What Crown Do You Wear?

As a little girl my daughter liked to wear her fair share of crowns. The crowns she wore were fake, toy crowns and may not have made her an official princess, although in her mom's eyes she was my little princess, of course. Her crown was of cheap, earthly material. Her royalty was not real by this world's standards.

We live in a sinful, fallen world, but we, as Christians abide and work in the kingdom of God. But, unless you're an actual king, queen, prince, princess or beauty pageant winner you don't go around wearing an actual crown on your head. At least I hope you don't.

No, the crowns we wear are not made of material, earthly things like fine diamonds or gold. No, these crowns are metaphorical and eventually eternal if we "persevere under trials" and have been approved by the eternal King.

In fact, the crowns mentioned in the Bible are for those who are separate and set apart from this world. The actual crown itself is what sets us apart and makes us different from this world. It is given to us by the ultimate Ruler, as we strive in this earthly kingdom.

Surprisingly there are several different Greek terms used for the word crown throughout the Bible. The word "nezer" represents a crown of separation. This type of crown was given to Aaron to separate him as high priest.

“You shall also make a plate of pure gold and shall engrave on it, like the engravings of a seal, ‘Holy to the LORD. You shall fasten it on a blue cord, and it shall be on the turban; it shall be at the front of the turban. It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall take away the iniquity of the holy things which the sons of Israel consecrate, with regard to all their holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD. Exodus 28:36-38

They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and inscribed it like the engravings of a signet, “Holy to the LORD. Exodus 39:30

In the same way, we are set apart as children of God. We wear a crown of separation through the sacrifice of the ultimate high priest, Jesus Christ.

Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. Hebrews 7:25-27.

“Stephenos” is another Greek word used to describe the word crown as we use it today. This is a (1)mark of royal or exalted rank, (2) a wreath or prize given to a victor or competitor, (3) an ornament of honor to one, and (4) the eternal blessedness which will be given as a prize to the genuine servants of God and Christ.

The fourth entry here to describe this type of crown is important to faithful Christians for this will be a reward for all of those who are 'faithful to the end" as Revelation 2:10 says. And for the one who perseveres under trial.

These will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him. James 1:12

Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 2 Timothy 4:8

Recently I had the first line to the hymn, "Lead Me to Calvary" stuck in my head. The line, "King of my life I crown thee now, Thine shall the glory be; lest I forget thy thorn-crowned brow, lead me to Calvary" chorused though my head day and night for several days as well as various forms of the word crown that was brought to my attention.

This prompted me to look into this a little more. I'm not a beauty queen by any standards so I thought there must be a little more substantial meaning and lesson that I needed to learn from the word crown. I don't think God is prompting me to run for the next Mrs. America pageant. Lord, please no. If that was the case I would be running away from that assignment as fast as Jonah did from Ninevah. Thankfully, that is not the case and thankfully he didn't have to send a whale to show me differently.

So there must be something else I can derive from knowing more about this word crown.

So here's a lesson I think we all can learn. As we all know Jesus is the true Lord and King but was never recognized as such while on this earth. The only crown he ever wore in this world was one made of thorns and the same word to describe it, "stephenos" is the same word used to describe our eternal crown. One of the entries to describe this word is "a mark of royal and exalted rank." His crown that was given to humiliate him was really a crown of honor and glory. His humility raised him up not only on a cross but to his true royal place. He was brought low to be raised up and to be exalted.

Our eternal crowns are derived from the same word as Jesus' royal crown of thorns. We also have the chance to humble ourselves and lay our crown of righteousness before the feet of the one true King, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Humble yourself before the Lord and he will exalt you. James 4:10

We can never truly be righteous enough and our only true righteousness comes from Jesus' sacrifice on the cross at the time that he wore his crown of thorns. I believe we will have the opportunity to lay our crowns down in heaven one day as the 24 elders did before his royal throne in Revelations 4:10-11. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Worthy are you, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and because of your will they exist and were created." Whether this be metaphorically or literal I know that I want to lay my crown down at the feet of Jesus to give him the proper honor and glory due his name. "King of my life, I crown thee now, thine shall the glory be."

So, I ask you what crown do you wear? Do you wear a superficial, fake crown that makes you look good on the outside and exalts you in the eyes of the world?

Or do you wear a crown that separates you from this world and draws you closer to the King? Do you wear a crown that brings glory and honor to the King of your life?

We have the choice to make while on this earth as to what crown we would like wear now so we have an opportunity to receive the crown of life in the end. I hope you would choose to humbly lay that crown at the feet of Jesus.