The Bible says:
“Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!” — John 19: 5
The word “the” has many uses that I will not mention now, except for the way it is used in our text.
“The” is used before a noun naming something already mentioned or known. “The crown of thorns” and “the purple robe” were mentioned earlier in verse two.
“And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his (Jesus) head, and they put on him a purple robe.”
— John 19: 2
“The” also is used before the noun as in “Behold the man” to emphasize a person or thing as unique, the best known or most distinguished of a class or group. Jesus was called by Pilate, knowingly or unknowingly “The Man.”
Jesus was and is “The Man” in that he was unique, the best known or most distinguished of all humanity. He was unique in that He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was dust and deity, the God-man, and the only one that could die for man’s sins and reconcile man back to God.
Jesus was The Man that is our example of true manliness with the kind of manliness that God is well pleased with.
(Matthew 3: 17)
When Judas Iscariot returned the money he received for betraying Jesus he said in Matthew:
“I have betrayed the innocent blood.”
— Matthew 27: 4
Jesus was unique in that He was the only one of whom it could be said He had “the innocent blood.” All but Jesus are guilty of sin and Jesus is the only one therefore who can shed His blood for the redemption of the guilty.
Jesus also is “The Lamb of God” that taketh away the sin of the world, (John 1: 36) “The Saviour of the world,”
(John 4: 42) “The living bread” which came down from Heaven, (John 6: 51), “The Light of the world,” (John 9: 5) “The Door,” (John 10: 7) “The Good Shepherd,” (John 10: 11) “The Way, the Truth, and the Life,” (John 14: 6) “The Head of the Church,” (Col0ssians 1: 18) “The Image of the invisible God,” (2 Coritnhians 4: 4; (Col0ssians 1: 1; Hebrews 1: 3) “The Alpha and Omega,” (Revelations 1: 8) and “That (the) Blessed Hope” the Christian is looking and longing for; (Titus 2: 13) just to highlight a minimal of the unique things about Christ.
What does “The Man” Jesus mean to you?
James H. Cagle is a Ray City resident who pastored several churches for a total of 11 years. Email him at pastorjameshcagle@ yahoo.c
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