The Place

The initials INRI represent the Latin inscription, Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. John 19: 20.

Having spoken about the people, the Jewish people, as our text does specify the Jewish people, we understood a bit more about them. Having been stirred with personal questions, be we Jew or non-Jew, regarding our personal response to the inscription which a Gentile wrote on the Cross of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus of Nazareth, many of us have been led to deep repentance and knowledge. In this humbled state, with more aware and respectful minds and hearts, we continue on.

As we seek to accomplish our mission, having trisected our main text into chunky sections, the first of which was:  Section 1 - Many of the Jews read this sign, we continue with the second chunk.

Section 2

The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city.

Here, we see how the place provided the perfect arena for many people to see the inscription, which was written on the top of the cross on which the dead Jesus hung. Whatever Pilate’s motives were, in having such a powerful statement placed on the top of the cross of Jesus, we know this. Pilate knew that hundreds of Jews would be passing that way and would see the sign.

Why was this place so strategic? What made this place the ideal place, the most perfect place for such viewing? The text itself gives us the first clue. It says that the place, was near the city. We know for sure that the city was the city of Jerusalem. We also know that Jesus hung on a cross, not inside the city, but outside the city, near to it. Hebrews 13: 11 – 12 states this. The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp. And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Jesus is hanging outside the city gate.

When we listen to these words, we are further convinced that Jesus was in the city and to be crucified, He had to go outside the city. As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). Matthew 27: 32 – 33. Indeed, we have referenced certain passages of Scripture which have given further clarity on the fact that Jesus was crucified near the city and not inside the city.

Near the city, is also important and most strategic, because this location gives opportunity for all the world to see that the King of the Jews, Messiah, did indeed die. Our attention is turned to the hustle and bustle of commuters, with all modes and manner of transport, passing by. It is as a centrally located main road, where people, going in all directions, pass by on their way to their individual destinations. In other words, people passing this Jerusalem path are not all heading for the city of Jerusalem. Many of them are on their way to other connecting places, such as Samaria or Galilee even. This expands our picture of the business of that place outside the city, where the world was given opportunity and singular advantage, to see Messiah, King of the Jews, hung up on a cross of sin.

Here is the huge irony of it all and the completely unfathomable, fully unimaginable, and distinctly incomprehensible ways of Sovereign, Almighty Creator God. Jews and Gentiles alike; believers and unbelievers alike; saints and sinners alike; all have the same viewing rights, access, privilege  and freedom of sight to see, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, lifted up. For Jesus Himself, in speaking to Nicodemus, stated this undeniable fact. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. John 3: 14 – 15.

We need to rest here for a bit, near the city, where the Son of Man is hung up on a cross of wood. In speaking to Nicodemus, a prominent Jew, a person who was one of Israel’s Teachers, Jesus made a clear connection of oneness, in the position, presence, pardon and producing power in God’s Divine way of salvation for His people, with the lifted “Bronze Snake” and the lifted “Beloved Son”. Note what was happening to God’s Israel, God’s people.

They were sinning against God, not listening to Him through His servant Moses and God brought death upon them because of their sins. The wages of sin is death. However, when the people came to the reality of the curse under which they were living, they repented. They went to Moses and confessed. We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us. So Moses prayed for the people. Numbers 21: 7b. God heard Moses’ prayer, saw the genuine plight of His people and told Moses exactly what He wanted him to do. So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived. Numbers 21: 9

Is this not the same for you and me, God’s new and now Israel? Will you think about this with Spirit-convicted hearts and minds?

Tomorrow, we shall continue to ascend further in knowledge, on the place.