Sign on the Cross

February 22, 2015

John 19:19-22

When the soldiers nailed Christ to the cross, they placed “a title” on the cross above Jesus’ head. The “title” identified who the person on the cross was. Pilate wrote the title —“JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

Matthew 27:37 and Mark 15:26 calls it “his accusation” — It signified what the victim was accused of.
Luke 23:38 calls it a “superscription”—A writing usually found on the cover or top of a document denoting it’s contents (“Top Secret”). Many Psalms have “superscriptions.” For example: Psalm 3—“A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom.”

I. The ACCESSIBILITY to the public (vs. 19-20).

Written in three languages, since people were attending the Passover from nations all over the Roman empire:

A. HEBREW (Jew). Language of religion (The three majors religions all trace their roots back to Abraham, the first Hebrew).

Jesus is KING in the realm of religion—He the revelation of the true God (Heb. 1:1-3).

B. GREEK (Gentile). Language of the educated—science/philosophy.

Jesus is KING in the realm of knowledge. In Him “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3).

C. LATIN (Romans). Language of law and medicine.

Jesus is KING of the Law—The Lawgiver (Isa. 33:22) and the fulfillment of the law. In medicine, He is the great Physician.
NOTE: The Bible languages went from Hebrew (O.T.) to Greek (N.T.) to Latin, to English (1383- John Wycliffe produced the first complete English Bible (hand-written from the Latin).

II. The ACCURACY of it’s proclamation (v. 19).

A. The CAUSE behind the proclamation. What was Pilate’s motive?

Was it contempt for the Jews. Pilate knew they delivered Christ to him out of envy. Pilate did not like being manipulated to crucify Christ, when he sought to release Him.
Was he convinced it was true? I personally believe Pilate was convinced of what Jesus said in John 18:36-37.

Four times Pilate used the title “King of the Jews” in reference to Jesus.
Pilate presented Christ before the people saying, “Behold your King!”
His final appeal to the crowd was, “Shall I crucify your King?” (John 19:15).
Finally he writes: “The King of the Jews.” Amen!

B. The CORRECTNESS in the proclamation. Whatever Pilate’s reason, what he wrote was absolutely true!

C. The CONVERSION in it’s proclamation. Perhaps God used Pilate’s inscription on Christ’s cross to lead the dying thief to salvation (cf. Luke 23:38, 42).

•The thief’s prayer to Christ is interesting—He doesn’t pray to be saved or for mercy. He appeals to Christ as a servant to a King. How did He recognize Jesus as a King? Could it be he read Pilate’s inscription of Christ’s cross? It is possible that he is in heaven because Pilate hung a sign on the top of Jesus’ cross. Just sayin…’