He offered Himself as
the national Messiah (Matthew 21:1-17), He was rejected (John
18:38-19:16; Luke 23:27-30; 13:34) and crucified (John 19:18), after
He had been unjustly condemned to death both by the Jewish and Roman
authorities. Upon the cross and over His head was placed the
inscription, "Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews."
What Jesus Taught About the State.--The ancient idea of the state was
that it was everything and the individual nothing. The first question
was, "Is the state strong and prosperous?" The happiness or
unhappiness of the individual was not considered. The purity or
impurity of the life of the individual was of little consequence. The
citizens existed for the state and to serve it and its ruler. This
idea has lingered long and is not entirely yet extinct.
1. Jesus discovered the individual in the state. He taught that the
soul of one man is worth more than the whole world (Matthew
16:26). Jesus put the individual first and the state second. This
teaching was entirely new and revolutionary. Christ's principle was
make the man, the unit, right and the state will be right. He insisted
that the test of the state is the kind of individuals it produces
(Matthew 7:16). "By their fruits ye shall know them" (Matthew 7:20).
Formerly the state was thought of as an institution to minister to the
comfort or happiness of the ruler or ruling class.
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