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The Crowning of the Silent Lamb (Matthew 27:27-31) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. You know, usually when we talk
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about a medical diagnosis, there is this comforting expectation
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of precision. Right.
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Like it's very clinical. Yeah, it's like engineering.
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You break your arm, the X-ray shows that jagged white line,
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and the Doctor just points at. It they say, there it is.
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That is the problem. Right, it is binary.
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Broken or not broken. You see it, you categorize it,
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and you fix it. Human beings love when things
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are visible like that. We want a clear cut problem with
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a clear cut solution. But then you step into the world
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of history and theology, specifically looking at the
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events around the crucifixion of Jesus, and suddenly that X-ray
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machine just shatters. Yeah, the landscape gets, well,
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incredibly murky. Right on the surface, it looks
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like pure chaos. It looks like a complete
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breakdown of civil justice. Just mob rule taking over.
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Yeah, an innocent man swallowed up by a corrupt political
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machine. Today we are taking you inside
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one of the most famous brutal scenes in history.
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But we are looking at it through a completely different lens for
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this deep dive. We are going inside the Roman
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Praetorium, focusing on Matthew chapter 27 verses 27 through 31.
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This is. The moment where Jesus Christ is
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mocked, beaten and given a crown of thorns by a cohort of Roman
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soldiers. And our mission for this
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discussion is highly specific for you listening.
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We are going past the raw, physical brutality of what those
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soldiers did. Right, we want to see the cosmic
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theological transaction happening during this mock
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coronation. Understanding how this moment of
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absolute public humiliation is actually the theater of Christ's
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supreme mediatorial glory. It is a massive paradigm shift,
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but before we can analyze the theological weight of that crown
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of thorns, we first need to reconstruct the historical
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powder keg. Yeah, because this did not
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happen in a vacuum. Not at all.
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Let's set the stage. We are in 1st century Judea
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under Roman occupation. And we have Pontius Pilate in
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charge as the Roman prefect. Right.
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And looking at the historical context, both the Jewish
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philosopher Philo and the historian Josephus documented
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Pilate's tenure. They paint a picture of a man
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named for severe political pragmatism and, well, sudden,
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ruthless outbursts of brutality. That political context is the
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engine driving the entire narrative.
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Pilot usually lived and governed from Caesarea Maritimo.
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Which was a very Hellenized, comfortable coastal city, right?
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Yeah, the military capital of the province, right on the
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Mediterranean. He did not want to be in
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Jerusalem. Jerusalem was basically a
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bureaucratic nightmare for Roman governor.
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Oh, absolutely. But during the major Jewish
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festivals, especially the Passover, he had to relocate his
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entire headquarters to Jerusalem.
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Because the city's population would just swell with hundreds
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of thousands of religious pilgrims coming from all over
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the known world. Right.
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So it is like an occupying military force trying to
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maintain order during a massive, highly tense nationalistic
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festival. You have a suppressed population
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celebrating their historical liberation from a previous
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empire, Egypt, while currently living under the heavy boot of a
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new empire, Rome. The atmosphere is completely
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ripe for an anti Roman insurrection.
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Everyone is on edge. The zealots are looking for a
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reason to riot. The religious leaders are trying
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to maintain their fragile alliance with Rome, and Pilate
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is just trying to keep the lid on the boiling pot.
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And because of that simmering threat, the Roman administration
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was hyper vigilant. They were terrified of anyone
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claiming any sort of messianic or royal authority.
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Because in the Roman worldview, claiming to be a king without
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the explicit approval of the Senate was direct treason
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against Tiberius Caesar. The Roman peace, the Pax Romana,
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was maintained through absolute crushing force.
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Any spark of rebellion was met with immediate public execution.
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So Pilate is in Jerusalem, and he sets up his headquarters at
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the Pretorium. There is some historical debate
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about the location, whether it was the Antonia Fortress or
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Herod's Palace. But the current archaeological
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consensus points heavily toward Herod's palace.
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This is a massive, luxurious complex with huge courtyards,
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sprawling gardens and large barracks for the troops.
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And the troops stationed there are called aspara, a Greek
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military term for a cohort. We're talking about 400 to 600
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heavily armed infantrymen completely taking over the
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courtyard. The demographic makeup of that
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cohort changes everything about how we read this scene.
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Right. These were not elite patrician
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Roman citizens recruited from the Italian peninsula.
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The troops stationed permanently in Judea were auxiliary forces.
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They were recruited from the surrounding gentile regions,
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places like Syria and Samaria. That detail alters the entire
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psychological profile of the praetorium.
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These specific auxiliary troops harbored a deep seated,
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historically documented hostility toward the the Jewish
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population. They despise Jewish customs.
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They viewed Jewish dietary laws and Sabbath keeping with
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suspicion. And they looked at Jewish
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monotheism with a mix of contempt and superstitious
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dread. You have to put yourself in the
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sandals of one of these soldiers.
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You are underpaid. You are stationed in a dusty,
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volatile province, and you are surrounded by a population that
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considers you ceremonially unclean and hates your presence.
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You are working overtime during the Passover, sleeping in
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cramped barracks, constantly waiting for a riot to break out.
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So when Pilot finishes his trial and hands Jesus over to this
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cohort, we have to recognize what is happening in the minds
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of those men. Jesus was officially accused of
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being the king of the Jews. For the soldiers, their cultural
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and political frustrations suddenly found a focal point.
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They catalyzed a very specific, calculated theater of cruelty to
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these hostile, exhausted soldiers.
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Jesus was not just an individual prisoner.
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He was a highly convenient physical punching bag
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representing the entire despised Jewish nation.
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They could take out all their xenophobia, all the resentment
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of being stationed in this tense province on this one man who
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supposedly claimed to be the king of the people, making their
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lives miserable. Which leads us directly into the
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Macan of how they treated him. They decided to stage a
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counterfeit coronation. Right in the ancient
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Mediterranean world, the public mock coronation of a pretender
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king was a well known theatrical custom.
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It was used in street theater, in Pagan festivals like
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Saturnalia, or in military sports to mock rival nations.
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By subjecting Jesus to this ritual, the Roman cohort was
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asserting the supremacy of Rome over Judea.
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They were demonstrating in a highly visual way that any
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Jewish claim to sovereignty would be met with immediate,
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agonizing degradation. Let's unpack this theater of
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cruelty. The text breaks this down into a
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fourfold mock investiture. The vestment, the crown, the
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scepter, and the title. They basically repurposed
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everyday items laying around the military Garrison for a crude
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parody of a Hellenistic imperial accession ritual. 1st The
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vestment. The Greek phrase used in Matthew
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is Clamida coquinon. The Clemus was a short wool
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military cloak, usually fastened at the right shoulder with a
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fibula, leaving the right arm free for combat.
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Matthew specifies it was coquinos, A scarlet color
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derived from a Mediterranean insect dye.
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Now some other gospel accounts counts mentioned purple.
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In antiquity, those color terms were applied broadly to luxury
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dyes, so a faded cheat military cloak stained with sweat and
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dust could easily be described as either deep red or purple,
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depending on the lighting in the courtyard.
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The historical reality is the mockery itself.
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They use a cheap piece of standard military issue to
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simulate the imperial purple worn by Caesar or the royal
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robes of a monarch. They are dressing him in the
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garments of the empire that is about to execute him.
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Next is the scepter. They force a fragile Reed into
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his right hand. The Greek word is keloman.
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It is just a stiff piece of marsh grass.
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The right hand is the traditional hand of authority
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and might. A true king holds an iron
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scepter or a golden rod, signifying his ability to rule
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and crush his enemies. Instead, they put this flimsy,
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easily broken stick in his hand to symbolize immense political
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impotence. They're saying this is the
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extent of your kingdom's strength, a piece of grass.
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Then they move to the title and the homage.
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The text says gonipatosantes, which denotes the physical
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posture of falling on their knees.
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And they shout Chair, which is a direct parody of the imperial
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salute. Hail Caesar.
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They are executing A farce, acting at a twisted comedy
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routine, but the physical abuse quickly escalates from mockery
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to torture. The grammar of the original text
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here is striking when it describes the striking and the
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spitting. The Greek uses imperfect verbs,
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a Tipton and a Neptune. This indicates continuous
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rhythmic action. In the past.
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It was not a single insult, it was a prolonged, repetitive
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assault. They took that fragile read, the
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Kalaman, and repurposed it from a fake scepter into a weapon of
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torture, repeatedly beating the thorns into his head.
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The comedy routine became a blood.
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Sport, it really did. Here's what I struggled to wrap
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my mind around. How could these soldiers be so
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completely blind to the dramatic irony of their own actions?
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It is wild, isn't it? By staging this fake coronation,
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they were unwittingly declaring his actual identity.
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They're trying to make him look like a ridiculous clown, but
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they are literally setting up a visual representation of his
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cosmic authority. They are.
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Proving the very point they are trying to mock.
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Yeah, that dynamic is a brilliant use of literary irony
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by Matthew. Every false sign points to a
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literal reality. The soldiers intend blasphemous
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sarcasm, but Divine Providence is using their wickedness to set
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the stage for the true King. They mock him as King of the
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Jews, but you as the reader know he is the true monarch of the
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universe. They give him a read to mock his
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weakness, but he actually possesses all authority in
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heaven and on earth. They kneel in fake sarcastic
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worship, but that action anticipates the coming day, when
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every knee will bow truly in heaven and on earth and under
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the earth. So they have rocked his clothes
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and his scepter with things lying around the barracks, A
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discarded cloak, a piece of marsh grass, right?
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But then they do something completely unprecedented.
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They actually go out of their way to twist a crown out of
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thorns. Why?
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Thorns. That requires effort.
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Yeah, you have to find the thorns, Bush, cut it down
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without shredding your own hands, and carefully braid it
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into a wreath. That specific choice carries a
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massive theological weight, and that detail dates back to the
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dawn of human history. It brings us to the concept of
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the second Adam and the botanical curse.
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We have to look closely at the language here.
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The Greek phrase for the crown of thorns is Stefanon X
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acantham. The word acantha carries immense
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covenantal weight. If you go back to the Greek
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Septuagint, which is the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew
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Old Testament, and you look at Genesis chapter 3 verse 18, you
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see the exact same word. When the first Adam rebelled in
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the Garden of Eden, God pronounced a judgement on the
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ground itself, declaring that it would bring forth thorns and
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thistles. Acanthas.
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The thorn is the botanical signature of the Fall.
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It is the physical monument of divine wrath against human sin.
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So by choosing this specific plant, these Roman soldiers who
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are completely ignorant of biblical history and just
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looking for a way to inflict pain, twist the very symbol of
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the divine curse into a crown. And they force it onto the head
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of the Savior. This illustrates the theological
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concept of federal headship in Reformed theology.
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Adam acted as the federal head or representative of all
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humanity in the Covenant of Works.
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Let me stop you there and offer an analogy for federal headship,
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because that is a massive concept.
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Sure, go ahead. Think of a corporate structure.
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Imagine ACEO who signs a disastrous fraudulent contract.
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Because he is the head of the company, his signature legally
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binds every single employee. Right, the whole company goes
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down. Yeah, when the company goes
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bankrupt because of his actions, every worker loses their job,
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their pension, their livelihood. They suffer the consequences of
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an agreement they did not personally sign because their
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representative signed it on their behalf.
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Adam was that first CEO. He broke the covenant and
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humanity inherited the spiritual bankruptcy and the curse.
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That hits the mark perfectly. Adam's rebellion plunged the
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entire human race into debt and condemnation.
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Christ enters history as the second Adam, acting as the new
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federal head for his people. He is the new CEO, stepping in
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to absorb the debt of the failing company.
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In the Pretorium, he is physically and legally absorbing
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the curse of that broken covenant into his own person.
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He is literally wearing the condemnation of humanity on his
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brow. The thorns of the visible proof
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that he is dealing with the Genesis curse.
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It is like a physical receipt of humanity's debt being forcefully
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pressed into his skin. The spikes Pierce his forehead,
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causing his blood to flow down his face.
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This is the core mechanism of substitutionary atonement.
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He is undergoing the punishment due to us.
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This dynamic is where we see what theologians call the Great
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Exchange. Christ wears the scarlet robe of
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shame, which represents our guilt and our treason against
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God, so that His people can wear the spotless white robes of His
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imputed righteousness. He holds the fragile Reed,
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embracing human weakness and frailty so that he can shatter
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the iron scepter of Satan. He takes our crown of thorns,
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the curse of the ground, so we can receive the crown of life.
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The entire scene in the Praetorium is a visual
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representation of this transaction.
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He takes what is ours so we can have what is his.
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To bear the full weight of this historic curse, the physical
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battery, the extreme social defilement of being spat upon,
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will it requires an unnatural stamina.
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Which brings us to the loudest action Christ takes in the
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entire Praetorium narrative. His absolute silence.
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Despite the continuous assault, the rhythmic beating with the
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Reed, the mocking cheers of hundreds of soldiers, he offers
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0 resistance. He summons no angels.
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He utters no threats. He does not plead for his life
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or try to explain himself. This silent endurance leads us
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into the reformed soteriological concepts of active and passive
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obedience. Both are on full display in the
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courtyard. His passive obedience is His
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willingness to endure the physical and psychological
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penalties of our transgression. He is voluntarily absorbing the
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wrath of God in our place. He is not just passively letting
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things happen to him, he is actively receiving the penalty.
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His act of obedience is his unbroken compliance with the
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Father's command to lay down his life.
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He maintains absolute holiness, perfect patience and love for
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his people even while being abused by Pagan hands.
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He never sins in his response to the sin being committed against
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him. Looking at the systematically,
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we can also frame this within Christ's threefold office,
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prophet, priest and king. During the Jewish trial with the
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religious leaders earlier in the night, he was mocked as a
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prophet. They blindfolded him, struck him
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and told him to prophecy. Who hid him?
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Here in the Roman Praetorian with the gentiles, he is mocked
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as a king, but in his silent suffering, while the soldiers
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are treating him like a joke, he is actually acting as the high
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priest. He is the priest preparing the
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sacrifice, and He is the Lamb being offered.
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The writer of Hebrews notes that Christ suffered outside the gate
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to sanctify the people. In this framework, the
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praetorium functions as the outer court of the temple.
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It is the place where the sacrifice is prepared, where the
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animal is inspected, bound and marked with the signs of the
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curse before being led to the altar of Golgasa.
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His silence is the silence of the sacrificial lamb before its
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shears, as prophesied in Isaiah 53.
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That's right. I mean spot on.
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I want to push back on this idea of silence for a moment, because
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in modern culture, silence in the face of physical abuse is
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usually interpreted as helplessness.
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It is seen as victimization. Right, people see it as giving
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up. Our modern mindset says that if
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you have authority, you assert it.
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You fight back, You speak your truth, you defend your
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boundaries. How is this silence actually a
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display of absolute sovereignty and not just tragic
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victimization? Because if someone is hitting
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you and you say nothing, the world says you are just weak.
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Yeah, precisely. Christ's silence is not a sign
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of physical helplessness, It is a display of priestly resolve.
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To understand this, we look at how the Westminster Confession
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articulates the doctrine of Providence.
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God ordains whatsoever comes to pass without being the author of
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sin. The soldiers in that courtyard
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are sitting freely and culpably. Nobody is forcing them to twist
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the thorns or spit on him. They are doing it because they
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want to. But God is sovereignly using
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their wickedness in the redemptive path.
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Christ is not trapped by Roman legions.
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He previously stated He could call down armies of angels.
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He is voluntarily submitting to the Father's will to fully
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satisfy divine justice. His silence is not the silence
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of a victim who has run out of options.
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It is the silence of perfect obedience from a king who is
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choosing to endure the cross for the joy set before him.
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That holy, silent resolve acts as a stark contrast to the
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unholy act of hostility of the soldiers.
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The narrative uses that contrast to expose a grim reality about
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the natural human heart. The focus moves from the
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individual actions of a few guards to the corporate nature
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of the scene, highlighting the concept of total depravity.
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Notice that Matthew highlights the gathering of the entire
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cohort Houlantonspirin. This is not a couple of rogue
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guards in a backroom secretly abusing a prisoner.
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This is a massive corporate gathering, 4 to 600 men in a
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courtyard feeding off each other's energy.
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Theologically, this is the historical manifestation of
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Psalm 2. The psalmist asks why do the
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nation's rage in the people's plot in vain?
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The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take
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counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed.
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In the pretorium, that universal conspiracy described in the
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Psalms is realized in real time. The Roman cohort represents the
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height of Gentile political and military achievement.
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They are the enforcers of the greatest empire on earth.
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They are completely united in hostile defiance against God's
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sovereign authority. This demonstrates the absolute
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structural total depravity of the human race.
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The doctrine of total depravity teaches that apart from
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regenerating grace, the natural response of human institutions,
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whether religious, civil or military, is to unite against
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God. This scene proves that fallen
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humanity does not just misunderstand Christ, it
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actively resents His authority. When the king appears in
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meekness, sinners exploit that meekness as though it were
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weakness. They do not look at his silence
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and feel pity. They look at his silence and
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escalate their violence. Total depravity means that the
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human will is entirely hostile to the things of God.
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The contrast between their outward posture and inward
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reality is chilling. They are saying orthodox words.
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Hail King. They're taking a posture of
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worship by kneeling. But their hearts are full of
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absolute hatred and unbelief. I liken this to someone singing
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hymns on a Sunday morning, using all the correct religious
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vocabulary, taking the right posture during the service, but
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then living in total venomous rebellion on Monday.
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The outward form of worship is present, but the inward reality
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is pure hostility. They are mocking the very idea
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of submission. Matthew's narrative invites you
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to distinguish outward religious gestures from genuine faith.
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A person can say orthodox words with a blasphemous heart.
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The soldiers prove that you can physically kneel before Jesus
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and remain his absolute enemy. The outward action means nothing
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if the heart is not regenerate. We also.
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See a structural symmetry in the passion narrative that
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implicates everyone. It was not just the Romans.
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The Jewish religious leaders provided the religious
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condemnation during the night trials, rejecting him for
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blasphemy. Now the Gentile Roman soldiers
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are providing the physical execution and mockery for
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sedition. The structural symmetry shows
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that the whole world, Jew and Gentile alike, stands guilty and
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implicated before the tribunal of God.
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No single demographic group exhausts the meaning of human
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guilt. Religious hypocrisy, political
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cowardice, mob passion and Pagan violence all gather against the
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Lord's anointed. Christ is physically isolated in
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the midst of his overwhelming collective force, highlighting
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the solitary nature of his substitutionary.
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Work. He stood alone against the
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raging of the nation, so his lab would never have to stand alone
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before the judgment seat. He took the concentrated hatred
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of humanity upon himself. Realizing the universal nature
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of this rebellion is key to understanding how the author,
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Matthew, intended his original readers to process this brutal
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text. We have to look at the 1st
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century audience. Matthew wrote this gospel
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primarily for Jewish Christians who were dealing with immense
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pressure. They were facing excommunication
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from their local synagogues, losing their social standing,
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their families, their businesses.
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And on top of that, they were facing mounting Roman
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persecution, they were being targeted by the state.
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To the ancient Jewish mind, a Messiah who allowed himself to
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be stripped, spit upon and beaten by uncircumcised Gentiles
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was a massive stumbling block. It completely contradicted the
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popular rabbinic expectations of a triumphant military leader.
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They expected a new David, a warrior king who would ride into
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Jerusalem, smash the Roman yoke, expel the legions and re
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establish the Kingdom in political splendor.
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Instead, they get a Messiah who is bleeding in a Rowan
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courtyard. So put yourself in the shoes of
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a 1st century Jewish Christian. You are reading about your
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savior being stripped and humiliated like this.
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How does that bring you comfort? Wouldn't that just terrify you?
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It seems like it proves Rome is untouchable, that the empire
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always. Wins Matthew's design in
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detailing these horrors is to shift their gaze from an earthly
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Kingdom to a spiritual 1. He wants to demonstrate that
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this structural humiliation was not a failure of the messianic
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plan. It was the precise path ordained
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by God for the conquest of sin. By showcasing the absolute
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control of Jesus through His silent majesty, Matthew comforts
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his readers. It anchors their endurance.
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If the master was treated this way, the servants should expect
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the same. It normalizes their suffering.
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It strips Rome with its pretension to absolute
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sovereignty. To early Christians, the Roman
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Empire appeared omnipotent. They had the legions, the roads,
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the wealth, the absolute authority of life and death.
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But Matthew portrays the Roman military machine as a group of
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blind, foolish actors. They are merely wait.
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I mean they are just puppets executing the sovereign decree
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of the God of. Abraham Caesar's soldiers think
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they're in charge. They think they are the ones
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dispensing justice. But they are unwittingly
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facilitating the true King's coronation.
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That realization validates the suffering of the early Church.
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It reminds them that their King is sovereign over every earthly
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empire. The kingdoms of this world, no
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matter how terrifying they appear in the moment, we'll
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finally bow before the throne of the crucified Lord.
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It is a call to radical endurance and holy defiance
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against corrupt earthly structures.
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You do not need to feel the empire because the empire is
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just a tool in the hands of your God.
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And that mandate to reject corrupt earthly structures
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translates directly to you, the modern listener.
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Now, applying this text to the modern framework of the Church
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and society yields some fascinating conclusions.
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When you look at how the theological principles in the
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Pretorium confront contemporary cultural movements, you start to
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see why this text is so disruptive.
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First, looking at the prosperity gospel.
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The prosperity gospel suggests that Christ died to secure
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earthly wealth, perfect health, and material success for his
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followers. But looking at a savior who was
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stripped of everything, beaten, and crowned with thorns
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contradicts that entirely. True discipleship involves
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taking up a cross, embracing suffering, and walking the path
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of humiliation, not acquiring a fleet of private jets or earthly
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luxury. The Praetorium narrative also
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confronts the seeker sensitive movement.
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This is the approach to church that tries to make the gospel as
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acceptable, comfortable, and unoffensive as possible to the
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natural man. The strategy is to remove any
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harsh edges so people will fill the seats, but the events in the
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courtyard show that the message of the cross is fundamentally
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offensive to the carnal mind. It is a message about a bloody,
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mocked Savior dying for rebels. Attempts to sanitize the gospel
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into a harmless self help program diminish the reality of
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Christ's suffering and the severity of human sin.
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You cannot market the Crown of thorns.
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Then applying this text to secular philosophies like
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critical race theory and liberal social justice frameworks.
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The argument built into these frameworks is that they seek to
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solve human problems primarily through political restructuring,
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identifying victim and oppressor groups, and dismantling social
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hierarchies. However, looking at the text of
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Matthew, the root problem of humanity is exposed as something
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far deeper. The problem is not just systemic
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social structures, though those can be corrupt.
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The root is the systemic infection of sin in the human
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heart. The soldiers, the politicians,
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the religious leaders, they all suffer from the same fatal
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disease of rebellion against God.
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This infection is curable only by the substitutionary blood of
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Christ, not by secular political realignment or societal training
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programs. Finally, the text models
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complementarianism. Christ exhibits true headship in
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this passage. He does not rule through
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tyrannical domination or forceful, self-serving control.
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He rules through sacrificial patient submission for the
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protection of his bride, the Church.
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He takes the beating so she does not have to.
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The theological application here is that husgunly headship should
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mirror this self sacrificial love, willingly stepping into
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harm's way, laying down one's life and absorbing the cost for
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the sanctification and safety of the family I.
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Anticipate a strong reaction from a listener at this point.
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We have talked a lot about total depravity, universal hostility,
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and the sheer wickedness of the human heart.
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Doesn't focusing so heavily on human depravity make this a very
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bleak worldview? It feels heavy to constantly
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look at human nature through the lens of those violent soldiers.
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It feels pessimistic. It is an intensely heavy view of
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human nature. It is devastating to the human
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ego. But the theological argument is
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that the bleakness of the praetorium is required to see
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the brilliance of grace. You cannot appreciate the cure
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of substitutionary atonement until you accurately diagnose
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the fatal disease of sin. If sin is just a minor flaw, a
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mistake, a lack of education, then the cross is a massive,
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grotesque overreaction by God. Why go through the beating in
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the thorns for a minor character flaw?
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But if sin is cosmic treason, an active hatred of God as depicted
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so clearly by the soldiers in the praetorium, then the
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voluntary substitution of Christ is an act of incomprehensible
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mercy. The dark background of our guilt
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is necessary to make the light of the gospel visible.
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You have to know how sick you are before you fall at the feet
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of the physician. That brings our discussion to
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its final conclusions. When we look at Matthew 27, we
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are looking at the great exchange in its rost, most
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visceral form. Christ wore The Dirty scarlet
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robe of shame so his people could wear spotless garments of
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righteousness. He took the crown of thorns,
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absorbing the botanical curse of Genesis to secure a crown of
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life. The fake, mocking worship
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offered by those soldiers demands that we look at our own
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lives. It forces us to ask if we are
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just offering outward conformity or if we're offering true
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unconditional surrender to the sovereign monarch.
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I want to leave you with a final thought to consider something
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that builds on this reality but extends past the crucifixion.
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Consider the physical body of Jesus, the very same physical
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body that bore the scars of the thorns, the spit on his face,
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the bruising from the Reed, and the lacerations from the whip.
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That exact physical body was resurrected.
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And right now, that body is seated at the right hand of God.
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The physical markers of his deepest humiliation did not
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disappear in the resurrection. They are now the eternal proof
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of His highest glory, visible forever in the heavenly throne
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room. The scars remain as the lasting
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physical evidence of the Great Exchange.
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The X-ray of history might look murky at first glance, showing
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us a landscape of chaos, political corruption and
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unchecked brutality. But when you look closely at the
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theology driving the historical events, you see the breathtaking
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precision of divine Providence. You see the true king conquering
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not with iron legions and swords, but through the triumph
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of substitution. Thank you for joining us on
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Reformed Thinking.