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Walter Lang said, "Being created by God, man is the crown of creation." I never thought about that before even when I did a deep study of the crowns of the believers. It is just, then, that God has reserved crowns for His believers, and has given one or two to His believers already.

Crowns depict the epitome of human adulation. Through eons, kings, queens, and priests have worn crowns of gold and precious jewels as an indication of their exalted station in life—this temporary, physical life. Then the crown of the person who is long dead and buried is exhibited for all to see in a museum behind glass cases. Some crowns, such as those of the Russian czars, remained hidden for decades while a different kind of government ruled. Today, the noble rulers of lands and countries have dwindled in number to a handful, yet rulers wear the crown on all state and public occasions. It is expected.

The purpose of a crown is to set apart the wearer from the average, ordinary people. The crown is like a beacon that highlights the wearer as some special person that is more worthy and far above other people. The wearer commands respect just because the crown is so prominent upon the head of the wearer. It is a signal to other, supposedly lesser people, that the wearer should be treated with respect, honor, and even reverence. Fausset describes it this way, “A band encircling the head by way of honor; the royal badge of kings; the sacerdotal badge of priests; the prize winner's badge of victory.”

According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, there are five basic uses of crowns in scripture. They are: decoration, consecration, coronation, exaltation, and compensation. There is actually one more use of a crown, and it is the anti-thesis to exaltation. It’s the crown of castigation or denouncement such as the crown Jesus wore on the cross. There are seven Hebrew words translated as crown, two Greek words translated crown, and one Greek word that has a similar connotation. These usages of each crown, their different applications, and the words translated as crown are included in this book, but please note this is not an exhaustive study.

While gold, silver, and precious gems do not shrivel as quickly as the organic material of wood, leaves, and flowers, God still considers all crowns fashioned by the hands of man as corruptible crowns that will wither and fade. The athletic crown that Paul refers to made from laurel leaves (around here we call them bay leaves), wasn't actually what was coveted by the athletes. It was the victory they coveted. The crown merely represented the crowing result of all their hard work to strive toward the goal and finally achieving that goal.

To be crowned the best in anything is a natural human craving. It is part of our competitive nature. The crown was merely the proof of victory. Whether the crown lasted for a day or a year didn’t really matter because the athlete’s heart marked the mastery of whatever event on that day. Yet there was no blue ribbon to hang on the wall, or a gold leaf crown to wear on some later, special occasion as an exhibit of prowess in competition. It was merely a few twigs of laurel twisted to form a head ornament. Paul quickly points out that crowns given by God are incorruptible, lasting forever, which are proof of victory in various aspects of Christian living, which is another key point in this study.

We should ponder one other point before we embark on this journey of studying crowns: The Old Testament never passed away. Jesus said not one jot or tittle shall pass away until all is accomplished. Paul tells Timothy all scripture is there for our instruction in righteousness, reproof, correction and for doctrine. That was God’s specific purpose in sharing the fulsome Hebraic history. Humans are the same no matter in what era they lived. We should learn from the mistakes and frailties of others. Sadly, we don’t do that as we should.

Therefore, these crowns have significant meaning for our daily living. We should strive not for the crown, but for what it represents. This is our ultimate goal.

We are created by God in His image. Therefore, we have the same emotions that God possesses such as love, anger, jealousy, and a sense of justice, but these emotions are not tempered by God’s perfectness. Only God is perfectly just, perfect in His jealousy for His children, perfect in His love, and perfect in His righteous wrath. We experience all these emotions, but they are skewed by our finite minds and imperfect perceptions of our environment. Only through the Holy Spirit is it possible for our emotions to be completely godly, and for us to exhibit continuous godly living. This is one reason why there are crowns waiting for us, because how we live reflects Who we belong to here on earth and in Heaven.

The crowns are not for our own glory, but exclusively for His glory even though they are given to us for consecration, compensation, and exaltation. However, all the glory belongs to Him. As we study, let us remember that, and paste it into our hearts. With this in mind, we will study the crowns believers receive. I urge you to get out your Bible and look up the verses mentioned in this study. In fact, look them up in several different translations of the Bible to get a broad and unadulterated vision of what God is talking about with these crowns.

[Excerpt from The Crowns of the Believers: Set Apart, Surrounded, Shielded. You can purchase your copy of this book on Amazon.com]

"Today's Little Lift" from Jim Bullington

Mercy and not Sacrifice (Sept. 29, 2010)