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The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the king of the Jews.”
Amen. You may be seated. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Dear saints, there are glimpses of the throne of Jesus throughout the Scriptures, the prophets, and the apostles, and it is a glorious throne, a throne made out of sapphire surrounded by inapproachable light. And Jesus sits there on that throne ruling and reigning in power and in might with strength to hold, even our text in Colossians tells us, with strength to hold the universe together. He sits on the throne of God, not just on the throne of an exalted man, and He rules and reigns all things.
He is, in fact, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, so that when we get that glimpse of the heavenly throne room, we see not only the saints but also the angels taking off their own thrones and throwing them before the feet of Jesus, who rules over all. Jesus was there before all things. All things came to being through Him so that He is the creator of everything. And not only the creator of everything, but the sustainer of everything.
Jesus is the reason that the sun comes up in the morning, that the stars shine at night, that the apples grow on the tree, that you have life, that the molecules don’t simply explode—all things hold together in Him, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him, so that Jesus is the King of the universe.
But dear saints, this King is pleased to be crowned with thorns. Can you imagine it? Jesus stood before Pilate and He said, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And Jesus said, “Who told you this? Others or you say yourself about it? Who am I?” He says, “Answer plainly. Are you the king of the Jews?”
And Jesus says, “You yourself say so.” And so Jesus is wrapped with a purple robe. That’s what kings wore. He was wrapped with a purple robe of mockery, wrapped around his beaten and bleeding flailed back. Jesus was given a staff. That’s what you would give a king when he was ordained. You would give him a staff. Jesus was given a staff and then they took it out of his hand and used it to beat him and said, “Prophesy, who’s striking you?”
The soldiers, it says, fell down and worshipped him, “Hail, King of the Jews,” and then they stood up to beat him, to tear out his beard and to spit in his face. And after all of these indignities, Pilate brings out Jesus in front of the people, the crowds, and stands Him up there in front of the people with His staff and His crown and his robes and his blood. And he says, “Behold your king.”
The people cry out, “Crucify him, crucify him,” and Pilate says, “Should I crucify your king?” And they say, “We have no king but Caesar.” So, Pilate takes a pen and writes an inscription, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” He writes it in Latin and in Greek and in Arabic.
That’s by the way, whenever you see the picture of the cross and you see the I-N-R-I, that’s what that stands for. There was no J in Latin, so it’s Jesu Nazareum Rex Judaicum, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. They would hang the inscription of what the person did wrong above them as they were crucified. So if you were being crucified for theft, it would say “thief” above you, or for adultery it would say “adulterer,” or for blasphemy it would say “blasphemy.”
And no doubt the robbers hung next to Jesus had signs over their head stating their own crime, but above the head of our Lord Jesus, it reads only, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” I wonder if it would be better if it was I-N-R-T, “Iesous Nazareum Rex Totalis,” Jesus of Nazareth, king of all. But it turns out, it turns out that the one who sits on the throne of God is pleased for his coronation to be a crucifixion.
He’s pleased for his enthronement to be his death. He is pleased for his becoming king to be nothing but mockery and torture and suffering. We heard it in the gospel. This is amazing, as the people are walking by, mocking Jesus, they say, “He said he was a king, why doesn’t he save himself?” Even one of the men who were crucified with Jesus said, “You said you were the Christ, why don’t you save yourself and us while you’re at it?” But he did not come to establish an earthly kingdom. He did not come to save himself, but to save you.
And there’s a reason that the coronation of this king is a crucifixion, and it’s because his kingdom is the kingdom of salvation. There’s a reason why his crown is a crown of thorns with jewels as drops of blood. It is because his kingdom is the kingdom of the forgiveness of sins. Jesus did not come to establish a kingdom for himself in power and might, but he came to establish a kingdom of mercy, a kingdom of the kindness of God, a kingdom of eternal life so that His kingdom and His kingship and His coronation look like nothing that we would expect and nothing that we would imagine.
Now here is where the trouble comes in. What if we want a different kind of kingdom? What if instead of wanting a kingdom of meekness and mercy, we want a kingdom of power and might? What if we want a different kind of king?
I remember one time years ago, I was talking to a guy and we were talking about the second coming and how the world doesn’t believe in Jesus, and this guy said to me, he said, “I can’t wait for Jesus to come back because then the world will see Him as He really is.” Now, what he meant was that when Jesus came the first time, he came in humility, but then he’ll come in power. He came first in meekness, but then he’ll come in strength. He came first for mercy, but then he’ll come in judgment, and then we’ll see him as he really is.
And while we might not think something like that, something so crass, we are all tempted to want Jesus to come in power and in glory for us too. You know those days when it just seems like everything starts to fall apart, and one thing goes wrong after another, and there’s bad news after bad news, and there’s trouble after trouble, and affliction after affliction, and temptation after temptation, and there’s sickness and death, and it seems like it’s all around us, and we say, “Jesus, why don’t You come and perform a miracle? Why don’t You come and fix things? Why don’t You wear a crown of gold instead of a crown of thorns? Why don’t you manifest yourself in glory rather than in weakness?”
But Jesus would be known by us as the crucified King. I want to meditate on something with you all this morning, and I have to admit that I don’t yet understand this. So if you have a beat on it, you can help me. I know in the text of Hebrews chapter 2, verse 7 through 9, which is what I’m going to read you in just a minute, I know that the Lord has a particular wisdom for us and I don’t know why, but it’s something like this.
We know that Jesus sits on the throne. We know that Jesus rules and reigns right now in power. We get little glimpses of what that throne room looks like, but the Lord does not want us to see it yet. He doesn’t want our eyes to behold it yet. He hides it from us. Like Jesus hid His glory, He continues to hide His glory, even though we might want it, even though we might pray for it and say, “Lord, just give me a little glimpse that You’re still there, still running things, that You’re still in charge. Let me get a little glimpse of Your transfigured glory, let me get a little glimpse of Your miracle working power.”
Jesus says, “I want you to see Me as crucified.” Now, here’s the text: “You, that is God the Father, made Him, Jesus, a little, for a little while, lower than the angels; you have crowned Him with glory and honor; you have put everything in subjection under His feet.” So that right now all things are under the feet of Jesus. Hebrews continues, “Now in putting everything in subjection to Him, He left nothing outside of His control.”
So that all things, your life and your death, your sickness and your health, your riches and your poverty, your friends and your family, your neighbor, your past and your future, all of it, all of it is under the feet of Jesus. But, Hebrews says, “But we, at present, do not yet see everything in subjection to Him. Instead, we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels.”
For whatever reason, dear saints, God in His wisdom has decided that you should not see Jesus on the throne, but only Jesus on the cross. God in His wisdom has decided that you should not see Jesus in His glory, but only in His humiliation. God in His love has decided that instead of seeing Jesus cloaked in inapproachable light, you would see Him covered in blood, crowned with thorns, crucified, dead, and buried, so that you would know that this King is King for you.
This is the point, right? If Jesus were to show up in strength, making everything right, He would have to fight against us. We, after all, are sinners through and through. But Jesus doesn’t come simply by might and power to make everything right. He comes by mercy and kindness to make us righteous and to bring us into the kingdom of His love.
I remember being in a Bible study one time; we’ll end with this thought I think. I remember being in a Bible study and the teacher asked us all to write down three words to describe God. And he got the answers back, and all of us had written down different things, you know, God is powerful, He’s omnipotent, He’s almighty, He’s the creator, He’s holy, He’s good, He’s powerful, he’s loving, he’s merciful. But one person wrote down this, and I thought it was really wonderful: three words to describe God, and he wrote down, “Jesus Christ crucified.”
This is your king. When Pilate stands up Jesus before the people, he stands him up before us, and there clothed in purple with a crown of thorns with blood streaming from his head. Pilate says, “Behold your king,” and we say amen. Jesus crucified is our King. Jesus crucified is our Savior, and Jesus crucified is our life. May God grant us this confidence as we wait and look for his return.
Amen.
Please stand.
And the man crucified next to him turned to him and said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Amen.
