Why Did the Soldiers Pierce Jesus' Side?

Tom: We’re continuing with the gospel. We’re in the Gospel of John. We’re in John:19:34But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
See All..., “But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.”

Dave, is there any significance to what came forth? That it be blood and water?

Dave: Well, Tom, I’m not a medical person. I’ve heard that there’s some significance that shows intense emotional pain, spiritual travail, which Christ certainly endured, but I couldn’t back that up medically. Can you?

Tom: No, no, I didn’t have any thoughts on it. What about from a spiritual side? Have people in the past made…?

Dave: Some people have made something out of that and have said that there ought to be a little water mingled with the wine at communion.

Tom: Well that’s what we did as Roman Catholics. I remember as an altar boy I was there with the cruets, pouring in a certain amount of water into the challis along with the wine.

Dave: And they could say that they’re more biblical, then. But we don’t read that at the Last Supper Christ put water in the wine. So I don’t think that would be essential.

Something—blood and water—I think blood sort of separates itself, the plasma and so forth, but it is very significant. Because verse 33 we read last week, “They came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:…

Now Jesus said, “No one takes my life from me, I lay it down of myself.” So He didn’t die from His wounds or from the beating, as some people want us to believe. In fact, He was a tremendous—I mean, He was a perfect, sinless man. So physically, He would be absolutely perfect. The perfect physical specimen of a man, okay? That’s why Pilate was astonished that He was dead already. He couldn’t imagine that.

But Jesus is dead, and He’s robbed them of their pleasure at seeing Him linger in his pain. And maybe it was in anger that the soldier pierced His side with the spear. They’re not going to break His legs because they would break the legs so they couldn’t support themselves any more, and they would collapse—their lungs collapsed—they asphyxiate, and then they would take them down from the cross. But in Christ’s case, you don’t need to break His legs—He’s dead already, okay? So we talked about it last week. The scriptures said, “A bone of him shall not be broken.”

So…but then, the Bible said He would be crucified centuries before crucifixion was known! The Bible said they would not do to Him what they always did with the crucified. They would not break his legs, and the Bible also said they would do to Him what they never did to the crucified. They would pierce Him with a spear or a sword to the death. So you get that in Zechariah:12:10And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
See All..., when it says, “They will look on me [this is Yahweh, this is Jehovah, this is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, this is the God of Israel. Two hundred and three times he calls himself that. He has come in the midst of Armageddon to rescue Israel, that’s Zechariah:12:10And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
See All.... He says…] they will look on me whom they have pierced.” And the word in the Hebrew there is the piercing to the death with a sword or spear, something they never did to the crucified. So this was an important fulfillment.

Tom: Dave, you have some…you have some rabbi friends, good friend. How does he explain it?

Dave: I don’t know, Tom. We’ve had some long discussions, and I cannot remember the details.

Tom: But what about Jews in general. Do they have a rationale for this?

Dave: Well, they would say this isn’t true. This is false reporting. It didn’t really happen this way, and so forth. Although there is so much evidence, internal evidence, historical evidence. We have non-Christian writers at the time who talk about this—Josephus and so forth.

Tom: Well, what does Zechariah, the verse you quoted from Zechariah, how would they—that wouldn’t be misreported. That would be their Hebrew prophet.

Dave: Yeah, “They will look on me whom they have pierced.” Tom, they don’t have an explanation for that, and some of these scriptures they’re forbidden to read. They’re not supposed to read Isaiah 53. They’re not supposed to read Daniel 9, where it talks about when the Messiah will come. They’re not supposed to read these scriptures that say the Messiah will be cut off. Isaiah:9:6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
See All...: “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father….Of his kingdom and peace there will be no end.” There’s no doubt to whom it refers. It’s referring to the Messiah.

But, Tom, in Daniel 9, you have the exact day that the Messiah would ride into Jerusalem. Sixty-nine weeks of years, 483 years from the going forth of the command to rebuild Jerusalem. You can’t explain that away. They’re still looking for the Messiah. They say he didn’t come. But that was when he was supposed to come.

Tom, what is the old saying? “There’s no one so blind as the man who refuses to see.” So when they will not take their own Scriptures—this is why Jesus said to the two on the road to Emmaus, “You fools, slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things to enter into his glory? Didn’t the prophets say he would be crucified? Didn’t they say he would rise again the third day? Isn’t this what the Bible, what your own prophets, said?” And this is how, of course, Paul preached the gospel. He would go into the synagogue, open their scriptures—we talked about that before—but now we’re getting the fulfillment of these prophecies.[John:19:35-37 [35] And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. [36] For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. [37] And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
See All...] “He that saw it bear record [John was there], and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that you might believe. For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. And again, another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.”

Tom: Dave, something that puzzles me here. In Romans 11, I can quote a number of the verses in chapter 11, but let’s take, for example, verse 25. It says: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part has happened to Israel….”

Now Romans 11 talks about them stumbling over this, and of course, it has to do with the rejection, as you know—the rejection of the Messiah. But you just mentioned Jesus chiding those on the road to Emmaus for not understanding the Scriptures. So how does this blindness and this—because it was—the scripture says it was for the sake of the Gentiles—blessing came to the Gentiles.

Dave: Well, yeah, but God is not insisting that they be blind. They are blind. And it’s a tough scripture. You get the same idea in Romans 9, and so forth. He blinded them. Jesus talks about it. And Jesus in Matthew:24:34Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
See All... says, “This generation will not pass away until all is fulfilled.” So this generation of unbelief, of blindness, of rebellion, and rejection of Christ and so forth—Israel as a whole will remain in that condition until Christ appears and rescues them in the midst of Armageddon.

But is their fault that they’re blind? Yes, it’s their fault. Does every Jew have to be blind? No. And so this is why He’s chiding the two on the road to Emmaus. “You fools, look it’s right in your scriptures,” and this is, as we mentioned, is the way Paul preached the gospel. So Paul isn’t saying, “Oh, you’re all blind. No, look, I’m giving it to you.” But there’s a blindness, a veil, that has come upon them. It refers to the veil that Moses had to put over his face, you know. They don’t see to this day. They don’t understand Moses to this day. Well, was that their fault? Yes, it was their fault. Why is this blindness? Because of their own sin.

Tom, it’s like we talked about evolution—intelligent, otherwise intelligent, university professors who hang in there with evolution. It’s ludicrous! It’s a joke! It’s pitiful! It’s impossible mathematically. DNA wipes out evolution. It couldn’t possibly happen. By chance these molecules arrange themselves in a language that lays out the whole scheme of things? How to build trillions of cells and operate them and so forth? All of these letters come together by chance? You couldn’t possibly believe that as a rational person. Why are they blind? Because they do not want to believe in God. They don’t want to accept the truth. So a Jew remains blind to this day as long as he rejects the Messiah and he rejects the Scriptures.