Lesson 39

BEHOLD YOUR KING

(Audio Transcript)

Scriptures Cited:
Revelation 1:7-8, John 19:1-22, John 19:28-37, Zechariah 12:10, Zechariah 9:9, John 12:12-16, 1 Samuel 8:1-7, Isaiah 44:6

Good morning. It’s good to be here again as always, to continue studying in God’s word and to continue to grow from the things that He’s left us here to grow by. And if you guys remember last week, the title of the lesson was “Now I see“, and we were talking about – you know, we looked at some examples of Jesus healing people and giving them sight. And you know, I mentioned how the most important thing for them to see was to be able to see Jesus. And then with that – in seeing Jesus, the next step was where we ended up last week, was in the book of John, the 14th chapter where Jesus says “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father”… and the implications that, that all brings.

And so this week we’re going to almost continue in that vein, with the title of this lesson being “Behold Your King”. And so if you guys would, you know… as always we’re going to go through these scriptures together. So, if we could turn to the book of Revelation, and we’re actually going to go to the first chapter and verse 7. And in revelations, first chapter and verse 7 we’re going to read – and this is obviously the beginning here. And this is John at.. at the beginning of the receiving of this revelation; In chapter 1 verse 7 we read:

Revelation 1:7-8
⁷ Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

Note: Verse 8 reads…

⁸ I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

So we’re just going to start there. This is going to be our… I guess our starting point for this week, but also our continuation. You can see there in verse 7, it says ‘Behold, He comes with clouds and every eye shall see Him”. Like I said, we’re picking up from last week the importance of being able to see. And right here we’ll see – at some point though, every eye will see Him.

And then also, I kind of want to just put a little pin in that verse 8, where you know, we do have Jesus speaking here saying “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord…” So we’re going to put a pin on that and we’re going to hopefully come full circle and see some things.

So, let’s go ahead though, and go into the book of John. We’re going to go to John, the 19th chapter. And when I was kind of getting this together I was trying to figure some ways to break this up, but we’re going to read quite a bit here in John, the 19th chapter… keeping in mind, the title here is “Behold Your King”. And like we said keeping in mind the idea – the importance of seeing Jesus, and seeing Him for who He is. So, here we have in John the 19th chapter, this is when Jesus was brought before Pilate and He was questioned, and the things that He went through and we’re just going to read through some of this. So, in John chapter 19 starting in verse 1, it says:

John 19:1-22
¹ Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. ² And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, ³ And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. ⁴ Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.

⁵ Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! ⁶ When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.

⁷ The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. ⁸ When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; ⁹ And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.

¹⁰ Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? ¹¹ Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

¹² And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

¹³ When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. ¹⁴ And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!

¹⁵ But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.

¹⁶ Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. ¹⁷ And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: ¹⁸ Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

¹⁹ And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was Jesus Of Nazareth The King Of The Jews.

²⁰ This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. ²¹ Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.

²² Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

And we’re going to stop right there in verse 22. So, you can see there’s a lot there when we really look at what Jesus went through from the aspect of Him being the King – the King of the Jews, that was rejected. And we see the mocking and the – you know, with the crown of thorns and the purple robe; mocking Him as ‘the king’ of the Jews. And we even see Pilate, as they’re crying out to crucify Jesus, ‘crucify him’, and Pilate even said to himself, ‘would you have me crucify your king?’ You know, but they were determined. And so, we’re going to keep reading a little more, I’m going to skip over a little bit here. This is obviously as – with Jesus was on the cross, leaving off in 22. And it talks a little bit about those who were there – Mary and His mother… and some of the followers and disciples of Christ were there. And we’re going to pick up in verse 28. And it says:

John 19:28-37
²⁸ After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. ²⁹ Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. ³⁰ When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

³¹ The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. ³² Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. ³³ But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:

³⁴ But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. ³⁵ And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe. ³⁶ For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken. ³⁷ And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

And that’s where I wanted to end off there, because that’s actually where we began if you remember what we read in Revelation chapter 1, it says ‘Behold…’ ‘they that pierced Him’ – ‘…every eye will see and they that pierced Him.’ And here we see that when that happened, when the guard took the spear and pierced Jesus, that was the fulfillment of scripture. Like it says here, ‘and another scripture saith…’

So, what I want to do is let’s go to the scripture that actually says that. And that is found in the book of Zechariah, which if you go back in your Old Testament – Malachi is the last book. And the book right before you get to Malachi is going to be Zechariah. We’re going to go to Zechariah, the 12th chapter. And in verse 10 we’re going to read the prophecy of what we just read, fulfilled with Jesus at the cross. So, in Zechariah chapter 12 and verse 10 it says:

Zechariah 12:10
¹⁰ And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

So, it’s interesting that in that – the prophecy that was given about Jesus being pierced… in the prophecy itself it says that ‘…they shall look upon Me, whom they pierced’ which lets you know who this is that was on the cross. It was the same God that we have speaking in the Old Testament… which gets back to why I said – and why Jesus said (not why I said) why Jesus said, ‘If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father’. And here it says ‘they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced.’

And so, in sticking with the theme of ‘Behold Your King’, we’re going to stay here in the book of Zechariah, but we’re going to go back a couple chapters, over to chapter 9. And once again in the Old Testament, we know that this is what – you know, commonly is referred to God speaking, God the Father speaking. And in Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9, we’re going to read something here; another prophecy given. It says:

Zechariah 9:9
⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

And so, we know that that prophecy is referencing what they call Jesus’ “Triumphant Entry” into Jerusalem. And so, let’s go and read the fulfillment of this prophecy. We’re going to bounce back over to the book of John in the 12th chapter, and we’ll read where this prophecy about Him riding in, coming with salvation… is in John chapter 12 and verse 12 we’re going to begin.

And in John chapter 12 verse 12… just to give a little context, if we were to go up to the beginning of this chapter, we can see it says that this was 6 days before Passover. And so, this was just a few days before Jesus was going to actually go to the cross. And this is also where Mary took the ointment and anointed Jesus, where He said this is going to be for – in preparation for what He was about to go through. And then we pick up in verse 12, where it says:

John 12:12-16
¹² On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, ¹³ Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. ¹⁴ And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,

¹⁵ Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.

Note: Verse 16…

¹⁶ These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

So, what I want us to notice there in verse 16 especially, it says that those that were with Him didn’t understand these things; they didn’t understand what these things meant. But after Jesus was glorified, which later on we find out He said, you know that He would receive the glory of the Father – it says that they remembered these things about Jesus.

And so, this whole concept of Jesus being the King of the Jews… and we see obviously in the crucifixion and the way that He was treated and rejected by the Jews, this theme I think we’ve talked about it before of the prophets and how they were the embodiment of the things that God Himself was going through.

And so, to take it all the way back to the beginning of this rejection of God as the king, we would have to go back to the book of 1 Samuel, in 1 Samuel chapter 8. We’re going to go there quickly and then one other spot today. So in 1 Samuel chapter 8… and if we think about the history of the Jewish people, we know that they became a nation under bondage in Egypt and they were brought out, walked the wilderness for 40 years. Finally God, through Joshua brought them out to the promised land, and they were there able to set up a nation and they were ruled by judges. But then they got to a certain point here, we’ll read 1 Samuel chapter 8 and it’s really verse 7 that we’re going to want to focus on. But I’m just going to read it from the beginning. 1 Samuel chapter 8 verse 1:

1 Samuel 8:1-7
¹ And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. ² Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba. ³ And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, ⁵ And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. ⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord.

⁷ And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

Some versions say ‘that I should not be king over them’. And so, we can see here that all the way from back here, that they were rejecting God as their king. And then we saw it completely manifest itself out in what they did with Jesus – mocking Him, putting a crown of thorns on Him, putting the purple robe, beating Him and ultimately crucifying their King – Our King. And so, the last place that I want to look today just to bring us full circle a little bit, is in the book of Isaiah. We’re going to quickly go to Isaiah chapter 44 and look at one more thing that it says about this king. In Isaiah chapter 44 verse 6, and this obviously is God speaking. Isaiah chapter 44 verse 6 reads:

Isaiah 44:6
⁶ Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

So, there we see that this King of Israel that has been rejected – just where we started off in Revelation, ‘the First and the Last’, ‘the Alpha and Omega’. And here we hear Him saying – not only that, but ‘beside me there is no God.’ And so, when we start to look a little bit closer at Jesus and look at that King and like the title of this message is ‘Behold Your King’… behold your king. Who do you see when you behold that man that was on the cross that was being rejected by the Jews? Here we see that the God of the Old Testament says ‘I am the first and the last; and beside me there is no God’.

So, we’re going to – I think leave it there this week, I think there’s more to come with this message… and this theme of being able to… what do we see when we see Jesus? And maybe to be able to see Him more clearly, and also to be able to see God more clearly. With that, you know, we did read that in John chapter 19 about the suffering of Christ – his death. We didn’t get into His burial and resurrection, but we know that after He died, He was buried and raised. And that is the good news, that is the gospel. And after His resurrection, before He ascended He did go to His disciples, to His followers. And we can read about that in Mark chapter 16 and He told them to go out and preach this gospel – preach this good news… that the King that they rejected and that they killed, has risen. And He said when you preach this gospel, He said ‘He that believes and is baptized will be saved.’

And that is the message today. For anyone who can see this King, who beholds the King. He said if you hear this message and you believe it, the way you respond to that belief is to be baptized. And if there is anyone here that would like to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins, you can do that today. Like we always say, or whatever your spiritual need is, you can come forward and make it known and we’ll meet you where you are as together we stand and sing.