John 19:19-22
For the next several weeks you will know exactly where to turn on Sunday morning because I’m going to be looking at the 19th chapter of the Gospel of John.
We are digging for some hidden treasure around the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and looking at some of the objects which came into play that day when Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the whole world. We are looking at these objects through the eyes of John.
John was an eyewitness to the crucifixion of the Lord. Most people had fled when the Lord was crucified at Calvary, but John, the beloved disciple was there with the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, in John 19 we look through John’s eyes at some of these objects that came into play that day when Jesus died on the cross.
Text: John 19:19-22
It was the custom in those days that when a person was to be crucified for a soldier to walk in front of the person to be crucified with this kind of signboard. It was probably a white board written in letters of black or red. It was to give the reason why
the victim was being crucified. What crime he had committed. The reason he was going to be crucified.
Evidently this is what happened to our Lord. The officer went ahead as Jesus was going to the cross. Once He came to the cross they took this signboard and put it above the head of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When you read the four gospel accounts of the signboard you will find that there is a little difference in the wording of each one of them.
For instance Matthew and Mark call it an accusation. Luke calls it an inscription or a superscription. John calls it a title.
Some people have pointed that out and they said, “Well, that just proves to you that there are contradictions in the Bible.
It is not that there is contradiction, but each of the Gospel writers writes what he wants to write from his perspective. For instance, Matthew is writing for the Jews. So, he evidently gives the translation of the Hebrew. Mark is writing for the Romans. So, he evidently gives the translation of the Latin. Luke is writing for common, ordinary people like you and me. So, he evidently gives the translation of the Greek.
Now, John who is writing for the entire world gives us his translation. So, rather than being contradiction we have here a statement of
completeness. This is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.
So, there is no contradiction here. In this signboard we have proclaimed: This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
So today, I want us to think about that signboard and its message because the message of the signboard gives us the meaning and the purpose of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
For instance: This signboard teaches us that the meaning of the cross is-
I. Controversial
It is John alone who tells us about the controversy that erupted between Pontius Pilate and the Jewish leaders over this signboard. The cross and the message of the cross are controversial.
When Jesus was crucified there were thousands of Jews from all over the Roman Empire who had come to Jerusalem at that time to observe the feast of the Passover. The high priests and the chief priests and the official rulers of the Jewish people had engineered the situation so that they could get Jesus exactly where they wanted Him to be.
Notice here that Jesus is a rejected king. They had rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as their king. They wanted Him on a cross. I can almost imagine how it was that day when finally the sentence had been given that He was to die.
Can you imagine the sadistic pleasure that these people had, that finally the one that they hated and despised so much—this Jesus of Nazareth would be put on the cross.
I have a feeling they were looking forward to seeing Him hanging on that cross. But can you imagine how it was when they went to the cross and for the first time looked up at that cross and they saw this sign above Jesus—This is Jesus, the king of the Jews.
It absolutely cut them to the quick. They were absolutely filled with fury and rage. They had rejected Him as their king. They had made the loud proclamation: we have no king but Caesar. They said, “We will not have this man to reign over us.”
Isn’t that an interesting thing? All through the centuries they had been awaiting the arrival of their king and yet John 1:11 says, He came unto his own and his own received him not. He indeed came to be their king but when He was presented they rejected Him as their king.
They were not happy at all about this sign. Their feelings were roused and they were on the edge. They were really upset about this matter. So, they sent an official delegation to Pontius Pilate to complain. Now Pontius was glad to see them. He had gotten exactly the reaction he wanted to get.
He had put that sign up there to irritate and insult them anyhow. He was spitting in their plate. He was doing everything he knew to do to get them upset.
So, they come to Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate is the compromising politician. He’s rather an interesting and amazing individual. Think about it. When he had the opportunity to save the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, he completely caved in and
crumbled to the demands of these Jewish leaders.
Now, when it comes to a trivial sign on the cross, he is absolutely unyielding. He’s obstinate in the wrong place. He’s refusing to budge in the wrong place. But he doesn’t care. He’s just trying to get the whole thing out of his hands. He’s trying to wash his hands of the whole matter. He’s not interested at all in Jesus on that cross and he’s certainly not interested in these Jewish leaders.
It’s all driven by what is best for him. It’s interesting to observe that in churches. We can fight and get upset over the most foolish of things. When we don’t get out way or someone does something to offend us, we swell up and pout like a child.
If we could only learn to put that kind of emotion and energy into things that really matter. We can run to a neighbor and gossip and complain and backbite, but never open our mouth to speak a kind word or share a testimony of our faith.
Why are we that way? Because we’re selfish and prideful; it’s all about us and our feelings and our rights.
So they come to him and say, “Don’t write ‘This is the King of the Jews”, but that what He said He was.” The tense of the verb is rather interesting. In verse 21 where they say to him, “Write not,” it’s the present tense. They are saying to stop writing as if
the writing were still going on.
But Pontius Pilate says, “What I have written, I have
written.” It’s perfect tense which means—I’ve written it, there it stands and it is not going to be changed.
There’s a truth there for you and for me. You and I are writing a story every day of our lives. We are writing out a story of our lives.
Remember the little poem that says:
You are writing a Gospel, a chapter each day.
By deeds that you do, by words that you say.
Men read what you write, whether faithless or true.
Say what is the Gospel according to you?
Pilate said, “What I have written, I have written.” The day will come that what you and I have written, we have written and there it will stand. One day, just as Pilate will face what he has written, you and I will face what we have written with our lives and the decisions we have made regarding the Lord Jesus Christ.
We will acknowledge our handwriting. We will acknowledge what is there. Pilate has put their rejected king on the cross. Controversial, wouldn’t you say? Controversial signboard, wouldn’t you say?
The cross is still controversial. It still stirs up controversy. If you question that, let me say to you that tomorrow let them put a cross in the foyer of the City Hall and see what would happen. Or if you think if isn’t controversial go over to schools and try to share a Bible verse or pray in the name of Jesus.
Just pump in “At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light,” and you’ll find out if it is controversial or not. It is controversial all over America as we argue about crosses and nativity scenes and the Ten Commandments. The cross of our Lord is still very controversial.
Why is that? Because of the message of the cross.
I Corinthians 1 says the preaching of the cross is
foolishness to them that perish. The Bible says that to the Jews the cross is a stumbling block and to the Greeks the cross is foolishness. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ stirs hostility to this very day.
Pilate did more than he realized that day. When Jesus Christ was crucified and they put that signboard up that said this is the king of the Jews, it is saying that Jesus is indeed the exalted king. He is a king.
Pilate meant it as a cruel joke, but he was writing the truth. He wrote more than he ever realized he was writing. Jesus is a king.
Before Jesus Christ was born the Bible says of His kingdom there will be no end. When Jesus was born the wise men came to Jerusalem and said, where is he who is born king of the Jews? He is the king of the Jews. Jesus is the fulfillment of everything the
Jews had anticipated. He’s the fulfillment of King David in all of his glory. He is the fulfillment of Solomon in all of his wisdom. He is the king of the Jews.
But He is more than just the king of the Jews, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the king of this world. He rules and reigns as king. One of these days the Lord Jesus Christ will return and He will return not on a gory cross, but on a glory cloud.
When He does the Bible says the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God and
of His Christ. Jesus indeed is the king.
Pilate was writing that on that day, but God was writing it also. Behind the writing of Pilate was God Himself. One thing about it, when you study the cross you will find God is all over the story. You’ll find God is everywhere to be seen in this message
of the cross.
Jesus Christ was the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world. It’s as if God could say what I have written, I have written, there it stands. No one can erase it. God Himself has put it into the pages of Scripture. He is the king, the king of
the Jews and the king of the world. The signboard reminds us that the cross is controversial.
It also tells us that the cross is
II. Universal
Notice the Bible says that where Jesus was crucified was near to the city (verse 20).
It is commonly believed that when Jesus was crucified He was alongside a public highway. That means that people could come right by where He was crucified and He could be seen. It really didn’t matter who they were or where they were from.
They were able to read the message on the signboard over the cross. It was written in the three main languages of that day. It was written in Hebrew, the language of the Jews. It was written in Greek, the language of culture. It was written in Latin, the language of the Romans.
Why does the Bible make a point that it was written in three languages? It tells us that the message of the cross is universal in its application. The message of the cross applies itself in every area of human life.
It was written in Hebrew—the language of religion. It means that Jesus is Lord religiously. He is the final word on religion. You just bring up the subject about religion or salvation or how to get to heaven or anything like that and it’s amazing how everybody has an opinion on it.
You go into a home and sit down and begin to talk about spiritual things or religious things and the Bible and you will find that people will become instant authorities. They just know everything. They’ll tell you exactly their opinion of what they think about how you get to heaven.
Now listen to what I’m fixing to say, and please don’t think me arrogant or cocky.
It really doesn’t matter what your opinion on religion is. It doesn’t make any difference what my opinion is either.
What really matters is—what does Jesus have to say about it. He’s the Lord religiously. Jesus is the final word of how you get to heaven. It’s not what men think about salvation; it’s what God says in the Bible about salvation.
It’s not what men believe is right or wrong in these matters; it is what Jesus Christ has to say. Jesus Christ is Lord religiously. Put it up there in Hebrew.
Not only Hebrew, but also it was written in Greek—the language of culture.
That means Jesus is Lord culturally. That simply means that all true culture ultimately leads to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Culture is a beautiful, wonderful thing. But culture without the Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate crudity. You may think you have culture. In fact you may eat caviar, stick your pinkie in the air when you drink your tea and wear your glasses on a stick.
But until you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior you don’t know what culture is all about. It’s Jesus that refines the human heart and beautifies the life.
It is Christ who puts beauty and meaning and purpose into life. It is Christ who makes literature come alive. It is Christ that makes beauty all that it is intended to be. Write it up there in Greek because He is Lord culturally.
If you are a Christian it ought to change your daily behavior and lifestyle. You ought to demonstrate to a world that has a corrupted world view that the worldview of Jesus Christ refines and beautifies and glorifies human existence.
Write it in Hebrew—He’s the Lord religiously. Write it in Greek—He is the Lord culturally.
They also wrote it in Latin. Latin was the language of the Roman Empire. It was the language of law and government. That means that Jesus Christ is Lord politically.
There is a mistaken phrase that is being used quite a lot in American culture and that is that we call ourselves a democracy. Technically we are really a republic. You say what’s the difference?
Democracy means ruled by the people. Everyone says,, Yea, that’s what we want. Well not me. Here’s why: I don’t trust us to do the right thing! We don’t live in a democracy. Our forefathers knew that was not the way to do it. So they established a republic.
Republic means ruled by law. We do not rule
this country by polls. You don’t check and see what the majority of people have to say about it. If the majority of people said it was all right to murder in this country would we say it’s all right to murder? No. We don’t operate that way.
We operate on the basis of objective standards and laws. And where do those objective standards originate? The Holy Word of God. Any right standard of law finds its origin with God.
So then, the Lord Jesus Christ is the One whose laws become the standard for our behavior.
This Lord Jesus may be controversial but you take the words and the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ our of the laws of this land and you would go back to the jungle.
The culture war that is going on in this country right now is a war between those who believe that man is the ultimate authority and final rule of behavior and those who believe that God and His Word is the ultimate authority and final rule of behavior.
I’m going to take my stand on the side of the Lord. I’m going to take my stand on the side of what Jesus has to say about it.
This message of the cross is a universal message. It goes into every corner of life. It’s universal in its application.
And it’s universal in its invitation. When Jesus died and they put the signboard over that cross in those three languages, He was saying that the whole world is invited to salvation. God is saying let whosoever will, let him come.
But don’t mishear that. Whosoever will may come, BUT they must come God’s way!
One of the things you can’t miss when you study the book of John is that Jesus Christ is set forth as the Savior of the world.
In John 1, when John the Baptist was at the river Jordan and Jesus came forward, John the Baptist said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. You would have expected him to say—behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of Israel—because the lamb and the sacrifice of the lamb was something the Israelites understood.
But he didn’t say that—he did come to die on the cross for the sins of Israel, but when Jesus died on that cross it wasn’t just one nation He died for. He died to take away the sins of the whole world—your sins and my sins and the sins of the whole world.
In John 3:16 he says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
In John 4 when the woman at the well heard about Jesus and He gave her a drink of that water of life and she went running back into the village she said, “Come see a man who told me all things I ever did.” They came out and heard Jesus. They said, “Now we know that this man is the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
That means that anybody who wants to be can be saved. It means that there is no respect of persons with God. It means it doesn’t matter what race you are, what nationality you are.
It doesn’t matter whether you come from the right or the wrong side of the tracks. It doesn’t matter who you are, you can come to the cross and be saved.
It is universal. It doesn’t matter how intelligent you are or how dumb you are. You can be a Ph.D. or a NoD. It doesn’t matter; God will save you if you will come to the cross. It doesn’t matter how many possessions you have. You may not have a dime in your pocket today or you may have millions in your pocket.
You’re not hopeless. If you are here today and you have absolutely no culture at all, it doesn’t matter who you are, the cross of Jesus Christ is universal in its invitation—whosoever will, let him come.
On that signboard that day it said, “This is
Jesus, the King of the Jews.” But He’s more than just the king of the Jews, He’s the king of anyone and everyone who will come to Him and receive Him as their Savior.
The cross is controversial. The cross is universal. But that signboard tells us that the cross is—
III. PERSONAL
I want to get very personal with you. Think for a moment that it’s just you and me talking. Just pretend you are an audience of one. As best you can shut out everybody else around you and let me talk to you one on one personally.
I want to say to you that this cross means that you can have a personal Savior.
That’s an interesting thing. On this signboard was supposed to be placed the crime of the person who was being crucified.
Yet, when you read it, there is no crime mentioned. It simply says this is Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Why? When Jesus died on that cross, He was not drying for crimes that He had done.
Not one sin could anybody ever point to in the life of Jesus. In fact, Jesus did something one time that not a one of us would dare to do. One time Jesus asked this question: Who convicts me of sin? Nobody could say one single word.
I wouldn’t do that. I have a wife and some children here today. I wouldn’t dare say that, would you? If any of you guys have your wife here you better not say that.
But it is the conclusion of Scripture and history that Jesus Christ was without sin. Pilate himself said, “I find no fault in this man.” Judas said, “I have betrayed the innocent blood.” They said of Him, “This man has done nothing amiss.”
Jesus wasn’t dying on the cross for His sins. He was dying for your sins and my sins.
When we look at that cross and at that signboard with our eyes we see this as Jesus the King of the Jews.
Have you ever read that experts will take a painting and begin to remove the surface of the painting?
They discover that a more valuable, more important painting than the one on the surface is beneath the painting.
Actually, when you and I look at that signboard we see one thing, but when God looks at the signboard, when God looks at the cross, He sees something else.
Go to the book of Colossians, chapter 2. I want to show you what God saw when He looked at this signboard.
Verse 14
You see, more than a signboard was nailed to the cross on that day. Man saw a signboard written by men, but God saw the sins that He had recorded against us.
In those days when a man owed a debt he could not pay they would post publicly that debt that could not be paid. In fact, sometimes when a man would admit he could not pay the debt would also have an open, public acknowledgment that he could not pay the debt.
That day at the cross of Calvary the ordinances, the sins that were against us were nailed on that cross; a debt that we cannot pay; sins for which we cannot atone; transgressions for which we are ashamed.
Yet, on that day at the cross of Calvary when all of our sins were nailed on that cross, praise God, the Bible says that God blotted out the handwriting of ordinance that was against us and nailed them to the cross. Your sins and my sins were laid on Jesus that day.
He’s our personal Savior. He personally paid for your sins. This cross means that you can have a personal salvation. I believe we know of at least one person who read that signboard and as result of it was saved.
In Luke 23 we read about a man we know as the thief on the cross. There were actually crucified that day along with Jesus two thieves, one on each side of the Lord. Jesus was in the middle according to John 19:18.
But on either side there were these two criminals. At the beginning of the crucifixion the Bible says that both of these men reviled Jesus. Both of these thieves heaped insults on Jesus. But along the way, something happened to one of those thieves.
Notice what it says in Luke 23:42, and he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. Kingdom?
Here’s a man dying on the cross. Yet, here is a poor thief saying, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Where in the world did this thief get the idea that Jesus was a king? There was a signboard up there. On that signboard it said, this is Jesus the King.
That one little line became a Gospel tract for the thief. That one little statement was all the Bible that poor old thief had.
Yet, that poor thief, who was on the very edge of eternity, just seconds away from hell, read that one verse on the signboard and God sent a message to his soul—this is the king and he’s going into his Kingdom. The thief said, “Lord, remember me when you go into your kingdom.”
I wonder what verse God will use to get you in the kingdom. Would it be, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Would it be John 3:16? Would it be whosoever will let him come? There’s power in the Word of God to get people saved.
This thief looked up and saw that signboard and that message and he said, “This man is a king. He’s not a criminal. He’s a king and He’ll take me into His kingdom.” He makes a very simple request—Remember me.
Would you like to be saved? Somebody asks, “what do you say when you go forward?’
You might like to be saved, but don’t know the words to say. It’s not the words you say that matter. All this guy said was, “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He didn’t know the words to say; he just expressed the sincere desire of his heart.
Do you think God wants it to be hard for you to be saved? Do you think God would make it difficult for
you to be saved?
All you have to do is just come forward and say, “I don’t understand it all, but I want to be saved. I want to know Jesus as my Savior.” The Bible says
whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So you just leave right where you are and come down and tell us you want to be saved. That’s all. How simple it is.
Notice how simple it is, but also how sincere it is. This guy is on the edge of eternity. He doesn’t have time to play games. Who is he going to impress? He doesn’t have time to play the hypocrite. He’s getting ready to die. And so are you. That heart is
just beating away. Every beating of your heart, you are one beat closer to eternity. When that last beat takes place you are in eternity. You are in eternity either saved or lost.
How simple to be saved. How sincere. How sufficient.
Jesus said, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” That thief had breakfast with the devil, supper with the Savior.
Max Lucado, in He Chose the Nails, writes:
Much has been said about the gift of the cross itself, but what of the other gifts? What of the nails, the crown of thorns? What about the garment taken? What about the garments given? Have you taken the time to open these gifts?
He didn’t have to give them, you know.
The only required act for salvation was the shedding of blood, yet he did so much more. So much more. Search the cross, and what do you find?
A wine-soaked sponge.
A sign.
Two crosses beside Christ.
A wine-soaked sponge.
A sign.
Two crosses beside Christ.
...As you touch them — As you feel the timber of the cross and trace the braid of the crown and finger the point of the spike — Pause and listen. Perchance you will hear him whisper: I did it just for you.
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing flood? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Have you been to that cross and by faith received what Jesus did for you on the cross?
