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No Thorns No Throne


Passion Week is upon us. Soon Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday will be celebrated by the devout all over the world. Preparing for Passion Week gets a person thinking. Lately, my mind has been upon the crown of thrones. The Cross gets the most focus and should, then the nails in Christ's hands and feet. Then the crown of thorns comes into the consciences. The Crown of Thorns is important for many reasons. The first is that it is evidence that Jesus was put to death for claiming to be the Messiah. The Romans in their brutal techniques of flogging and crucifixion, paid homage in mocking way to Jesus when they made the circlet of thorns; the crown for his head. This was in effect a symbol, for the Cesars wore the same circlet, only made of a wreath of leaves. The Crown of Thorns is thus the Civic Crown.

Secondly, the Crown of Thorns serves as the first crown Jesus wears on his way to kingship. His death on cross is both the battle for eternal life for all lost souls, personally death for each sinner, marriage to the bride, and finally the coronation of Jesus. There on the rood, Jesus was to rule in the hearts and minds of men. He wore crown of thorns, before the crown of gold. We proclaim Jesus as "King of Kings, and Lord of Lords." In fact, in Book of Revelation is says he has these titles upon his thigh. (Revelation 19:16). What we can learn from crown thrones is a valuable lesson, it takes wearing a crown of thorns, suffering, before you can rule from a throne and submit others.

We are told that we shall sit on thrones and judge (1 Corinthians 6:2-5)  and even sit on Christ's throne!: "To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne." (Revelation 3:21). But before we shall receive this honor, we must wear the crown of thrones and carrying our cross. The thorns before a throne, the cross before civic scepter. The path to rulership is in the ruins, the suffering and pain of this life. While we may be afflicted with thorns here on Earth, a throne awaits us in Heaven. We must first embrace the crown of thorns, before we receive our crowns of merit/honor. (2 Timothy 4:8).

The Bible speaks of the Crown of Thorns in three of the four Gospels:

"They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him." (Mark 17-18)
"The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe," (John 19:2)

"and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. (Matthew 27:29).

Jesus is mentioned wearing the Crown of the Thorns once more, "When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!" (John 19:5).

According to Medieval History, the Crown of Thorns ended up in France and was housed in the Notre Dame Cathedral. In fact, the cathedral was believed to have been erected for this purpose by order of St. Louis IX the Crusader King. Where the crown of thorns actually ended up is not as important the message it carries. Like the cross, the crown of thorns has distinct word to share and that is suffering. The path to the throne is to serve the Lord God and suffer for His sake in all things. Jesus Christ must be our greatest desire and we must be willing to endure all ill for his sake. If we are victorious in this, we shall exchange our thorny crown for golden circlet and rule from the throne. But this should not be our goal, love for Jesus Christ and motivation by the Holy Spirit must guide us on the way of suffering. Our goal is not to gain crowns and thrones, but to love, serve, and be connected to Christ our Savior! For in the end we shall, "caste down our crown," and cry "holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty!" (Revelation 4:10, Revelation 4:8).

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