“And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!” (Matt. 27:29).
One of the most amazing and comforting truths surrounding the passion of Christ is that everything that occurred between his arrest in the Garden and his death on the cross at Calvary was foreordained to the letter by God the Father. So when Christ’s enemies yell out “Hail, King of the Jews!” what they do not know is that even in their mockery they are declaring the truth of God and his gospel. For not only is Christ King of the Jews, he is Lord of all (Phil. 2:10). Further, though the scepter they placed in his hand at his trial was only a withering reed, he still used it to deal a death blow to the head of that serpent the devil as prophesied in Genesis 3:15.
Not only was Christ’s passion and death foreordained by God in eternity past, his victory over death and hell and the devil was predetermined in the mind and will of God as well. So, even as these hypocritical religious leaders and pompous government officials ridiculed and buffeted the Lord whom they prided themselves in arresting and sentencing to death, they were playing out perfectly the role God had ordained for them to carry out in his grand plan of redemption.
Christ was falsely accused, but he did not open his mouth to defend himself against his accusers because he chose to willingly bear the guilt and shame of the sins of all those who would follow him by faith. He withstood the beatings and accepted the accusations so that going forward no one in heaven or earth could ever rightfully accuse his own before God (Rom. 8:33).
So when Satan attempts to testify against us in the court of heaven, Christ steps up to the Judge’s bench and holds out his scarred hands. Nothing that Satan can throw at us has any power or merit, because Christ took the punishment for us. Neither can the law bring any charge against us because Christ also fulfilled the law. Though he was completely innocent, sinless, and guiltless, he bore all the travesties and beatings and ridicules of his accusers willingly so that he could become sin for us (a sin offering), that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And in doing so, he conquered sin and death and Satan once for all, fully accomplishing what God sent him to do to the letter.
And when the time of his kingdom is at hand and he returns to set up his throne in Jerusalem, every one of his children will reign with him because we are more than conquerors through him (Rom. 8:37). Further, his scepter then will not be a hollow reed but a mighty staff that, when wielded by the King of kings, will subdue every aspect of nature as well as every creature under his command for this scepter is an everlasting scepter (Heb. 1:8), and of this Kingdom there shall be no end (Isa. 9:7).
Contemplations:
- O Lord, though your accusers drew blood from you, they drew no such complaint as “why do you persecute me?” O let my obedience from here forward show my humble reverence to your kingdom because of the power, majesty, and terror of its everlasting scepter. And even if the obedience of blessed angels and the reverence of crowned saints out-strip me in magnifying its power and glorifying it’s majesty, do not let the faith of damned devils “out tremble” me at its terror (James 2:19).
- Your scepter, O Lord, with which you govern your kingdom of grace is your word of righteousness and truth. So, help me arm both my mouth and my heart with the truth of your word so that when encountering Satan and his temptations, using your own tried weapon against him, he shall never be able to swallow me up into the bottomless gulf of despair nor throw me down from the slippery pinnacle of presumption.
Further References for Matthew 27:29:
John 19:3; Isa. 53:3; Matthew 20:19; Luke 23:36
