"Shall I crucify your King?" (Jn 19.15), was the sarcastic question of Pilate, the Roman governor. This was put to the priests and rulers while they stood outside his Praetorium vehemently accusing Christ and demanding His death.
The Lord had confessed His kingship to Pilate when the latter asked, "Art thou a king then?", as He stated, "To this end was I born, and for this cause I came into the world...Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice" (18.37). They rejected Him as King, and hurried Him to the Cross. His Cross bore the inscription, "JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS" (19.19), raised in mockery by His foes, but which will one day shine forth in glorious fulfilment of the counsels of God, who by His sovereign decree has set the same "Jesus of Nazareth" on His holy hill, with the same word of promise: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession" (Ps 2.8).
He, with the crown royal on the brow once pierced with thorns, will lead as "this same Jesus" (Acts 1.11) coming forth in kingly triumph in the day of His glory, to be owned as Lord and King in all the earth: "In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one" (Zech 14.9). And while He is so owned by earth and its peoples in that day, His heavenly people, in their celestial abode, will bow before His throne, and ascribe unto Him all the praise of their salvation and glory there. And it will be as the Lamb of Calvary, the once suffering, and then reigning Lamb on the throne of God, that His redeemed will own and proclaim Him worthy.
Concluded.
