Good Friday. It appeared at first that there would be nothing good about it. It was not known as Good Friday until Sunday. Jesus had been arrested. He was beaten. He was spit on. A wooden rod was laid across His back thirty-nine times leaving marks of the brutal beating. His body was torn to shreds by the cat of nine tails the soldiers used to torture him.
There were chips of lead and bone woven into those nine ten tentacles of death. The pieces of bone were sharpened like razors and sliced through Jesus’ flesh easily and deep. His skin laid open from the deep wounds. The pieces of lead would cause severe bruising when they collided with His body. The soldiers were well trained at torturing their victims. This is why Isaiah penned the words,
“He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
A crown of thorns were forced upon His head. He was made to carry His own cross up Golgotha’s hill. They laid Him on the cross and drove nails deep into His hands and feet pinning Him to the cross with our sin. They lifted and then dropped the cross into the ground, His body convulsing in pain as the cross slammed into the bottom of the hole it was dropped in. Jesus, the Son of God, savior, messiah hung in agony and great despair because of His love for us. Many wept at the cross. Many watched in disbelief. Others took in the experience simply for the entertainment as the soldiers gambled for His clothes. Still, others intentionally played their role in His crucifixion because they wanted to kill Him.
I want you to picture the horror that took place on that hill, the place of the skull that day. Three crosses painted a haunting image in the canvas of the sky. Soldiers laughing, mocking, sneering. Hundreds of people stand as witnesses, each with a different perspective. Jesus hung unrecognized by the terroristic abuse on the cross. What I want you to focus in on is the sign that hangs above the head of Christ. The sign that Pilate, Jesus’ judge, had made. The gospel of John tells us what was inscribed on that sign.
“Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” John 19:19 NIV
This signed, although possibly made in jest, declared that Jesus was the King. Everyone one who stood on that hill that day read that sign. They all made that declaration that Jesus is the King, whether they believed it or not. Look at the different responses to that declaration hanging just above the bloodied head Jesus. John also tells us that the chief priest did not want the sign to say what it said.
“The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” John 19:21 NIV
The chief priest flat refused to declare Jesus as King. The people watching for entertainment could care less as they probably did not even believe that Jesus was the son of God. The soldiers, all but one, laughed about it like it was a joke. The angry thief on the cross next to Jesus cared only about himself. But those who bowed in tears and honor declared Jesus as King and Lord. The thief that asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom declared Jesus as King and Lord. The one soldier that recognized Jesus as the son of God declared Jesus as King and Lord. All of Heaven declared Jesus is King when the veil in the holy of holies was torn from top to bottom. What say you? Do you declare Jesus is the King and the Lord of your life?
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