When Adam fell into a deep sleep, God took a rib from him. Likewise, when Christ died, something happened to His rib, His side (see John 19:31-37). His side was not pierced for redemption, because the piercing occurred after His death. The problem of redemption had already been solved. According to Jewish custom, whoever was crucified had to be taken away before sunset. If they were not dead, the soldiers would break their bones to speed their death. The two thieves who were crucified with the Lord had not died; therefore, their bones were broken. But when the soldiers looked at the Lord Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His bones. Instead, they pierced His side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out. This signifies that when His side was pierced, the work of redemption had already been accomplished. It reveals that the work of Christ not only involved the shedding of His blood to redeem us from sins, but also the flowing out of water, typifying the imparting of His life to us. This aspect is apart from sin and redemption. The blood deals with our sins, while the water causes us to receive His life. This is what His wounded side speaks to us.

We all need to clearly distinguish these two aspects of Christ's death. One is for redemption, while the other is not for redemption. The first aspect of His death deals with all that happened after man's fall in Genesis 3. Since man fell, Christ came to redeem us in order to bring us back to the original purpose of God's creation of man. But the other aspect of His death has nothing to do with sins. It is entirely for the releasing of His life, that His life may be imparted into us.

Because of these two distinct aspects in the death of Christ, the Bible uses two different substances to typify them. Blood is used for redemption; water is used for the non-redemptive aspect. May God open our eyes to see the importance of this matter. The blood is for redemption, and the water is for the imparting of His life. Because we have committed sins and are sinful before God, the blood is ever before Him, speaking for our sins. But the water typifies the Lord Himself as life. John 19:34 says that the water flowed out from Him, and in chapter twenty, the Lord pointed out His side to His disciples. John 20 is not a chapter dealing with redemption. The Lord said, "I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God" (v. 17). This is a matter of imparting life.

This is not all. Let us read Genesis 2:22 and 23 again: "And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh." In one place in the Scriptures, we are referred to as "flesh and blood" (1 Cor. 15:50), but when the Scriptures refer to man in resurrection, he is described only as "flesh and bones"; there is no mention of blood (see Luke 24:39). God used Adam's rib to make Eve; He did not use Adam's blood. Throughout the whole Bible, the word blood is mentioned more than four hundred times, but in Genesis 2 there is no mention of blood because the matter of redemption was not at issue. Whenever blood is mentioned, redemption is involved. Blood is for redemption. The Old Testament records how man used the blood of beasts for atonement of sins. In the New Testament, Hebrews 9:22 says, "Without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament, we see that blood is related to redemption. But in the creation of Eve, blood was not mentioned because there was no sin; God saw no sin there.