CH Spurgeon on John 19 verse 34

Spurgeon on John chapter 19, verse 34

Verse 34. But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

I would it were more the practice of believers nowadays than it is to study the very person of Christ, as well as the doctrines of the Gospel, and to learn the divine lessons which are discoverable in the wounds of Jesus as well as the sacred admonitions bequeathed to us by the words of His mouth.

One of these old divines says that Jesus Christ was typified by our first father, Adam. As Adam fell asleep, and out of his side Eve was taken, so Jesus slept upon the cross the sleep of death, and from His side, where the spear was thrust, His church was taken. He who redeemed us unto God by His blood, formed us as a peculiar people for Himself.

Others have been pleased to compare Christ to the Rock in the wilderness, which was smitten, and this spear-thrust is the great cleft in the rock. So, you remember, Toplady puts it—

“Rock of Ages, cleft for me! Let me hide myself in Thee.”

Moses hidden in the cleft of the rock, that he might see God’s glory, had not a standing place one-half so glorious as you and I have when, sheltered in the wounds of the Savior slain, we see the glorious justice and the infinite love of God reconciled in the person of the dying Lamb.

Verses 33–34. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

In order that it might be fully known that Jesus Christ was the Messiah that was to come, the prophets had given many marks, all of which must be found in the person of the man who should be the great Deliverer. Among the rest was this one that John quotes, “A bone of him shall not be broken.” This description concerned the paschal lamb, of which it was expressly said by the Lord, through Moses, that they were never to break a single bone of it.

Now, if Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God’s passover, it is necessary and needful that He should never have a broken bone. And yet it looked as if His bones would be broken.

It was a strange thing that his hands should be so restrained. The soldiery of that day were wanton enough. They were just as likely as not to have broken the bones even though the man were dead, but prophecy must have it so, and therefore not a bone of Jesus can be broken.

Verse 37. And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

And then the prophet Zechariah had said concerning the Messiah, “They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son.”

But now that the soldier, moved by the mysterious impulse, lifts his lance and thrusts it deep into the side of Christ—now did prophecy set its mark upon Christ—now did history identify Him, the man without broken bones, yet the man whose side was pierced, Him for whom Israel should one day mourn, Him whom His enemies should one day confess to be their King.

My dear brethren and sisters, has it ever struck you with admiring wonder that Jesus Christ should answer to prophecies so complicated, and types so manifold—should answer even with coincidences the most minute to them all?

How palpable then the evidence is. Our Lord Jesus Christ answers to them all. Just as the stamp in the wax answers to the seal that stamped it, the providence that transpired corresponds with the predictions that forestalled His course, He went as it was written of Him.

Verse 34. But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

While our Lord lived, He was the subject of every form of scorn. He was scourged as none but a felon might be according to the Roman law. He was spat upon and mocked, as even a felon ought not to have been. That thorn crown, that scepter of reed, and that old scarlet cloak—who could have invented a more shameful insignia for One who was greater than all the kings on the earth, but who was brought exceeding low?

But beloved, when Christ was dead, they might certainly have ceased from their scorn. But no, the brutal Roman soldiery were not very nice as to what they did with living bodies. They would not, therefore, be particular as to what they did with dead bodies, therefore this soldier, in a mere freak of wanton brutality, thrust his lance into the Savior’s heart. It was the last kick of the old enemy. It was the last thrust that human malice could give to the Lord of life and glory.

Well, and what then? Why, it should teach us, dear friends, what a shameful thing sin must be, for though Christ was no sinner, yet when our sins were laid upon Him, see how God treated Him, and permitted Him to be treated as an outcast, to be covered with the utmost shame.

Another thought springs up, namely, that if Christ was put to so much shame for us, how glad we ought to be if we are allowed sometimes to be put to shame for Him!

Verses 33–34. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

Certainly, however, the piercing of His heart was the indication to all mankind that “He was dead already.” Now, little as that may seem in the eyes of those of you who do not love Him, it is a most important thing to those who trust Him, for recollect, if Jesus Christ had not died, you and I must have perished.

It was of no avail for our expiation that He sweat great drops of blood unless He had perfected the sacrifice. The law required life, if Christ had not laid down His life, the law would have required ours.

But brethren, He did die. His soul quitted His body. That corpse that was taken by Joseph of Arimathaea was as lifeless as any that was ever committed to the sepulcher, and He did rise again.

If Jesus was punished in our stead, the sting of death is taken away, the law is satisfied, and every soul that believeth in Him shall have life eternal.

Verse 34. But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

This heart wound of Christ is also to be called THE SOURCE OF PURITY.

The text tells us that there issued from it a double flood of blood and water. Christ came into the world by blood to take away the guilt of sin, and by water to take away the power of sin, by blood to remove the punishment, by water to remove the filth.

The only blood that can cleanse us from God’s wrath is the blood of Jesus Christ Himself, and the only water that can wash out of us the damning stain of sin is the water which came from Jesus Christ’s heart. If you want to be thus doubly washed, go to the Son of God for the washing.

Remember too, that the water and the blood flowed from the same place, and flowed together, and therefore, if a man would be saved, He must have the two. Tens of thousands would like to escape from hell, but they have no wish to escape from sin.

Christ never came to be the minister of sin. He came to save us, not in our sins, but from our sins.

Beloved friends, have you got such a hold of Christ as you should have in His double capacity as your Pardoner and your Sanctifier? I know you plead the blood for your remission, I know that is all your hope. I know that the blood of Christ is your comfort and your hope, but have you got the water quite as fully?

Do let us each one act upon this great truth, that as Christ has the power to forgive us our sin, so also He has the power to cleanse it away.

And my dear brethren and sisters, let us get closer to Christ. Let us be bedewed oftener than we have been before with the water and with the blood. Let us live in the spirit of this double purification, and be it ours to find this blessed stream lead us right up to the heart of Christ, from which it flowed, that we may understand the everlasting love which dwells there deep in its eternal fountains, and may rejoice and be glad in it all our days.