So Pilate entered his
headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the
Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say
it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the
chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus
answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were 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.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you
are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was
born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the
truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him,
“What is truth?” (John 18: 33-38a).
Pilate
returned to Jesus with some probing questions. The governor of Judea confronted
the King of the Jews. The power and authority of Rome questioned the King born
to reveal the grace and truth of God… “And the Word became flesh and
dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the
Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). And in this great
confrontation between two kingdoms, disciples find exhortation to trust and
obey the King who reveals truth.
The Spirit of Truth confronts us with two
kingdoms today. Mere Christ followers are not always sensitive to the many
times the laws of this world contradict the laws of Heaven. Maturing disciples recognize
this confrontation more often as we grow in truth. The laws of man do not
respect life as a gift from our Creator, encourage freedom to worship our
Redeemer, or promote reliance on our Sustainer. Often the laws of the church
attempt to protect the power of leadership rather than promote the spiritual
growth of truth seeking disciples. When confronted by the collision of the
Kingdom of God and the kingdom of man, which authority do you submit to in an
ultimate way? When confronted with the conflict between obeying God or man,
which king do you choose? Our Teacher inspired Luke to record a story and a
strong exhortation from the apostles to respect earthly authority but to submit
to God’s authority when faced with the confrontation of these two kingdoms… “And
the high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We strictly charged you not to teach
in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you
intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.’ But Peter and the apostles answered,
‘We must obey God rather than men’” (Acts 5:27-29). In today’s text the
Spirit exhorts disciples to imitate the apostles with two more reasons to obey
God rather than man.
First, there is the superiority of Christ’s authority.
God promises that true disciples will share in Christ’s Kingdom… “And the
kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole
heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High” (Daniel
7:27) and Christ’s dominion is not of this temporal world, therefore Christ’s
sovereignty is universal and eternal… “His kingdom shall be an
everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him” (Daniel
7:27).
Second, there is the purpose of Christ’s
Kingdom. Jesus plainly declared that He came to “bear witness to the
truth”. While men exercise power in order to acquire and maintain more
power over men, Christ exercises power over all of creation in order to reveal
God’s saving, redeeming truth to perishing mankind… “But we ought always
to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose
you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and
belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). In fact it is God’s
perfect order for disciples to respect and support the world’s authorities so
that His superior authority might advance as we share His saving truth here in
the world… “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers,
intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who
are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and
dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God
our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of
the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
As we grow up into Christ we respect
man’s authority but ultimately submit to…
The King that Reveals Truth.
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