John 19:20
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. 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.
Jesus left Pilate's court for Calvary carrying on bruised and bleeding shoulders the cross prepared for Barabbas, while two companions of Barabbas also bore crosses to die at the same time. He had taken neither food nor drink since the Passover supper, had agonized in Gethsemane in conflict with satanic agencies, had endured betrayal and the flight of the disciples, had been taken to Annas then Caiaphas then Pilate then Herod then Pilate again, had passed from insult to insult and mockery to mockery, had been twice tortured by the scourge, and had borne Himself with firmness and dignity speaking no word but to glorify God until after the second scourging human nature could bear no more. He fell fainting beneath the burden while the crowd from the judgment hall showed no compassion but taunted Him for being unable to carry it, and when it was laid on Him again He fell fainting again so His persecutors saw He could go no farther. Yet the Jews themselves would not bear the humiliating load lest defilement prevent keeping the Passover, and none even of the mob would stoop to bear it.
He was crucified nigh to but outside the boundaries of Jerusalem, without the gate of the city, where felons and murderers were executed. The inscription was set conspicuously above His head on the cross in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and many of the Jews read it because the crucifixion place was near the city while thousands of people from all lands were then at Jerusalem. The inscription identified Him as Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews and named no other offense against Him.
Its public wording turned the Jews' own court cries for His crucifixion, that they had no king but Caesar and that anyone claiming kingship besides Caesar was a traitor, back upon them, declaring in effect as all understood that by their allegiance to Rome they judged anyone aspiring to Jewish kingship, however innocent otherwise, worthy of death. The wording angered the Jews and the chief priests asked Pilate to change it to say only that He claimed to be King of the Jews, but Pilate, angry at his own weakness and despising their jealous scheming, refused to alter what he had written. A higher power than Pilate or the Jews directed the placing of that inscription, and in the providence of God it was to awaken thought and investigation of the Scriptures, declaring Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah as living truth transcribed by a hand God guided.
The inscription revealed the hypocrisy of the priests who to destroy Christ were ready to sacrifice even their national existence, although Caiaphas had said it was expedient that one man die to save the nation. Dying there as substitute sanctified the people with His own blood and redeemed them from the curse of the law by being made a curse for them, answering the banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden for transgression of the law of God. The scene shows the cost of His sacrifice: He was led away weak and fainting, nailed through His hands and feet to the cross, and suffered there in agony.
The verse belongs to the taking away of the Bridegroom when the disciples would have cause to mourn and fast, as Jesus approached the cross and descended into humiliation with the hopes of eternal life centered in Him in the hands of wicked men. His own nation clamored for His blood, the crown of thorns was plaited for His brow, clad in the purple robe He was mocked by persecutors bowing before Him and striking Him with the reed placed in His hand, He was scourged as the worst of criminals though expected to take His place on David's throne, the murderous Barabbas was chosen in place of their Teacher, and He was lifted up on the cross dying as a malefactor, and witnessing this tried their faith and caused their hope and courage to fail. It belongs to the terrible, trying hour of gloom and darkness when the Son of God was dying upon the cross, when beholding Him dying brought the disciples over the ground of test and trial where His predictions came to pass and they failed to endure the proving and lost their faith, as Peter denying his Lord before his enemies shows. Had they remained watching and praying instead of being overcome with sleep, they would have received the light of the knowledge of His sufferings and the glory that should follow and shared His self-sacrifice, and some rays of hope from that manifestation would have lighted up the darkness and sustained their faith while beholding Him dying.
The cross of Calvary shows that Jesus is at hand to help, for by hanging there as a bleeding victim He made grace and power available, with His blood as the price paid for humanity and with saving power available for soul and body, which calls people to surrender themselves to Christ and bring their lives into conformity with His will.