s took the Lord Jesus, and having condemned
Him in their own council for blasphemy, for professing Himself to be
Messiah--"the Christ"--"the Son of God" (S. Luke xxii. 67-71), they
charged Him before the Roman governor with treason, for saying "that
He Himself is Christ a King" (S. Luke xxiii. 2). And this accusation,
it may well be noticed, was not a different charge from the former.
All that they did was to put cleverly before the earthly governor the
earthly side of the spiritual crime, for which they had themselves
condemned Him. If He was Messiah, He was their King. They condemned
Him for professing to be Messiah; a charge on which no civil tribunal
could give judgment. But professing to be Messiah, He professed to be
King; and this they represented as an offence against the state, and
to be punished accordingly. And the result was, that by the Providence
of God He was not stoned to death, as was His first martyr Stephen, on
the charge of blasphemy; but He was handed over to the civil power to
be crucified for treason, as claiming to be King. And it came to pass,
that after their persistent rejection of Him, the Jewish rulers were
compelled to see Him acknowledged upon the cross as their King, in the
words of the superscription containing the charge on which He was
condemned. His cross became His throne, with His title above it,
"Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews" (S. John xix. 19). Fit
throne for Him who was "obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a
name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow" (Phil. ii. 6-10). And all the efforts of the Jews to alter it
were in vain. Pilate at length was firm: "What I have written, I have
written" (S. John xix. 22).

Thus seemed to end the Kingdom which our Lord and His disciples had
been inviting men to join. They could preach no more the Gospel of the
Kingdom, for the King was put to a shameful death. "The chief priests
and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and have
crucified Him. But we trusted that it had been He which should have
redeemed Israel" (S. Luke xxiv. 20, 21). So spake even the disciples
in their despair. They had "trusted," as they supposed, in vain.

Verily God's ways are not as man's ways.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] It may be noticed here, that the expression "preaching the Gospel"
is used in these passages of Holy Scripture in a very wide sense. It