Under Trial (part 2) - [John 18:12-40]

The Fraud of Gregor McGregor and the Need for Discernment

Well, if you've not already done so I'd invite you to open your Bibles to John chapter 18. And we're going to see today what William Hendrickson the commentator says. He says of this passage. He says no travesty of justice ever took place.

That was more shocking than this one. So as I started thinking about travesties and sham trials and frauds. It got me looking in Google, of course, naturally, what else would I do? And I found maybe if this isn't the greatest fraud of all time it might be you know in the top ten anyway a man named Gregor McGregor.

And you might notice from his name that he is a Scotsman. Well, he made a lot of money. In fact a couple of hundred thousand pounds. By selling bonds in a country that didn't exist. It's pretty good. This was in the early 1800s and actually all of his scams put together.

Listen to this. He made about 1 .3 million pounds which in today's currency would be about three point six billion. Three point six billion pounds, which is like five million plus. It's a lot of money and all without doing anything positive.

In the early 1800s probably about let's see it was 1812. We had our war with Britain. Well, Venezuela fought a war of independence and McGregor participated in this and then went back to Great Britain in 1821 and when he returned he found a booming economy.

In fact wages were going up and the price of living was going down. And so what that meant was it was hard to find a good investment you could invest in things. But there wouldn't be much of any kind of return.

So he decided that he would start selling these bonds in this country called Poyas. Which allegedly was in South America that Central America stretched down there by Honduras. And he said there were eight million acres of fertile land.

Which is larger to put it in perspective larger than the country of Wales so this is a big piece of land and he needed some development to kind of Expand the opportunities down there and he persuaded investors to invest in it By promising them 6 return on their investment now.

Here's how he told them he was going to get that money. He said we're going to introduce some taxation in deploy us. They're going to on their commerce. They're going to Tax that and we're going to use that to pay you back.

The problem was the country of Poyas had absolutely no record of ever collecting taxes of any kind and Of course, there was a good reason for it because it didn't exist. But this man McGregor was so confident of his con and of his skills they'd actually did multiple newspaper interviews in which he talked about the country of Poyas and He wrote a book about it under a pseudonym.

I mean he was all over the place. Propagating this idea that Poyas was this land of opportunity. Here's what he told people. He said the natives were friendly. They loved the British and the soil was so fertile that you could harvest three maize crops every single year.

He told them that water clean fresh water was abundant and That the streams also had listen chunks of gold in them. I mean, this is like worse than your worst Nigerian Prince email that you gets, you know, this is crazy.

This was too good to be true. And when something's too good to be true. It's not true. Well 250 people embarked on some ships and went down there and Settled they went down to settle there and when they got there guess what they found he did own the land.

He had eight million acres. But it wouldn't grow anything. There was no water. The natives were neutral. They weren't necessarily friendly and The land was absolutely uninhabitable. There were no roads.

There was no city. There were none of the things that he talked about. Many of the people died before they actually moved on to Belize. But news of this reached London in 1823 and McGregor ran to France and While in France he convinced 60 more people to invest in his scam.

Finally, he gets thrown in jail. He gets released and he goes to Edinburgh, Scotland in 1838 a bunch of his investors track him down. And then he runs to Venezuela where he dies. Talk about a scam. Well this morning.

The High Priestly Prayer and the Arrest of Jesus

We're going to see another scam another fraud perpetrated. To just review and to kind of bring us up to where we are in the last three weeks. We've seen the end of a high priestly prayer of Jesus in John 17 where he prays not only for the disciples the 11 men that are still with him.

But he also prays for everyone who would ever come to faith through their word. In other words He prayed for every believer of all time. He prayed for unity. He prayed for security. He prayed that they would have the same kind of love for one another.

That the father and the son have for one another it's a high calling and we talked about that. Two weeks ago we saw the spiritual treason of Judas Iscariot really come to fruition with the arrest of Jesus when Judas Iscariot led the Roman troops and that some of the Jewish leadership to where Jesus was and arrested him in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Last week we looked at the spiritual failure failures of Peter. And if you recall I sort of took things out of order because my goal was to just present I mean this sounds terrible to just present the failures of Peter to put Peter on display.

It just made it easier simpler, I think to follow, but if you recall I even said that this Occurred while Jesus was undergoing a trial an interview an examination and How even the failure of Peter? I mean we think about how much the man Christ Jesus.

We know he's fully God, but the man Christ Jesus would have been hurt By the actions of Judas. Well, how about by the failures of Peter his one of his most trusted friends and the man who was going to be the leader of the church and In Luke 22 verses 61 and 62 we we get a glimpse of that and the Lord turned while he's being Examined while he's on trial.

He looked turned and looked at Peter and Peter remembered the saying of the Lord how he had said to him before the rooster crows. Today you will deny me three times and he went out and wept bitterly. John doesn't record his weeping and there are reasons that we gave last week.

I think for that. But this morning we're going to look at two trials of Jesus one religious and one governmental and These are fraudulent. They're scamulant. They're fake. There's no basis for them. Jesus Christ entered his sinful creation this world.

Plunged into sin by the actions of Adam then he's tried essentially by his sinful creation his creatures. And He will be crucified by his sinful creation. Why? To redeem many of his sinful creatures. That's why he came here.

The Religious Trial Before Annas

So first his religious trial. Now I call it a religious trial. Why. Because it's religious leaders. It's the Jewish leaders. It's the leaders of the Sanhedrin who put him on trial. Why did they put him on trial?

Well, they want him dead and we're gonna see that over and over again. They want him dead and only the Romans have the power to do that. So his first trial is before Annas verse 12 and Again, this goes back to Gethsemane and when they arrest him, that's where we are.

So the band of soldiers and their captain the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound him first. They led him to Annas. For he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was the high priest that year.

Only John tells us of this action of the stop with Annas and It's curious I mentioned some of the reasons why this happens last week, but Why would the Jews? Want to take Jesus before Annas first. Well, basically because he would have been seen as the legitimate high priest when a high priest was Appointed it was according to the Old Testament.

I believe it's in numbers. He was appointed for life. He wasn't to be removed unless he had some kind of spiritual failure and that probably would have been catastrophic for him. But Annas was removed by the Romans.

The Romans had this pension for kind of Interfering in the politics of the Jews when a high priest would get too popular or cause too many problems for them. They would just sack him and have somebody else appointed to be the high priest but the Jewish people and really the Sanhedrin saw Annas as kind of the legitimate high priest as the one who should be in charge and last week I called him a shot caller.

I mean you could call him kind of a godfather and in some ways kind of a mobster will Develop that a little bit but he was Kind of a high priest emeritus the high priest behind the scenes and I said last week five of his sons and his son-in-law and one of his grandsons would all succeed him as high priest.

He was a powerful man. But the Romans would remove these these guys from time to time but Annas was seen as the legitimate high priest. So now when Jesus is bought brought before Annas that could have been the end of it if Annas says.

You know what? Jesus didn't do anything wrong. There's no way we can charge him it with anything. I release him. That's the end of it. Jesus doesn't get put that's the kind of power that Annas had. But of course he doesn't do that.

Now it's interesting because this is held in the dead of night somewhere between three and five o 'clock in the morning. We don't know exactly the timing but somewhere in that period. Which is illegal.

You're not allowed to have a hearing during that time. According to Jewish law, but they did it anyway. Why? Because as we'll see time and time again, they were in a hurry to get this done. They were in a hurry to get Jesus to the cross and Annas is looking for a confession.

Something that will seal the fate of Jesus something that will make it incontrovertible. This man needs to be put to death. Annas and his family hated Jesus. Why? Because as I said, he was a bit of a mobster.

They were enriching. Themselves at the temple when Jesus in John chapter 2 goes in and starts turning over the tables of the temple, right? And he says, you know, this is a den of thieves. Who was he talking about.

He's talking about Annas and his family. They were the ones making the money they were the ones who turned it into a house of trade so they were angry with Jesus starting from even the beginning of his ministry and A verse 14 in this text were reminded that it was Caiaphas his son-in-law and as a Son-in-law who said that it would be expedient that one man should die for the nation or for the people.

Well, where do you say that? In John chapter 11 verses 47 to 50 if you remember after Lazarus is summoned forth. When he's called forth by the power of God in the flesh. He says to Lazarus come out of there, right?

Lazarus comes out and people are amazed. But some people maybe aren't so taken with this and what do they do? They go run and they tell the chief priests and the Sanhedrin and In verses 47 50 we read this of chapter 11.

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council right they get notified they get together now. What are we to do they say? For this man talking about Jesus performs many signs many wonders many miracles if we let him go on like this.

Everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come in and take away both our place in our nation. Why? Because Jesus will be seen as the legitimate leader of the Jewish people and they see him as a potential Messiah.

Potential leader a potential king someone who will dispossess them of everything that makes them wealthy and powerful. Verse 49 of John chapter 11. But one of them Caiaphas who was the high priest that year said to them, you know, nothing at all.

Nor do you understand that it is better for you? That one man should die for the people not that the whole nation should perish. So both Annas and his son Caiaphas had reason to want Jesus dead. They were angry at him because of what he'd done in the temple they were envious because of the obvious authority and power with which he spoke and with which he acted and they saw him as a threat the Sanhedrin had.

When when Joseph or Joseph when Judas Iscariot comes to them after he leaves Jesus and the other disciples and he goes to them after eating Passover dinner with Jesus. That's what starts this whole thing in motion.

They then go to pilots. They get the troops. They go down to Gethsemane and they arrest him. And so now Jesus is before Annas probably as I said last week in a courtyard that He either would have shared with Caiaphas or would have been adjacent to another location that Caiaphas would have been at and.

The questioning begins in verse 19. The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. Now, why does Annas want to know about the disciples of Jesus about his followers about those?

He's teaching. I Mean when you think about it, he could do what? He could go to Judas Iscariot and say tell me about his inner circle. Tell me about the other 11 guys who are with Jesus right, Judas Iscariot is What we might call a snitch or in nicer terms a cooperative witness.

They paid him they bought him he. He's gonna do whatever they want, right? That's not really the gist of what he's asking. What Annas wants to know is, you know in Southern Baptist terms. Hey Jesus, what are you running?

How many people are following you. How many people are willing to take up arms in your name? Are you a revolutionary? Are you a threat as I'm sitting here right now? Should I be worried? That's what he's asking.

And then he asked about the teaching too, you know, it's not it's not as important, you know. Was Jesus a heretic according to their rules? I I think he already knew the answer. You know, how many times did Jesus say you have heard it said?

Well, he was quoting the Pharisees. And Jesus said but I say to you right correcting them, but notice how Jesus protects his disciples. I talked last week about how he's a mediator a protector. Really doing the role of what a high priest ought to do.

Look at verse 20. Jesus answered him Annas. I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me?

Ask those who have heard me what I said to them. They know what I said. Jesus gives no answer about his disciples. About the numbers that may be following him. Instead he focuses on the second one on the teaching.

What does he say? He says you know what what I've taught my disciples. My inner group is exactly what I've taught the masses. There are thousands. Literally thousands of witnesses all over the place. He's spoken to as many as 20 ,000 people at one point.

There are thousands of Jews all throughout Israel that they could talk to they could interview. They could talk to a certain Samaritan woman if they wanted to. Of course, they wouldn't do that. What does Jewish law say?

Jewish law says that every fact must be confirmed by Witnesses. Right you have to have two or three witnesses. You can't just expect somebody to Rat on themselves. That wouldn't be enough. Remember they even said, you know, your word is not good for us good enough for us.

And what do you say? You know, I'll call my father and you know, I have witnesses. But Jesus is here invoking in a roundabout way his right to not incriminate himself. He's saying You and us need to conduct an investigation.

Right go out and get the facts. I'm not gonna help you. Besides that he hasn't done anything wrong. There's the problem and If there's ever any doubt about the legitimacy of the inquiry, it's raced erased by verse 22.

When he Jesus had said these things one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand. Is that how you answer the high priest? This is I I mean, I guess you know to kind of keep the mafia thing going we could say he's a henchman.

He's a low-level kind of thug, I mean he's technically An official kind of but he's just on the fringe of power. Now, how do you impress somebody who's got all the power? How do you impress anus by being a tough guy?

By slapping Jesus by giving him a good hard slap when he doesn't talk the way you think he should talk to anus. But how tough do you have to be to hit someone who can't hit back, right? That's not tough.

But the self-control of Jesus is on display. Verse 23. Jesus answered him if what I said is wrong bear witness about the wrong. But if what I said is right, why do you strike me? Wouldn't you like to respond to sin like that.

If I've sinned, please tell me what I did wrong silence if I've not sinned. Why do you hit me? Which was really like I said something akin to a hard slap and again, there's no response. The first I guess you could say preliminary hearing.

Right to determine if there was enough evidence in a criminal case, right you come before the judge. There's a preliminary hearing to determine if there's any evidence if there's enough evidence to hold you over for trial.

Well, what evidence is there here? None. He shouldn't be let go and that's why this is a farce. That's why it's a fraud and it comes to an end in verse 24. And it's then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Jesus did not incriminate himself because he could not incriminate him. Incriminate himself the innocent one the perfect one. Cannot say that he did something wrong when he didn't. And it's wanted a confession he got nothing.

This hearing had served one purpose and one only and that was. Not really in the text, but it it comes together if we looked at all the texts all the Gospels. They use this time to gather the Sanhedrin.

It's the middle of the night. You've got to wake these guys up and get them in and that's what they do. There's got to be a formal religious trial. This is just sort of an unofficial preliminary one that happens in the middle of the night now.

They need a formal trial and it's before Caiaphas the son-in-law. The Authorized high priest. I could say the the Roman authorized high priest and John gives us no details of what happened before Caiaphas essentially in John's mind.

It is a rubber stamp process. And so it was but there are some details in other Gospels. So while you're turning to Luke chapter 22 verse 63 Luke 22 63 I'm going to read mark 15 verse 1 for you. Just one verse because I want to emphasize one aspect of this.

Listen as I read and as soon as it was morning the chief priests held the consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council and They bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate's.

And I wanted to read that this is this is what they did. They gathered everybody up right but look at or just listen as I read that one more time and as soon as it was morning. So important because by Jewish law, they couldn't do what they did in the middle of the night.

But as soon as it was light, it was legitimate. Well, why the big rush to do it early in the morning? Like maybe six o 'clock in the morning before they've had their coffee or anything. Because they had to get him on the cross.

So that he could be off the cross before the Sabbath started he had to be dead before the Sabbath started. So they're really they finally got their chance. They finally got Jesus and they're not going to waste it by lollygagging.

They're gonna move they're gonna push. So now Luke 22 63 to 71 Jesus beaten and humiliated. Now the men who were holding Jesus he's essentially in it says in custody. In that time between Anus and Caiaphas, he's basically held as a prisoner in Caiaphas his house.

So that's the picture now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. They also blindfolded him and kept asking him prophesy. Who is it that struck you. And they said many other things against him blaspheming him.

When day came the assembly the elders of the people gathered together. Both chief priests and scribes and they led him away to their council. This is before the Sanhedrin. If you are the Christ and they said and if you are the Christ tell us.

But he said to them if I tell you you will not believe and if I ask you you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God. What are they saying?

Or what's he saying? He's saying listen. You Guys think I'm trouble. Let me tell you what kind of trouble I am. I'm going to be seated at the right hand the place of honor of the father. So they all said are you the Son of God then and he said to them you say that I am.

So essentially I'm not gonna argue with you. Then they said what further testimony do we need. We have heard it ourselves from his own lips. Matthew also records how Jesus was beaten and spit upon. During a harsh interrogation before the Sanhedrin.

Let's go back to John 18. This is not Normal this is not moral this is not according to Hoyle. This is not according to Jewish laws and regulations. The Jewish leaders simply want to pass Jesus off to Pilate so that he could be sentenced to death.

Before the crowds begin arising right. Jerusalem is packed and they want this done and over with so that there's no chance a crowd will arise and Rally behind Jesus. I mean, maybe he'll do some kind of miracle.

Maybe he'll say something that will call a bunch of his followers and we'll have a riot on our hands. We can't have that. So that's the religious trial before Annas and then Caiaphas as head of the Sanhedrin.

The Governmental Trial Before Pilate

Now the governmental trial the governmental trial we've had the kind of sham of a Jewish trial and now Before the Roman Authority before Pilate's the governmental trial verse 28. Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters.

It was early morning and Again, the timing is important. They're in a rush to get this done, it's just after six o 'clock in the morning they want to rush this through. So now you're thinking to yourself.

How could this even happen? Well, let's Let's keep reading about the hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders and I'll make a few more comments. The hypocrisy of the Jewish leaders is evidence. They themselves talking about the officials not all the Sanhedrin would have escorted Jesus over but some of them would have.

They themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled but could eat the Passover. So these officials who escort Jesus over to Pilate's? headquarters are Concerned about participation in the Passover.

There are a couple of different theories about what this means whether it's the Passover meal that they were holding off on. Because they wanted they knew Judas had come to them and they were holding off not wanting to be occupied with the meal.

When Jesus was arrested, that's one theory. The other theory is it's talking about the seven-day event. But the point of it is it doesn't really matter which one's right. What matters is they're concerned about defilements.

They don't want to be defiled. Isn't that fascinating. They have no problem whatsoever with this whole sham process, which is gonna going to result in The execution of an innocent man. That's not a problem for them.

Murder is no problem. That's not gonna defile them. That's not gonna stop them from participating in the Passover. But going into the home of a Gentile. That is the big deal. That's gonna stop them from participating in the Passover.

That's hypocrisy. Which is more important? Obviously the life. How many times did Jesus say, you know something along these lines they were worried about the little things and Not about the big things and that's the same thing here.

They're filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness even murder. They wanted Jesus to die. So much that they were going to go to Pontius Pilate a man they hated they had a mutual hate society. Pontius Pilate hated the Jews they hated him.

But they were gonna appeal to him. Because he could do what they could not. He could put Jesus to death and they couldn't do it now. They Bring Jesus to Pilate's headquarters here, but they won't go in.

So what happens? Pilate comes out Verse 29, so Pilate went in or went outside to them and said what accusation do you bring against this man? Now we know that Pilate had to have some knowledge of what had gone on.

He had to have some knowledge of who Jesus was after all Judas Iscariot goes to the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin then has to go to Pilate to get the Roman troops. No arrest can be made apart from Rome being a part of it.

The only person who could send those troops in the middle of the night was Pilate's. So he knows that there's some kind of emergency at least according to the Jews, I'm sure he's probably oh, yeah. The Jews again on 9 -1 -1, right?

Here we go again. They're always bothering me but just like the extra troops that would be stationed in Jerusalem during these big festivals whether it was The festival of booze or in this case the Passover a lot of extra troops stationed in Jerusalem.

Why. Because Jews from all over Israel would come in to celebrate the holiday they were commanded to and Jerusalem would be packed and from time to time things would get out of control and there would be some Kind of rebellion or riot.

Well, how do you stop a rebellion or riot? Well, the best way is by show of force so that they don't start. But another way is by using brute force. I Know that's crazy. It's probably better to just let them loot and riot and burn down buildings, but Pilot was very much a law and order guy.

So he wasn't and and pilot was also there. Same reason normally up in Caesarea. But for these big festivals, he would come down to Jerusalem because he wanted to be on hand in case there were any problems.

He could see to them immediately. Because his job was on the line if things got out of control in Jerusalem and outside troops had to be sent in if The troops in Jerusalem didn't respond fast enough who was gonna pay the price.

Pontius Pilate is the answer. Now some of you might be wondering what sort of Magic what sort of devilry is this that you know? An official of Rome is up this early in the morning because it's just after six o 'clock in the morning.

It wasn't unusual for Roman officials to do this. Try that at you know the RMV. But they would start early in the morning and then they would knock off early. I mean they had a great Union, you know started like six or five and you're off by ten or eleven noon at the latest.

Now this problem really doesn't seem like it's worthy of pilots attention. Pilot doesn't take it that that way. He wants to get rid of this issue. And if we went through the whole thing, we'd see it over and over again how he's trying to get rid of them.

So he just asked them he says What is this man done? Look at verse 30. We we see how vacuous how empty this charges. Verse 30. They answered him if this man were not too evil. We would not have delivered him over to you.

Well, is that an answer? No, it's no answer at all. Basically they're saying, you know, trust us just charge him when I was new on the sheriff's department in LA way back when Somebody handed me a guy, you know in handcuffs and said, you know book him fell out his booking slip and everything.

And I said, okay, what's the charge and they said? Book him for mopery. Mopery. I didn't have Siri. One of these days it's gonna activate while I'm talking but didn't have Siri. They didn't have Google nothing or I didn't so I'm like What is mopery?

What are the elements of the crime of mopery? Means to dawdle. To be a vagrant, you know, in other words, you know, it's essentially spitting on a sidewalk and You know, those were the days. Arrested for having no purpose in life.

Right, and that's that's what they're saying. They're saying look. If he wasn't doing something wrong, we wouldn't bring him to you. If he wasn't a wicked man, we wouldn't even waste your time. You know us you could trust us.

Yeah, he knows him and he doesn't trust him. But Jerusalem as I said is packed pilots job is to keep the peace. And so there's this Sense in which he's afraid of the Sanhedrin not because he fears their power.

But because he fears what a rebellion would mean and he doesn't want to ruffle their feathers. So verse 31 Pilots said to them Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law. In other words, this really doesn't kind of meet my threshold.

This is not something I need to deal with you people. Take care of it. You guys sort it out. But again second part of 31 the Jews said to him it is not lawful for us to put anyone to death. This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show by what kind of death he was going to die.

They said we don't have the authority to give him what he deserves. You do Almighty pilots. Well death by Rome meant death by crucifixion and John wants us to know that the word Jesus spoke. When he said I must be lifted up.

Was fulfilled this was a fulfillment as if Jesus what Jesus spoke was scripture. Same authority. He said this is what's going to happen. And here's the fulfillment of it. And this was the moment that the full intention of the Sanhedrin to put Jesus to death was revealed to pilots.

Such hatred such malice such jealousy. And John again underscores The deity of Christ when he does this. The words of Jesus are the Word of God. Paul would write it this way. He said that Jesus would become what a curse for us in Galatians verse 33 so pilot entered his headquarters again and Called Jesus and said to him.

Are you the king of the Jews now when he calls Jesus over? It's not like, you know, Jesus comes sauntering over. He's being Escorted he's being dragged by some guards. Now he says are you the king of the Jews now?

It seems like a bit of an odd question like it's completely out of the blue. Until we look at what Luke says Happened just before this. I'm gonna read is just one verse Luke 23 verse 2 and they began to accuse him saying we found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar and Say that he himself is Christ a king.

Well now we have some charges right and really what John leaves out a lot, I mean, there's the whole trip to Herod there's a Another interchange with pilot in the Sanhedrin. But ultimately there are no witnesses against Jesus.

There's no evidence against Jesus. The charges here Are just charges that they've decided will work. They're saying that he's going to stop the Jews from paying taxes and he claims to be a king now. It would be easy enough for pilot to check on the tax thing.

Right, just talk to some people from the IRS and say, you know, are the revenues up are the revenues down? That's not his concern though, because I think he would notice if suddenly he was short on that.

His concern is this whole kingship idea. Why? Again because Jews are rebellious if they've got a leader that means there's gonna be a rebellion. That's just their history. That's what they do. So he says are you the king of the Jews?

And I was Jesus answer in verse 34 Jesus answer. Do you say this of your own accord or did others say it to you? About me. He doesn't give a simple yes or no answer. He could but that would be misleading.

It could be misinterpreted. So he's looking to refine the question a bit essentially, he wants to know if pilot is trying to Well feast if he just says yes pilot will conclude that he's a political leader and therefore a probable traitor to Rome.

And that's not what he is. Pilot says to him pilot answered am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done? In other words? I don't really care about this whole, you know.

Are you some kind of Jewish leader or whatever? All I want to know is What have you done that makes these people hate you so much that they want to have you executed? You must have done something. Verse 36 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 this world. If you recall he specifically stopped Peter from fighting.

He specifically didn't arm his disciples. They had two swords among them. His goal was never to stop himself from being arrested then. This was the time Now notice that word kingdom. When we see the word kingdom we think typically of territory castle subjects the whole thing.

That's not the sense in which Jesus uses this word. He's talking about his authority. My kingdom my authority is not of this world. If I was concerned with the things of this world. I would fight. That's not my concern.

But he is in fact a king. He just doesn't have an earthly kingdom. He has a spiritual kingdom, right? Look at verse 37 then Pilate said to him. So you are a king. Jesus answered him you say that I am a king for this purpose I was born and for this purpose.

I have come into this world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. This is such a rich verse. In fact, it's rich enough that if Pilate were to really understand what Jesus is saying here He could believe he could be saved.

That doesn't happen, but it could happen think about what he said here. For this purpose I was born. He was born to be a king, right? His lineage goes back to David. We know that Matthew tells us that Matthew also concludes his Gospel what Jesus saying that all authority has been given to him in heaven and on earth he has Absolute authority he can do whatever he wants.