaven sent His Son, Jesus Christ to save the sin stricken people from destruction. When the animal was sacrificed, it was the first sign of atonement on the earth.

To save the world and to transform the character from its sinful condition to God’s divine character, John the Baptist identified the Son of God – “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29.

The animal sacrifice did not accomplish the real atonement. It was only a shadow of the real sacrifice, which was done on the cross by our Lord Jesus Christ, which is described thus, “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 immediately blood and water came out. (John 19:33,34) and to explain these two texts is the purpose of this article.
God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh day and blessed and sanctified it. The seventh day was ordained as a holy day and all who keep it are also blessed. (Genesis 2:2,3).
Also when Jesus had died, His body was not left on the cross over the Sabbath, but was buried before.

NOT BROKEN, WHY?

To speed up the death of the ones crucified, the cruel Roman soldiers broke the bones of the two thieves crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus, they did not break His bones, because He was already dead, which was a surprise to them. (John 19:32).
The point to consider here is whether they did not break His bones because He was already dead or for some other reason.

The very night when the people of Israel left Egypt, they celebrated the symbolic atonement; similar to the sacrifice offered in the Garden of Eden.
It was the real atonement when Jesus shed his precious blood on Calvary for the remission of sins, and to deliver us from the bondage of sin and to gain entrance to the Garden of Eden again.

In a similar way, as the people of Israel left Egypt to travel to Canaan, we also have left the world to travel to heavenly Canaan; this is done only by Jesus Christ. “For there is no salvation in any other…” Acts 4:12.
“Without shedding blood there is no remission of sins.” (Heb. 9:22). Our forefathers realized this, and therefore followed the sacrificial system by choosing a lamb without blemish for the sacrifice. We today celebrate the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper in memory of Christ’s sacrifice.

In the old Israel, the uncircumcised was not allowed to eat the flesh of the sacrificial animal. (Ex. 12: 43, 44). Likewise after Christ’s death, those who are not baptized are not allowed to participate in the Lord’s Supper. The person who is not baptized is comparable to a person who is uncircumcised and therefore a stranger.

In the old Israel, God commanded that the bones should not be broken of the sacrificial animal. (Ex. 12:46). In a similar way, the bones of Jesus Christ our Redeemer and sacrificial lamb were not broken.

PIERCED, WHY?

People had no knowledge of the precious blood of Jesus, through which their sins could be forgiven. They only saw the inanimate things like the thorny crown, red robe, wooden cross, nails and spear.

He was mocked by offending words. He was nailed to the cross after his enemies spitting on His face and placing a thorny crown on His head.

After dying on the cross, He was pierced. Why? “One of the soldiers pierced His side, and immediately blood and water came out.” (John 19:34).

Why was He pierced in the rib? There are three reasons for it:

1. Medically the life of a person is in the blood. (Lev. 17:11). The heart is the organ that pumps the blood throughout the body.
The rib is near the heart. The spear of the soldier hit the rib of Jesus first and then the heart. The blood of Jesus had separated into water and blood.

2. God created the world to last eternally. All that He had created was very good.
Afterwards, God created man in His own image with the intention that he may live a happy and holy life with the fullest enjoyment of all the blessings that God had provided. God also created a helpmate to Adam from his rib bone.
Eve was to be one flesh with him. There was no evil in man. He was created in the perfect image of God. They lived in sweet harmony with their Creator.

Once Eve was alone, and Satan used this opportunity to tempt her into sin. In the form of a serpent, Satan told Eve that if she would eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, their eyes would be opened and they would be like God, knowing good and evil. (Gen. 3:5).
She took the fruit and ate and gave also to her husband. This gave great joy to Satan. “The tree of knowledge, which stood near the tree of life in the midst of the garden, was to be a test of obedience, faith and love of our first parents.” PP 48,49.
If they had lived a life of victory by overcoming the temptation of Satan, they would have had eternal life.

In the midst of the Garden stood the tree of life surpassing in glory all other trees. Its fruits appeared like apples of gold and silver, and had power to perpetuate life.
“The fall of man filled all heaven with sorrow. The world that God had made was blighted with the curse of sin and inhabited by beings doomed to misery and death. There appeared no escape for those who had transgressed the law. Angels ceased their songs of praise. Throughout the heavenly court there was mourning for the ruin that sin had wrought.” PP 63.

“The Son of God, the heaven’s glorious Commander, was touched with pity for the fallen race. His heart was moved with infinite compassion as the woes of the lost world rose up before Him.
“Before the Father He pleaded in the sinners behalf, while the host of heaven waited the result with an intensity of interest that words cannot express. Long continued was that mysterious communing ‘the counsel of peace’ (Zech. 6:13) for the fallen sons of men.” PP 63.
As decided on that day in heaven, Christ was bom into this world and bore all of our sins and died on the cross of Calvary.
Even after knowing that He had already died, the soldiers pierced Him in the rib. To explain this in detail, piercing His rib had remitted the sin, which entered through the woman who had been made of the rib bone.

So for as Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Cor. 15:22) is the promise. “The wages of sin is death.” But all who go to the merciful Saviour can be free from the condemnation.

“Wrongdoers must repent of their sins and humble themselves before God, whose just wrath they have incurred by breaking His law, and they must also exercise faith in the blood of Christ as their only means of pardon. By repentance and faith they might be freed from the condemnation of sin and through the grace of Christ be enabled henceforth to render obedience to the law of God.” AA393.

3. Another reason can also be mentioned for the piercing of His rib. When God made the helpmeet to man, He did not use the dust of the ground, but a bone was taken from the central part of Adam’s body. Then Adam’s rib was broken in thf. Garden of T:den. So also the second Adam’s rib was pierced when He was offered to bear the sins of many.

The apostle Paul testifies about the church in the following manner, “For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” 2 Cor. 11:2. This indicates the strong tie between the bride and the bridegroom.
The main purpose of this article is that we should be like the wise virgins having oil and lamps burning to welcome the Bridegroom when He comes. This is also the burden of my soul.

This explains why the bones of Jesus were not broken but His rib was pierced.
Christ gives an invitation to all who believe in His precious blood. He will blot out their wickedness and trespasses and give them a crown of glory when He appears the second time to meet His bride – the church. He will say, “Come ye blessed of My Father and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matt. 25:34).

“Moreover it is necessary to attain the perfection of the Christian virtues completely in the Christian life. By the sacrifice of Christ, provision has been made for the believer to receive all things that pertain to life and godliness. God calls upon us to reach the standard of perfection and places before us the example of Christ’s character. In His humanity perfected by a life of constant resistance of evil, the Saviour showed that through cooperation with Divinity, human beings may in this life attain perfection of character. This is God’s assurance to us that we, too, may obtain complete victory.” AA531.

We need to know how to leave the life of sin and how to inherit eternal life. All who keep the commandments of God will receive the eternal life through the atoning blood of Christ.

Let us consider this world as our enemy and reach out to our heavenly home and to the life eternal is my wish and desire.
AMEN.