An Exchange Of Crowns
“Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
2 Timothy 4:8 (NIV)
You can tell a lot about a person just by looking at the headwear he or she is wearing. For example the wearing of a long ceremonial wig indicates the person is a judge while a barrister wears a shorter tighter wig. If someone is wearing a yellow hard hat it points to them being a builder or at least a visitor on a construction site. In days gone by you could identify a Civil Servant by the wearing of a bowler hat. If someone is wearing a crown they surely must be royalty.
There are also the “invisible” hats we wear. At times, we don the hat of a parent; other times we wear the hat of a businessperson. Our hats, both physical and symbolic, define our roles.
Interestingly as Jesus was being mocked by the Roman soldiers he was given some headwear to wear. “Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head…”(Matthew 27:27-29) Because the thorns were made into a crown the soldier’s mockery led them to say, “Hail, king of the Jews!”(Verse 29). But what was this crown of thorns really indicating?
After man had sinned in the Garden of Eden one of the results was, “Cursed is the ground because of you…It will produce thorns and thistles for you…” (Genesis 3:17-18). Sin produced thorns, and so it was fitting that as Jesus took our sins on the cross a crown of thorns was placed upon his head pointing to his sin-bearing on our behalf.
As Jesus took our sins a wonderful exchange took place. In place of our sins, we receive his righteousness. The crown Jesus should rightfully wear is the crown of righteousness and yet he took on our crown of sin so that on the final day we may receive his crown of righteousness.
What does this crown indicate for us? Simply that we are a part of God’s royal family. We are his children and brothers and sisters of Christ. We are princes and princesses in the Kingdom of God, who “…when the Chief Shepherd appears…will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.”(1 Peter 5:4)
Now that’s some headwear worth wearing.
Prayer
Father, thank you that Jesus took our sins and gave us his righteousness so that we may receive the crown of life that will last forever.
Amen
Study by Barry Robinson
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About the Author:
Barry Robinson is an Elder in and pastoral worker in the Greater London area, particularly the Camberwell and North London congregations of the Worldwide Church of God UK.
Local Congregation:
Worldwide Church of God London
Indian YMCA Mahatma Gandhi Hall
41 Fitzroy Square
LONDON
W1T 6AQ
Meeting time:
Saturday 2:30pm
Local Congregational Contact:
Martin Ryan
Phone: 020 8202 3998
Email: martin_ryan@wcg.org.uk