Chapter Eighteen
Verses 33-38
Pilate then somewhat acquiesced to the Jews demand because he went back into his judgment hall where Jesus was being held to question Him to find out if He had practiced some form of sedition against Roman rule.
Pilate asked Jesus if He were the king of the Jews. Pilate did not care if Jesus were just some oddball who claimed to be king of the Jews. Pilate wanted to know if Jesus had been a leader of a group of seditious rebels who proclaimed Jesus to be the king of the Jews.
Jesus asked Pilate if he had an inner feeling that Jesus was king of the Jews or had he simply repeated what the Jews had told him that Jesus claimed to be. Pilate answered that he could only have such an inner feeling if he were a Jew. He then asked Jesus to confess if He had said or done anything against Roman rule.
Jesus answered Pilate with spiritual truth. Jesus told Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world. He was the king of a spiritual kingdom. Jesus admitted that if He were the worldly king of the Jews, then He would lead a rebellion against Rome, but only to keep the Jews from having Him murdered by the Romans. Jesus told Pilate that He was not that type of leader. His kingdom was a spiritual kingdom.
Pilate then asked Jesus to tell him exactly what kind of king Jesus was. Jesus answered that He had come from a spiritual kingdom into the material world to preach the truth to the people of the world. Everyone who would hear that truth; that is, everyone who was capable of being saved by grace, would believe that truth. Jesus seemed to be testing Pilate to see if he were hearing the Holy Spirit that Jesus knew was speaking to him in his heart.
Jesus knows every human who will become saved by grace, but in this case with Pilate, Jesus seemed to have temporarily suspended His knowledge of whether Pilate would believe or not. But Jesus also demonstrated to all who would read the New Testament by His questioning of Pilate that He loved even Pilate, and if so, He also must love all of humanity.
Pilate answered that he definitely did not hear the truth that Jesus preached when he said "What is truth?" Pilate believed only in political power, not in truth of any kind. Nevertheless, being an honest judge and ruler, Pilate went out to the people and proclaimed that he had questioned Jesus and could find no reason to charge Jesus with sedition against Roman rule. Being the Son of God, Jesus must have had a majestic and royal appearance, and Pilate must have heard about some of the miracles that Jesus had done. For these reasons, Pilate just knew in his heart that Jesus could not be guilty of doing anything that was wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment