The Crucified King | Your Kingdom Come - John 19:1-30 | Tony Walliser (3/29/2026)

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, good morning. It's so good to see all of you here worshiping with us today. I'd like to welcome all of you here at a Bonnie Oaks campus, but I want to welcome all of you at all of our campuses, all of our venues, and those of you that are worshiping with us online. If I haven't had a chance to meet you personally, I'm Tony Walliser, one of the pastors here at Silverdale, and I have the privilege today to share with you God's word. So this one I encourage you to do. Go and take your Bibles, open up in the New Testament to the Gospel of John, turn to John chapter 19, John chapter 19. And you can also do this. You can take out these um these Bible study outlines that we provide for you. We give you these outlines so you can follow along and take notes as we study God's word together. We are in a series, I've entitled it, Um, Your Kingdom Come. And what we're doing is we're looking how Jesus Christ presents himself and declares himself as the King. And so each week we're looking at a different aspect of Jesus being our King and how He came to earth. And next week, we are going to be celebrating Easter. Now, I hope that you understand what a big res what a day resurrection day is and what its importance for Christianity. But what we've done in all of our campuses and venues, we have 23 weekend worship services. And so that means that there's plenty of room for you and your family and friends. And we would encourage all of you at all of our campuses, we have these little invite cards. They're out in the atrium. Grab a stack of them, give them out, invite people to come because next weekend we're gonna be talking about Jesus Christ being the King of life. And what Jesus does through his resurrection, he enables us to have resurrection power as well. So you do not want to miss next weekend's Easter services, okay? Um, but today we're gonna talk about something completely different, and that is Jesus as the crucified King. Now, it may seem a little strange to you to think that, okay, wait a minute, how does the cross and a crown go together? I mean, you know what? One is for exaltation, the other one is for humiliation. How do those two go together? And yet, in John chapter 19, which we're going to study today, it is very obvious that the apostle John is trying to communicate us that this is Jesus' coronation, that Jesus is being coronated as the king through his humiliation. Three um, about three years ago, you had Charles III, who was coronated the King of England. For a thousand years, kings and queens, they have been coronated in Westminster Abbey. And anytime there's a coronation, there's several things that take place. First, there's a declaration, this is your king, and the people then shout, you know, um, God save the king or long live the king. And then the king makes an oath, a pledge to the people. And after that, then they put on him several things. First, they put a royal crown on his head, then he put a royal robe around him, and then he is enthroned. He sits on his throne. And whenever that happens, the people bow down and they pay homage to their new king. Well, whenever we read the Gospel of John, we realize here's John the apostle, he's an eyewitness testimony of these events, and he's taking the words of religious leaders and the Romans who meant to do Jesus harm and to belittle Jesus, and yet the entire time they are actually fulfilling Scripture and exalting Jesus. Now, let me just tell you that today's message is gonna be more of a retelling of a story than it is a typical sermon. And so today I'm gonna pull out the different passages that talk about Jesus being the king and his coronation. But you need to know this is holy ground. This is what we would describe as the holiest day in all of human history. And so before we jump into this passage, I think we need to prepare our hearts. And so, would you join me in praying? Lord Jesus, you are the King, and you love your subjects like no one ever has. Lord, I know that most of us here have heard this story before, but I pray that you would quicken our heart, and that we would hear it today as though we've never heard it before, and that you would encounter us, that you would speak to us. So speak, Lord, we are listening now. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the day of his crucifixion, happened, started very early. It was a little after midnight. Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane praying with his disciples. You have the um the temple guards come to arrest Jesus. Immediately, his disciples flee. Well, Jesus then experiences six trials. Three of them are religious, and then three of them are before the civil authorities, throme. And in John 19, we pick up the story where Jesus is in front of the governor, Pilate. And so he knows that the religious leaders they want Jesus dead. They want blood, so he's going to satisfy their desire for a little revenge on Jesus. And so he has Jesus scourged. And that's where we're going to pick up in John chapter 19. And on your outline, I want you to write this down. Let's first talk about Jesus, the king, who's crowned with suffering. Jesus is the king, but he is crowned with suffering. And so that's how John 19 starts off. Look at it. Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. Now, the flogging by the Romans is known as the half-death. What they would do is they would have something like this called a cat of nine tails. It's a whip with nine endings. And at the end of each one, there would be metal or glass or stone or something like that. And then what they would do is they would take the victim, they would strip him, and then they would tie him to a pole. And so on either side of Jesus, there were these two men, they were called lictors, one on either side, and then they would, you know, take turns beating the body of Jesus Christ. And if the shroud of Turin really is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, then we know that Jesus was beaten on his back, on his buttocks, on his legs, and then even on his chest. First, there would have been bruises and then whelps and then gashes, and eventually there would be strings of Jesus' flesh dangling from his body. Now it was so painful that typically when someone was being scourged, they would pass out because of the pain. One of the lictors would have been medically trained, and he would take the pulse of the victim, and if it was still strong, they would take salt water and pour it over the wounds. And he would wake back up and they would continue the beating. But here's the amazing thing about our Lord. They beat him and beat him, but he never passed out. And so they kept beating him and kept beating him and kept beating him until they were tired. But the physical humiliation was not enough. They wanted to not only crush Jesus' body, they wanted to crush Jesus' spirit. And so notice how they tried to humiliate Jesus in verse 2. The soldiers also twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe. When Adam sinned against God, God cursed the ground and said it's going to be covered with thorns. And so they take a symbol of the curse and they weave it together, a crown of thorns, and they slam it onto Jesus' scalp. And then they take a robe, most likely a centurion robe, and they put it on Jesus' back. And yet that's not enough. Okay, we have humiliated him. Let's humiliate him some more. Verse 3 says, and they kept coming up to him, saying, Hell, King of the Jews, and they were slapping his face. Now, how sick and callous does a person have to be? You've beaten a person to the pulp, and now you want to humiliate him and continue to slap him, saying, Ha, you claim to be the king. Now, here's the irony of that moment. Jesus is the king. He is the king of kings and lord of lords. He is the one who the Bible says at any moment can call for 10,000 angels to rescue him, but he does not. Why? Because he loves you. That's why. I mean, the reality is he is the one who speaks to the wind and the waves, and they obey him. He is the one who walks on water. He did not have to take this, but he took it for one reason: because he loves you. He's a king who has suffered for his subjects. Notice how the Apostle Peter says this later on. He says this He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree by his wounds. You have been healed. So it starts with Jesus being crowned in suffering, but then it moves to a second stage. Shot this down. Jesus is the king who's robed with guilt. Jesus is the king who's robed in guilt. Now Jesus is innocent. He's the only perfect person who's ever lived. In fact, Jesus would say to the religious leaders, tell me one of my sins. Just give me one sin that I've ever sinned. Here before Pilate, on multiple occasions, Pilate will say, He has committed no sin. He is innocent. Notice how it's written in verse 4. Pilate went outside again and said to them, Look, I'm bringing him out to you to let you know I find no grounds of charging him. Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and purple robe. And Pilate said to them, Here is the man. Behold the man. So here's Jesus Christ. Imagine this picture. He is beaten beyond recognition. The prophet Isaiah said he's beaten beyond recognition. And in essence, what Pilate is saying, look at this poor creature. Isn't this enough? And he's expecting that somehow the compassion will kick in. But did they have sympathy? No. Look at verse 6. When the chief priests and the temple servants saw him, they shouted, crucify, crucify. Pilate responded, Take him and crucify him yourself, since I find no grounds for charging him. This is now the third time Pilate has said, Jesus is innocent. Was Jesus really innocent? Well, again, the Apostle Peter, who walked with Jesus for over three years, makes this statement in 1 Peter. He says, This Christ died for our sins, the innocent person for those who are guilty. Jesus is our innocent king, and he dies for us, the guilty ones. And so Pilate, he's trying to have Jesus released. He tries this in multiple ways. It's Passover, so he says, Hey, you know, I have a tradition of releasing a notorious prisoner. So he says to the crowds, I'm going to give you an option. Here's a murderer, Barabbas. Here is Jesus, who's called the Christ. Who shall I release to you? And the crowd says, Give us Barabbas. And he says, What will I do with Jesus? Crucify him. Which leads to the third thing that we discover about this king. Jesus is the king who's rejected by his people. Jesus is the king who is now rejected by his people. The Bible says he came to his own, but his own received him not. Now this is the irony of the situation is overwhelming. You have a pagan Roman governor who sees Jesus as innocent and trying to release him. You have the religious authorities that want Jesus dead. This is an upside-down world. Look at it. Verse 12. From that moment, Pilate kept trying to release him. But the Jews shouted, If you release this man, you're not Caesar's friend. And anyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. A little background. The governor Pilate had made several political blunders. And he knew he was on a hot seat. He knew if he had one more mistake, Rome would probably can him. And so here they are saying, Look, if you allow a man who claims to be a king to live, that's treason. And so Pilate knew the religious authorities had him in a corner. And so what does he do? Verse 13. When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside. He sat down on the judge's seat in the place called the stone pavement. Then he told the Jews, Here is your king. And so here is Jesus, crown of thorns on his head, robe around him, a declaration, here is your king. Normally, if that was the case, that's when everyone would bow down and say, Long live the king, long live the king, right? But what does this crowd say? Look at what they say in verse 15. They shout, Take him away, take him away, crucify him. Pilate said to them, Should I crucify your king? We have no king but Caesar, the chief priest answered. Now so suddenly these religious leaders who have hated Rome now suddenly love Rome. No, we have no king except Caesar. Well, tell me, how did that work out for you? We know, based on history, what happened, right? 70 AD, you have another Roman emperor who sends a Roman general named Titus to Jerusalem, destroys Jerusalem, burns the temple, not one stone on top of the other, as Jesus predicted. They take the elements of the temple and take it to Rome. And 1.5 million Jews are slaughtered. Tell me, how did that work out for you, rejecting your king and wanting Rome? Listen, whenever you reject the real King Jesus Christ, all you got left in this world is a bunch of tyrants. And so here's Jesus in his coronation, first crowned, then robed, then presented as the king, but they yell, crucify him. Which leads to the next thing. Jot this on your outline. Jesus is the king who's enthroned on a cross. Jesus is a king who's enthroned on a cross. Now the cross is the most iconic image of Christianity. We got crosses on our churches and crosses as decorations on our walls and crosses as jewelry around our neck. So how do you transform an object of execution and pain and suffering and turn it into the symbol of victory and worship? How does that happen to a cross? The only way that happens is because who died on that cross, King Jesus. He transformed the cross from that day forward. And so notice how Jesus was crucified, verse 16. Then he handed him over to be executed. Then they took Jesus away, carrying the cross by himself. He went out to what is called the place of the skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. Now Pilate turns Jesus over to the executors. What do they do? They um they take the cross beam of the cross and they attach it to Jesus' freshly beaten shoulders. Then they put a um a rope around Jesus' waist and they drag him through the city. Now, because Jesus has been beaten just almost to the point of death already, he's very weak. And Luke's gospel tells us that he falls multiple times. And eventually the Roman soldiers get a man from Africa to help Jesus carry the cross the rest of the way. The place of Jesus' crucifixion is called the place of the skull. Here's a picture, an older picture of the place of the skull. It looks just like that today. Today it's right next to a bus station in the buzzing, busy, you know, metropolis of um of Jerusalem. And um it's called Skull Hill. That's where Jesus died. On the other side of Skull Hill, there is the garden tomb. That's where I showed you last week. I was standing outside of it. It's called Skull Hill, Golgotha, or Calvary. Now, the next verse, verse 18, is simple phrase but packed with information. Look what it says, verse 18. There they crucified him, and two others with him, one on either side with Jesus in the middle. Typically, they took the worst criminal and put him in the middle. Now, here are the Romans using crucifixion. They're not the ones who developed crucifixion, but they're the ones who perfected it. They are the ones who basically, you know, took what the Persians created. The Persians, they they worship the earth, the ground, and it was sacred to them. And so if you had a criminal worthy of death, well, you wanted to lift him off the ground so that he would not defile the earth. And so they say the only way that we can lift a person off the ground is either to tie them up on a tree or a cross or nail them. Well, the gospels tell us they took these spikes, about five-inch, six-inch spikes, and they put it into Jesus' hands, about right here in the metatarsal bones on either side, and then between both feet. And so Jesus Christ is nailed to this cross, and then they lift him up, and now Jesus Christ is crucified. Crucifixion is agonizing, painful, and slow. There's different torrents of pain that you experience because the nails are put in right next to your median nerve. What happens is that every time you move, it feels like electricity is shocking your body. And yet the only way you can breathe is to push yourself up in order to exhale. And so you're constantly in agonizing pain. Now, crucifixion would take hours for a person to die. Sometimes it was documented even days. And if the um the Romans wanted to be merciful, they break your legs so that you would then suffocate. And so here is Jesus Christ. He is crucified. You may go, how do you know this is his enthronement? Because Pilate declares it. Check it out, look what it says in verse 19. Pilate also had a sign made and put on the cross. It said, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this sign because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, Jerusalem. And it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. So you have this sign that's written in three languages: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Aramaic, that is the um the language of the Jewish people, right? It's the religious language. Greek, that's the language of education and merchandise. Every since you had uh, you know, um Alexander the Great, most everybody spoke Greek in the business world. And then you had Latin, that's that's the Roman language, that's the language of law and order and ruling. And so, why three languages? Because Jesus died for everyone. He's the king to everyone, he's the king for religious people, he's the king for the common person, he's the king for the ruling class. Jesus is king of everyone. Now, the religious leaders they didn't like this sign. Look at what it says, verse 21. So the chief priest of the Jews said to Pilate, Don't write the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am the king of the Jews. Pilate replied, What I've written, I've written. Meaning what? I'm not changing it, because this is what I really believe is true. So was Jesus the king? Well, let's backtrack from the very beginning. Jesus, when he was born in Bethlehem, right? Remember who came to visit him? These wise men from the east. They go all the way to Jerusalem. They come into the palace of King Herod the Great, and they say, Where is he who's been born? What? King of the Jews. And just a few days earlier, Palm Sunday, Jesus comes riding in on a donkey. What did the people declare about him? Look what it says in John 12. And the people shout, Hosanna to the son of David, to the king of Israel. Jesus has been declared the king. Even whenever Pilate was interviewing Jesus, he asked Jesus pointedly, Are you a king? Notice what Jesus says. You are a king then, Pilate asked. I am, as you say, a king, Jesus replied. I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this, to testify to truth. And so here's Pilate. He probably wrote that sign to anger the religious authorities because he knew they had turned. Jesus over because they were jealous of Jesus, him being so miraculous and popular with the people. And so he just put it in them, ha, he's the king of the Jews. And yet, even by him doing this, he was declaring who Jesus Christ really is. Jesus has now been enthroned as the king on a cross. Now, anytime a king has been enthroned, what he must then typically do is fight the battles for his people, right? I mean, just like in the Old Testament, you have King David, and he becomes the crown king of all Israel. And what does he do? He starts fighting battles against the Jebusites and the Moabites and Edomites and the Amalekites. He he whipped upon all the ice, right? That's David. Did Jesus fight our battles? Absolutely he did. On the cross as the king, Jesus fights our battles. Jot this on your outline. Jesus is the king who has victory over sin. Jesus is the king who has victory over sin. Now we know that Jesus was crucified about nine o'clock in the morning. And if you read all the other eyewitness testimonies of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they tell us that Jesus only said seven statements from the cross. And they were short statements. Why? Because he was in such pain, you can't say a lot of things on the cross. The first statement was after the people are mocking and jeering Jesus and cursing Jesus, Jesus has this prayer, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. Now that statement of forgiveness from the cross must have inspired one of the criminals next to Jesus. Is there hope from me? Right? And so what does he do? He confesses his sin and says, I deserve to die this way, but you are innocent, Jesus. And he turns to Jesus and says, Remember me whenever you enter into your kingdom. Right? He acknowledged Jesus as the king. And then Jesus says, Here's the word of promise. Today you'll be with me in paradise. Woo! Love it. And then Jesus sees his mother crying at the foot of the cross, and he says, Mother, behold your son. And then he turns to his disciple John and he says, Behold your mother. And from that day forward, John took care of Jesus' mother like his own mother. That was a word of comfort to the grieving. And so those happened, those three statements, from nine till noon. But then at 12 o'clock, high noon, something happened. This darkness came over the entire land. This darkness wasn't just recorded in the scriptures, it's recorded in Roman historians. This was this mystical kind of darkness that went all the way past Rome. And for three hours, Calvary was literally dark. Now, darkness in the Bible often speaks of, you know, sin and judgment. And so something was happening during that three hours. There was a transaction taking place in the heavenly realm. That in that moment, Jesus Christ bore all our sins. The Bible says, He who knew no sin became sin. All of our sin. All of the sin of all of humanity for all time was placed on Christ. Every evil thought, every unkind word, every lustful glance, every self-centered action, every hurtful, you know, process of life, Jesus took it all. All of your sin, all of my sin, he took it all. Every crime, every theft, every murder, every rape, every deed, every um every everything that was ever been done, Jesus Christ bears that in his body, the sinless one becoming sin. Now, this was all predicted by the prophet Isaiah. 700 years in advance, Isaiah predicted the Messiah would experience this. Look at what it says, Isaiah 53. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. In that moment of time, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, became sin for us. And suddenly the pain and agony was greater than even the pain of the crucifixion. In that moment, the sinless one becomes sin. And somehow there's a disruption in the Trinity. Those who are eternally together are apart. And Jesus cries out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why? So that you will never be forsaken by God. Jesus took the sin debt so that you and I could never be separated from God. So for three hours, Jesus Christ bears all our sin and shame in that microcosm of time, he takes our hell and punishment for us. John picks up the story in verse 28. After this, when Jesus knew that everything was accomplished and that the scripture might be fulfilled. Literally, all the scripture is pointing to this one event. What happened? He said, I'm thirsty. Now Jesus had refused to take anything to drink earlier. They'd offered him a drink that would deaden the pain, but Jesus refused that. Why? Because Jesus wanted to feel the full pain of carrying our sins. But now Jesus wants something to wet his mouth. Why? Because Jesus has something to declare. Jesus has something that all of heaven and all of humanity has been waiting to hear. And so, the next verse, verse 30, when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, and the other gospels say with a loud voice, it is finished. That is a cry of victory, folks. He didn't say, I am finished, that would be a cry of defeat. Or you are finished, that would be a cry of revenge. No, it is finished. You go, what does that mean? Well, the word finished is a really important Greek word. It's to telestie. And to telesti is used in different ways. It's used to talk about a servant who's done everything the master has asked him to do. And he says, Tetelesti, it is finished, it is accomplished what you've asked me to do. Well, Jesus Christ has fully accomplished everything that the scriptures have predestined for him to fulfill. It is finished, to telesti. The word to telesti is also used in the temple. Whenever a priest would examine a lamb for Passover sacrifice, and if they found that there is no blemish in the lamb, they would go, Tetelesti. It's complete. It's whole, it's perfect. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who is perfect for our sacrifice as well. But the primary way that this word tatelesti is used, it was used by merchants. Archaeologists have actually found bills with just one word written across it, to telestai. You know what that means? Paid in full. Sin is left a crimson stain. He's washed it white as snow. Church, Jesus paid it all. Tatalest, it is finished, paid in full. And then after he makes that declaration, look what happens next, verse 30. Then bowing his head, he gave of his spirit. Nobody took Jesus' life from him. He laid it down for you and I. Church, can I remind you? There is no king like our King Jesus. A king who would suffer for his subjects, a king who would die so that we could live. A king who, yes, died on the cross for our sins, but we know the rest of the story. He then rose again, conquering sin and death and hell and the evil one. And because he is now the risen King of kings and Lord of Lords, he says to you, whoever, that's you, will call on the name of the Lord, that's Jesus, will be saved. But you've got to acknowledge him as your king. You've got to surrender and become the subject and decide that, okay, I am going to give my allegiance to King Jesus. Just like the thief on the cross had to acknowledge Jesus as King, so must you. Almost 2,000 years ago, Jesus was coronated as the king. Today, he needs to be coronated king of your heart and your life. Make Jesus your king. Amen. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, there is no one like you. Lord, my feeble words do not even come close to explaining what you actually endured for us. Forgive us, Lord, for chasing after the idols of this world rather than living for our king. Lord, would you please meet with us today? We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.