Sunday Sermon

"The King of the Jews"
[Mark 15:21-32]
November 26, 2006 Second Reformed Church

"The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? And stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!" (Psalm 24).

Our God, our Lord, our Savior, our King is not the like kings of the world. Our King does not "take [our] sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots." He does not "appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots." He does not "take [our] daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers." He does not "take the best of [our] fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants." He does not "take a tenth of [our] grain and of [our] vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants." He does not "take [our] male servants and [our] female servants and the best of [our] young men and [our] donkies, and put them to his work." He does not "take the tenth of [our] flocks, and [we are not] his slaves." So we do not "cry out because of our king," for our King answers us. (I Samuel 8:11-18, alt.) Those are the things that God promised would become of Israel if they insisted upon having a human king, rather than God as their Sovereign Alone.

Our King, the King of every Christian, is the One Who created the heavens and the earth. He created everything that is, and He reigns from His Holy Mountain. And He calls His people to Him, to receive His Blessings. He, Himself, gives His people cleans hands and a pure heart. He, Himself, causes His peoples' souls to be true, and they do no swear deceitfully. The people of the King seek after His Face -- they long to do what is pleasing in His Sight, they endure all things that they might come into His Presence, they rise up and wait upon Him, because He is the King of Glory, the Lord, Strong and Mighty. This is our King, the King of every Christian.

This is the King Who took on human flesh, that He might live a perfect life and then suffer unjustly, for His People. It is He Who spoke not a word, but walked straightward to His Slaughter for our sake.

He is our King Who began to carry His cross, but then fell beneath it because of all He had suffered. So, Simon of Cyrene, merely a passer-by, was conscripted by the guards to carry the heavy cross. We have no reason to believe he even knew our King, still he was pulled out of the crowd and given a burden to carry. And Simon carried the cross to the place where our King was to be crucified, and then he left. We know nothing more about him.

How ought we to react when the heavy cross is dropped on our backs and we are told to carry it up the hill? What should our response be when our King, Who seeks to bless us and have us know Him, when He gives over a cross to us for a time? As the pain and the weight and the rough wood dig into us, let us remember that it is not we who are crucified on the cross, but our King. Let us cry out, but for mercy, and strength, and help. Because our King will only allow us to go so far, and then we are delivered. The Lord will always provide a way.

And our King climbed the mountain, up on Golgotha, "the Place of the Skull," the Mount of Moriah, where Abraham brought his son, Isaac, his only son, his beloved son, the son of the promise. And we remember that God told Abraham to build an altar on Golgotha and sacrifice his son for the sake of God, His King, and Abraham raised up the knife over his son, ready to plunge it into him, and the King said, "I have a substitute -- sacrifice the ram." So it was that Abraham named the place, "Jehovah-jireh" -- "the Lord will provide" (Cf. Genesis 22).

Last week we saw that each one of us is born a cosmic terrorist against God -- what end do we expect? But it pleased God to send our King up the mountain, to the altar, to become our bloody sacrifice, to substitute Himself, for His people. He said, "I, the Lord, will provide Myself, the Lamb." And He to Whom they could attach no crime -- He became our substitute -- and we are made right with God.

They offered our King bitter wine, that His Senses might be dulled, but He refused. And they took all that He had left, His few clothes, and they gambled for them. "For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded" (Psalm 69:26).

And about the third hour -- 9 A.M. in today's way of counting time -- they crucified Him. Our King was nailed to a tree. In the very hour when the priests and the people ought to have been offering up their peace offerings to God, before the start of the first full day of the Passover, our King offered up the Perfect Peace Offering -- Himself -- for all Who are His.

And they nailed the offense -- the charge -- His crime -- above His Head on the cross -- and it read, in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin -- so everyone throughout the land could read the inscription -- the crime -- the reason for putting the King of Glory to death as a criminal. "The King of the Jews." Did they understand? Do we understand? That's not a crime -- that's an announcement -- "Look, this One, Jesus of Nazareth, is the King of the Jews -- He is the King of Glory -- He is the King of Creation. What have you done? What have we done?"

And they crucified our King between two thieves -- two just like us, and the self-righteous walked around them, shaking their heads, thanking God that they were not sinners like these men. What did the prophet say? "All who see me mock me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads. He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him" (Psalm 22:7-8). "I am an object of scorn to my accusers; when they see me, they wag their heads" (Psalm 109:25).

"Do you still plan to destroy the temple and raise it up in three days? Com'on, Jesus. You've never had a loss for words before. Pull those spike out of your arms and feet. Jump down from the cross. Make us believe you."

"He could save others, but He can't save Himself. This is all very strange, Jesus. Do a miracle now, Jesus. Do something amazing now, Jesus. Com'on Christ, Messiah, Savior. You're a disappointment. We expected more from the King. Just pull out those spikes -- rip them out -- come down from the cross. Now, we will see and believe."

Jesus, the King of Creation, the King of Salvation, the King of Kings, the King of Glory, the King of the Jews, stepped down from His Throne and took our place on the cross, in Hell, as the object of His Father's Wrath. Our King, our Lord and Master, took our place, and not only that, He credits us with His Holy Life, so we can follow Him and receive blessings upon blessings from Him.

Since our King has done all that, how ought we to respond and live?

Let us pray:
Almighty and Sovereign King, we are awe-struck by what You have done as our substitute. Increase our awe -- never let us think that what You did was of little consequence. Cause us to be Your people, for Your Glory, and may we submit ourselves to Your Word and to Your Will as the King of Glory, for You are worthy. In Jesus' Name, Amen.