The Coronation of Christ
Notes
Transcript
The Way to Victory - Week 2
1 Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip.
2 The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him.
3 “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.
4 Pilate went outside again and said to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.”
5 Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!”
6 When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.”
7 The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.”
8 When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever.
9 He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no answer.
10 “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?”
11 Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”
12 Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.”
13 When they said this, Pilate brought Jesus out to them again. Then Pilate sat down on the judgment seat on the platform that is called the Stone Pavement (in Hebrew, Gabbatha).
14 It was now about noon on the day of preparation for the Passover. And Pilate said to the people, “Look, here is your king!”
15 “Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him! Crucify him!” “What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back.
16 Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus away.
17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha).
At Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in June 1953, she was given various symbols of her royal office. These symbols included royal robes, an orb, a ring, a scepter, and a crown. She was crowned with St. Edward’s Crown, made of solid gold. This is the first coronation that was broadcast on TV live. Almost 37 million people watched, 26 million people in the UK and regions alone. It was a tremendous success.
But, there is a coronation that we will never forget… the mock crowning of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Matthew Henry notes, “Had not Christ been thus rejected of men, we had been forever rejected of God. Now was the Son of man delivered into the hands of wicked and unreasonable men. He was led forth for us, that we might escape. … And now let us pause, and with faith look upon Jesus. Was ever sorrow like unto his sorrow? See him bleeding, see him dying, see him and love him! love him, and live to him!”
Few events in the course of history have been given more significance than the crowning of a new king or monarch…the coronation of a nation’s sovereign ruler.
No expense is spared in this great event.
A priceless crown is commissioned to be designed and unveiled at the coronation.
Guest lists include the wealthiest, most famous, most powerful people of their day.
To not be at such an event would be social and political suicide.
Masses of people throng the sight of the coronation, no one wanted to miss what would be one of the most historical events of their lives.
Priests and religious leaders were called on to pray over this ceremony, even placing the crown on the King, to bring to this event some sense of solemnness and even holiness.
Yet, with all of it’s wealth, pomp, regalia, and religious trappings, we today would be hard pressed to remember the Coronation of a single earthly ruler.
Yet, there is a coronation that we will never forget… the mock crowning of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
a. It’s a coronation like none other in history.
b. It’s a coronation in which the crown is twisted vines of thorns.
c. It’s a coronation, not viewed by honored guests, but by the most cruel and ruthless spectators.
d. It’s a coronation, not meant for honor but for shame and degradation.
Yet, in the words of Joseph, what they meant for harm, God meant for good. Little did they know the eternal significance of what they were doing. More than history was being made, eternity was being made. They had hoped to mark him for shame, but they marked him for glory. But, there has never been a more holy or sacred act performed at the hands of sinners than when they crudely crowned my Savior. He was never more a king than he was just then. We must realize that the atrocities that took place right before Jesus went to the cross revolved around a claim that Jesus would not deny…he was the King of the Jews. When asked by Pilate in
John 18:37 “37 Pilate said, “So you are a king?” Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.””
In other words, what you say is true. Had he simply said, he was a prophet, a teacher, even the Messiah --— Pilate would have set him free…but he stood before that court as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He made it clear to Pilate that what would take place that day would be out of Pilate’s hand, but never out of his hand…still Lord of all.
John 19:11 “11 Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.””
This morning I desire to take you back to the crowning, the coronation of the Christ. The day when he ripped the throne from the prince of this world. The day he was declared even by his own judge… “Behold your king.” Although the tools of his coronation were not made of gold and jewels they held more significance than all this earth’s wealth could buy. Let’s take a look at the tools used at the Coronation of the Christ. These tools still cry out that Blood-Stained gospel to this day.
I. MARKED AS THE KING OF OUR GUILT: Before we can understand the significance of what was taking place that day, we must understand a simple truth Paul reminded us of…Jesus came as the "second Adam." In other words he has come to reverse the mess that the first Adam got us in. He came as a man, because it was man that got us in this mess to start with and man who would have to pay the price. He came as God, because God could be the only sinless sacrifice, only that God-Man could stand as a mediator between heaven and earth. He held the perfect blood-line, the perfect pedigree to be made OUR king. He came to serve as our substitute… to represent us and take our place. A king had to first be a qualified representative of his people. Something happened in Pilate’s hall that is very significant to us all…the encounter with Barabbas.
A. OUR CHAIN-WEARER: Barabbas was called by John a robber but in Mark’s account we get more information about him. He was called an insurrectionist and a murderer. It is clear that the reason Pilate chose to offer him was that he was a dangerous figure, a reflection of the worst that is in man, threat to society. When Jesus took this man’s guilt and punishment…he was in fact taking us all. Sin has left us all a death penalty…but Jesus came to take that penalty on himself. Sin has left us bound by the chains of our sins and failure. But the virgin born Savior, son of God took the place of all of us sons of a father. He didn’t merely go to the cross for Barabbas’ guilt but for all our guilt. In his earthly coronation there were no jewels or gold adorning him…just your chains. He bore the bondage and punishment that belonged to you. Like, Barabbas, we weren’t fit to be set free…but the King has taken our place, our penalty, our sin.
ILL. It was said of the great early reformer Martin Luther that when he first realized the depth of what Jesus had endured for him, it was said that fellow monks found him in his room sobbing and crying “For me! For me! For me!”
B. OUR GUILT-BEARER We are as guilty as Barabbas was when it comes to Christ dying on that cross.
ILL. In an interview with Mel Gibson in the making of the movie, “The Passions of the Christ '' I was taken by something that had happened in the filming. Mel Gibson said that it was his hand that drove the nails in the cross in this movie. He wanted to never forget that fact.
I’m here to tell you this morning, no it wasn’t merely the Jews that crucified him, nor was it the cruelty of the Romans…the hammer was in your hand. Your guilt, your sin, your rebellion was the reason Jesus went to that cross. A lamb wasn’t enough to cover the depth of our guilt, it took the Lamb of God.
II. MARKED AS THE KING OF OUR CURE
A. HIS SCOURGING: The whip was more of a torture device rather than a whip. It was embedded with sharp bone, metal, nails, glass, weights, anything that would cut into the flesh. As soon as the leather wrapped around the back, the roman soldier would jerk the whip as if spinning a top so the sharp parts would catch and rip at the flesh. The damage this Roman device caused is not left up to our imaginations…Historians who lived in that day recorded what is meant to witness such an event.
ILL. First century historian Flavious Josephus testified in his writings to the fact that “certain rebel Jews were torn to pieces by the scourging before being crucified.” 3rd Century Historian Eusabious speaks of these devices still being in use in his time and witnessed that “their bodies were frightfully lacerated.
Christian martyrs in Smyrna were so torn by the scourges their veins were laid bare, and the inner muscles, sinews, even entrails were exposed.” Other historians have described the skin being so lacerated that their rib bones would be visible through the shredded flesh. Although we often think of his lashes being 39…that is merely Hebrew law, but the Romans had no such rule…they merely wanted the whip to have enough strength to be crucified. On many occasions men never made it to the cross, but died at the scourging post. One writer believed that this was why Pilate was said to be “more afraid” after Jesus’ scourging because he realized this man was not lying and the reality of his claim as the Son of God was overwhelming. This may not measure up to some of the cleaned up versions of calvary that we’ve become accustomed to, but it matches the words of the prophet Isaiah who declared.
14 But many were amazed when they saw him. His face was so disfigured he seemed hardly human, and from his appearance, one would scarcely know he was a man.
It also fulfills the prophecy in
3 My back is covered with cuts, as if a farmer had plowed long furrows.
B. BUT HIS STRIPES WAS FOR OUR HEALING: We can understand why Jesus spoke of his blood being “poured out” for many. Why would we want to relive this horrendous event… Jesus encouraged us to remember his body that was broken for us and his blood poured out for us.
24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
The stripes cut furrows in his back, every stripe and every drop of blood secured the power of healing on our behalf. When that mangled back touched that wooden cross, healing was secured for us in that atoning blood. I believe in healing…he went through too much for me to shortchange the gospel and strip it of the power of His stripes.
III. MARKED AS THE KING OF OUR CURSE: Why a crown of thorns? (Crown of thorns) Is there any significance there?
A. THORNS AND ADAM: If you go back to the garden of Eden, you will discover that in God’s original creation there were no thorns, only beauty, only fruitfulness. Our work was easy, our tasks a pleasure. But when man sinned, his failure cursed not only himself, but the ground with thorns.
18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.
The writer of Hebrews adds
8 But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.
That crown of thorns represented the curse of sin on our life. The curse of a futile life that produces more pain than fruit. Sin bears more pain, more frustration, more death into your life. The curse of a future punishment… “whose end is to be burned.”
B. JESUS TOOK OUR CURSE: Jesus didn’t just recognize that curse, but was crowned with it…He became the curse for us.
13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”
21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
Harshness and cruelty entered nature because of the curse of Adam’s fall. What a cruel chore that must have been for some Roman soldier to create. What would possess a man to think of such a thing and go to that much trouble for this sick pleasure. It would take malice of forethought and meticulous effort, even pain to make a crown of thorns for Jesus. That crown he never asked to be removed, it will go with him to the cross.
He wears the crown of death, so that we can wear a crown of life. Because he became our curse…he has reversed the curse for as many as will embrace that blood-stained cross. Like Abraham after trying to offer Isaac as a sacrifice, we have found our sacrifice among the thorns.
III. MARKED AS THE KING OF OUR SHAME: Matthew says that after they had scourged him they first stripped him.
A. THE SHAME OF SIN: As I see them strip the clothes off his body, my mind can’t help but go back to that garden, when Adam and Eve’s purity had been stolen by sin and they realized they were naked…the shame of sin had entered their life. Oh, the open disgrace and shame Jesus bore was due to the sin that Adam and Eve committed. Adam chose to hide himself in his shame, but Jesus chose to be paraded before the mocking eyes of his accusers…He chose to bear my shame. But something else happened…
B. COVERED WITH HIS BLOOD: Then they placed upon the open wounds of his back a purple robe. No doubt as soon as the robe touched his body, it became dark and soaked with his own blood. I am again reminded of Adam and Eve, who when they came before God in their shame, God sacrificed animals and shed their blood to clothe them. Now the lamb has given us his blood-soaked covering to take away our shame.
C. TOOK THE FULL LOAD OF OUR SHAME: They did this to mock him, to make fun, to heap shame upon him. They would mockingly bow before him, but that would not be the last time they would bow before this king.
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
The reed they had placed in his hand, then becomes a weapon against him as they strike his head, driving the thorns deeper with every blow. The reed was not a thin, light stem from some weedy plant, but was a heavy piece of bamboo-like cane. The greek word here for “smote” is a word in the imperfect tense, meaning they kept on striking him over and over again. Realizing that by the time he stood before that crowd again the thorns weren't merely on his head, but in his head. But with every blow blood coated the thorns…things would never be the same again.
V. YET, HE WAS THE REJECTED KING: Pilate then presents Jesus again before his accusers, but dares to say “Behold, your king” Will you behold him this morning and reject what he has endured for you? Will you, like them, refuse to give Jesus the Lordship over your life? You may be sitting here today like Pilate did declaring “This has nothing to do with me.” But, let me tell you it has everything to do with you.
Closing: WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH HIS BLOOD? The crowned Christ has been presented to you this day.
There is no neutral ground… you either accept him or reject him out right. Either his blood will be upon your heart, or upon your hands. No matter how much water Pilate used, he could never wash his hands of the blood of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It’s not merely a choice to Jesus…it’s his blood we’re talking about.
As Jesus told his disciples, he had to suffer many things and be rejected. Here we see his suffering at the hands of Pilate and the Roman soldiers who perform a mock coronation with a crown of thorns and a purple robe. Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd who reject him as their king and call for his death.
Jesus’s suffering and death were necessary for our salvation. We are set free from the power of sin and death and enabled to live lives that glorify God. We honor Christ and remember his sacrifice as we love and serve those around us.
CONCLUSION: The choice is yours today? Will His blood be on your hands or on your heart?