John 19:19-22

How ironic that the words Pilate chose to place on the cross of our Lord would be the exact proclamation God would have the world to read nailed to the wood on which His Son bore all its sins. How like God who uses all vessels for His bidding – even Pilate.

1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. Prov 21:1 (NIV)

“JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS”- the proclamation read. Christ came to be a King and as a King He lived and suffered and died for His subjects and by His subjects. The title held a very full and significant meaning. There would have been no confusion of which cross Jesus hung upon. The myriads who passed by - who witnessed the crucifixion - saw that Jesus really did suffer and that He was not at the last moment released or another punished in His stead or taken away by miraculous intervention.

The crucifixion was prominently placed near the city where all those attending the Passover would pass by. Written in three languages – Hebrew (Aramaic) for every Jew would know it, the oldest language and the language of the Old Testament; Greek, for this was the language most known in all the eastern countries as well as the language of the educated and the intellectual; and Latin, for it was the language of the Romans, the ruling nation of the world at that time. There would have been no confusion - all who read the sign would understand and spread the tidings in their own tongue that One Jesus – the King of the Jews – had been put to death by crucifixion at the Passover feast. Perhaps even Pilate was used to help save a soul.

“In the Hebrew, the oracles of God were recorded; in Greek, the learning of the philosophers; and in Latin, the laws of the empire. In each of these languages Christ is proclaimed King, in whom or hid all the treasures of revelation, wisdom and power.” Matthew Henry

Paul clearly stated this Truth in Colossians that in Christ there is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge:

2 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Col 2:2-3 (NIV)

Interestingly, there was also a spiritual sign upon our Lord’s cross that no human eye could read – Jesus’ vicarious death blotted out the ordinances of the law which was held against us because we could never righteously fulfill. Paul tells us Christ nailed them to the cross:

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. Col 2:13-14 (NIV)

Lastly, we see our Lord’s accusers vexed in spirit at the implied reflection of Pilate’s words on themselves. They had to have been uncomfortable in conscience even as hardened and wicked as they were. Surely they held secret convictions they desperately tried to keep at bay – that they did a wrong thing, a thing that would have been hard to defend to even to themselves much less to others. In an effort to shift guilt, they plead with Pilate to change the reading of our Lord’s sign to which he staunchly refuses. Even as hardened and haughty as Pilate was, he resolved not to gratify the Jews any further. He was glad to hold them accountable to scorn and contempt as a people who crucified their own King. He had made a stand and he was unyielding. It is not uncommon when a man has trampled his conscience in one direction to seek to make it up by being staunchly firm in another. His refusal to change the sign was simply another way Pilate so little knew that he was bearing testimony to our Lord’s Kingly office.

15 Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. Isaiah 59:15-16 (NIV)