Pilate did not want to condemn Jesus to die. He knew he was sentencing an innocent man. He also knew he had been manipulated by the Jewish leadership into doing their dirty work. He gave in to them, but he did not do it without finding a way to give them a slap in the face. That said, I don't think Pilate actually knew just how epic that slap was. It was magnificent!!
In the Roman world, when a criminal was sentenced to death, a wooden board was inscribed with the criminal's crime or crimes. The board would then be hung around their neck of the criminal or carried in front of them as they went to their crucifixion. Once the criminal was nailed to the cross, the board would be nailed above their head to declare their guilt. After Jesus was condemned by the governor to die, Pilate himself wrote up the titulus that was to be nailed above Jesus' head on the cross.
Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS." Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin [and] in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews'; but that He said, 'I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."
When the leadership told Pilate to change his inscription, Pilate responded with a resounding no, but something gets lost in our English translations. Pilate's response recorded was in Greek and in the perfect tense, so his words actually read, "What I have written will always remain written." How true his words were!
It is important to note that not only at the cross, but on the way to the cross, the crowds that filled the streets would have been watching the procession of criminals being marched to their deaths. They would have read the crime committed by this bloodied and beaten "criminal", the one whose face had been marred beyond recognition. The city streets were spilling over not just with residents of Jerusalem, but Jews who had traveled from far and wide to be in the holy city for Passover. These visitors did not all speak the same language, but by writing the titulus in three languages, Pilate took care of this problem. Anyone who wanted to could read what he had written. But did Pilate really even know what he had written?
Did Pilate know that he had upset the Jewish leadership? Yes. Arguably, that was his intent. But did he know just how upset he had made them? Not a chance! His words packed a supernatural punch. Actually, it was a supernatural triple punch!
Jesus was the rightful heir to the throne of David - King of the Jews - and everyone in Israel knew it. The people of Israel kept meticulous genealogical records, especially those of the lines of the priests and kings. These records were kept until the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. Although there had not been a Jewish king on the throne since the time of the Babylonian captivity, hundreds of years before, every Israelite always knew who was next in line to the throne of King David. They believed the prophecies of a son of King David one day sitting on the throne in Jerusalem again.
In the Gospels, every time someone referred to Jesus as the Son of David, they were publicly proclaiming His place in this genealogy. We can see the record of Jesus' legal claim to the throne of David in the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. The leadership of Israel was very aware of who Jesus was, but they had been trying to undermine Him at every turn. They were unsuccessful....until now. Now, through Pilate they thought they were going to forever do away with the King of the Jews. With His crucifixion, there would be no one to threaten their claim to power and authority. The problem was, in his inscription, Pilate was declaring who Jesus was and by doing this, indirectly pointing out the Jewish leadership's treasonous act. Pilate may not have known it, but the Jewish leadership knew very well they were crucifying the rightful heir to the throne of Israel. But this was not the only part of the inscription that had their feathers ruffled.
Pilate had begun his inscription with, "Jesus the Nazarene", which seems pretty unremarkable until you look a little closer through the lens of the language it was written in. Remember that Pilate had written the inscription in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew? When Pilate translated Jesus the Nazarene into Hebrew, it became a play on words that proclaimed, Jesus the Nazer. Nazer is transliterated from the Hebrew word Natser which can be found in the Old Testament in some very specific verses.
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. Isaiah 11:1
"Behold, [the] days are coming," declares the LORD, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. Jer 23:5
'In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. Jer 33:15
'Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you--indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch. Zec 3:8
"Then say to him, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the LORD. Zec 6:12
Pilates inscription in Hebrew read, "Jesus the Branch. The King of the Jews". The magnitude of what was being declared in these two lines is so powerful and overwhelming. But there is one more thing that is hidden in the inscription that we must not miss, because it is SO AWESOME!!!! Pilate had written, Jesus the Nazarene, The King of the Jews. Keep in mind, Hebrew is read from right to left, so the words are read:
The Jews The King The Nazarene Jesus
Whether Pilate was aware of it or not, he had put an
acrostic in his inscription. An acrostic is when the first letter of each word in a phrase is taken to spell another word. They were often used in ancient Hebrew writings.When you take the first letter of each word in Pilate's inscription, you get the letters YHWH. This is the unpronounceable name of God which is translated in English as Yahweh or Jehovah and means the eternal, self-existent one. Praise God!! This is incredible!!
Pilate may have done the acrostic as a final intentional slap in the face to the Jews, or it may have been done with a little help from above. Either way, a divine declaration of truth was being made. The truth of Who was going to the cross that day was being proclaimed for all to see. The righteous Branch of David, the King of the Jews, the Eternal God was carrying His cross to the hill called Golgotha where He would be crucified so that He could take on our punishment of sin and death. He died for our sins. He willingly became sin for us. The Eternal God came down into His creation. He came down for us. He defeated sin and death on that cross that we might have reconciliation and relationship with God through Him, and eternal life through Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews, The eternal God.
The Jewish leadership wanted to maintain the power and control in their world. They did not want someone to challenge their decisions and ambition. They wanted the power, leadership, and glory for themselves. We are just as guilty. We want to be the god of our own lives. We want to live for ourselves and our own desires and ambitions. But that does not change who is actually on the only true throne. But He who sits on the Throne of all of creation and eternity came to make a way for us to have true and intimate relationship with Him. To have true intimacy and relationship with God, we have to remove ourselves from the throne of our hearts. True relationship with God happens when we abide in Him and not in ourselves, but we can only do this by the Spirit.
This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. I John 3:23-24
Thank you, Jesus for coming and making a way for us to have eternal life through You. Thank you for going to the cross for us. Thank you for suffering the humiliation and shame. Thank you for suffering what I will never be able to comprehend - the separation from the Father because you became sin on our behalf. Thank you for defeating sin and death for us. Thank you for loving us so much.
Pilate had begun his inscription with, "Jesus the Nazarene", which seems pretty unremarkable until you look a little closer through the lens of the language it was written in. Remember that Pilate had written the inscription in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew? When Pilate translated Jesus the Nazarene into Hebrew, it became a play on words that proclaimed, Jesus the Nazer. Nazer is transliterated from the Hebrew word Natser which can be found in the Old Testament in some very specific verses.
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. Isaiah 11:1
"Behold, [the] days are coming," declares the LORD, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. Jer 23:5
'In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. Jer 33:15
'Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you--indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch. Zec 3:8
"Then say to him, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the LORD. Zec 6:12
Pilates inscription in Hebrew read, "Jesus the Branch. The King of the Jews". The magnitude of what was being declared in these two lines is so powerful and overwhelming. But there is one more thing that is hidden in the inscription that we must not miss, because it is SO AWESOME!!!! Pilate had written, Jesus the Nazarene, The King of the Jews. Keep in mind, Hebrew is read from right to left, so the words are read:
The Jews The King The Nazarene Jesus
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| Image: Khouse.org |
Pilate may have done the acrostic as a final intentional slap in the face to the Jews, or it may have been done with a little help from above. Either way, a divine declaration of truth was being made. The truth of Who was going to the cross that day was being proclaimed for all to see. The righteous Branch of David, the King of the Jews, the Eternal God was carrying His cross to the hill called Golgotha where He would be crucified so that He could take on our punishment of sin and death. He died for our sins. He willingly became sin for us. The Eternal God came down into His creation. He came down for us. He defeated sin and death on that cross that we might have reconciliation and relationship with God through Him, and eternal life through Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews, The eternal God.
The Jewish leadership wanted to maintain the power and control in their world. They did not want someone to challenge their decisions and ambition. They wanted the power, leadership, and glory for themselves. We are just as guilty. We want to be the god of our own lives. We want to live for ourselves and our own desires and ambitions. But that does not change who is actually on the only true throne. But He who sits on the Throne of all of creation and eternity came to make a way for us to have true and intimate relationship with Him. To have true intimacy and relationship with God, we have to remove ourselves from the throne of our hearts. True relationship with God happens when we abide in Him and not in ourselves, but we can only do this by the Spirit.
This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. I John 3:23-24
Thank you, Jesus for coming and making a way for us to have eternal life through You. Thank you for going to the cross for us. Thank you for suffering the humiliation and shame. Thank you for suffering what I will never be able to comprehend - the separation from the Father because you became sin on our behalf. Thank you for defeating sin and death for us. Thank you for loving us so much.
