The Crown of Thorns
Following his scourging, Jesus was presented to the crowd. Upon his head a crown of thorns had been fixed. The crown of thorns was symbolic of the offense charged to Him by the Jews of claiming to be the “King of the Jews”. It was clear to the Jewish leaders who surrendered Jesus for execution that His words and deeds implied that He was God and their King in the flesh. Jesus told them that He and Father were one and that if they had seen Him, they had seen the Father. It was for this idea that Jesus was tried, convicted and executed. Standing before the crowd following His beating, he was presented by the Roman Governor Pilate as the King of the Jews, wearing His crown of thorns. The truth is that Jesus was their King and Messiah but they missed that truth. They rejected God’s truth about Jesus and offered Him up to be crucified. So, for our purposes, the crown of thorns represents the truth of God about Christ.
The spiritual beating we receive as the result of our sin prepares us for spiritual change within, which is the death of self. The sins of self are sustained and supported by continuing to believe that the Three Holy Lies are true. We want to believe that we can define truth to support what we want. We want to believe that we can define God, so we can rationalize our sin and be comfortable with it. We want to believe that we can define right and wrong so we can make up our own standards of righteousness as we go. The Three Holy Lies must be taken to the cross and crucified. This is accomplished by accepting God’s truth about Himself, His Truth and His Righteousness.
For our purposes, the crown of thorns becomes a powerful image to show us that truth stands before us in Jesus Christ. It is His life in us that has the power to defeat sin and self-will. The fullness of the truth of Jesus must replace the lies we believe that sustain our spiritual rebellion and disobedience. Jesus said we would know the truth and the truth would set us free. The truth of Christ frees us from the bondage of self-will and spiritual deception. The truth of Christ is the only truth that will end the spiritual beatings we receive from our sin. The crown of thorns represents that truth. The crown of thorns proclaims Jesus as Lord and King of Kings to all. The first step in the crucifixion of self requires that God’s truth be completely accepted and His Lordship acknowledged.
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