Day 26: Holy Thursday

Therefore Pilate then took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers, having braided a crown out of thorns, laid it on His head, and they cast a crimson garment around Him, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! And they gave Him blows with a staff. Then Pilate came out again, and said to them, See, I bring Him out to you, that you may know that I find not any guilt in Him. Then Jesus came out bearing the crown of thorns and the crimson garment; and He says to them, Behold, the Man. When therefore the chief priests and attendants saw Him, they cried out, saying, Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Pilate says to them, You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.

When Pilate therefore heard this word, he feared the more, and entered again into the Praetorium, and says to Jesus, Whence art Thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then Pilate says to Him, Speakest Thou not to me? Knowest Thou not that I have authority to crucify Thee, and have authority to release Thee? Jesus answered, Thou wouldest not have any authority against Me unless it were given thee from above. On account of this, he who delivered Me up to thee has the greater sin.

From this time Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou release this Man, thou art not Caesar’s friend; everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. Pilate, then, having heard this word, led Jesus out, and sat down in the tribunal in a place called the Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the Preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour; and he says to the Jews, See, your King! But they cried out, Take Him away! Take Him away! Crucify Him! Pilate says to them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priest answered, We have no king except Caesar.

Then therefore he delivered Him up to them to be crucified; and they took Jesus and led Him away. And He, bearing His cross, went out into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, on this side and on that side, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross; and the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then many of the Jews read, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin. Then the chief priest of the Jews said to Pilate, Write not, the King of the Jews; but that He said, I am the King of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written. John 19:1-22

In many places in the prophetic Word, kings are mentioned, and he that is ignorant of the internal sense believes that by “kings” are there meant kings. Kings, however, are not meant, but all those who are in truths from good, or in faith from charity, from the Lord. The reason for this is that the Lord is the sole King, and those who from Him are in truths from good are called His “sons.”

From Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” it is clear that he understood that truth was being called “king” by the Lord. But as he was a Gentile and knew nothing from the Word, he could not be taught that Divine truth is from the Lord, and that He is Divine truth. Apocalypse Explained 31:1,3

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