The Promise of the Pierced Side
For Adam was not a helpmeet found. In His hour of need, all of Jesus’ disciples abandoned Him. The Lord caused a deep sleep to come over Adam. Jesus cried, “It is finished!” and gave up the ghost. While Adam slept, the Lord took a rib from His side and closed the place thereof with flesh. Jesus was pierced through His side and out poured blood and water.[1] Adam awoke to find his bride. Jesus arose to find that one could still reach into His side.

John 20:27
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

What is the meaning of “thrust it into my side”? Jesus represented the wound as open. Adam’s side was closed when his bride was formed. God is still carving on us! His bride is not yet fully fashioned. The promise of the pierced side is threefold: His blood cleanses us of all unrighteousness, His water grants us the Holy Spirit, and His bride will come from His body. It is the blood that gives us white wedding garments, the Spirit that is the oil in our lamps. Without these we will find ourselves on the wrong side of the door at the wedding feast.

A Bloody Husband
When David asked to build God a house, he was denied the privilege because he had been a man of war and had shed much blood; but the Lord promised David that he would have a son of peace who would build for Him a house.[2] These two men—David and Solomon—were each a type of Christ. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and a Man of War.[3] He conquered our enemy through death and purchased us by His own blood. And those who have not accepted Him in peace shall meet Him in war.

Revelation 19:11-15
¹¹ And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
¹² His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
¹³ And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
¹⁴ And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
¹⁵ And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

You can bet that any emissary arrayed in bloody attire isn’t bent on negotiating for peace! The world is on the verge of encountering a Jesus they haven’t heard much about. The humble king whose servants wouldn’t fight for Him[4] has received new rules of engagement. This day of grace is approaching nightfall. Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow may be too late! Is it possible that we in the church have become so enamored with the Prince of Peace that we have forgotten the Man of War, the King of kings and Lord of lords? We, too, shall stand before the flame of His fiery eyes. Will He find in us a faithful Ruth or a fornicating Gomer?

When Moses assayed to go to Egypt and deliver the children of Israel, the Lord confronted him on the way. Moses, who had met the I AM, encountered the Lord of Hosts head on. God was ready to slay him. Why? Because he had failed to circumcise his youngest boy, perhaps out of consideration for his wife. When she realized the dire danger her dearly beloved was in, she whipped out her flint knife and lopped off the boy’s foreskin. Throwing it at Moses’s feet, she said, “You’re a bloody husband!”[5] The One to whom we are promised is bloody, too. He first bled for us on the day of His circumcision when He was only eight days old.[6] This was when they called Him Jesus, YHWH is salvation.

Colossians 2:10-11
¹⁰ And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
¹¹ In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ…

Though our circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit of God,[7] it still causes our flesh to scream. We need to put off the body of the sins of the flesh and if necessary, resist them unto blood. We need to allow Him to probe us and cut off all that holds us back from worshipping Him in the Spirit.[8] He will not take unto Himself an unclean bride with impure motives.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Once again we find ourselves in the field of bones, this time in company with soul and spirit, thought and intent. These three couplets parallel each other. The soul, joint, and thought go together as do the spirit, marrow, and intent of the heart. Thoughts are in the mind and the mind belongs to the soulish realm.[9] Our friendships, exemplified in Scripture by the words philos and phileos, are also made in the soul. These relationships are the “joints” in the body of Christ. But the intents of our heart come forth from our spirits like blood from the marrow. Jesus looks all the way in to the wellspring of all our deeds. We will be judged for our intentions as much as for our actions. Why we do things is as important, if not more so, than what we do. It may be difficult for us to sort these things out. But Jesus has no such problem. His sword can lay open the bone and divide asunder soul from spirit.

[1] John 19:34
[2] 1 Chron 22:8-9
[3] Ex 15:3
[4] John 18:36
[5] Ex 4:24-26
[6] Luke 2:21
[7] Rom 2:28-29
[8] Phil 3:3
[9] Mark 12:30