Upon crucifying Jesus Christ, actually stealing His clothes to
leave Him to die naked on the Cross, the Roman soldiers, as Matthew 27 tells us, sat
down and “watched him there; [37] And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS
JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
“They
don’t just do the deed, these bunch of people—I mean they’re so fiendish
they’re not just going to leave Him to die, they’re going to stay right there
to torment Him and see the thing all the way to the very end,” says Jordan. “Imagine
the stomachs they must have had to have done that!
“Now,
evidently there were three different things written over His head at three
different times because they’re a little different in each one of the Gospels. The
first one’s in John, the second writing is in Matthew and the third writing is
in Luke. The one in Mark doesn’t say it was written, it just says ‘this is what
the accusation was about.’
“If
you’ll compare those you’ll see how that John came first. They got in an
argument about it and took it down and put up the one in Matthew and finally
put the third one up and then that was it. But I want you to notice in John 19:
[19] And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the
writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
[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.
[21] Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
[22] Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
[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.
[21] Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
[22] Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
“Pilate
wrote a title and put it on the Cross. That title is put in three languages.
Those three languages represent the three men in the earth. You’re not just the
son of Adam, you’re also a son of Noah.
“Noah
had three boys—Shem, Ham and Japeth. There they are. The Hebrew, the Greek and
the Latin. The Jew, the Roman and the Greek. Jerusalem, Rome and Athens. The
great centers of the world. Man’s religion, or Shem and the Jews. Man’s power,
or Ham and Rome. Man’s philosophy, his wisdom, or Japeth and Athens.
“What
you see in that inscription over the Cross is God says to man’s religion, to
his power, to his philosophy, to the greatness of all men, ‘See, there’s what
your work does. There’s who you are. Behold your work. Behold your part. Behold
your handiwork in what you’re doing.’
“You
want to see your work? Look at the Christ of God hanging on a tree. That’s what
your wisdom gets. That’s what your power gets. That’s what your religion gets.
“They
didn’t like that up there and they said, ‘Take it down!’ Pilate said, ‘What
I’ve written, I’ve written.’ Go back to Matthew 27. By that time, folks, Pilate
was disgusted with them. He’s through with them and he finally put his foot
down. It wasn’t for much but it was for something. He finally put his foot down
and said, ‘It’s going to stay up there! Just choke on it!’ That wasn’t much
because he shouldn’t have put Christ there. But at least he put the testimony
over Him.
*****
“When
it comes to representations of the threefold division through Noah’s sons, the
Bible is loaded with them. One great example is the three gifts the wise men
brought at the birth of Christ—gold, frankincense and myrrh.
“Nobody
knows how many wise men there were—there might have been 50 of them for all we
know—but they only brought three gifts. Those three gifts represented Shem, Ham
and Japeth. They represented the offices of the Lord Jesus Christ and they
represented mankind in the threefold division that God had made.
*****
“The
theologians use a word that I’m not real comfortable with but they call it a
‘federal headship.’ They talk about one person representing everything. Now,
Adam did that: ‘In Adam, all did die.’ In Christ, ‘all are made alive.’ If you’re
in Adam, death. If you’re in Christ, life. And that’s the idea.
“Hebrews
5 talks about how Levi paid tithes in the loins of Abraham. When Abraham gave
tithes to Melchizedek, the writer of Hebrews says Levi, who is the descendant
of Abraham, was actually paying the tithes. The idea there is the head of the
race represents everybody else that comes along. We’re all coming from them.
“The
contribution of each one of Noah’s boys is different and distinct but they were
intended by God to be blended together into a harmonious, organized way of life
to produce the highest form of civilization possible.
“As
soon as one of the groups has ascendancy above the other, the balance is put
out of whack and then what happens in Scripture is there is a momentary
excelling. One of them will step out in front of the others and be superior to
him for a moment. It will look like there’s a great leap ahead, but it flames
out just like that. And suddenly it just crashes.
“Now
you know what goes on today. There’s not
one nation on the face of the earth that doesn’t have racial strife. Without
one, the other two aren’t all they ought to be and more often it’s one (prong
of the threefold) stepping out and trying to take over. In the Millennium,
when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back, the three will work perfectly.”
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