By His Wounds: Devotions From Time Of GraceSample

Crowned!

If you visit the Tower of London, you may wish to see the dazzling display of the royal crown jewels. Included in the treasury is Queen Elizabeth’s consort crown, platinum and purple velvet, encrusted with a dazzling array of gems including the 105-carat Koh-i-Noor diamond. Its value is beyond estimating.

King Jesus was given a crown to wear as well, but there was no velvet, platinum, or jewels. The “obeisance” he received from the Roman soldiers was mockery and jest. The “scepter” he was given was a reed, and his “crown” was a strip of thorns twisted into a circlet. As a gesture of total contempt, they beat it into his dear head, intensifying the humiliation and agony. The idea that he claimed to be the King of the Jews brought only resentment--they wanted no further claims on their accountability.

Isaiah had said it would be like this: “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain” (Isaiah 53:3). It is the paradox of the gospel that Jesus’ path to glory lay through humiliation, that his path to delight lay through pain, that his path to victory lay through suffering, and that the way in which he could crush Satan involved letting himself be crushed first.

It is the paradox of the gospel that it is through the wounds of Christ that you and I are healed.