Luke 23: 38 “And an inscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew;
‘THIS IS THE KING
OF THE JEWS.’”
Dear God,
How good it is to greet You this morning; just You and I in the almost liquid softness that surrounds me. The storms and rain of the weekend are past, and the warmth is increasing. All is not like autumn, but even so, we were so grateful to receive the showers of rain pounding and then drifting upon the dry parched landscape. I was grateful also, for the spiritual ‘high’ and blessings that came upon us at the Easter Convention. I determine to remember these blessings, and uphold my recommitment to always remember Jesus, and to seek Him first each day. For as life is not sustained unless we and the earth have water, so spiritually we will not retain our life and vibrancy, without regular drinks from the scriptures and Jesus, our ‘water of life.’
Jesus was truly a King, but not for most in Israel, for they had not accepted Him as the Son of God. Jesus had come to earth with a different plan in mind, than to be king of the Jews. To Pilate’s question ‘What have You done?’ the answer came in, John 18: 36 “…….. ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here’” You the Father of Jesus have told us about His kingdom, Hebrews 1: 8 “But to the Son he says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Your kingdom.”
Jesus wears His name when declaring war on unrighteousness, Revelations 19: 16 “And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”
For those who are taken by their King Jesus to heaven, they will have no doubt about Jesus being a conquering King, Revelation 15: 3” They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: ‘Great and marvellous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!
For anyone contemplating the cross and what happened to Jesus there at Golgotha, the significance begins to sink in. It was the Son of God, and a King who had hung upon the cross. He was also King of Milky Way Galaxy and an infinite number of other Galaxies; not only the Creator of them, but able to pass from one to one despite the vastness. Jesus not only King but God as well, proceeded back to His Father in heaven, beyond many of the stars we know about.
A cross is not the place we would expect to find any type of king, and certainly not the Son of God. Usually it would be expected that a king would be on a throne and receiving worship and reverence; or visiting subjects or overseeing affairs of the realm: but not be on a crude cross, dying. For each person who has ever lived, this is more than a reason to humbly acknowledge for ourselves; just what we can understand occurred for humanity upon the cross of Christ! To me these actions of Jesus, that made Him sin for me (us) is love beyond any scope I (we) would otherwise know. It is amazing love on the behalf of You, God the Father, and Jesus Your Son that bought Him to earth on our behalf. Now we have the opportunity to be reconciled to You and to live in mansions unknown within the glories of heaven.
How can we, say no to such an offer from our King, when it came at such a price? Today I say yes to the offer of Jesus on my behalf.
Amen