April 7

APRIL 7.—"One of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came thereout blood and water."—John 19:34.

LET us view this fact as an instance of the indignity and insult to which the Saviour submitted. When we consider not only the pre-existence, but the original greatness of the Lord Jesus; and read all the magnificent things the sacred writers have said of him; how surprising do his grace and condescension appear! He took not on him the nature of angels—then they could not have pierced him; but because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he likewise himself took part of the same. Yet he did not assume our nature in any of its higher forms or conditions. Some are rich; but he had not where to lay his head. Some are admired and caressed; he was despised and rejected of men. Some are nobles and princes; he made himself of no reputation, but took upon him the form of a servant, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The death was not only a scene of pain but of shame: and to render it the more ignominious, he was numbered with the transgressors, and crucified between two thieves. He was also insulted when dying—and mangled when dead. O my soul, was all this humiliation for me? And shall I deem any thing too dear to resign, or too trying to endure for him? How was that precious body prepared for him by the Holy Ghost treated! How was his whole frame agonized, when his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling to the ground! How was his flesh ravaged by the scourge when the ploughers ploughed upon his back, and made long their furrows! How were his temples lacerated with the crown of thorns! How was his face marred when they plucked off the hair! How were his hands and feet pierced with the nails—while the soldier's spear pierced his side! And how should I regard all this! The wounds of a general who bleeds in the defence of his country are deemed not disgraceful, but scars of honour; and viewed with emotions of tenderness, admiration, and praise. Jesus displayed much more than such memorials. He retained them after his resurrection. When he appeared to the Apostles, "he showed them his hands and his feet." Thomas was not then present, and continued incredulous, notwithstanding the testimony of ten witnesses—To him he also appeared; and said, "Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless but believing." He wears them now. John saw him as a lamb that had been slain. He will wear them for ever, and the view of them will serve to excite the renewed praises of his people—

Let us view it as a confirmation of the reality and certainty of his death. It could not be said he was only in a swoon; or half dead; or that his resurrection was nothing more than a recovery of suspended animation. His enemies were concerned to know that he had expired; and they fully ascertained it. The very act of wantonness in the ruffian soldier demonstrated it. He could not have survived the wound, had it been given him in perfect health. It penetrated the pericardium, and transfixed his vitals. But what is this to us! Every thing. Without his death the whole gospel is a cipher, and all our hopes are a delusion. He died for us. And he died for us not only or principally to confirm his doctrine, or to be

our example; but to bear our sins in his own body on the tree; and by the one offering up of himself to perfect for ever them that are sanctified. He made peace by the blood of his cross. He died too, as a testator: he made a new will, the legacies of which were invaluable; but it could never have become valid without his death: "For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth." What therefore establishes my faith in his death is beyond expression important. If it be false, I am left to all the effects of the fall. If it be true, my triumph is complete—It is all my salvation and all my desire.

Let us view it also as a symbol of the manner of our recovery by him. Hear what the reporter of the fact has said concerning it in his epistle: "This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood." It would be far short of the Apostle's meaning to consider the allusion as sacramental, looking only at Baptism and the Lord's Supper. The reference regards the double efficiency of the Lord's death—to satisfy and—to sanctify. Blood to redeem, and water to cleanse. The one to remove the curse of sin, the other the love of it. Neither of these blessings is to be found unless in the cross. But they are both to be derived from a dying Jesus: and therefore iniquity need not be our ruin if we apply to him. He is a Prince and a Saviour. He gives repentance and remission of sins.

Let us be convinced of our need of both; and combine both in our creed and our experience. It is a defective view of the death of Christ, to look to it for comfort only: he died not only to atone, but to purify: "he loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might cleanse it by the washing of water by the word." The water and the blood were not severed in their effusion; neither can they be divided in their application. Happy they who value both; and can say, "In the Lord have I righteousness and strength."

Lastly, we may view it as a display of Providence in the fulfilment of the Scripture. Hence John immediately adds, "And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe." Believe what? That Jesus was the Messiah, by the correspondence between him and the prophecies going before. Observe those he mentions: First, says he, "For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken." Referring to the language of David, "He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken." This was not only foretold of him in words; but also prefigured in type. He was our Passover. Now of the Paschal Lamb it was said, "Neither shall ye break a bone thereof"—This could not have been verified had the soldier fractured his legs. Nor would another have been accomplished had he not pierced his side. "Again another Scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced:" referring to the language of Zechariah, "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced." Thus the eye of prophecy, ages before the accomplishment, saw this soldier piercing him personally and literally; and the Jews by means of him: and therefore he adds, "and they shall mourn for him." And some of them after they had crucified him, were brought to re-

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pentance, and sorrowed after a godly sort. And others of them, yea all Israel will do this, when the veil is taken from their heart. It is also now realized in every penitent who mourns for his sins as the cause, whoever were the instruments, of the sufferings and death of the Saviour.

But how true is it that "the Scripture cannot be broken." And how wonderfully does God accomplish it—by friends—by foes—by the righteous—by the wicked—by what is casual—by what is criminal—Nothing was further from the thoughts of this unfeeling soldier than the end answered by his brutality—but he was God's instrument, and acted an important and indispensable part in proving his omniscience and veracity.

APRIL 8.—"They shall look on him whom they pierced."—John 19:37.

It is added in the prophecy from which these words are taken—"And they shall mourn for him." And who is not ready to say, "Nothing could have been more becoming in those who were chargeable with the deed, when they reflected that they had crucified an innocent being, a being who only went about doing good, a being made higher than the heavens—surely they ought to have mourned for him 'as one mourneth for his only son, and to be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born.'" But suppose we should have been consenting unto his death? Suppose we should have been the cause of it? Suppose his persecutors and murderers were only the instruments we employed? Then our resentment will operate nearer home, and our grief will rend our own souls. And this is the case with a real penitent. By faith he perceives and realizes his own blood-guiltiness in this awful scene; and says,

"And now the scales have left mine eyes, Now I begin to see; Oh! the cursed deeds my sins have done, What murderous things they be!

"—'T were you that pulled the vengeance down Upon his guiltless head; Break, break, my heart! oh! burst, mine eyes, And let my sorrows bleed'—

And there is no true repentance but what flows from the sight of the cross.

Yet they are not only to look upon him with godly sorrow, but also with enlivening hope. For he was not only pierced by them but for them; and by his stripes they are healed. Strong consolation is necessary to meet true conviction of sin. And here it is to be found, and here only. Every other refuge will be found a refuge of lies; every other comforter a miserable comforter. But that which satisfies the righteousness of God may well satisfy the alarmed and afflicted conscience of the sinner. We have redemption through his blood; and this blood cleanseth us from all sin. We oppose to the number and heinousness of our offences the infinite value of the sacrifice. We are reconciled unto God by the death of his Son. This death we plead, and are accepted in the Beloved; and we joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.