Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How Jesus Became King | New Testament | Luke 23

Episode Date: April 19, 2023

What was it about Jesus's crucifixion that established him as king? Why is Good Friday good? When Jesus was crucified everything changed. In today's episode, Jensen uses Luke 23 to discuss the implications of Jesus's death. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Luke 23

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. A little over a week ago, Christians around the world gathered together on a Friday night to remember the crucifixion of Jesus. Maybe you attended one of these services as well. It was Good Friday. Now, as a kid, I always thought it was weird that we called it Good Friday.

Why do we call it good when it's the day that Jesus died? How would you answer that question? Maybe you've had to answer it before because you wondered the same thing, or you had an inquisitive kid asking you about it. I think for a long time, I would have answered that question like this. Good Friday is good, because when Jesus died on the cross, he took away my sins so that now I can go to heaven with him. And so we celebrate the day that Jesus saved us from our sins.

Maybe you'd answer it like that too. And I think that there's a lot in that statement that is on the right track. But I also know that when we think about Jesus' crucifixion as merely a fix for me and my sins that I can go to heaven, we miss out on the central message the gospel writers are trying to get across and the main event that happened when Jesus was hung on that cross. You see, Jesus' crucifixion was also his enthronement as king of all creation. Jesus's claim to be king was the very thing that he was killed for, Luke chapter 23. Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate, and they began to accuse him, saying,

we have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king. So Pilate asked Jesus, are you the king of the Jews? You have said so, Jesus replied. You see, the Pharisees who brought Jesus before Pilate knew that they needed Pilots help to kill Jesus. They didn't have the power to take his life, but Pilate did. So they told Pilate that Jesus claimed to be a king. You see, Pilate represented the Roman government in Jerusalem. He served under Caesar, and Caesar was king. He crowned himself the son of God. He and he alone ruled over his end. empire. Now, to the Jews, he was the picture of the oppression they felt. His kingship was something they resented, despised, something they were waiting for the Messiah to come and overthrow.

At one point, they thought maybe Jesus would be this Messiah. But he wasn't what they expected. The kingship he was bringing wasn't what they wanted, his kingdom not what they had envisioned. And so now, instead of wanting to crown him as their own king in opposition to Caesar, they seek to have him crucified by the very powers of this world they thought he would overthrow. And so Pilate asks Jesus, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus responds, you have said so. The lack of contradiction signals an affirmative. But when Pilate is still slow to want to crucify Jesus, the crowds demand his death. And Pilate, finally surrenders Jesus over to the will of the people. He will be crucified. The powers of the world

will triumph over the one who claimed to be an opposing king. And so as he is crucified, we read in verse 38 that a notice was written above him and it said, this is the king of the Jews. The people in the crowds, the soldiers, and the religious leaders mocked him with this statement. Look at the man who said he was king, hanging on a cross. conquered, unable to stand up to his claims. Their victory looked secured, and yet, Jesus does not seem to share in their belief. He calls out to God, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing. He speaks to the dying thief next to him with confidence that he will be with Jesus in his kingdom, and in seemingly, in complete control of his own life and death, he calls out with his last breath.

Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit. You see, Jesus knew what no one else could see. What he had been telling them all along and showing them through his teachings. He was Yahweh. He had become a man so that he could be a new and perfect Adam. Through his perfect life, he would do what no man before him could do. He would push back the effects of the fall. And through his life and his suffering, his death, he would establish

a new kingdom that he would rule over as the just king. And in order for him to establish his kingdom, he had to die. In Luke 921, he told his disciples exactly what would happen, though they didn't understand at the time. Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone, and he said the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed, and on the third day be raised to life. Then he said to them all, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it,

but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me in my words, the son of man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory, and in the glory of the Father and of the Holy Angels. Truly, I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God. You see, Jesus knew what the prophets had long ago said, that the suffering servant who would redeem Israel would have to suffer and die. And through his suffering and death, through his sacrificial gift, he would be exalted to the right hand of God.

would be crowned king. He tells his disciples that those in his kingdom, those who want to be his disciples, will take up their cross just like him. They will live an upside down life of servanthood like their king, because it is through the cross of Christ that his very kingdom is established. Verse 27 says that some will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God. When his disciples witnessed his death on the cross, they also witnessed the established the establishment of God's kingdom. The Pharisees and soldiers thought they had conquered, thought they had overcome the man who thought he was king. But it was their very actions that fulfilled the prophecies. Their very actions that allowed Jesus to die as the sacrificial lamb for his people and for all

of creation. It was through their murder of this innocent man that Jesus was crowned as king. Ironically, the very sign above his head meant to mock him, announced to the world the very thing that was taking place. N.T. Wright says this about the crucifixion in his book How God Became King. The purpose of God coming incognito in and as Jesus, and the purpose of this Jesus dying on the cross was, so the Gospels are telling us, in order to establish God's kingdom, his justice on earth as is in heaven. as in Psalm 2, the point is that in this way the nations are to be called to account.

This is how the creator is bringing his creation back into proper shape. The crucifixion was the appropriate and long-procised way by which the Messiah would come to be king of all the world. Jesus wasn't just dying on a cross for you and I's sin, but to reverse the cosmic curse over all of creation since Adam took that first bite of apple. His death was his victory over all the powers of this world. Those powers Satan did not win when Jesus hung on the cross. They sealed their own defeat. What they meant for evil was used by God to bring about his great plan for redemption for all of creation. They ushered in a new way of living, a new kingdom. All the way back in Genesis,

3, we learned that though the devil would strike Jesus' heel, in that very action, Jesus would crush his head. Jesus' crucifixion may have surprised his followers, but it was never not a part of the plan. Jesus came to establish his kingdom here, on earth, as it is in heaven, and through his crucifixion, he did just that. So when we celebrate Good Friday, of course, Of course we celebrate the fact that Jesus's defeat over Satan, his defeat over the curse, his sacrificial death paid the price for you and I sin so that we can stand righteous before a holy God. But we cannot miss the fact that his death also ushered in the kingdom of God and crowned him as king. Good Friday is good because we remember that our God is king over this world.

his people, washed in the blood of his sacrifice, we have a place beside King Jesus in his new kingdom. From the very first chapters of the Bible in Genesis, God has called his people to rule alongside him, stewarding his creation and caring for the world around them. And because of Jesus' enthronement as king over creation, we have hope that in his kingdom, we will be able to perfectly fulfill this calling once again. Although we still live in a broken world and await our king to return and establish his kingdom here on earth forever, we live with hope and confidence that our God is king. He is in control. The powers of this world have already been defeated, and we can join him in bringing his kingdom into this world in the same way that he did.

through sacrificial lives, taking up our cross, following him, ruling like he rules with justice, mercy, and love. Jesus' good kingdom is here. He is king. Will you give your allegiance to him? Will you take up your cross? Will you live your life the way that you were created to? The cross cleansed you of your sins so that you could live under the rule of the good king and live in the ways of his kingdom. Don't miss out on the goodness of Jesus's kingdom. Before you forget, sign up for the 10 minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help encourage you in the middle of the work week and bring you deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.