Jesus is King
Daniel 7:13-14
John 18:33-40
Apparently we live in a post-modern age.
And one of the foundations of a post-modern age is that everyone has their own truth.
“If it is true for you- it is true” , “If it is true for me, it must be true”
Or as the youngsters say “you do you, and I’ll do me”
We live in an age where it is just plain arrogant, or perhaps, even evil, to claim that you know the truth.
Although, if we think about it too much, we can go around in circles with this thought.
Because to claim that all truth is true, it is actually making an absolute truth statement about truth. Wouldn’t it be plain arrogant or evil to claim all truths are true?
Why are people so quick to claim that all truth is true?
Why are people so quick to claim that what is true for you, is true?
Well, I think the first reason people claim all truth as true, is because it makes each and every person their own god.
If you can pick what is true and what is not true, then you can live however you want, according to your own truth.
We call this post-modernism, but, it’s not really, it was going on in the days when the judges ruled Israel thousands of years ago, it was going on in a time which the bible defined as a time when, “Israel had no king and everyone did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25)
People living by their own truth is not some modern phenomenon, it has been going on since the fall of creation, since Adam and Eve denied the truth of God, and lived by their own selfish desires.
Perhaps, another reason why people are so quick to claim that we all live by own truth, especially for some so-called Christians who claim this, is because we just don’t want to offend people.
We know as followers of Jesus, who claimed in John 14:6, that he is the way, he is the truth, he is the life, and no-one comes to the farther except through him, that we follow a God-man, who made absolute truth claims about himself, that Jesus and therefore us, put ourselves in direct conflict with those who also make truth claims.
When Jesus said he was the only way, this means that Mohammed is not the way to God, Buddah is not the way to God, mother nature is not the way to God.
And so in our desperation not to offend, we lie and say, well perhaps there are different ways to God, perhaps we take on the Oprah Winfrey mentality, and think that we can please everyone, where in the end, we please no-one and most importantly we don’t please God.
But perhaps, the main reason that people don’t want to acknowledge the truth, particularly the truth, that Jesus is King, King of the universe, because if people really believed this truth, they would have to live their lives according to King Jesus- this is just something that people don’t want to do.
We don’t want to be ruled by anyone, no work bosses, no government, let alone, King Jesus.
And so to claim that “what is true for you, is true”, means that we don’t have to live according to the rules of King Jesus.
This idea that “truth is whatever you want it to be” , also existed in the time of Jesus.
As Jesus was on trial before Pontius Pilate, and Jesus had just told him that he was the king and those who knew the truth would listen to him, listen to what Pilate asked Jesus.
Look at verse 38, with me,
Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
Jesus had just plainly told Pilate that he was a king, King not only of the Jews, but king of a kingdom that comes from heaven. Jesus had also just made a bold truth statement to Pilate, he had told him, that everyone who knows the truth, knows that Jesus is King.
And Pilate in his answer, gave this very political, very “post- modern” response.
He responded with a question.
He replied, “What is the truth?”
Now, I am no politician, and I don’t really follow politics that much, but the snippets of politics I do see, seem to portray a system which epitomises this sentiment….it seems politicians today are often chasing their tails, often going in circles, without actually getting to any truth of any matter.
I have heard politicians talk for many minutes about nothing, and after listening to them for a while, I am often left more confused than I already was.
And of course the media and the people who read the stories, also fuel this confusion of the truth.
We have probably heard of the old saying
“Why let the truth get in the way of a good story”
Sometimes, or often, people just don’t want to hear the truth.
If they heard the truth and acknowledged it, it would perhaps mean they would have to change how they lived.
It is clear, that Pontius Pilate that day when Jesus was on trial, just didn’t want to hear the truth, that Jesus was the king, not only of the Jews, but of the world.
Ironically, Jesus was being put on trial by his own people, well the Jewish council anyway for the charge, that Jesus himself, was claiming to be the king of the Jews. (Luke 23:2)
Just look at Luke 23:2 with me:
And they (the Jewish council) began to accuse him, saying, we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to bring tribute to Caesar, and saying that He himself is Christ, a king
The Sanhedrin, the Jewish council were pitting Jesus against the Roman Emperor Caesar. They knew that if anyone tried to rebel against king Caesar and be king, then they would be put to death.
And so they charged Jesus with pitting himself against king of Rome.
They were sneaky, they were cunning…..
They claimed that he had been misleading their nation………when he hadn’t, he had been showing the Jews, that He was actually the promised Messiah that God promised in their Torah. He hadn’t forbidden people to bring their tribute to Caesar, in fact he had encouraged his people to pay taxes to Caesar.
But hey, why let the truth get in the way of a plot to get rid of Jesus.
Jesus did claim through his teaching and his life, that he was the Christ, the promised Messiah and the one who would sit on King David’s throne forever, and the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council knew exactly that………. Jesus was claiming this, however, and here is where the Sanhedrin and Jesus came to a cross in the road……the Jewish council didn’t like the way that Jesus was going to bring in his kingdom.
They didn’t like the way that King Jesus ruled.
The Jews wanted to be rid of the Roman Empire, and the only way in which kingdoms of this earth could overthrow another one, was by force and violence. The Sanhedrin wanted their king, to come and raise a military army to overthrow the Roman Empire, and while they waited for that military leader, they would manipulate, lie, and weave in and out of the Roman systems, until they eventually found an opportune time to over powered them.
But listen to how king Jesus rules his kingdom.
Look at verse 36 with me:
Jesus answered, “my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom was of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world”
Jesus was bringing in God’s kingdom from Heaven. The kingdom of God is not from this world, which means it doesn’t walk in step with how the kingdoms of this earth rule.
Jesus said that if his kingdom was from this world, he would have raised a military army and overtook the Romans, he would have got his servants to rise up and fight for him. He would have told Peter not only to chop off the ear of the guard who arrested him, but to put in the knife all the way and twist.
But Jesus didn’t command any of those things.
Instead Jesus told Peter to put his sword away, he gave himself over to the Roman authorities, he prayed to his father for those who were nailing him to the cross, “father forgive them, for they know not what they do”
Jesus was going to bring in his kingdom, the kingdom of God through suffering and the cross. He wasn’t going to do it by the methods of this world. He wasn’t going to play the political games, he wasn’t going to use brute force, but God’s son- Jesus the king was going to bring in God’s kingdom through serving others, through sacrifice.
Jesus was going to bring in the kingdom of God through what the world would consider weak.
This was foolishness to the world, to the Jewish council, to the Roman empire, even to some of Jesus closest friends.
Jesus was making it very clear that his kingdom is distinct from any earthly kingdom.
What else was Jesus implying when here he said his kingdom was not from this world?
It implies the following:
There is no country or political power, from this earth which the kingdom of Jesus originates from or dwells specifically with. Israel, America, Australia, England are not from heaven, these are not the kingdoms of God. When we pledge our allegiance to Jesus, we are not pledging our allegiance to one particular country or one political party, or even one church denomination, we are pledging our allegiance to Jesus, whose kingdom comes from heaven.
And one day, that kingdom of heaven will come to earth as Jesus returns and gathers all his subjects together. And on that day, Jesus will execute Justice, on that day, he will come with the sword from his mouth, the word of God, riding on a horse, with a tattoo on his thigh which reads “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”.
One day Jesus will fight all the kingdoms of the earth and bring them to justice………….but until that day, how do we live as the servants of Jesus the king?
Until that day, if we live as Jesus as our king, we follow the example he set us.
We fight in his kingdom with weapons of love. We fight with what would be considered weak in this world. We love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. We don’t avenge ourselves, but we leave vengeance with the Lord. We offer our lives as living sacrifices. We give without expecting anything in return. We forgive, as he forgave us.
Yes, we still obey the authorities of this world, even when those authorities may use and abuse power that has been given them- and why?
This is the example Jesus set us.
Look at verses 38-40 with me:
38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him. 39 But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber
Jesus had put himself under the trial of Pilate, although really, Pilate was went under the trial of Jesus and failed.
After Pilate had interrogated Jesus, he came up with an innocent verdict, as he declared to the Jews, I find no guilt in him
Now, if Pilate was a man who valued truth, he would have released Jesus at that point……….but we know Pilate struggled with the truth and so he used the law of the Jews to help stir up the Jews again, in order to have Jesus crucified.
What a political lollipop this Pilate was.
After Pilate claimed that he didn’t know anything about the Jews in verse 35, when he answered Jesus, “Am I a Jew”, suddenly he was an expert in Jewish law, he knew that is was custom for the Jews to release one convicted criminal at the time of Passover as a way of remembering and celebrating that God passed over their guilt in Egypt as they were covered by the blood of the lamb on the door. And so releasing a convicted criminal was a way of remembering God’s grace to them.
A way of remembering how God saved them from death by the blood of a perfect lamb.
The truth is, Jesus did not even qualify for a prisoner to be released, because he wasn’t even guilty, Pilate found no guilt in him. The whole purpose of the tradition was to celebrate God showing his grace to the guilty.
Jesus was not guilty.
And yet instead of Pilate releasing Jesus because he was innocent, or instead of the crowd demanding the release of Jesus because he was innocent, they demanded the release of the guilty man- Barabbas. Who was not just a robber, but perhaps a murderer, as he had been involved in an uprising against the Roman Empire.
Why let the truth get in the way?
Our world would just consider Jesus weak and perhaps morally corrupt.
An innocent man died in the place of a murderer.
Why would Jesus die in the place of a murderer?
The world demands, that this man should be punished, and yet Jesus here, gave Barabbas a “get of jail free card”
Friends, this is how Jesus brings in his kingdom, he brings people like me and you into his kingdom through the cross.
Just like Barabbas, we are guilty.
We are guilty of wanting to be kings ourselves, we are guilty and yet instead of Jesus giving us what we deserved for our sin- death, he took the punishment for us. He went to the cross in our place. He took on the punishment of his father for us.
Friends, this is the king I want to serve.
This is the king I want to follow.
This is the king I want to devote my life to.
Jesus told Pilate that this was the reason why he was born…… that he came to the world, to show the world that he is the king.
This is the truth.
He who has ears let him hear.
Let us pray.
Comments