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Book: John
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John 18:33
1. "Are you the King of the Jews?"
A. This is a question that Jesus could not just give a yes or no
answer to.
1. He had not come to overthrow the Roman yoke and lead
the Jews in a general rebellion against Rome.
a. This was the basic charge that the Priests were bringing
against Him.
b. That establishing Himself as the king of the
Jews, He was advocating the overthrow of
Rome, thus was guilty of treason against Rome.
c. Thus in that sense, He was not the king of the
Jews, plotting to lead the Jews in a rebellion
against Rome.
2. To answer no would be to deny the very purpose of His
coming into the world.
B. So Jesus responded with a question to the question. Do you want
to know this for yourself, or did others tell this to you?
1. Is this the charge that they are bringing against Me?
2. Are you asking this from the sincere desire to know for
yourself?
C. Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew?" He was thus declaring that He
was not interested for himself.
1. Your own nation and the chief priests have brought
these charges against You.
2. "What have You done?"
D. Notice that Jesus does not answer the question, "What have you
done?" but goes back to the original question concerning His
claim of being a King.
1. He could have said, "I have healed the sick, cleansed
the leper, raised the dead, fed the multitudes,
preached good news to the poor."
2. These are the things that He told the disciples of
John the Baptist to tell him when he was inquiring if
Jesus was the One that they were looking for or should
they look for someone else.
3. Pilate would not have understood this evidence.
4. "My kingdom is not of this world, if it were, My
servants would fight, to keep Me from being delivered
to the Jews."
a. He is now acknowledging that He is a King.
b. But His kingdom is not of this world, this is
exactly what all of the Jews including the
disciples were looking for, an earthly kingdom.
c. My servants are not out here fighting against
your troops.
d. Peter thinking of the earthly kingdom in the
Garden drew his sword to fight, but was told
by Jesus to put His sword away.
e. The Jews were wanting Pilate to deliver Jesus
to the Jews that they might do to Him as they
wished.
E. "My kingdom is not from here."
1. All throughout the teaching of Jesus He had taught
them of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of heaven.
a. He did not speak of setting up an earthly
kingdom.
b. This was the mind set of the disciples, and the
Jews concerning the Messiah.
2. In His prayer in the preceding chapter He declared that
He was not of this world, and the disciples were not of
this world.
3. The world is under the kingdom of darkness. Satan's
kingdom rules over this world.
4. This is becoming more evident every day.
a. He is called the lawless one, and look at the
lawlessness in the world today.
b. The world has become morally and spiritually
degenerate.
II. Pilate then asked, "Are You then a King?
A. Understanding that He is not a threat to Rome, for He is not
advocating a rebellion against Rome, the question is then
changed "Are You then a King?"
B. To this question Jesus can give a direct answer. "You said it.
I am a King, to this end was I born, and for this cause, came
I into the world that I might bear witness to the truth."
1. The wise men came from the East to inquire of Herod
where was He born who was to become the King of the
Jews.
2. This is the purpose for which He came into the world,
to bear witness to the truth.
a. The truth of the Kingdom of heaven.
b. That there is a higher kingdom than that which
is established by men.
c. The kingdoms of men, will crumble and fall, the
kingdom of God will endure forever.
C. "Everyone who is of the truth, heareth My voice."
1. Not everyone hears His voice, but everyone who is of
the truth.
2. Jesus had said, "My sheep hear my voice and they do
follow Me."
D. Pilate asked, "What is truth?"
1. The age of Philosophy was not quite dead, and the
wisest men were still trying to determine the answer
to this question.
2. I hear in the voice of Pilate a touch of cynicism,
that kind of cynicism that comes to a man who has
searched for the truth until he has become
discouraged and is convinced that it does not exist.
E. He came to bear witness of the truth of God.
1. Man had developed ed concepts of God.
2. Everything from a selfish, self-centered lustful
being, to an essence so far removed as to be
untouchable or unreachable by man.
3. God, who at different times and in different ways
has spoken to the fathers through the prophets, has
in these last days spoken to us by His own dear Son."
III. Pilate then went out again to the Jews and said unto them, "I find
no fault in Him."
A. That should have been the end of the trial. If justice was to
be served, Jesus should have been released a free man at that
point.
B. What an incredible witness, "I find no fault in Him."
1. Judas was to witness, "I have betrayed innocent blood."
2. Pilate declared, "I find no fault in Him."
3. The thief on the cross will say, "This man has done
nothing amiss."
4. He is innocent, there is no fault in Him, He has done
nothing amiss.
5. God made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God through
Him.
C. Pilate now brings up a custom that Rome had developed for the
holidays, at that was to release a prisoner, usually a
political prisoner. They would thus show a token of kindness
to the people at their celebration time.
1. Pilate was suggesting that Jesus would be the One that
he would grant the freedom to, in keeping with the
custom.
2. He asked, "Will you therefore that I release unto you
the king of the Jews?"
IV. They all cried, "Not this man, but Barabbas."
A. Now Barabbas was a robber, we are told in the other gospels
that he was also an insurrectionist, and had committed murder
during and insurrection.
1. He was guilty of the very charges that they were
seeking to make against Jesus.
2. They were charging Jesus with insurrection against
Rome.
B. Not this man, but Barabbas.
1. The word Barabbas means, son of the father.
2. He was the son of the father, but the father was not
God.
3. Who then was his father?
JOH 8:44 Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father
ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not
in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh
a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father
of it.
C. Who do you choose, the Son of God, of the son of Satan.
1. The absolutely most incredible thing is that they
choose Barabbas.
2. Who do you choose to follow?
3. Who do you choose to reign over your life?
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