After what Jesus told Him, Pilate tried even more to free Jesus, but the Jews would not have any of it and shouted back to him: If you let this man go, you are not friend of Ceasar! They had him where they wanted, because: ‘When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat, at the place known as the Stone Pavement … and said: Here is your King. But they shouted: Take Him away! Take Him away! Crucify Him! ‘Shall I crucify your King’ Pilate asked. ‘We have no king but Ceasar.’ The chief priest answered. Pilate handed Him over to them to be crucified. (John 19: 1-16) But that did not exonerate Pilate, for he finally agreed with their wicked and unlawful decision! Such a condemnation brought the death of the Son of God, on the Hill called Golgotha, outside the city wall, they crucified Him.

I feel, that Pilate still wanted to show what these evil men were doing to Jesus, their king! and found that it was fitting to declare it forcibly, so it is written that: ‘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 the sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. Pilate did it so that all the local people, and the visitors that were in Jerusalem for the Passover feast, because many, that were gathered there, at Calvary, saw it, and read it! 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 answered: What I have written, I have written.’ (John 19: 19-22) After twenty centuries, it still stands against them, for wherever the Scriptures are read, their sin is known and stand against them.

As it had been prophesied, Jesus Christ had to give his life to atone for the sins of all that would believe in Him. But as I mentioned, death could not keep its prey, so, on the third day, as promised by multiple prophecies, and Jesus’s own statements, God raised from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ His Son! Alive, in a glorified body, with a great triumphant joy, He started the process of revealing Himself to His fearful, disappointed brothers! It was not going to be by one or two instances that He would reveal Himself, as a ghost and disappear for good! that, He would not do, for His campaign of love would last forty days! Jesus remained on earth for the sole purpose of healing and restoring to a full joy the broken heart of His followers! They were not privy to God’s plan; their human nature could not have understood it anyway. Jesus told them few times what was going to happen to Him, that He would die and rise on the third day; but they could not take it in, nor accept it!

A hymn that is, or has been, sung by many Christians, especially at Easter time, declares forcefully that, that Christ who humbled Himself to suffer such a horrible death, is now in glory, alive forever, and we sing: ‘Golden harps are sounding, Angle voices ring, Pearly gates are opened – Opened for the King; Jesus king of Glory, Jesus king of love, Is gone up in triumph, To His throne above!’ There are hundreds of triumphant hymns, a wonderful heritage from generations past. I believe, that when revival comes, if it comes? They will all come alive again, for they are gifts of the Holy Spirit to the Church of Christ. Not all old hymns are inspired but most of them testify to the faith and experience of the composer, and tally with ours. The death of our Lord brought an end to many things, the most remarkable one is the change that it brought to the Jewish nation for God shut them out, and to this day they are suffering, for their special status ended and for about nineteen centuries, they lived without a true entity and without a homeland, from AD seventy, since Titus decimated the nation, crucified thousands upon thousands, so that there remained no more trees to cut to crucify them. So, he sold many to slavery, and deported the remainder to the extremities of his empire. Thus, was fulfilled the prophesy Christ pronounced over Jerusalem as He was about to enter it for the last time. After that Palestine to become a desert!