strife ended than the keen sensation of hunger was the first
thing to demand His attention, so here His sense of thirst is the sign
that His spirit was now at rest.

The last act of the Crucifixion, in which John sees the fulfilment of
Old Testament prophecy, is the omission in the case of Jesus of the
common mode of terminating the life of the crucified by breaking the
legs with an iron bar. Jesus being already dead, this was considered
unnecessary; but as possibly He might only have swooned, and as the
bodies were immediately taken down, one of the soldiers makes sure of
His death by a lance thrust. Medical men and scholars have largely
discussed the causes which might produce the outflow of blood and water
which John affirms followed this spear thrust, and various causes have
been assigned. But it is a point which has apparently only physiological
interest. John indeed follows up his statement of what he saw with an
unusually strong asseveration that what he says is true. "He that saw it
bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true,
that ye might believe." But this strong asseveration is introduced, not
for the sake of persuading us to believe that water as well as blood
flowed from the lance wound, but for the sake of certifying the actual
death of Jesus. The soldiers who had charge of the execution discharged
their duty. They made sure that the Crucified was actually dead. And
John's reason for insisting on this and appending to his statement so
unusual a confirmation is sufficiently obvious. He was about to relate
the Resurrection, and he knows that a true resurrection must be preceded
by a real death. If he has no means of establishing the actual death, he
has no means of establishing the Resurrection. And therefore for the
first and only time in his narrative he departs from simple narration,
and most solemnly asseverates that he is speaking the truth and was an
eyewitness of the things he relates.

The emphatic language John uses regarding the certainty of Christ's
death is, then, only an index to the importance he attached to the
Resurrection. He was aware that whatever virtue lay in the life and
death of Christ, this virtue became available for men through the
Resurrection. Had Jesus not risen again all the hopes His friends had
cherished regarding Him would have been buried in His tomb. Had He not
risen His words would have been falsified and doubt thrown upon all His
teaching. Had