November 22, 2023
The Blood And Water
(Some information may be too graphic for small children)
“But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” John 19:34 (NASB)
While working as a patrol deputy in the beach area of our county, I investigated over 20 unattended deaths in one winter month. I think it was a record for anyone on my shift. Most were elderly who had moved from out of state, and had no family nearby. We were normally notified by neighbors when they smelled something or hadn’t seen their neighbor in a few days. They were later found deceased in their home. When life ceases after a short time, blood pools to the lowest point of the body. For instance, if a person passed away on their side the blood would pool at the lowest point. This is what happened to Jesus after He died on the cross. The blood in His heart had pooled to the lowest point. Since blood cells are heavier than water, they separate at death and the heaviest cells sag to the lowest point.
“But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.” A medical doctor explains this condition in gruesome detail: “Jesus had a haemothorax, which in the stillness of the dead body, had separated out as they do into two layers: the heavier red cells below and the light watery plasma above. The haemothorax was the result of the savage flagellation. The withdrawal of the spear would have been followed first by the red cells (blood), then by the lighter plasma (water). The body of Jesus had been hanging on the cross, dead, for some time. Obviously, the fluid must have accumulated during life by a bleeding into the chest cavity, almost certainly due to the savage flagellation. It is well known that blood in these circumstances in a still dead body starts to separate out, to sediment, the heavier red cells sinking to the bottom leaving a much lighter, straw-colored fluid, the plasma above. When a hole is made by the spear, the red cells, which John describes as blood, gushes out first, followed by the plasma, which John saw as water. ‘I can think of no other explanation,’ the doctor reports, adding, ‘technically the process for draining the chest is known as a thoracocentesis.’”[1] The Roman soldiers were masters in all areas of death. They had experimented with it for years until they mastered the murderous art. When a Roman soldier wanted to determine whether the crucified person was dead, they took a spear and inserted it through the right side of the heart. The heart at this time would carry the majority of the blood in the ventricle. When death occurred, the heart would be the key to determining genuine death. The soldier thrust the spear through the “right side of the heart which allowed the pleural fluid (fluid built up in the lungs) to escape first, followed by a flow of blood from the wall of the right ventricle.”[2]
After all the years of death investigation in my career, I discovered an interesting fact. After death, the body no longer clings to life. It isn’t fighting to stay alive. It is in its fullest relaxed state. Nothing phases it at this point. The struggle for life is gone much like Jesus’s body. The soul and spirit are in a place of glory made possible by the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This applies to everyone who has trusted Jesus Christ as their Savior!
[1] https://aleteia.org/2019/06/22/a-doctor-on-why-blood-and-water-gushed-from-jesus-heart/.