Royal robes John 19

 And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him. John 19:2 Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. vs. 5

It has been a few weeks since Easter, Good Friday, etc. but the message of the crucifiction is never out of date. It is the essence of Christianity. If you really look at the story of Jesus getting bounced from one ruler to another during the trials before His condemnation, you will see that the issue they had was His kingship. Pilate directly pointed this out...”Shall I crucify your king?” was his question to the Jews, and the sign he placed over His head on the cross convicted Him of being KING OF THE JEWS. The Jewish rulers convened and said they would rather have Rome ruling over them than let Jesus stir things up. It was all a matter of whether Jesus was their King or not.

King:dictionary.reference.com/browse/king

• a male sovereign or monarch; a man who holds by life tenure, and usually by hereditary right, the chief authority over a country and people.

This is the definition of a king. It's a guy who inherits the right to rule.

And Jesus in their mind didn't qualify, but it was not because He didn't tell them He did. He told them over and over that God was His Father, and if that were true, that would make Him the inheritant of world authority. He should have been respected, listened to, and obeyed, though He didn't ask much of most people. Most were taught, a few were asked to do basic things to show they had faith, like washing their eyes or heading toward the synagogue, at which time they were healed. A few that wanted to walk close were asked to give things up and follow Him. But He never asked them to join an army, pay Him taxes or teaching fees, or to do anything He didn't do or set the example for them to copy. He was King, but He didn't exalt Himself. If He would have tried, they may have said worse things about Him. The people wanted to make Him king. He was nice, He healed people, met their physical needs, had compassion and cried with them. He was everything they thought a good leader should be. But He turned down the earthly kingship for an eternal one.

Did you ever think of what would have happened if He had let His power go to His head? He told them He could have called 10,000 angels to save Him. He could have taken over the temple at any point by force, but He let the Pharasees keep it. He could have wiped out the Romans, but He let them rule and told people not to bother fighting them. If He had not died, we would still be in our sin. We would be hopeless.

There have been a lot of things in life lately that make me feel a little on the hopeless side. Physical, psychological, financial...all sorts of things can grab a hold of the heart and wring the hope right out of it. And then I think of Christ. The worst thing that happened to Him was the best thing that happened to me (and you, if you accept it), and we are reassured that this world is not “It.” This isn't all there is. People will let us down, sin against us, die, cheat us, fire us, talk about us behind our backs...you get the drift.

But Jesus is King. He came out in the purple robe as a broken man because that is how the world sees Him. That's not how I see Him, for He is no longer broken. He is all powerful, all loving and kind, and He is the ruler of my life and of those who join the kingdom. He is benevolent to His own. Like Peter, we can be assured that Satan has permission to sift us like wheat, but He can't take our souls. Any pain of this world is a temporary thing. Any persecution will just make Glory all the better. We are a part of the eternal army that one day will someday put evil to eternal silence. He has promised, written the decree, and knows the beginning from the end. The older I get, the more I realize that the days slip away quickly, and carrying the burdens of them wearies the bones, greys the hair, and zaps our joy.

But when things get bleak, we hear a gentle voice calling us into the throne room. We are reminded whose we are, see a glimpse of the castle we will get to live in, and hear the songs of the angels in our hearts. The doubts slowly melt away, replaced by the peace that passes understanding. We will walk on water even in the midst of the storm. The King will wear the proper royal robes, and if He wants them to be purple or scarlet or changes them frequently during His eternal reign for our enjoyment, He will. We will reign with Him, so I guess our robes will be royal ones, too. He doesn't force His kingship on us...He lets us decide which kingdom we will serve. As much as we like to think we run our own lives, we don't. We will always have a ruler, and we get to choose who that is. I choose Christ. I choose to enter the throneroom for direction and comfort and peace of mind and heart. Won't you join me there?