Gems in the Gospel of John - Part 83

Gems in the Gospel of John

Part 83 - John 19:19
Identification

Pilate was more right than he ever realised when he insisted on 19: 19, which reads “Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

Pilate went on to say, “What I have written, I have written” in 19:22. It is a striking example of the irony that John used so much in what he wrote. Pilate meant something relatively simple in what he had written but was actually saying far more than he realized. Throughout the centuries since his words have been understood to be saying that faith in Christ is to be for the Jews who spoke Aramaic, the Romans who spoke Latin and the common people who spoke Greek. In brief for all the world. Of course there were many other languages spoken in the world of that day but they were far beyond the knowledge of the people of this world in which Jesus lived and died. Pilate’s words were a form of prophecy. They are the equivalent of the words of Jesus in Acts 1:8, “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” It is a prophecy that is becoming increasingly true in our day.

And there is no more potent reminder of that than you guys out there reading this. Dave Roberts can get some idea of how many of you there are by looking at how many ‘hits’ on this site there have been but that is only an indication of the total number, with some folk making multiple hits and perhaps others sharing these thoughts with others. No matter - there are certainly thousands of you and maybe tens or even hundreds of thousands..

Hey - why didn’t Pilate include English in his list of languages? (I suppose English is a descendant of both Latin and Greek.)

Well done all you who have had to learn English as a second or third language! Let us all rejoice together in all that Jesus accomplished on the Cross for us all of many different nations and mother-tongues.

Click or Tap here to listen to or save this as an audio mp3 file~

You can now purchase our Partakers books including Roger's latest - The Puzzle of Living - A fresh look at the story of Job!

Please do click or tap here to visit our Amazon site!

Click or tap on the appropriate link below to subscribe, share or download our iPhone App!