Behold the Man – Behold Your King

Our heavenly Father, we thank you for your written word as just now read to us. We thank you for the truth of your word. We thank you for the power of your word, and the applicability of your word. We ask that you would now open our eyes and ears that we might behold wondrous things from your word. And we will give you all the praise and all the glory by believing it, embracing it, and living it. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

What was the greatest event in history? Or to put it differently: What day or days most radically changed the course of history? Many people might respond by saying it was the day in which there was a prehistoric asteroid that struck the Yucatan Peninsula, or in 1440 when Johannes Gutenberg finished his printing press, or when Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. Others might say it was in 1903 when the Wright brothers showed that man could actually fly. Others, the shooting on June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo—the shooting of Duke Ferdinand—which led directly to World War I and derivatively to World War II. Still others would claim it was the exploding of the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945, at the Alamogordo Bombing Range in New Mexico. Some biblically literate people might argue it was the day when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and they would be much, much closer to the truth than the others.

But to find the most important day in history, we must go back to those three days that began that evening almost two thousand years ago, that began that evening in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus knelt in intense prayer over whether to go to the cross and offer himself as a ransom for our sins. Jesus suffered such anguish of body and spirit that he bled from his pores before receiving grace and strength to go forward in his assigned task.

Later that night and early the next morning, Jesus was arrested and brought before a Stalinist-style show trial before the Jewish religious leaders and then before the Roman political authorities before sentencing. He was severely beaten and flogged and cruelly mocked, and finally crucified.

Jesus then hung in agony upon the cross, while incurring the full wrath of God’s fury against the sin of God’s elect people that had been placed upon him, until, finally, it was finished. As the substitute sacrifice for all his people, Jesus fully atoned for all their sins, taking all of God’s wrath due them upon himself and fully satisfying God’s anger against them. His lifeless body was then laid in a borrowed tomb until early in the morning of the third day Jesus rose from the dead and emerged from the tomb. His lifeless body was then laid in a borrowed tomb, only to be raised from the dead. There has never been any period of time like these three days. Out of perfect love, Jesus gave his all, that we might be reconciled to God.

However, Jesus’ atoning sacrifice is applied only to your life if you alone embrace him alone as your personal Savior and Lord and submit to him the control over your life, purposing to live a new life of new obedience to him as your covenant King. Oh, what a deep debt of thanks and praise we owe to Christ for his divine gift!

So, yes, there are many events throughout history that have had a profound effect on the destiny of nations and peoples. But combine them all, and you cannot begin to compare to the importance of what happened on that Good Friday and on that first Easter Sunday morning.

What, then, is it that makes the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ the most important event in history—more influential than world wars or pandemics, or other cataclysmic disasters, or lifechanging scientific discoveries? I have already touched on that, but let’s look at it more closely. Let us consider, first, “Scripture Fulfilled”; second, “Behold the Man”; third, “Behold the King”; fourth, “Behold the Lamb of God”; and, finally, let us examine what it is that you are beholding.

Scripture Fulfilled

What stands out as we look at John’s account of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus is the key phrase found in verse 24 of chapter 19. It says, “This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled.” Three times in chapter 19, Jesus expressly makes the point, telling us that the Scripture is fulfilled in the trial, crucifixion, death, and burial of Christ. We find this in verse 24: “This is fulfill the scripture”; verse 28: “so that the Scripture would be fulfilled”; verse 36: “Now these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.”

This means that the events of Good Friday are not accidental. This means that the events happened according to God’s set plan and purpose and foreknowledge, as we are told in Acts 2:23. This means that on Good Friday a plan is being followed, a plan designed and determined by God before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:4). The plan is revealed by many prophecies made in the Old Testament and by our Lord Jesus Christ himself during his ministry on earth.

Moreover, the fact that these events were accurately prophesied about shows that they were determined and fixed by God alone, for no event can be truly foretold unless it is certain and that it will take place. The event therefore must be established beforehand and fixed with certainty, and this is a work that only God can do.

So, my brothers and sisters, as we look at the events surrounding the crucifixion, death, and burial of Christ, we are looking at the fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan for his people.

Behold the Man

In the New International Version, it says in verse 5, “Here is the man!” The King James and other translations put it better: “Behold the man!” “Behold” is an old biblical word that means “Stop! Look! Ponder!” So take time this evening and this weekend to stop and gaze at Jesus, the crucified and risen one. Consider the significance of these events. Let us behold the man!

On that Friday morning two thousand years ago, Pilate presents Jesus to a hostile mob that had assembled to witness Jesus’ sentencing. And Pilate declares, “Behold the man!” (famously put, “Ecce homo” in Latin). Pilate was probably hoping the people would take pity on this badly bloodied and battered man and agree to let Jesus go free. It did not happen that way, however, for there is more to this event than Pilate could ever have imagined. So let us consider, first, “Behold the promised man.”

1. Behold the promised man.

It was Friday, the sixth day of the week, the day in which God created Adam, the first man. God had created Adam perfect, sinless in God’s sight. But Adam had sinned and plunged all his progeny conceived in the normal biological way into sin. Thus, all but one of Adam’s heirs have his sin accounted to them. And thus, being born in sin, they go on to commit sin themselves.

But now, the second Adam, our Lord Jesus, is undoing the impact of the first Adam’s sin by atoning for all the sins of all his elect people. It was foreshadowed in Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” It is more expressly foretold in Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22.

Pilate, however, has no clue of this. What he does know is that Jesus is innocent. So let us now look at “Behold the innocent man.”

2. Behold the innocent man.

There is something about Jesus’ standing on Pilate’s balcony that warrants both our anger and our pity. Pilate presents Jesus to the Jewish priests in the crowd because Pilate is certain that this man was delivered into his hands for sentencing but is an innocent man, a good man, a just man.

Earlier in the judicial hearing already in the prior chapter, Pilate has declared that Jesus is innocent, yet he orders that he be severely and brutally flogged. The blows come from a whip with many leather strands, the end of each strand having sharp pieces of bone and metal embedded in it. Thus, the whip reduced the back of the victim to torn, raw flesh. It was not unusual for the criminal to die from the scourging before he could even be crucified.

This was a very strange punishment for, as I said, Pilate knows that Jesus is innocent. He has said so. Pilate probably hopes that Jesus’ accusers will be touched with the pathos of Jesus’ condition. Pilate appeals to their compassion and presents this humiliated Jesus wearing his crown of thorns and bloodied purple robe. Pilate bolsters his appeal to release Jesus again by declaring, “I find no basis for the charge against [Jesus]” (v. 5).

Whatever Pilate’s intention, the representatives from the Sanhedrin will have none of it. In verse 6, the chief priests and their close aides become cheerleaders for the mob, chanting, “Crucify! Crucify!”

Pilate, in the second part of verse 6, again appeals to Jesus’ innocence. It has no effect. In verse 7, the Jewish leadership tells Pilate that they want Jesus executed because he declared himself to be the Son of God. They want him dead, not because he claimed to be king of the Jews, but because he claims to be God, the unique Son of God. To them, this is blasphemy.

But truth be told, Jesus is the Son of God. So let us for a moment behold the God-man.

3. Behold the God-Man

Who, then, is Jesus? He is Immanuel, God with us, the eternal Son of God, sent by God the Father to become a true man. In John 1:1 and following, we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.”  Verse 14: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only [Son], who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Yes, Jesus is truly in every aspect a human being. He has a full complement of human DNA. He is born of a human mother, the virgin Mary. He has half-siblings. He worked as a carpenter. He also ate and drank. He grew tired and weary. He bled just like the rest of us. And now he stands before Pilate and his accusers beaten, bruised, bloody, and soon he will die. He is human in every respect, as we are.

Yet he is also fully God from all eternity. He is the second Person of the Trinity, fully equal in every respect with the other two Persons of the Trinity. This leads us to ask the logical question: Why, then, did Jesus as God humble himself to become a man? Why would the Creator become a creature?

The answer should astound us:  to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins and our mediator with God. What was this mediatorial work of Jesus? It is all the work that he did and does as the God-man who, while always being the eternal Son of God, one of substance and equal with the Father, assumed human nature and so was made subject to the moral law, just like the rest of us. But unlike us, he perfectly obeyed and kept all the requirements of the law. He then laid down his life as an atonement for the sins of all his people. He now lives and is enthroned in heaven to intercede for those he purchased.

Verse 8 says Pilate reacts in fear at the thought of Jesus being the Son of God. Now, Pilate can scarcely be called a religious man. But the news that his prisoner has made divine claims scares him, for every Roman knew the stories about the gods or their offspring appearing in human guise. And a few hours after this, we see the same fear expressed by the centurion who is present at the crucifixion site. He witnesses Jesus’ death and the earthquake that accompanies it, and in terror exclaims, “Surely he was the Son of God!”

Further interrogation of Jesus causes Pilate to renew his efforts to set Jesus free. But the Jews threaten to snitch Pilate off to Caesar. “Let Jesus go and you are no friend of Caesar’s. Anyone who claims as Jesus does to be a king opposes Caesar.” Before Pilate finally gives in to them and commands Jesus to be sentenced to death, he sits down on the judge’s seat and formally presents Jesus as the Jews’ king. In verse 14 he declares, “Behold your king!” which is our third point. 

Behold the King

Pilate does not realize the significance of what he is saying. To him, Jesus is just a pretender. A few minutes earlier he had asked, “Don’t you know that I have the power to execute you?” which, in retrospect seems so silly in light of what we know, that Jesus is the true King of the world. (GJB) But Pilate and his soldiers could not understand this.

Earlier, when Pilate had scourged Jesus, his soldiers mocked Jesus again and again, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” But still Pilate hopes that he can set Jesus free, not realizing that Jesus is the one with the power to set Pilate free—free from sin and death and hell. But in this moment, who would have suspected it? Pilate thinks he holds the power position and is mystified that Jesus does not get it. At this moment, Caesar looks oh, so mighty, and Jesus so very weak.

The Jewish religious establishment now threatens Pilate in verse 12. “Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” Now, we each live according to the dictates of who rules over us. Bob Dylan wrote and sang, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody. Yes, indeed, you’re gonna have to have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”

So these Jewish religious leaders chose to serve the devil, and Pilate chooses to serve Caesar. He desperately wants Caesar’s favor, but, as history shows, Caesar is not Pilate’s friend. Caesar will sack him when Pilate becomes a political liability. With a friend like that, who needs enemies?

So Pilate renders a bad judgment. He has been conflicted with what to do in this criminal case where he knows the defendant, Jesus, is clearly innocent. But instead of releasing Jesus, Pilate, out of cowardice and in a great miscarriage of justice, orders Jesus’ execution. No wonder the early church creeds scorn Pilate’s name.

But make no mistake: Jesus is, in fact, a king. He is the King. The Jews in that day did not see in Jesus any kind of king, not a king they wanted, anyway. So they decided they wanted him dead. The Gentile Pilate saw that his job was to protect Caesar and therefore he finally decides that Jesus should be crucified. But, interestingly, no one is worshiping Caesar today, while millions bow their knees to King Jesus.

Understand, Jesus did not make himself a king. He was King long before he came to earth. He is King as he stands before Pilate, and he is the King of kings today. The Caesars have come and gone, but Jesus is still seated as the King upon his throne, the throne of heaven. That is why it is no surprise to us that Pilate again says something more than what he realizes: “Behold your king” (v. 14).

Pilate has a placard placed on the cross above Jesus’ head that says, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” in three languages: Aramaic, Greek, and Latin. These three languages were used to make it easy for the legal charge against Jesus to be read by the crowd that had assembled there in Jerusalem from all around the Roman Empire—Greek as being the lingua franca throughout the empire at that time, especially the eastern part; Latin being the official language of the empire; and Aramaic being the language of the common people in Judea and the surrounding region.

This statement placed over Jesus’ head is true. He is the King of the Jews. Pilate, however, is mockingly presenting Jesus to the whole world as the crucified King. Yet at the same time, Jesus is also the sacrificial Lamb.

Behold the Lamb of God

The apostle John wants us to remember that at this time of Jesus’ trial and execution, it is the time of the Passover, when the Passover lambs are being slain. Jesus’ crucifixion reflects that moment. Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made [Jesus], who had no sin, to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

So I ask you: Do you grieve over your sins, over the corruption of your own sinful behavior? Grieve, but not for long. Look to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and know that you are forgiven and made complete in him because of his work on the cross. Because of his work, you are forensically declared perfect in God’s sight, as perfect as if you had never sinned.

Even more than that, the Lord your righteousness has put his garment of righteousness upon you so that you are now clothed in perfect righteousness, the perfect righteousness of the God-man, and made fully accepted in God’s sight. Know that none of your sins can condemn you before God.

Yes, learn to hate sin, but also know that your sin is no longer yours. It is laid on the head of Jesus. Thus, your legal standing before God lies not in yourself; it is in Christ. Your acceptance by God is not in yourself; it is in Christ. In fact, he is your Savior and Lord. You are as much accepted by God today with all your sinfulness as though you will be when you stand before his throne on the day of the Lord’s coming. You will be free of all sin and corruption.

So I urge you, lay hold of and grasp tightly this precious thought: You are perfect—perfect in Christ. He is all your righteousness, and you stand complete in him. With Christ’s robe of righteousness on, you are as holy as the Holy One himself. How can you know this? Because piercing through the dark storm clouds that day long ago, and echoing up through the centuries to our day, Jesus’ cry rings out from the cross: “It is finished!” announcing that his work is complete.

We are told by Revelation 13:8 that the cross was the goal of Jesus from all eternity. His birth was so that there would be his death. His incarnation was for our atonement. He was born to die so that we might live, and when he had accomplished the purpose he had come for, he summed it all up with this single word: “It is finished!”

On the sixth day, God had completed his work of creation, and now Jesus finishes his work as the spotless Lamb of God who had died for our sacrifice on the sixth day. It is finished. The price of humanity’s sin has been paid. The sacrifice has been accomplished, and God sees that it is very good.

Thus, this victory cry from the cross, “It is finished,” means “Mission accomplished.” It is done. It is completed, and it cannot be improved upon.

What is finished? Finished and completed are the horrendous sufferings of Jesus, not just the searing physical pain of being brutally beaten, not just the searing pain of being crucified, but the unimaginable pain of having to bear the full fury of God’s wrath upon himself for all the sins of all his redeemed people throughout history. Never again will he have to bear the sins of the world. Never again will he even for a moment be forsaken of God. His redeeming work is completely, fully accomplished.

Also finished is Satan’s stronghold on humanity, on God’s people. Jesus came to deal a decisive blow against the devil and his demons at the cross of Calvary. Hebrews 2:14 says, “So that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil.” This means that as a Christian, you are no longer under the power of sin. You no longer have to sin. Because of Jesus’ accomplishment on the cross, the stronghold of Satan on your life is completely broken and done away with.

Lastly, finished is our salvation. It is full and completed. It is done. All our sins are imputed to Jesus, and his righteousness is transferred to our account. O, Christian, let your heart rejoice, for your sin has been fully atoned for and you are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. You are fully accepted in the Beloved. What have you to fear? It is finished! So rejoice and live a new life of new obedience for your King Jesus.

Conclusion

Finally, in conclusion, I ask, what is it that you are beholding? Know that the Lamb of God slain for your redemption is now the King of kings and Lord of lords, and he is coming soon on the clouds of heaven to collect all his redeemed people and to condemn proud, unrepenting sinners.

So it is important to ask: Do you behold Jesus? Do you behold him as your King, as your Lord—the man whom God sent into this world as his anointed, unique Son, the man whom the Jews rejected, the man whom his disciples forsook in the hour of his distress, the man whom the Romans cruelly crucified and killed. Behold, he is now the risen Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, who is seated now on the throne of heaven.

How should you then behold him? Not just with sincerity or even admiration, but behold him with faith and trust. Beg his forgiveness for your sins and your rebellion against him, and surrender to his lordship. Behold him with gratitude and love by submitting to his government and his rule over you. Trust in him with faith and obedience. Find him to be the supreme object of your life and your love. Our Lord Jesus should be the primary focus of our affections and the primary reference point of every aspect of our lives as we fix our gaze on Jesus. He will cause our faith to rise, and we will be strengthened to get through the storms of life, to go through them with him.

Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” So I ask you again: Have you truly beheld Jesus? Have you beheld him as your King, the King of kings and Lord of lords? Mere looking is not enough. Just knowing about him is not enough. Surrender yourself to him now and be saved. Your eternity hangs in the balance.

Let us pray:  Most glorious and crucified Savior, it is your hour—the hour by which you conquered sin and death. It is the hour for which you came into this world, becoming human in order to offer your precious blood for the salvation of your people. May we each behold you with fear and trembling and awe and reverence and submission. Lord, as we gaze upon you, may we understand and grasp the perfection of your love towards us and help us to quietly behold you, O Jesus, sacrificed for our salvation. May we kneel in silent adoration of you as our Savior and our God. Grant us eyes to see and wills to embrace and hearts to love you as our Lord. For we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.