2000-04-03 - No Bones Broken
The Prophecy Fulfilled Series, Part 8
The Prophecy
Psalm 34:20 He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.
The Fulfillment
John 19:32, 33, 36 The soldiers therefore came, and broke the legs of the first man, and of the other man who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs;...for these things came to pass, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken.
As we move into the time of year that many today think of the Easter season, I thought I would emphasize parts of Prophecy that also center around that time. However, we ought to be mindful that for Christians every Sunday is Easter, because it is on every Sunday that we recollect and remember the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we need not have an Easter every year, we have 52 Easters every year.
Crucifixion was considered the most cruel and disgraceful punishment. It was usually reserved for slaves. It was so cruel that in Jewish law, it was outlawed. But remember that it was the Romans that crucified Jesus and it was not against their law. The term, “fucifer” was one that spoke of the crosses that a slave was required to bear. So the punishment was a slaves punishment, a “servile supplicium.”
Romans citizens could not be crucified. It was also reserved for the greater crimes such as robbery, piracy, assassination, perjury, sedition, treason, and (for soldiers) desertion. The origin of crucifixions are very ancient. Herodotus tells about how 300 people were condemned to the cross by Darius, after he conquered Babylon.
The Greeks made this their practice also. It is reported that Alexander had 2,000 captives nailed to crosses along the sea shore after he had captured Tyre. Usually a scourging preceded crucifixion, and this was the case with Christ also.
It was a horrible punishment, especially for an innocent man to undergo. How much more the Son of God! Here was true innocence. Yet as Scripture says, in all His sufferings, “He did not open His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7)
The punishment inflicted upon Christ was a great injustice. But it is by His death that we are healed from sin and its consequences. This is the great mystery of redemption. Through the death of Christ on the cross, we are freed from both sin and death. So while His death was a great injustice, in it, we have victory and salvation, because on the third day, he rose again from the grave.
“Our salvation consists in the doctrine of the cross.” John Calvin
“I wish that our ministry - and mine especially - might be tied and tethered to the cross.” Charles Spurgeon
Soli Deo Gloria,
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