I Am a King

I AM A KING

Part seven of seven in I AM devotional series

John 18:33-38

John 18:36-37a: “Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is from another place.’

‘You are a king then!’ said Pilate.

Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king.’”

It thrills me to hear Jesus define Himself—especially when He admits His divinity to the clueless. Pilate wasn’t happy. As the Roman governor, Pilate’s job was to keep peace in Israel. And Jewish chief priests and Pharisees were giving him a throbbing headache. The “Jesus issue” wasn’t something Pilate needed today. Jesus committed no crime.

Jesus continued speaking in John 18:37b, “In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to Me.” (When had teaching truth become a criminal offense)?

“What is the truth?” Pilate asked—clueless—not expecting an answer.

Truth, by definition, is fact. How can anyone decide on issues without knowing the facts? When seeking support for skewed opinions, people spin the facts. The chief priests and Pharisees brought Jesus to Pilate to spin their complaint against Him into a crime. They didn’t want a fair trial. They didn’t want Jesus’ truth. They rejected Jesus. They wanted Jesus dead.

John 18:31b finds the Jews objecting to judging Jesus by their own laws: “But we have no right to execute anyone.” The truth was that they brought Jesus to Pilate to be killed. Maybe Pilate understood that, and resisted declaring the death sentence he knew they wanted. No one likes to be influenced by an angry mob.

John 18:38-40: “With this he [Pilate] went out again to the Jews and said, ‘I find no basis of a charge against Him. But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release the king of the Jews?'”

“They shouted back, ‘No, not Him! Give us Barabbas!’”

Pilate probably realized that the truth didn’t matter now—sensing that it was Jesus’ truth that brought on his headache—and he caved.

Take Home Nugget

John 18:37b shows us that Jesus knew the truth why He came to earth. He’d be rejected, then sentenced to die as the final Passover lamb. His blood was shed for the sins of humankind, once and for all. That’s truth that gives believers eternal life!
Are you satisfied with how Jesus completed God’s original I AM sentence in this series?

Thank You Jesus for coming to the world to die for me!

J.D. Griffith

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