Pilate and Jesus: Man vs. God IV

Feb 18, 2007 By: Pastor Joseph LoSardo Series: The Gospel of John 18 Scripture: John 18:33-37
Trying to make Jesus look like a revolutionary, Christ’s accusers had laid to His charge the perverting of the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar (Luke 23:2). Figuring that Rome would be upset with someone instigating a rebellion, their accusations hinted that Christ claimed to be an earthly king. In this, the fourth confrontation between man and God in John 18 we find Pilate against Jesus – the strong arm of earth’s greatest kingdom against the right arm of God’s kingdom. We see throughout the interrogation that it is Jesus’ answers that are steering the line of Pilate’s questioning. Pilate listens to Jesus, and although he does not understand everything, Pilate could see that Jesus had none of the characteristics of an earthly king, but that was the only kind of kingdom with which Pilate could relate; after cross-examining Jesus, Pilate realized that Jesus’ kingdom would not pose a threat to the kingdom of Rome, so he concludes there to be no fault in Jesus. But Pilate beware, for although this kingdom is something other than a politically organized world empire, which will never effect the collection of Roman taxes; nevertheless, this heavenly kingdom of the heart would enjoin a law upon its citizens’ hearts that would end up subverting the power of Rome.