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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 3
Pilate was as unwilling as they were that the spectacle of Jesus
upon the cross should remain a moment longer than was necessary.
The consent of the governor having been obtained, the legs of the
two that were crucified with Jesus were broken to hasten their death;
but Jesus was already dead, and they broke not his legs. The rude
soldiers, who had witnessed the looks and words of Jesus upon his
way to Calvary, and while dying upon the cross, were softened by what
they had witnessed, and were restrained from marring him by breaking
his limbs. Thus was prophecy fulfilled, which declared that a bone of
him should not be broken; and the law of the passover, requiring the
sacrifice to be perfect and whole, was also fulfilled in the offering of
the Lamb of God. “They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor
break any bone of it; according to all the ordinances of the passover
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they shall keep it.”
A soldier, at the suggestion of the priests who wished to make the
death of Jesus sure, thrust his spear into the Saviour’s side, inflicting a
wound which would have caused instant death if he had not already
been dead. From the wide incision made by the spear there flowed two
copious and distinct streams, one of blood, the other of water. This
remarkable fact was noted by all the beholders, and John states the
occurrence very definitely; he says: “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 the resurrection, the priests and rulers caused the report to be
circulated that Jesus did not die upon the cross, that he merely fainted
and was afterward resuscitated. Another lying report affirmed that
it was not a real body of flesh and bone but the likeness of a body
that was laid in the tomb. But the testimony of John concerning the
pierced side of the Saviour, and the blood and water that flowed from
the wound, refutes these falsehoods that were brought into existence
by the unscrupulous Jews.
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