Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals
Thursday, September 17
More Bible Studies Available @ http://www.marktabata.com. To Receive Free Bible Studies and updates via email, contact Mark Tabata @ 606-216-1757 (SMS Only) or mailto:markatabata@gmail.com (Email). Follow me on Substack: http://substack.com/@marktabata. Also, please visit my author page: http://amazon.com/author/marktabata
John 19:34-But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
In John’s account of Jesus’ crucifixion, there is a detail recorded that is often overlooked but which is very significant. While discussing how the soldier came to Jesus and found Him already ready deadly dead, he confirmed this by stabbing him with a spear. At this point, “blood and water came out.” From a historical and medical point of view, this was extremely important.
Tradition implied the wound was on the right side. The Ethiopic version of John’s Gospel and the Acts of Pilate (B recension 11:2) depicted the right side as the one pierced. [52] Early church fathers such as St. Augustine also agreed with this tradition. [53] [54] There were some reasonable facts lending credence to this tradition of the piercing the heart through the right side. First, the fencing schools of the Roman army taught this fatal thrust— puncturing the heart to produce immediate death. The right side was usually unprotected in combat because shields protected the left side. Renowned French surgeon Dr. Pierre Barbet recalled Caesar’s use of the expression, “ latus apertum the side being opened,” to denote classically the right side. [55] [56] [57] A legionnaire delivered this joust with deadly accuracy. The ancient sculpture The Dying Gaul immortalized this wound, for it depicted the death of an enemy warrior struck just beneath his right breast in battle. [58] [59] This particular sculpture dated to Pergamum between 240 and 200 BC, demonstrating the deadly thrust’s usage even prior to the maneuver being taught in the Roman military academies. Medical science has demonstrated more blood flows with perforation of the distended, thinner- walled right atrium and ventricle than from any other body part. [60] Blood normally would not spill easily from the dead unless the lance perforated the right atrium, for blood pooled in this chamber with death after the heart stopped pumping. [61] In an erect corpse (for example, on a cross), gravity drains the blood above the heart to the right atrium without clotting. [62]…The question of “how” still remained until physicians investigated it. Barbet performed experiments on autopsies by inserting a syringe beneath the fifth intercostals space (between the fifth and the sixth ribs) toward the heart. He first noticed serum (watery fluid). [64] In cases of excess fluid such as heart failure, the fluid was more diluted and thus clearer. As the surgeon inserted the needle further, Barbet then noticed blood when he penetrated the right side of the heart. Barbet followed these experiments by the use of a knife instead of a syringe with the same results. If he vigorously thrust the knife into the side, the clear, serous fluid of the lungs and pericardial sac flowed along the edges of the blood from the right atrium. American surgeon Dr. Harold Blanton reported similar findings in studies performed by a pathologist in Birmingham, Alabama. [66] A pericardiocentesis (aspiration of the pericardial sac surrounding the heart) followed by a cardiocentesis (aspiration of the heart) then confirmed scientifically what John saw was indeed plausible. For these reasons, forensic scientists believed the flow of water was excess pericardial fluid and excess fluid in the lungs from pulmonary edema. In a case of “an exceptionally painful death- agony, as was that of the Savior, this hydropericardium would have been particularly abundant.” In Jesus’ case, the severe loss of blood and the other portions of His Passion caused His heart to fail. Congestive heart failure resulted from His agony, and this condition caused the building up of excess fluid not only around the heart, but also in the lungs with pulmonary edema. Because the heart failure worked like a dam, the excess fluid seeped from the vessels to pool in the lungs and chest. This burden of excess fluid made it easier to identify with the piercing of Jesus’ side. It proved Jesus died an agonizing death— even one causing His internal organs to fail. (J. Shan Young, M.D., Crushed: A Physician Analyzes The Agony Of Jesus, 4577-4614 (Kindle Edition); Glass Road Media)
The Lord died on the cross of Calvary, and was already deceased by the time that the solider impaled him with his spear. This forever puts to silence the claims of those who believe that Jesus did not truly die on that terrible day.
“An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (21 March 1986) concluded: Clearly, the weight of historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead before the wound to his side was inflicted and supports the traditional view that the spear, thrust between his right rib, probably perforated not only the right lung but also the pericardium and heart and thereby ensured his death. Accordingly, interpretations based on the assumption that Jesus did not die on the cross appear to be at odds with modern medical knowledge. [1463].” (Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Baker Reference Library), 128 (Kindle Edition): Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books)
What other evidences confirm that Jesus died on the cross?
Father, thank You for Jesus’s death in our place. Help us always be mindful of the cost for our redemption. Amen.