John 18:33–37

Pilate rightly wanted a definite accusation, but they had none to offer. So they first tried to rush him into a verdict on the general plea that Jesus was an evildoer. Accusing someone in general terms, while avoiding any specific charge, is a common trick of the religious persecutor. This irregular handling made Pilate want to throw the case back into their hands. Their answer showed that they were determined on His death... However, they eventually fixed on the charge that He sought to make Himself a King.

This was the turning point. If the governor were uneasy about Caesar's rights and interests, the Lord could have pointed to His consistent life and His unchanging teaching. That would have disproved the charge completely and put his mind at rest. But the question really came from the Jews. So the Lord had nothing to say but the truth, in the face of Israel's unbelief and contradiction, and nothing to do but bear witness to the "good confession" before Pontius Pilate.

The Jews had handed the Lord over to him on a charge of making Himself a King. So if he could get the Lord to withdraw that claim to be King, he might both save Him and keep himself unharmed. It seems he entered the judgment hall at this time with that plan in mind. But the world in Pilate's heart did not know Jesus.

He was born King of the Jews. He came to the Jews on that ground, just as the prophets had come on the ground of the arrangement God then had with Israel. If they had received Him, He would have crowned that arrangement and given it glory. But that could not be.

The "good confession" before Pilate covered at least four great points. First, the Lord boldly confessed that He was a King. The context shows what He meant. He was not only the true Son of David by human descent. He also held the place of Son of God, just as Psalm 2 predicted.

Clearly, what we see here is the searching out of the Roman's conscience in the light of the Presence he stands before. Judge and accused change places. The governor may be a hard man, stained with many crimes, yet he still comes off better than Israel's leaders, who are blinded and darkened by the light they have shut out.

The Gentile had to be tested as well as the Jew. Pilate stood for the Gentile, as Caiaphas stood for the Jew. He had now met the Truth, so he must have the chance to bow to Jesus or to reject His claim. The time had come when God's searchlight fell on all men, Jew and Gentile, high and low, to expose their true nature and character.

He was silent before the high priest until the high priest put Him on oath by the living God. Then He answered Pilate with a question: "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about Me?" (verses 33, 34). This was the turning point. Was the governor uneasy about the rights and interests of Caesar? Then the Lord could have pointed to His consistent life, as in John 6:15, and to His unchanging teaching, as in Luke 20:25. That would have been a perfect disproof and reassurance. But the question came, as it really did, from the Jews (Luke 23:2). So the Lord had nothing to say but the truth in the face of Israel's unbelief and contradiction. He had nothing to do but bear witness to the "good confession" before Pontius Pilate (1 Tim. 6:13). And this He does with all simplicity.

Pilate would have saved Jesus, if he could at the same time have saved his own reputation as Caesar's friend. The Jews had handed the Lord over to him on a charge of having made Himself a King (Luke 23:2). So if he could only get the Lord to withdraw these royal claims, he could both save Him and keep himself out of harm... Our Lord by this question wanted to learn from Pilate himself where the accusation against Him came from. Was Pilate challenging His claim to be King of the Jews as the protector of the emperor's rights in Judea? Or was it only a charge brought by the Jews?

The Lord replies, "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about Me?" In this way the Lord lets Pilate know that, against all justice, others had slandered Him to the judge.

In the Lord's answer we see no effort to win the judge's favour. We see instead a note of divine pity for him. "Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about Me?" It was the old question, and the greatest of all questions a man can face: "What do you think of Christ?" Did Pilate want to know? Did his question come from a real desire to know the truth about this striking prisoner? Or was he repeating what he had heard, with no personal interest in the matter? The question brought out what was in him. "Am I a Jew?" he cries... So men look at Christ. Who He may be is to them only a question of religion, a question for theologians, of no personal interest to them.

Now this answer of Pilate gave full proof of the guilt of Israel. The man who represented the power of the world at that time settled the matter: Israel had disowned their King and sold themselves into the hands of a stranger. For the present this was everything with Jesus. It at once carried Him beyond the earth and out of the world. For Israel had rejected Him, and His kingdom was therefore not now from here.

This was the turning-point. Suppose the governor was uneasy about the rights and interests of Caesar. Then the Lord could have pointed to His consistent life, as in John 6:15, and to His unchanging teaching, as in Luke 20:25. Either would have disproved the charge completely and set his mind at rest. But the question really came from the Jews (Luke 23:2). So, faced with Israel's unbelief and contradiction, the Lord had nothing to say but the truth. He had nothing to do but bear witness to the "good confession" before Pontius Pilate (1 Tim. 6:13), and this He does with all simplicity.

The question brought out what was in him. "Am I a Jew," he cries. This is merely a Jewish question, beneath the notice of a proud Roman, except in carrying out his duty. That is how men look at Christ: who He may be is to them a mere matter of religion, a question for theologians, of no personal interest to them. But "God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus." And "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." Every tongue will confess "that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Pilate was quick to disclaim all responsibility by asking, "Am I a Jew?" But why then had he asked his first question? Of course it was true, as he said, that the Lord's own nation and their rulers had handed Him over to Pilate. But Pilate's responsibility was to judge any charge against the Lord justly. Yet no charge had been laid. He asks the Lord, "What have You done?" This again was no question for a judge to ask. The accusers were to state what He had done, and the judge was to weigh that charge strictly.

Pilate told Him. It was His own nation and the chief priests who had handed Him over. Those whose King He was had publicly refused Him. His own nation and their religious leaders were seeking His execution. Pilate was therefore justified in putting his next question: "What have You done?"

Now this answer of Pilate gave the full proof of Israel's guilt. The man who represented the power of the world at that time settled the point: Israel had disowned their King and sold themselves into the hands of a stranger. For the present this was everything with Jesus. It at once carried Him beyond the earth and out of the world. For Israel had rejected Him, and His kingdom was therefore not now from here.

The threefold testimony of the man who represented the fourth kingdom is of the greatest interest. The first testimony he repeated three times: "I find no guilt in this man." So spoke the fourth beast in him (Dan. 7). His second testimony was, "Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me." The third was the inscription on the cross: "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."… So a man who did not know what truth is declared the truth, forced by a power he knew nothing of. Meanwhile the only one in this dark scene who had the truth denied three times that he knew Him.

He also affirmed that His kingdom was neither "of this world," nor "from hence." It does not carry the character or stamp of this world. It does not draw its authority and power from this place. Of course His kingdom draws all its authority and power from Heaven, and it carries the heavenly character. But instead of saying this in a positive way, He put the matter in a negative light. That quietly condemned and rejected this world and this place. It was a bold statement to make in the presence of the man who represented the greatest existing earthly power.

The Lord explains that His kingdom is not of this world. If it were, He would have made good His claims the way the world does. His presence as accused before Pilate was the proof of it. Jesus does not fail to confess openly that He is King, when Pilate asks Him. He will establish, later on, a power which nothing will be able to resist, but the time had not yet come.

Natural feeling, and a true love for his Master, prompted him to this act. But natural feeling is not always a safe guide. In this case it was not. God's work is not to be spread now by the sword. The Lord's kingdom is not "from hence," as He later told Pilate, so He did not ask His servants to fight for it. Long ago God's cause was advanced by the sword. The earthly people were concerned in that. Now there was the heavenly calling, and the kingdom of the heavens was not to be advanced by weapons of the flesh.

He came to bear witness to the truth: to tell out what God is, in a world blinded and blighted by the devil's lie. He was the truth Himself. That is surely what He meant when He said, "Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." His kingdom is truth, and there is no lie in it. To hear His voice means to obey the truth. To be in His kingdom means to be subject to Him. No one knows the truth who does not obey it.

Never was there a more worthy, a more just cause to fight for than at that moment; but the Lord refuses it entirely on the ground of being a stranger in this world. If a Christian fights now it is to uphold the glory of the world that crucified his Lord; and it is a virtual denial of that word which tells us that our citizenship is in heaven.

So in the meantime we should be all the more eager to submit to every human institution. That means not only the king as the highest authority, but also the governors he sends to deal justly with evildoers and to praise those who do well. Our proper interests are on high; but that is our duty for the Lord's sake.

Does he mean to say that this world will not be made the kingdom of Christ? He knows this would be entirely contrary to Christian hope and faith. Then the question is its character, the source of its power. "It is not from hence": that I indeed believe.

Satan, as it were, repeated the offer to the church, and she at length accepted it. In seeking the glory of the world, she has sought honour where Satan is the prince... By and by His kingdom will be from here. "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ." And when it passes into His hands, the reign of Christians will begin.

Its source and character were of a new, heavenly kind, one to which the idea of armed warfare was completely foreign. He does not give up His claim as King of Israel — that always stands — but He rises into a higher region, and declares that He came for something more than to reign on earth.

The Lord's positive answer leaves Pilate with an uneasy conscience. In real fact He is a king, being born and coming into the world, not to reign, but to bear witness to the truth. Here is true moral kingly character shown in lowly grace and rejection before the time of His reigning as King of kings.

To come into the world He must have existed before that coming. And so we have His Godhead stated just as simply. We have the "I" who was born, and the "I" who came — the "I" of Bethlehem, and the "I" who was before Abraham. Yet He was the One who stood in human form and in lowly grace before Pontius Pilate.

Who ever heard a prisoner speak like this before his judge? The One who spoke was a man, for He was born. But He came into the world for a purpose. He does not now say that He was sent.

For a time the unbelief of His nation held back His possession of the kingdom. But He shows that God's purpose had not failed in this. He had come into the world for other present work than to take His throne in Zion.

He came to bear witness to the truth: to tell out what God is, in a world blinded and blighted by the devil's lie. He was the truth Himself... His kingdom is truth, there is no lie in it, and to hear His voice means to obey the truth, and to be in His kingdom means to be subject to Him.

The Lord appeals to the conscience of Pilate. Was he one who had come under the convicting power of the truth? All such hear the voice of the Lord. Sad to say, Pilate shows that the voice of Jesus had never reached his conscience or touched his heart. His flippant reply is: "What is truth?"

Those who heard the voice of the Son of God had divine life in them. He who is the truth gave them that life, and that made them "of the truth." These wonderful words were lost on Pilate. He had not the divine capacity to receive them.

He makes no reference to His glorious resurrection or ascension, nor to any of the miracles He did, though each of them bore such rich testimony to His power and grace. He takes special notice instead of His conduct before the judge.

Jesus witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that He was a king, without any mark of royalty about Him. His confession seemed contradicted by His appearance.