THE
LIFTED CHRIST
Dr. H. A. CAMERON
Wounds, according to the definition
of the surgeon,
are divisions of the soft parts of the body, by a mechanical force
applied
externally, and they are classified by their different characters as
(1) contused, (2) lacerated,
(3) penetrating,
(4) perforating, and (5) incised wounds. It
is remarkable that in the simple statement He was wounded
(Isaiah. 53: 5),
there is included each kind
of wound.
(1)
The contused
wound:
a
wound produced by a blunt instrument.
Such
would result from a blow by the rod, as foretold in Micah
5: 1: They shall smite the
judge of
(2) The
lacerated wound: a wound produced by a tearing
instrument. Laceration
of the tissues was the resuft of
scourging, and scourging had become a fine art among the Romans at the
tinie of
our Lords submission to its infliction.
The Roman
scourge was a many-tailed
lash, each thong tipped with metal or ivory, so that, in the hands of a
cruel
expert, the
sufferer might
truthfully say, The ploughers ploughed
upon my back. They
made long their furrows (Psalm
129: 3). Thus
the prophetic word
of Isaiah 1: 6:
I gave My back to the
smiters,
finds its fulfilment, as
recorded in Matthew 27: 26,
and in John 19: 1,
where we read, Then
Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him.
(3) The
penetrating wound:
a deep wound caused by a sharp
pointed instrument. This
we have
exemplified in the wounds upon the head produced by the crown of
thorns. The
Jerusalern thorn, from which that victors
crown was platted, bore spicules four inches
long, and, as the soldiers pressed down the cruel diadem upon His head (Matthew 27: 20, John 19: 2),
a circlet of wounds
ensued, wounds which were deepened by the blow of the reed when they
smote Him
on the head (Matthew 27: 30).
(4) The perforating wound: from
the Latin word meaning to
pierce
through. They
pierced My hands and My feet (Psalm
22: 16). The
iron spikes were driven between the bones, separating but not breaking
these. Crucifixion
was not practised as a means of
capital punishment by the Jews, and the words must therefore have
puzzled even
the writer of the Psalm, but at that early date God was thereby signifying
what death He should die. The
prophetic question in Zechariah
13: 6: What are these wounds
in Thine
hands?
was
ever before the Lord.
(5) The incised wound: a cut produced by a
sharp-edged instrument. But
one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced
the side, and forthwith came there out blood and water (John
19: 34). This
wound was inflicted
by the practised hand of the Roman soldier to make certain that
whatever
vestige of life was present would be extinguished, but while it did not
cause
death in His case it is an assurance to all men that death had actually
occurred, and it is also a fulfilment of the scripture which saith, They
shall look on Him Whom they pierced. And
from the
wound (so large that Thomas could have thrust his hand into it), came
there out blood and water: the water that flowed from the
pericardium and the blood that flowed
from the heart. The
pericardium is a
closed sac encasing the heart and lubricated by a small amount of fluid
(about
a teaspoonful) to facilitate the motion of the heart.
‑ The Reaper.