“For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth.”
John 18:37
This is the last statement of Jesus about why He came into the world. The chief priests have brought Jesus to Pilate’s house, and Pilate has to make a decision about Him.
The religious leaders “began to accuse him, saying, ‘We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king’” (Lk. 23:2). So Pilate’s first question to Jesus is, “Are you a king?” Are you the king of the Jews?
Pilate is a secular ruler. To him, the word “king” means a monarch who rules over a particular country. If Jesus had said, “Yes, I am a king,” Pilate would have been misled into thinking that Jesus was a rival to Caesar.
So Jesus asks, “Do you say this of your own accord?”—that is, are you using the word “king” in the way that the Romans use it?—“Or did others say it to you about me?” (Jn. 18:34).
Jesus is challenging Pilate to make his own investigation into the truth. “People say many things about me. But here I am, right in front of you. Make your own investigation! Don’t simply echo what other people think. I am a king. I have a kingdom. But you cannot put a geographical limit on it. You cannot put a historical timeframe on it. It spans generations.”
“King,” as it is normally understood, is not a big enough word to describe Jesus. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ transcends all other kingdoms.
Have you made your own investigation into the truth of who Jesus is?
