John 18:33-37
Christ's Own Claims to Kingship
Pastor Martin examines four pivotal Gospel passages in which Jesus Himself asserts His kingship: His refusal to be made a political king after the feeding of the 5,000 in John 6, the triumphal entry of Matthew 21 and John 12, His exchange with Pilate in John 18, and the taunts at the cross in Matthew 27. Christ never denied His kingship; He repeatedly corrected misconceptions about its nature while unequivocally claiming a real throne, real subjects, and a real kingdom 'not of this world.' Even Pilate understood what the Jews missed, and the dying thief found mercy by appealing to Jesus as King while He hung upon the cross.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 8 sections · 56 min
- Review and Introduction to the Lord's Own Claims 0:00
- John 6: Refusing the Carnal Crown After the Loaves 7:15
- The Triumphal Entry: King in Meekness 13:20
- John 18: Before Pilate, My Kingdom Is Not of This World 23:48
- Matthew 27: Taunts at the Crucified King 36:13
- The Dying Thief Bows to the Crucified King 40:22
- Application: Bow to the Scepter Now 46:24
- Closing Prayer 52:36
Key Quotes
“Jesus never said he was not a king; he only rejected their concept of what that kingship should be.”
“My kingdom is not of this world. It is not from this world. It does not derive its nature or its method from this world.”
“The very cross where the world mocked him as king was the throne from which he was purchasing his kingdom.”
“The thief with more faith than all the disciples saw a bleeding, mocked, helpless man and said, 'Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.'”
Applications
All listeners
- Beware of wanting Christ to be the king of your political hopes, financial security, or nationalistic dreams — He refuses such a crown and withdraws from those who offer it.
- Stop trying to build Christ's kingdom with worldly means — its nature and method are utterly foreign to this world, advancing only by the word and the Spirit.
- When you feel unworthy to approach Christ, remember the dying thief — with less evidence of kingship you will ever need, he cast himself on the mercy of the crucified King and heard 'Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.'
- Stop trifling with the kingship of Christ — He has never denied it, He has claimed it repeatedly before both friends and enemies, and He will reign whether you bow now or at the judgment.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 136 paragraphs, roughly 56 minutes.
Review and Introduction to the Lord's Own Claims
If the scriptures of the Old and the New Testament proclaim any fact with any degree of certainty, it is the fact that the only salvation which is ever held forth for guilty, hell-deserving sinners is a salvation which focuses in the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord. A man who reads the Bible and misses that is reading it with the wrong glasses. Or he's reading it with his eyes closed. Or more likely, he's reading it with his heart blinded by the God of this world.
The person and work of Jesus Christ are absolutely central to the salvation set forth in the Scriptures. Therefore, it ought to be a matter of great concern to anyone who professes an interest in that salvation to know all he can about that person who alone saves and that work by which alone salvation is wrought. indifference to a growing knowledge of the person and work of Christ is a sad index of the state of the soul, especially when it exists alongside a profession of an interest in that salvation.
No, the mark of someone who has truly entered into the salvation of God in Christ is a growing and a never tiring desire to know more about the Savior and to have more accurate views of the way in which He saves His people. And so it is not tedious to us, I trust, as the people of God, to be engaged in this series of studies in which the focus of our concern has been upon this central figure in our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the manner in which he saves his people. And so for some months, with intermittent digressions into other fields of concern,
we have been occupied with studying the mystery of Christ's person, and then the majesty of his offices. That is, the official functions which he performs and the official positions which he occupies in accomplishing the salvation of his people. And having examined the main biblical materials which open up to us the reality of his priestly function, the reality and nature of his prophetic function, we are presently concerned with understanding who our Lord is and what he does as the great King and Savior of his people. Thus far then, in opening up the biblical concept of the kingly office of Christ, we have established the biblical concept of a king.
It draws together those lines of thought clustering around the symbols of a throne, of a scepter, and of a kingdom. The concept of kingship in the Bible is that of established authority, of exercised authority, and of a realm, a sphere within which that authority is truly exercised. And now our concern is to establish from the scriptures that Jesus Christ is just such a king. That he does have a throne.
That he does wield a scepter. That he does have a kingdom. And the manner in which we've been laying out the biblical materials is simply to follow the pattern in which they come to us. The Bible starts with Genesis and that's where we've started.
And so we look through the period of preparation. Genesis through Malachi. and focused upon nine or ten of the key passages in the period of preparation which pointed to this fact that the Messiah, the Redeemer of sinners, would redeem sinners as a king. That his kingly office would not be something tangent to or something supplemental to his saving work, but he would save in the capacity of a king.
And then we began last week to examine the main biblical materials in the period of manifestation. That is, the gospel records. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The inspired portraits of the Redeemer.
And as we began to examine the data from this period of manifestation, We saw last week that the opening words of the New Testament point us to a Redeemer who will be a true son of David. The rightful heir to David's throne, Israel's true king. And so we examined the opening words of the New Testament. We examined the incident that surrounded his birth and then his official announcement by John the Baptist.
And we saw that in those aspects of the biblical record in the period of manifestation, Jesus Christ is declared to be a king from the outset. There is not a shred of evidence that it is announced that someday he shall be king. He is set before us as the one who is indeed King from his very conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary. So much for that very brief review.
Now we move along in this general section of biblical materials, the period of manifestation, to examine the key passages which set forth our Lord's own claims to kingship. Now you see what we've done. We've looked at the passages in which the gospel writers introduce him from the outset as a king. Now we come to that period in the life of our Lord in which he himself will assert not a kingship yet to come, but a present kingship.
he will set himself before us as the one who is indeed the rightful heir to the throne of David. I direct your attention to three or four pivotal passages in what we would call, or what I am calling, our Lord's own claims to kingship. First of all, please turn to the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. Now remember, we are seeking to do but one thing this morning.
John 6: Refusing the Carnal Crown After the Loaves
We are seeking to establish that Christ as our Savior is indeed a King. That He does not save apart from the exercise of His regal power and His regal rights.
We come to the sixth chapter of John's Gospel. I will briefly summarize what is given to us by John in the first 13 verses of the chapter. It's Passover time, according to verse 4 of John 6, the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Multitudes of Jews are on their way to Jerusalem.
Other multitudes have been in the company of our Lord, listening to his teaching. and in this context our Lord beholds the multitude in a state of physical need. He has purposed what he will do but he is seeking to instruct his disciples so he says in essence let's feed them. And Philip says Lord we can't do it.
We don't have the wherewithal. We just don't have enough bread to do so. And then our Lord you remember goes on to perform this miracle in which he multiplies the little bit of food they had at hand and he feeds at least 5,000. We read that in the latter part of verse 10.
Now after he feeds the 5,000, notice the response of the people in verse 14. When therefore the people saw the sign which he did, in other words, when they perceived that this was indeed a miracle. And those who say, you see, the people were just so enamored with what Jesus was doing and saying they thought their bellies were filled. No, no, here was an objective miracle. It was a work of creation. And the people knew that. They saw the sign which he did, and they said, this is of a truth, the prophet that cometh into the world.
Now, what do those words mean? This is the line of their reasoning. As they beheld this miracle which they knew was something completely out of the ordinary, this multiplying of the few loaves and fishes into enough food to feed five thousand, they reason from that sign back to their knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures and the references to Deuteronomy 18.18.
the promise we considered under our teaching on the prophetic office of Christ, the Lord God shall raise up a prophet like unto me. Now in the thinking of the Jews, that great prophet who would be greater than Moses, but like unto Moses, that one to whom they would hearken upon pain of being cut off, in the minds of many Jews, they identified that prophet with the Messiah. Now this can be demonstrated for a number of places in the New Testament, but right in this context, the little phrase, the prophet that cometh into the world. And the language of that phrase, that cometh into the world, is messianic language.
Now follow their reasoning. They see the miracle and they say, from the miracle we reason to the identity of the one who performed the miracle. This must be the prophet. And if he's the prophet, he is the Messiah.
And if he's Messiah, our Old Testament tells us Messiah will be a king. Now they begin to really scheme a wonderful thing, so they think. If he's a king, and we're on our way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, and our minds are filled with the ancient deliverance that Jehovah wrought through Moses in bringing our people out of the bondage of Egypt, than if the greater than Moses is here. What better time than at the Passover, not only to celebrate our deliverance from the oppression of Egypt, but to celebrate our deliverance from the heel of Rome.
And now we've got a king who can bring that deliverance. For if he's greater than Moses, he can bring a greater conquest than the conquest of Moses. So what do they do? Look at verse 15.
Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force to make him their king. You see, I wasn't preaching by imagination.
Jesus perceiving, and the Greek verb is very strong here, that they were about to kidnap him. They were about to seize hold upon him. They were so certain that this was the idea for the moment, that though our Lord is making no overtures to be acknowledged as a political deliverer from Rome, they are determined to make him such. And you see their reasoning.
If he is the prophet, then he is the Messiah. If he is the Messiah, he is a king. If he is a king, and here is where the fault came, he must be a king who will bend to our notions of what the promised king should do. And the notion of the Jews was dictated not by Scripture, but by their own carnal expectations.
For God had never promised a political king to deliver Israel.
That's why when you had disciples who were disappointed in Luke 24, that the one that they thought was the king and the Messiah but was crucified. He said, fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophet said. If you believed everything, you wouldn't be disappointed, for you would have known that your king was no political deliverer, but he was a spiritual king to establish a spiritual king.
The Triumphal Entry: King in Meekness
So when they seek by force to make him a political king, what does our Lord do? he withdraws again into the mountain himself alone. You say, Pastor Martin, what in the world does that have to do with Christ's claims to be king? Well, that's the necessary background to the next passage.
Or the next group of passages that cluster around the triumphal entry. Perhaps you been brought up in a situation where in a church calendar you celebrated Palm Sunday the triumphal entry of our Lord It recorded in all four of the Gospels And if you want what I think is a very helpful harmony of the four Gospel accounts you will find it in Hendrickson commentary on John where he is commenting on the triumphal entry in John's Gospel, chapter 12. he has sort of a little parenthesis where he takes all of the materials from all four Gospels and weaves them together into a very plausible and helpful harmony of the Gospel records.
But now I want to say just a word about some of the aspects of the triumphal entry because they bear so powerfully upon this issue. In John's Gospel, chapter 12, verses 1 and 12, we learn that it's Passover time again.
John's Gospel, chapter 12, verse 1.
Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was. Then we read in verse 12, Now then, Matthew, Mark, and Luke add details that John does not give us. John only tells us about some people who are already in Jerusalem
who go out to meet Christ as he approaches Jerusalem. But you will notice in Matthew's Gospel, and you find the same in Mark and Luke, there was a previous aspect of this entire incident. Matthew's Gospel 21,
spoken through the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, behold, thy king cometh unto thee, meek and riding upon an ass, and a colt, the foal of an ass. And the disciples went and did, even as Jesus appointed them. And then we read that the most part, verse 8, of the multitude spread their garments in the way, others cut branches, and they went before him, saying, Hosanna, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Now you see, what you had was this.
The Lord Jesus and his followers coming down from Bethany, our Lord having taken the initiative. It was our Lord who took the initiative and said, you go into that village ahead of us, you'll find a colt, you'll find the mother and its colt, I want you to bring them to me. It was our Lord who engineered this entire situation. And as our Lord then sits upon this colt, the fold of an ass, and makes his way to Jerusalem, others, hearing that he's coming, come out from Jerusalem, and they too wave their palms and spread their garments before him.
The two groups meet, and then they make their way into the temple area. Now, the point that ought to strike us immediately is this. The designation which is given to our Lord in this passage Is one that is given in direct fulfillment of Zechariah 9.9 Notice in Matthew 21.5 Tell ye the daughter of Zion Behold thy king cometh unto thee So when he comes They hail him as the king He is called in verse 9, the son of David.
And then we read in the other gospel records, he is actually given the title of king. Now notice, it does not say, Behold one comes who if you will bow to him, he will become your king and be a political ruler and make Jerusalem the center of the Roman Empire. that's the way the passage is often taught if the Jews had rightly embraced him here or in other situations and made him their king no no they tried to make him their king and he refused but now the king says I want to be acknowledged for what I am go find a donkey don't find a white charger the symbol of military might and power
find the donkey the symbol of peace and I will sit upon that donkey and I will go into Jerusalem and I will be acknowledged for what I am. That king prophesied by Zechariah and so the designation of his person or office is clearly given but notice the description of that kingship in the prophecy Thy king cometh unto thee meek riding upon an ass. Thy king cometh meek. The absence of ill will.
He does not come in the garb and in the demeanor of a mighty king to crush his enemies. He comes in meekness.
The designation is king. The description of the kingship, meekness. And then you remember the event itself as we have already suggested. Now the key issue is this.
How did our Lord respond to this designation? The cry that said Hosanna to David's son, Matthew 21, 9, Mark 11, 9, and Luke 19, 37. How does our Lord respond to this praise that acknowledges him to be nothing less than a true king? Verse 38 of Luke's Gospel 19 Blessed is the King that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Does He turn and say, I'm sorry you people have missed the message. I will never be the King until after my second coming. I will never be the King until after the mystery of the church age. How does our Lord respond to this praise and adoration and acknowledgement That he is the king who comes meekly upon a colt Well look at Luke's gospel chapter 19 verse 39 Some of the Pharisees from the multitude said unto him Teacher, rebuke thy disciples Don't you see that their enthusiasm has carried them beyond the bonds of propriety?
They are actually calling you the fulfillment of messianic promises.
Rebuke them. Why? Well, obviously implied is this confession, though enthusiastic and sincere, has leaped the boundaries of reality and truth. And what does the Lord say?
And he answered and said, I tell you that if these shall hold their peace, the stones will cry out. What's he saying? He's saying if my creatures will acknowledge my kingship, my creation will. But that I am king is a fact that cannot be altered.
And therefore, when men acknowledge me to be what I am, I cannot rebuke them as though they have leaped the bounds of propriety and truth. I am what they acknowledge me to be. And then the sequel is powerful, particularly in Luke's Gospel, for we read in verse 41, And when he drew nigh, the very one who is acknowledged to be king, when he drew nigh, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known in this day even thou the things which belong unto thy peace, but they are hid from thine eyes, the king came meekly, bringing salvation.
Salvation from what? The oppression of Roman rule? No! Salvation from the tyranny of their sins.
The tyranny of their own carnal pride. The tyranny of their carnal confidence in their Jewish heritage and all the rigmarole of sacrifice and religious ritual. He came to save them from the curse of the Pharisees' heart and to make them into humble penitents. He came to give meekness.
He came to give mourning. He came to give poverty of spirit. They didn't want any such king of grace. They wanted only a political deliverer.
John 18: Before Pilate, My Kingdom Is Not of This World
And Jesus says, as a result of the impenitence and unbelief that will not have me for the king that I am, in the exercise of my royal prerogatives I will direct the heathen nations to come and utterly raise this city which is the symbol and the monument of unbelief utterly raise it to the ground and he pronounces judgment with a broken heart what an eloquent testimony to the nature of his kingly rule as it was presented to the nation of Israel. Well, then we move very quickly to another key passage
in the life of our Lord in which He asserts His kingship. That's all we're trying to do now. Our Lord's assertion of His own position as king. And it's found again in John's Gospel, chapter 18.
John's Gospel, chapter 18. Just a word about the setting. Our Lord has been arrested. He has already appeared before the high priest in the council of the Jews.
Now he stands before Pilate, the representative of the Roman government. And Pilate asks him a very specific question in John's Gospel, chapter 18 and verse 33. Pilate therefore entered again into the praetorium, into the palace, and called Jesus and said unto him, Art thou the king of the Jews? Now why did Pilate ever ask such a question of Jesus?
Well, he was forced to ask it because of the specific accusation that was brought to his ears. Now John doesn't record that accusation. You see, John's gospel, written later than the other gospels called the Synoptics, assumes in many places that the readers have some acquaintance with the facts of the Synoptic gospels. But many of us, being new to the Christian faith, do not have that acquaintance, so I'm turning you to some of these other passages, not to be tedious, but I trust to be helpful.
And we read in Luke's Gospel, chapter 23, what lies behind the question of Pilate. In Luke's Gospel, chapter 23, Jesus has just appeared before the Jewish authorities. They say, let's get rid of him because he blasphemes. He claims to be the Son of God.
That was the claim that they said should precipitate his death. But they know that that wouldn't cut any mustard with Pilate. You don't go before a heathen ruler and say, hey, put this guy to death because he's making wild religious claims. The answer of Pilate would be, so what?
He's harmless as long as he doesn't touch Caesar's throne, Caesar's authority. Let him make all the claims he wants. It doesn't bother me. That's no skin off my back.
It doesn't bother me at all. So they know they must make an accusation that has political overtones that they're going to get Pilate to be interested in those accusations. So notice what they do. Verse 1 of chapter 23.
The whole company of them rose up and brought him before Pilate and began to accuse him, saying, We found this man perverting our nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar. Now that's a bald lie. What did we read this morning? Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.
That was nothing but a bald-faced lie. Then they said, And saying that he himself is Christ a king. Now is that a lie? Well, yes and no.
in the context in which they say it, it was a bald lie, because they are saying, you see, he is claiming to be a king in such a way as to threaten Caesar authority That is he claims to be a political king And Pilate you know what happens with political kings They messing around with your throne You see, this was their hook to get Pilate interested in their accusations. Now then, we turn to John's Gospel, and we find Pilate focusing his question on the basis of that accusation. You get it now? You see the thread of thought.
Now he says, are you the king of the Jews? Now can you appreciate the tacky situation in which our Lord finds himself? He knows what the Jews have done. They have put a thought in Pilate's mind that Jesus claims to be a king in such a way as to threaten the political stability of Rome's government.
That is a political king with political ambitions to lead the Jews in insurrection against Rome. Now this man Pilate is not acquainted with the truth of God. He says later on, am I a Jew? What do I know about all your religious rigmarole?
So when he hears the word king, he only thinks of one thing. Political power, political influence. So here you've got Jews who are thinking our king must be a political king. This man's an imposter.
He refuses to let us make him a political king, yet he claims to be a king. Let's twist that fact to get him in trouble with Pilate.
Now imagine the position our Lord is in. If he says, I'm not a king, he'd be lying because he is a king. But if he says, I'm a king with no explanation, he'd be conveying a misconception. Because king to them means political throne, political government, military power.
Oh, how masterfully does our Lord respond. And in his response he does two things. He corrects the misconception as to his kingship, and he unequivocally asserts that he is indeed a king. Now notice how he does it.
Look at the passage. Jesus answered, Did you say this of yourself, that is, from information you've picked up on your own, or did others tell it concerning me? Pilate said, Am I a Jew? He said, of course I didn't pick it up on myself.
I don't concern myself for what goes on in your realm of things. I'm just passing on information that's been given to me. Your own nation and chief priests delivered me, you unto me. What have you done?
Now notice Jesus' answer. The first thing he does is to give an unequivocal assertion of his kingship. The question is, are you a king? Now his answer, here it is.
My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my underlings, my servants, fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews, but now is my kingdom. And in the original, the manner in which our Lord says, my kingdom is peculiarly emphatic, The kingship that is mine is what he says literally three times. Pilate, what's your question?
My question is, are you a king? Jesus answers three times. The kingdom that is mine. Now, if any man is not a king, does he make claims to having a kingdom three times?
Not unless he's a liar. Jesus says, yes, I am a king. He asserts it unequivocally, unmistakably, by the repetition of that phrase, the kingdom that is mine, three times. Furthermore, he speaks in language that pertains to structures of authority within a kingdom.
He doesn't say, my disciples, as he often does. He says, my officers, my underlings. The same language used in this chapter in verses 3, 12, 18, and 22, concerning officers in a political structure. Furthermore, he gives an open assertion.
Verse 37, Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. And then he goes on to explain that this was the very end for which he was born. To this end have I been born.
Now you see, anyone who says that Jesus Christ never claimed to be a king while he was in the days of his flesh is either utterly ignorant of the biblical testimony or deliberately twisting it. He didn't say, I shall be a king. I shall have a kingdom. The kingdom and existing commodity is mine, and I am the king.
And furthermore, I've got underlings. And furthermore, you ask me again, am I a king? I say thou sayest, and to this very end was I born that I should be a king. So he unequivocally asserts his kingship, but then equally forcefully, or with equal force, he masterfully corrects the misconceptions of his kingship.
Notice how he does it. Back to verse 36. My kingdom, the kingdom that is mine, is not of this world. The origin or sphere of my kingly rule is not like yours, Pilate The kingdom that is mine does not have its seat in Rome or at Jerusalem No, no, it is not a kingdom of this world Then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews But now is my kingdom not, and then he uses a different word, from hence That is, my kingdom is not from here, Pilate Your kingdom is symbolized in the throne you can feel and touch, and you can take your penknife and cut a little hunk out of it, but not mine.
My kingdom does not arise out of this sphere out of which yours arises. So there is this statement about the origin and the sphere of his kingly rule, and then he goes on to say that the instrument by which he rules, unlike Pilate, It's not a scepter that has attached to it horses and armor and lances and spear and bow and arrow. He has but one thing that attaches itself to his scepter in the establishment of that kingdom. Look at it.
To this end have I been born, and to this end am I come into the world that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. He corrects the misconception. He says, Pilate, you need never fear that my kingship is going to come into any kind of collision course with the political authority of Rome.
No, no. No, no. My kingdom advances and operates by truth. Now, he was so convincing on these two points that you know what Pilate had to do?
He had to acknowledge that his kingship was no threat to Rome. That's why he declared his innocence. Look at the end of verse 38. And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said, I find no crime in him.
He is no threat to Caesar. He got the message that Jesus was not claiming to be a political king in any sense of the word. And then when direction was given to put a sign over his head on that cross, what did he have written? Jesus, King of the Jews.
Pilate got the message. This man claims to be a king. And it upset the Jews. They came by and said, change the wording.
Not that he is King of the Jews, but that he said, I am. He said, what I've written, I've written. That man claimed to be your king. And that man said his kingdom operated in a different sphere.
Matthew 27: Taunts at the Crucified King
I got the message. Think of it. A blind, stupid, ignorant, pagan, political potentate got the message that the Jewish nation with their Bibles missed.
And so our Lord claims to be a king. Our Lord corrects any misconceptions as to the nature of his kingship. and now we move to the last passage for this morning Matthew's Gospel chapter 27 and I trust if you followed it all you begin to sense something of the cumulative weight of these portions of the word and may God be pleased now to bring it home with refreshing and devotional power to our hearts Matthew's Gospel chapter 27 Here we have the account of some of the details of our Lord's crucifixion.
And now as he is impaled upon the cross, they begin to taunt him and to mock him. I commence reading in verse 33.
When they were come unto the place called Golgotha, that is to say the place of a skull, they gave him wine and drink mingled with gall, and when he had tasted it, he would not drink. When they had crucified him, they parted his garments among them, casting lots, and they sat and watched him there. And they set up over his head his accusation written, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Then are there crucified with him two robbers, one on the right hand and one on the left.
They that pass by railed on him. Now notice the point of their taunting. They that pass by railed on him, saying, If thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross. Like manner also the chief priests, mocking him with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others.
Himself he cannot save. He is the King of Israel. Let him now come down from the cross, and we'll believe on him. He trusted on God. Let him deliver him now, if he desireth him.
For he said, I am the Son of God. Do you see the three focal points of their taunting? And I hope they sound very familiar in their substance. They taunt him as to the identity of his person.
If you're a Son of God, why this condition? If you're a Son of God, why remain in it? They taunt him as to the identity of his person. Secondly, they taunt him as to the validity of his professed mission.
The Son of Man has come to save. Call his name Jesus, he shall save. He saved others, he can't save himself. You see the second focal point of their taunting?
It was the validity and identity of his mission, Savior. The identity of his person, Son of God, his mission, Savior. But there was a third focal point. The reality of his position and office as king.
If thou art the king,
you claim to be the king. You claim to have power. We don't deny that we saw some of the exercise of that power. At one time we even said, Are you not the prophet that comes into the world?
All right, king, stretch yourself. Show your power.
Put back all that the Roman authority has done to get you on a cross. Now, do those three lines of thoughts sound familiar? The identity of his person The nature of his mission And the reality of his position as king Remember Luke's prophecy in chapter 1 Thou shalt call his name Jesus That's his mission, Savior He shall be great and be called Son of the Most High That's the identity of his person, Son of God He shall be great, Son of the Most High the Lord God shall give to him the throne of his father David. He's a king.
The Dying Thief Bows to the Crucified King
And it's at those three points that the taunts are hurled into his teeth upon the cross. Because in their conception, if he is Son of God, if he is truly Savior and truly King, the last place for him to be is impelled upon an instrument of shameful death under the power of Rome. and everything about the cross is a stumbling block to those three claims Son of God, Savior, King of Israel Oh, but the glory of it is, my friends it is just in that cross that His kingship breaks forth in its glory for we turn to Luke's Gospel, chapter 23
and we realize that amidst all of that taunting There is the taunting of the two who hang with him, one on the right hand, one on the left, and in Luke 23, 37 we read, I'm sorry, 39, one of the malefactors that were hanged railed on him, saying, Matthew tells us that they were both railing on him. There was a time when both of them were pushing as it were salt into the open wombs of our Lord soul by their shameful speech Now Luke focuses on a subsequent incident One of the malefactors that were hanged railed on him saying
Art not thou the Christ? Here it comes again. Is your identity that of Messiah? Great prophet, priest, and king, son of God, king of Israel, save yourself.
And when you have done that, save us. But the other answered and rebuked him saying, And dost not thou even fear God, seeing that thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done nothing amiss.
And he said, Jesus, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom. If you are the king come down He sees something that says no If he is the king My hope is that the king Dies in the place of a guilty sinner like me My hope is that if he is a true king He will in self-denying humility Bear the wrath of the living God, whom I now fear as full of justice and fury against sin.
No, no, don't come down, Lord Jesus.
But drink the last dark drop of the Father's wrath,
that I might be brought into the glory of the kingdom when it is manifested in its visible and powerful and consummate glory. Remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom What happened on that cross? Jesus Christ was giving a singular demonstration Of his saving kingship While he hangs upon a cross What made the difference in those few short hours? This man with the other malefactor Is heaping shame upon Christ What happened to him?
that suddenly he sees, first of all, the claims of God. Like most hardened criminals, I got a raw deal, a raw deal, a raw deal, a raw deal. No longer does he talk that way, but he says we are here justly. What happened to that man to change his whole mindset about sin and guilt and the law of God?
While Jesus the King hangs upon the cross, he storms the soul of a hardened criminal. and he takes that man and indicts him by the law of God to own his guilt. While the king is hanging on the cross, he furthermore awakens in the heart of that man something he never had any concern about, divine forgiveness about the world to come. It was grasping, it was pleading, it was pursuing the things of this life that brought him to violate even the laws of society.
But now this world pales into insignificance and he says, my great concern is the world to come. Now what takes a man bound to earth and causes him to be preoccupied with the world to come? I tell you it takes a mighty work of the living God. King Jesus was doing his work while he's hanging on the cross.
Awakening in this man a sense of his guilt. awakening in Him a hunger for those realities which cannot be touched by death nor eroded with time. And what is it that ever gave that malefactor the ability to see in Jesus a King? What an unlikely place to see a King.
And here again, I hate much of Christian art for this very reason. It paints these beautiful pictures of Christ hanging on the cross. my friend that body was bruised and spattered with blood and flesh was torn you would have wretched and vomited if you'd looked upon it and yet he says that man is a king and the last chapter about his kingdom ain't been written yet remember me when thou comest in my kingdom now where in the world did he ever see that King Jesus invaded his soul and my friends that's the kind of king he is he is a king in pursuit of the salvation of his people
Application: Bow to the Scepter Now
and here upon the cross while they taunt him prejudiced by their own carnal pride and by their unbelief and their mismanagement of scriptural data and they taunt him if you're a king come down it's as though our Lord says no if I'm a king I'll show you why I'm a king And he invades the soul of that poor wretched dying criminal And he establishes his throne of grace in his heart Brings him under the scepter of his gracious mercy And his gracious rule And he says today Thou shall be with me in paradise You see, whoever Jesus Christ subdues as the King of grace, He subdues that He might bring us into living, loving fellowship with Him, and that for eternity.
Oh, do you see now the whole thrust of the biblical doctrine of the kingship of Christ? Obviously, we have not touched upon the full dimensions of that kingship. That will come when we get in the period of explanation into some of the key passages in the epistles. But oh, this morning, shut every other thought from your mind but this.
Is Jesus a king? His own confession is, yes, I am a king. Well, you say, what bearing does that have upon me? Precisely this, my friend.
If you do not come under the scepter of Jesus Christ, you will never be saved. He saves as a king and never in any other capacity. A king who is a priest, yes, that's why he had to die, that he might be both priest and king. Do you say you're a Christian?
My friend, if you come under the scepter of King Jesus, have you bowed to that scepter and owned in Jesus Christ the rightful sovereign of your life? If not, you're not a Christian. You're as lost as the devil.
All of this talk about taking Jesus as Savior now and Lord later, it is sheer, unbiblical rubbish.
He saves as a king. and if he ever saves you he'll save you with his scepter in his hand not in his pocket he had to go by way of a cross to sit upon his throne and the only way you get to that cross is by way of that throne the mercy procured upon the cross is never received except by way of the throne that's why Psalm 2 can say kiss the son that is bow in submission and then it ends with this note blessed is everyone that trusteth in him all who trust have kissed and there's no way to kiss
in reality but to trust all the talk about you can be saved by faith and repent later you don't need my friend the doctrine of repentance the lordship of Christ all of these issues are bound up in a biblical understanding of this truth. Christ is King.
King to save, yes, but He never saves at the expense of pocketing His scepter.
Has King Jesus put forth His scepter? Has He shown you your guilt? Has He brought you to own it like that dying thief? Has He stormed your soul in His regal power and authority and brought you to see that He is King, worthy of your trust, worthy of your homage.
Can you glory in that which was a stumbling block to the Jews? King upon the cross, under the heel of Rome, never we say, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. My King is my priest. And if He were not my priest, His kingship could only be exercised to crush me.
But because the one who is the king is the priest, he's the king upon a cross, there's hope for even me. And dear child of God, as you try to ask the question, why was I made to hear his voice and enter while there's room? The scripture says, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Oh I love the imagery that Bunyan uses Not in Pilgrim's Progress But in his second and lesser known work In which the soul of man is likened to a walled city And Emmanuel storms the city My friend if you are a Christian It is because Emmanuel has stormed your soul Oh has he stormed your soul
If not I plead with you this morning Take the posture of that poor undone man just a few hours from eternity. And behold in the bleeding, dying Son of God, the true King. And embrace Him as your King and your Savior.
Oh, may we love Him, dear people of God. May we be filled on the one hand with the sense of the wonder and the glory of His kingship. and with a holy wrath and anger at any system of truth that would rob him of the glory of his crown.
May God help us. And may this great King be honored by our practical loving obedience, surrendered to him as he wields his scepter in the precepts of his own blessed word. Well, we've just had a little application at the end. And it's been mostly teaching.
Closing Prayer
But it had to be. And God willing as we unfold more dimensions of this glorious truth. I trust we shall see more and more. Its implications for life.
And for practice. Let us pray.
O Lord Jesus Christ. Wondrous King All-Glorious Sovereign Lord Victorious We bow before you To pour out the worship of our hearts We thank you That you did not come down From that cross To give a display Of regal power That would have dazzled your enemies But left us Without a Savior Lord Jesus we worship you we praise you for taking into your holy guileless soul all of the taunts of your enemies and we feel grief
because we know many of us for years stood taunting our unbelief and impenitence became the echo of their cry and we are ashamed before you but in the midst of our shame we glory that you have stormed our souls and brought us to bow to your scepter. O Lord Jesus, come this morning. Show yourself to be a mighty king. Subdue proud, impenitent, and unbelieving hearts.
O Lord Jesus Christ, be king amongst us this morning and bring sinners subject to your reign of grace. And we who name your name, as we love your cross, as we love your word, oh, may we love your crown and your scepter. Lord Jesus, have mercy upon us where we've been stubborn, where we've been willful. We know, we know that all of the exercises of your scepter are good and right and holy.
forgive our folly forever questioning the rightness or the goodness of any of your precepts. We commit ourselves afresh to you. Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Church, receive the praises we offer in your presence. Hear the prayers that we now plead before you.
And may the blessing of your own presence rest upon us as we leave this place. Hear our prayer as we come resting only in that which you have done for us needy sinners.
Amen.
Thank you.
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
Jesus before Pilate: thrice asserts 'my kingdom' and unequivocally claims kingship
If these should hold their peace, the stones would cry out
The dying thief embraces Jesus as King at the cross
Texts Expounded
Also Referenced
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