Why the Cross Before the Crown (Matthew 26:1-2)?

Class Outline:

Wednesday January 21, 2026

 

Intro:

 

The Lord directly and quickly moves from His glorious second coming to announce again His being handed over for crucifixion.  

 

MAT 25:31-33

"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.  32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;  33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 

 

This is the Messiah that everyone in Israel imagined. But when He states what He says next, they are confused, afraid, and at times, angry. 

 

MAT 26:1-2

When Jesus had finished all these words, He said to His disciples, 2 "You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man is to be handed over for crucifixion." 

 

Submission of will:

 

He is being 1) handed over, 2) crucifixion. Both verbs are passive - the Lord Jesus allows them. God the Father is handing His Son over to evil men for the purpose of crucifixion.

 

This is the foundation of Christianity.

 

But before anyone is shattered by this foundation stone, He must be shattered first. MAT 26:2 must come before MAT 25:31; the cross must come before the crown.

 

The Crown: 

 

The purpose of mankind has always been kingdom. 

 

King: ACT 2:22-23

"Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know —  23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

 

The kingdom: MAT 25:34

“Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’”

 

The subjects / children: EPH 1:3-4

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

 

So it’s all set. But where is God going to find “holy and blameless” people? 

 

The kingdom, as you know, is not a NT concept.

 

Until Messiah came, God gave Israel kings.

 

The first king arose from the people’s discontent in the days of Samuel and they said that they wanted a king like the other nations. The trend of wanting a king like other nations continued for centuries. It’s easy to follow and hope in a mighty and overwhelmingly powerful king.

 

JOH 6:15

they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king,

 

The disciples imagined the same thing: 

 

MAT 16:22

“God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.”

 

LUK 24:20-21

“crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.”

 

Even His disciples, after spending years with Him, could not shake the idea that a king simply takes His crown by force. 

 

What was the point of all the animal sacrifices; all that blood, the veil, the holy of holies, the Day of Atonement?

 

LEV 16:34

make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year.

 

The Cross:

 

The subjects of the kingdom are all born in sin. 

 

ROM 5:12

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. 

 

The Lord Jesus was going to have to drink the cup. 

 

MAT 20:28

“to give His life a ransom for many." 

 

HEB 10:1-7

For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,

 

"SACRIFICE AND OFFERING YOU HAVE NOT DESIRED,

BUT A BODY YOU HAVE PREPARED FOR ME; 

6 IN WHOLE BURNT OFFERINGS AND sacrifices FOR SIN YOU HAVE TAKEN NO PLEASURE. 

7 "THEN I SAID, 'BEHOLD, I HAVE COME

(IN THE SCROLL OF THE BOOK IT IS WRITTEN OF ME)

TO DO YOUR WILL, O GOD.'" 

 

HEB 10:11-14

Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 13 waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

 

The several OT passages we have seen, the Lord Jesus knew, and through them, He knew that His cross would have to come before His crown. 

 

How does weakness become strength? 

 

It is a truth for both Christ and us, though His goal and ours are different. His goal is to save us and our goal is to be saved. Both demand strength from weakness. 

 

Weakness is an absence of strength. Weakness that becomes a virtue dependence and submission. If a person declares independence, then he is on his own. If a person bows his soul in dependence on God, then he has God’s heart. 

 

God says He will work for us and in us, but towards His good pleasure, which is what He values.

 

Christ wanted what the Father wanted. And according to the Scriptures, the Lord Jesus had to be weak. He had to allow Himself to be handed over. 

 

Weakness becomes strength in us in the same way, but our goal is to be saved and then saved or delivered from sin and evil functioning in our lives as well as saved / delivered from the laziness and selfishness that would cut us off from any of the good work we are to do for our Lord. 

 

Paul wrote, when I am weak, I am strong. He said that because he realized that God’s grace would provide what he needed, thorn in the flesh or no.

 

2CO 12:9

"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."

 

Why should I even attempt to use my own power and brains when I have God’s available? That is foolish. 

 

Therefore, like our Lord’s first advent, so is ours. Our cross comes before our crown.

 

Do you know the Father’s will? If not, stick with the Scriptures and you will find it, and then grab hold of your cross and, in hope, exalt in the expectation of your crown.