The King Reigns

John 19:19-20 Pilate wrote a notice and had it put on the cross. “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews,” is what he wrote. 20 Many people read it, because the place where Jesus was crucified was not far from the city. The notice was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. 21 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.” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
 
GOD certainly uses people in surprising ways, doesn’t he? The Bible tells us that whether one is a pagan or Jew, atheist or true believer, God can use a person’s character and traits to declare Jesus to the world.
   Here, for example, the pagan Pilate ordered a sign written in several languages for all to know Jesus as “King of the Jews”. It seems he was mocking the Jews; yet, God was using Pilate to tell the truth. Then see that “many people read it.” These were people who had traveled to Jerusalem from nearby towns and foreign countries. Many were Gentiles (also called Greeks), merchants, craftsmen, government employees and all types of social classes. For some, no doubt, it was their first notice of Jesus. Surely, they wondered about the sign to ask, “Why would anyone call this cursed criminal on a cross ‘King of the Jews’?” Why, indeed? How was God using Pilate to tell the world of Jesus?
   I wonder what some of these same people thought weeks or even years later when the apostles proclaimed the message begun in Acts 2:36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” And Paul wrote in Galatians 6:14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
   Do you think some who heard the gospel thought back to that day when the “King of the Jews” was on the cross? Perhaps the memory of the crucified “King of the Jews” awakened them to know that the apostles’ words were true. The gospel message is real. God truly so loved the world he did give his only Son to be crucified to rise again for the resurrection of believers’ souls.
   Indeed, God makes himself known in unexpected ways. He even goes to die a criminal’s death on a cross. On that day, the Father planted the seeds of his salvation into the hearts and minds of many who passed by or stood at the foot of the cross.
   Pilate was a weak, ineffective ruler. He relented to the crowd and crucified the only truly innocent man who has ever lived. Even so, Pilate acted under God’s’ sovereign purpose. The Lord God gave to Pilate words to introduce the King of Kings to the world.