“And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong...”
Isaiah 58:11a
Our ten-week old Baby Chris now has working arm joints, cartilage and bones! He is a neat human package: For the rest of his life the bones of his skeleton will support his flesh, muscles and ligaments. His ribs will protect his heart and lungs and his skull will protect his brain. His legs will support his weight and his feet will give him balance and flexibility; and will carry him long distances. His arms will push, lift, build and embrace. The bones of his hands will grasp, caress, create and defend.
Scripture has a lot to stay about human bones and strength. When we are weary or depressed, our bones are “troubled,” “crushed,” and “dried” (Ps. 6:2; Pro. 17:22). Envy makes them “rot” (Pro. 14:30). Good news “refreshes” them (Pro. 15:30). Bones are a source of life representing a deep and intimate connection: Adam called Eve “bone of my bones” (Gen. 2:23).
Our bones help us remember. Baby Chris may break his bones, and they will likely reconstitute as strong as before, but sometimes there will be pain or a limp left behind. Injured bones remind us to be more careful and not try that again. A limp received from wrestling with the Angel of the Lord reminded Jacob that he was indeed blessed (Gen. 32:25); and his descendants never again ate the tendon of the hip socket, to remember that his blessing was theirs as well (Gen. 32:32).
Even after death, our bones evidence our presence among the living: When the Hebrews left their Egyptian exile, Moses carried the bones of Joseph with them (Genesis 50:25; Exodus 13:19). Modern churches preserve the bones of saints and apostles as cherished holy relics.
Unbroken bones prove Jesus was the Messiah: The instructions for Passover direct that the Passover lamb must not have any bones broken (Exodus 12:46) and Psalm 34:20 predicts that none of the Messiah’s bones would be broken. The bones of Christ remained unbroken by crucifixion, fulfilling prophecy to the last detail and John’s proclamation that He is indeed the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
Our bones represent our life in Christ and our bones are eternal: The Lord showed the prophet Ezekiel a vision of valley filled with dry, lifeless bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14) – our hopeless estate until the Lord breathes life into us at our spiritual rebirth, and our new hope when the Lord will again breathe life into our physical bodies at our resurrection.
Christ shared human bones with us – and those bones not only carried him to His death, but also carried a cross. But he didn’t carry the cross alone – someone came alongside him to help bear the Savior’s earthly load. As a donkey carried Mary to Bethlehem and Jesus into Jerusalem, Simon bore His cross to Golgotha. Jesus’ never-broken bones were being formed at ten weeks. And Simon’s bones that would bear the weight of the cross of the Savior of the World were formed at ten weeks. Ten-week babies are more important than we can know.
“As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.” Matthew 27:32
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