Not one of its bones will be broken

 

Not one of its bones will be broken

 

John 19:32-37 『Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. 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. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye 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..』

After Jesus died, the Jews asked Pilate to break Jesus’ legs and take the body away. This was because the next day was the Passover Sabbath, and they were reluctant to leave a dead body on the cross on their holy day. The Jews’ request to break Jesus’ legs was a custom at the time to check whether the condemned were dead. At their request, the soldiers went and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus and the other man. After confirming that Jesus was dead, they pierced his side with a spear and did not break his legs.

In John 19:33-34, “But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.” Jesus died on the cross. However, in the process of confirming his death, Jesus did not break his legs to confirm it, but rather pierced his side with a spear. The other two confirmed it by breaking his legs. What’s the difference? And it was prophesied that Jesus’ legs would not be broken. What does this prophecy mean? And another scripture adds, “They will look on the one they pierced.”

Psalm 34:20 says, "He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken (shabar)." On the day before the Passover, which became a type of Jesus' crucifixion, it is written that when eating the lamb, none of its bones should be broken (shabar). Exodus 12:46 says, "It shall be eaten in one house; do not take any of the flesh outside the house, and do not break any of its bones." Numbers 9:12 says, "Do not leave any of it until the morning, and do not break any bone of it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover, you shall keep it."

Shabar literally and figuratively means to break, shatter, shatter, bring forth a broken town, crush, destroy, harm, put out, very, tear, look upon, etc. When bones are broken, the body is separated. Therefore, it is said that bones should not be broken and separated from the body, and that when offered as a sacrifice, the lamb must be offered whole.

Genesis 2:21-22 "Then the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept. While he was doing so, he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman, and he brought her to the man." The first man, Adam, who was originally one, was separated into bone and flesh and became man and woman. The separation signifies that the angel who sinned in the kingdom of God wanted to become like God and opposed God, and his spirit came to the world and was confined in the dust and became human. By becoming a perfect sacrifice where the bones and flesh are not separated, the sacrificial offering can be offered completely to God, and through that perfect sacrifice, everything can be restored to perfection again.

“And one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” This is the same concept as Genesis 3:24. “So God drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” This means that you have to be struck by the flaming sword of an angel and die to enter the Garden of Eden, and that Jesus had to die on the cross to receive a resurrected body and enter the kingdom of God.

In 1 John 5:5-8, it speaks of blood and water. "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three are one."

Water has been used in many ways. Water represents baptism, and baptism represents death on the cross and resurrection. Blood represents the atonement for sin. Therefore, water, blood, and the Spirit die with Jesus in the flesh, and make us alive in the spirit with the resurrection of Christ.

The fact that Jesus' bones were not broken, and that his side was pierced by a spear and blood and water came out means that Jesus became a perfect sacrificial offering, dying for all mankind and giving resurrection life to those who come into Christ.

『And another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they have pierced.』 This is translated again into Greek as ὄψονται εἰς ὃν ἐξεκέντησαν 『They shall look on him whom they have pierced.』

Zechariah 12:10 "They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son."

If we translate the Hebrew Bible again, it says, "They will look upon me, the one they have pierced, and they will plead with me. They will mourn for him as one mourns for his only begotten son; they will wail for him as one grieves for his firstborn son."

God told the Israelites to turn away from idols and live as God's people, but they still served idols as if they were stabbing God, and God mobilized foreign nations to attack Jerusalem, but God still showed grace to the people. That is why the people came to plead with God, whom they had stabbed, and they mourned and wailed at the scene of their children dying. This means that God will show grace and protect and guard the people as he did to David.

Although the Pharisees, scribes, and Jews crucified Jesus, they began to understand the gospel preached by the disciples. In Acts 2:23-25, Peter preached after the descent of the Holy Spirit: "Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and have crucified and slain by wicked hands; whom God raised up, loosening the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it; for David saith of him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for he is at my right hand, that I should not be moved."

But the Jews began to understand when they heard it. Acts 2:37-38 "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?' Peter said to them, 'Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"