John 18:28-40
Jesus Before Pilate
28Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What charges are you bringing against this man?"
30"If he were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you."
31Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law."
"But we have no right to execute anyone," the Jews objected. 32This happened so that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.
33Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
34"Is that your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you about me?"
35"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?"
36Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
37"You are a king, then!" said Pilate.
Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me."
38"What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. 39But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release 'the king of the Jews'?"
40They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in a rebellion.
When Jesus was on trial and Pilate was judge and jury, He told Pilate about His Kingdom...Jesus said this His kingdom is not of this world...If His kingdom were of this world, His servants would have been fighting, that He might not be delivered over to the Jews to be crucified on a cross...But Jesus' Kingdom is not from this world and of earth, but of Another World...And God, His Father, has raised Him from His death on earth, and now has ascended Him to heaven so the Son of God could be with His Father...
Theologian John Calvin wrote that we should look beyond earth and raise our thoughts to God and His Kingdom...Calvin wrote, “So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods...But should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and reflect what kind of Being He is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness, and wisdom, and virtue, to which, as a standard, we are bound to be conformed, what formerly delighted us by its false show of righteousness will become polluted with the greatest iniquity; what strangely imposed upon us under the name of wisdom will disgust by its extreme folly; and what presented the appearance of virtuous energy will be condemned as the most miserable impotence.”...
Jesus is the Perfect Man...He never sinned, and has Perfect Wisdom and Righteousness...He came to earth to testify to the Truth...And one day our LORD will be King over the whole earth...On that day there will be One LORD, and His Name will be the Only Name...Let us not be troubled or afraid...Jesus is the First and the Last...He is the Alpha and the Omega...He is The Living One; He was dead, but He has risen...Now look, He is alive for ever and ever!...And He holds the keys of death and Hades...Therefore, since we are God’s offspring, we should not think only of this world and earth...God wants us to know that His Word is Truth and that He commands all people everywhere to repent...With His Son dwelling on earth, living, teaching, dying, and then being raised from His death, God has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed...He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead...