The King Who Died for Us

So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written” (John 19: 16b-22).

 The center of today’s scene is a declaration… “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”. It was inscribed by the Roman Governor Pilate and placed very visibly over the thorn-crowned head of Jesus. It was fixed on the cross carried by the King to a seat of judgment where He would soon decide the fate of two thieves even as He paid for the sin of the world. It was written in the various languages of the day so it could not be overlooked by the crowds that came to see this beaten and abused criminal. The chief priests recognized the significance of the title and petitioned Pilate to change it in order to reduce the impact of its truth on the people, but in His sovereignty, God orchestrated this moment as a beautiful and clear revelation of the King who died for us.

The title was meant to humiliate the King. In this inscription, the power and authority of the Romans was to be seen as conquered by the power and authority of the alleged King of the Jews. The inscription was meant to keep the Jews in their humble, submissive place and to discourage further rebellion. But our Teacher, the Holy Spirit shows us the true authority being released through the King on this cross… “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:13-15).

The title was meant to discredit the King. Placing this title above His head and crucifying Him between two thieves was meant to disguise and deny the judgment of Christ. He came to convict the world of sin and to offer forgiveness to repentant sinners. In the shadow of the inscription, Jesus turned “The Place of a Skull” into a seat of judgment for the thieves as well as for all looking on the cross through the ages… “And he said to him (the repentant thief), ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise’” (Luke 23:43).

The title was meant to limit the sovereignty of the King. Pilate wanted the whole world to believe that the impotent rule of this alleged King was restricted to the humble Jewish community. The inscription was written in Aramaic, the common language of the local community; Latin, the governmental and scholarly language of the Romans; and Greek, the common language of the Gentiles. In His sovereignty, God used the unwitting Pilate to confirm the gospel truth that Jesus is the King who died for the sin of the entire world… “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Instead, Pilate’s inscription clearly confirmed the divine mission of Christ. Pilate wrote what he wrote because Jesus said what He said about himself. Jesus was the King who carried His own cross like a scepter, a royal symbol of authority that was not of this world. His cross was a divine token of power that submitted to the will of God and served the deepest need of men. In today’s scene, the Gentile governor identified Jesus as King of the Jews at his death just as the Gentile wise men had done at his birth… “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him’” (Matthew 2:1-2).

As we grow up into Christ may we be increasingly recognized as humble, thankful subjects of…

The King Who Died for Us.