33 Then Pilate entered the [h]Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
34 Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”
35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?”
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
37 Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”
Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all.
Taking the Place of Barabbas
39 “But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
40 Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
John 18:33-40 King Jesus
Pilate had been asked to crucify Jesus without any specific accusation. He needs at least a shred of an excuse to order an execution because he is responsible for Roman Law in Palestine. If it looks like he is murdering people randomly his job may be at stake.
Notice that two forms of Law have been brought to bear against innocent Jesus who came to free us from the Law. Romans 8:2, “ For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Pilate asks Jesus if he is a king. Jesus’ response in the other Gospels is, “It is as you say.” which is a non-answer that puts the onus back on Pilate. John fills out the situation by expanding Jesus’ answer. If the Jews had made the accusation that Jesus claimed to be a king then they bore the responsibility for evidence but if the idea was Pilate’s then Pilate needed evidence. Either way, no one had any evidence against Jesus but had to work themselves up to killing the innocent. Exodus 23:7, “Keep yourself far from a false matter; do not kill the innocent and righteous. For I will not justify the wicked.”
Pilate tries another tack by trying to get Jesus to tell him something he can investigate. As it is the Jews have dropped him off and asked for his death for no apparent reason.
Jesus has to throw him a bone to get the show on the road as it was in danger of stalling out from lack of evidence. Jesus owns being a king. However the admission comes with the qualifier, not of this world.
Not ‘not upon the world’ for here we are, His subjects doing His work in this world but not of the world as in made up of the same stuff as the kingdoms of this world. The powers of the world are persuasion, and coercion. The powers of Christ’s kingdom are righteousness, peace and joy.(Romans 14:17)
Matthew 6:33, ” But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. “
Matthew 13:31-32, ” Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”
Jesus says, “for this cause I was born and for this cause I came into the world.” This is not a repetition. It is Jesus declaring his dual nature as fully God and fully man. He was born as every child ever but he was born into the world out of eternity.
Jesus gives Pilate the opportunity to respond to the truth but Pilate doesn’t. Many times as Christians, the only thing we can do is speak the truth and leave it up to the hearer to respond or not. Sometimes people need to hear a thing a few times before it sinks in. Read Matthew 13:3-9
Pilate rejected the idea of truth but still didn’t have a real accusation against Jesus so he goes out and tries to cut a deal. The custom of releasing a prisoner might have set Jesus free from Roman power but Pilate hoped it would set him free from this situation. Unfortunately for Pilate he was not in charge of events that day.
The Jews instead of taking the deal demanded a real insurrectionist be set free so that they could pursue their false accusations against Jesus. In a way Barabbas is you and me and everybody. Though we deserve death for insurrection against heaven Jesus took our place and died in our stead. 1 John 2:2, ” And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”
brotherpayne 