What is the significance of Jesus saying, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36)?

But secondly, He affirmed that His kingdom was neither "of this world," nor "from hence." It does not bear the character or stamp of this world nor does it derive its authority and power from this place. His Kingdom of course derives all its authority and power from Heaven, and it bears the heavenly character; but instead of stating this positively He put the matter in that negative light which tacitly put a sentence of condemnation and repudiation upon 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.

Thirdly, He asserted that He was born to Kingship inasmuch as He came into the world as the Witness to the truth. He who brings the light of truth is the only One fitted to hold the Royal power, as David stated in 2 Samuel 23:3. We started this Gospel with the fact that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, but in this moment of crisis grace had been rejected and truth was the matter in question. Outside were the men who embodied lying and hypocrisy. Pilate held the judicial authority, and therefore was responsible to discern truth and judge accordingly, but his question, "What is truth?" was evidently uttered in a vein of flippant scepticism, and showed how judgment was divorced from righteousness in his mind. As a Roman judge he knew all too much of men and their deceits, and he felt that to pursue truth was to chase a mirage. But this did not excuse his folly, manifested in turning his back on Christ and going out to the lying Jews directly he had asked his question.

Then follows the account of Peter's denial, the questioning before Annas, which is only reported by John, and finally He was taken into the judgment hall before Pilate. The miserable character of the Roman Governor is brought fully to light in this Gospel. He was destitute of all moral courage; he acted against better knowledge; he knew the Lord was innocent, yet he dared not to acquit Him for fear of displeasing the Jews. Verse 32 refers to the Lord's death by crucifixion, from the hands of the Gentiles. Note the four questions of Pilate. "Art Thou the King of the Jews?"--"What hast Thou done?"--"Art Thou a King then?"--"What is truth?" The Roman historian Suetonius states that many rumors were then prevalent that a King was about to rise among the Jews who would have dominion over the whole world. No doubt Pilate knew of these rumors and therefore asked the Lord about His Kingship. The answer of our Lord, "My Kingdom is not of this world," has often been misconstrued to mean that the Lord never will have a Kingdom in this world in the sense of a literal Kingdom. Our post-millennial friends use it against a literal interpretation of the prophecies relating to the coming of an earthly Kingdom of Christ. What our Lord meant by saying "My Kingdom is not of this world" is, that His Kingdom has not its origin or nature from the world. He will receive the Kingdom promised unto Him from the Father's hands. (Daniel 7:14.)

Before Pilate the Lord answers at once, when He is questioned, that He is King of the Jews. But He asks, Is this his own question? — has he personal interest in it? Of Messiah he must have heard, and of all the hopes that were connected with it; more surely still, of a reign of righteousness and truth to replace the long oppression, and bring peace at last to a weary, if not sin-weary world. Was the intervention of God anything, — even an alarm perhaps, to one of the world's rulers? But Pilate puts off the question as a mere Jewish one: let him look at how his own case stands as a man accused by his own people; what reason had they? The Lord answers him, but keeps His steady pressure upon the conscience, already uneasy, of the real criminal before Him the real Judge. He lets Pilate know that His Kingdom is not of this world, — has not its origin or nature from the world: else would, He not have been left, unarmed and without a struggle, to the merciless hands that had been laid upon Him. Had His followers, — out of all the crowds that had gathered round Him, — been organized into such a force as would be needed for the establishment of a kingdom such as Rome could fear or take into account? His Kingdom plainly was not like one of these.

But then He really was a King? the Roman questioned. And the Lord answers that indeed He is a King: that His birth and coming into the world (and here a gleam of His divine nature flashes out) was to bear witness to the truth. Truth, in a false and hollow world, to establish this was the purpose of His life and mission. By this would He establish also His kingdom over the hearts and minds-of men. Truth is one, decisive, imperial: he that would learn it must be subject" to it. And here Christ drops a word for the conscience of His hearer, "Every one who is of the truth heareth My voice."

"Art Thou the King of the Jews?" was Pilate's first question. What made him ask that "Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of Me?" was the Lord's reply. Pilate told Him. It was His own nation and the chief priests who had delivered Him up. Those whose King He was had thus publicly refused Him. His own nation and their religious leaders sought His execution. Pilate, therefore, was justified in putting his next question: "What hast Thou done?" Again the Lord spoke: "My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence" (36). A King whose kingdom was not of this world could be no rival to Caesar. A King whose servants fought not on His behalf was clearly not one who had by His claim brought Himself within the meshes of Roman law as a traitor. He was a King; but His kingdom was not from hence. He was not a malefactor. He had done nothing wrong. That of which the Jews accused Him He admitted, but explained. He owned He was a King. He thus witnessed a good confession before Pontius Pilate (1 Tim. 6:13). But as His kingdom was not of earth, it conflicted not with the Emperor's throne. The things, the rights of Caesar were left untouched. The Lord's answer a few days before to the Pharisees and the Herodians about paying tribute to Caesar (Matt. 22:21) should have brought blushes to their cheeks, as they formulated such a charge against Him.

A second time Pilate asked the question, "Art Thou a King then?" Was he surprised at the Lord's answer, viewing Him, it may be, as a mere visionary, and that a harmless one? A kingdom He had, but not of this world. A King He was, whose servants were not called to fight with weapons of earthly warfare in their Sovereign's interest. Who before had seen a King like that? But more surprises were in store for the governor as the Lord replied, "Thou sayest that I am a King. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears My voice" (John 18:37). Who ever heard a prisoner thus speak before his judge? He 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. Is there not here an intimation of His existence before His conception in the womb of the Virgin? What mere man could say, "For this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth"?

John 18:33-37. Having consulted with the Jews, Pilate again enters the judgment hall, and asks the Lord two questions: "Art Thou the King of the Jews?" and "What hast Thou done?" The Lord replies, "Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of Me?" Thus the Lord lets Pilate know that, contrary to all justice, He had been slandered to the judge. Had He made Himself a King in opposition to Caesar, His servants would have fought. Nevertheless, He had a kingdom and He was a King, but His kingdom is not of this world. His kingdom is of God, and from heaven, and when He comes forth as the King of kings, the armies of heaven will follow Him, and out of His mouth will go a sharp sword to smite the nations. He was, indeed, born a King, but He came to bear witness to the truth. Here we see the glory of His Person shining out as the Only begotten Son Who became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. 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. Alas! Pilate shows that the voice of Jesus had never reached his conscience or touched his heart, for he flippantly asks, "What is truth?" Had the truth convicted him of his sin, it would also have revealed to him the grace of God, and he would have said with the woman of John 4, He "told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?"

294 Pilate asks Jesus if He was the King of the Jews. The Lord explains that His kingdom is not of this world, otherwise He would have made good His claims as the world does. But in every sense, His kingdom, at this moment, was not established in this world as a kingdom of the world. 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 was not yet come. According to the truth, He was King, and He bears witness to the truth. According to the work of God in that moment, He was numbered amongst the transgressors. For Pilate, an infidel and a rationalist, what was truth? He was very guilty in yielding to the urgent demands of the Jews, but it was the Jews who were the instigators of the death of Jesus. They were accomplishing, without knowing it, the counsels of God, and Jesus was there in His perfect obedience. We have before us the truth, the King, the propitiatory Victim, accomplishing a work far deeper and more important than even royalty; we see there also the head of the Gentiles, representing the emperor, then the furious hatred of this poor people against God manifested in goodness, their Saviour. Everything assumes its true character, God's counsels are accomplished, and every actor in this scene takes his true place. But the actors, Jews and Gentiles, are to disappear condemned, but for grace; and the condemned malefactor, who, humanly speaking, disappears, leaves the scene to be Lord over all, to sit upon the Father's throne.

The Lord Jesus therefore ignores his question and tells Pilate something to give serious concern to his conscience. His kingdom is not of this world: if it had been so, his servants, according to worldly principles, would fight for His protection (v. 36), and Pilate knew that neither He nor His servants had clamored for authority on earth. His kingdom was from another source. Pilate understands nothing of this, but asks if then Jesus is a king. The Lord's positive answer leaves Pilate with an uncomfortable conscience. In pure reality He is a king, being born and coming into the world, not to reign, but to bear witness to the truth (v. 37). Here is true moral kingly character proven in lowly grace and rejection before the time of His reigning as King of kings. This bearing witness to the truth of God amidst evil has in it an exquisite royal dignity and beauty that will attract every honest heart. The Lord further declares that everyone (not only Jews) who is of the truth hears His voice, for in Him is absolute truth.

At this juncture Peter, naturally of a forward disposition, drew a sword, and cut off the right ear of a servant of the high priest, whose name, we learn, was Malchus. 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 propagated now by the sword; and the Lord's kingdom being not "from hence," as He subsequently told Pilate, He did not require His servants to fight for it (36). Of old God's cause was furthered 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 carnal weapons. Besides, what was taking place in the Lord's arrest was the carrying out of the Divine purpose. So, rebuking the zeal of His disciple, Christ added, "The cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?" The soldiers, with the chief captain and the Jewish officers, now surrounding Him, bound Him, and led Him away first to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest. The Lord had thus surrendered Himself.

When arraigned before Pilate the Lord said, "IF MY KINGDOM WERE OF THIS WORLD, THEN WOULD MY SERVANTS FIGHT" (John 18:36). And that statement from the lips of Eternal Truth should be sufficient to show how great is the gulf that lies between the kingdoms of this world and His kingdom who was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and who forbade the valiant Peter to draw the sword on His behalf. To the kingdoms of this world war is an unhappy necessity. They have been founded mainly by blood; they maintain their place in the sun, and hold what they possess mainly by the power of the sword; and they will go down to an ignominious and terrible destruction together in one last, frenzied struggle for the mastery of the world, and thus shall it be that room shall be made for the kingdom of the Lord, which kingdom shall be established according to inflexible righteousness, and so shall universal peace prevail. Thus it is written in the sure word of prophecy, and for this the Christian waits.

83 There is only one other passage I need refer to - John 18:36, "My kingdom is not of this world." Does C.G.T. 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. Would that other Christians would own the truth! As to how it is to be brought under His power, we must refer to other scriptures where this power, and in what way used, is sufficiently spoken of I use, as an example, C.G.T.'s reference, Psalm 2:6 - 12.