CROWN OF THORNS

And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews"!  Matthew 27:29

I really enjoy those Bible passages where people do something that they think is disrupting the will of God, when, in fact, they unknowingly fulfill God's prophecy. So it is with this verse from Matthew. I can see the soldiers fabricating this crown from a bush that God had planted nearby, laughing about what they thought was such a joke, maybe stabbing their finger on one of the thorns.

In fact, they were about to make a proclamation that was deeper theologically than any of them could have ever explained. As they placed that crown of thorns onto the Lord's head, they recognized Christ's kingly authority over the curse on the earth that Christ Himself had decreed back in Genesis 3:18. With this gesture, Christ took on the earth's curse, just as His crucifixion and death took on our curse (Deuteronomy 21:23), As King over the curse, He can remove it at will, which He does even now for whosoever He wishes in this dispensation, and for everyone during the Millennial Kingdom (Amos 9:13). As He bought us back from death through redemption (I Corinthians 6:19-20), so He also won title to the earth itself (Revelation 5:1-10). As God and Creator, He always owned the earth, but as the Lamb Who died to pay the price of death, the authority and judgment of it was given to Him, that He might restore the abundant life that the earth once had (Matthew 28:18).

Of course, nothing that the soldiers did conferred that authority; the power and plan behind it all came from the Father. But--I say again--it's always fun to see how even Christ's enemies are just pawns in God's great chess game!

Davy L. Troxel