BY GREG CRUM
“Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” John 18:37
A loaded question posed by a polished politician, and a straight answer spoken by the Absolute Truth personified! This interaction between Jesus and Pilate recorded in John 18 is one of the more intense moments in human history. When you think about it, our eternity hinged on the responses of Jesus that day. I’m so thankful that he chose to go through with God’s plan, die unjustly for our sins, and redeem us back to himself and his Father. All the more reason to honor this Jesus as the King that he said he was!
Last week we began to think about the revelation from Revelation 19:16 that Jesus is the King of Kings. We went so far as to openly question if that was the case. Did Jesus really proclaim that about himself? We saw, and again referenced proof above, that he most definitely did. He stated that it was the “cause” for his coming into the world.
So, Jesus said he was a king, and his earliest followers believed that to be the case, but why is that important for us to understand and believe ourselves today? What’s the spiritual significance in Jesus’ position as King of God’s Kingdom?
We left off last week just beginning to touch on the answer to that question by thinking about the traditional duties of a king—maintaining national order, extending international diplomacy, and managing the resources of a kingdom. Taken together, the king’s role in the kingdom was to be the “ruler” of that group of people.
Of course, there’s a pun intended in that last statement, and a wonderful spiritual lesson about our Jesus in that double meaning. Think about it: the king of a nation in olden times was typically the one person in charge of setting the rules for all to follow, but in the more noble nations, he was also the example, the standard citizen, the measuring stick (ruler) that was the ideal citizen of that kingdom. Sure, the king set the rules, but he was also tasked with being the best example of those rules followed so others could emulate his lifestyle.
Now, we know from the histories that we have that rarely were kings the “ideal example” for citizens to follow, but that was the idea, and that is exactly what our Jesus actually does. He sets the rules, but he is the ultimate example of living the life he expects us to live. There’s no double standard with our Jesus!
Jesus is a king exemplified. He sets the rules of the kingdom, laws that are honorable and fair, and that, if followed, bring peace and prosperity to the citizens of the kingdom. It’s true that some today think of Jesus as an “anything goes” kind of guy. They couch this ideology behind the word “grace” so it sounds spiritual, but it’s not. According to the Bible, Jesus is a ruler that has established commandments that he expects us to follow. In John 14:21 it is written that he said, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”
Yeah, commandments, you know, rules. “Oh, what a bummer, Jesus is a rule-master, how restrictive!” Nope, here’s the thing about Jesus’ rules: they’re for our benefit, not his.
I John 5:1-3 states that the Lord’s laws are not grievous (burdensome). They are not given to suck the fun out of our lives; they are there for our safety and to funnel us to the path of his great blessings!
What about that other role of a king? The exemplar that he should be for his citizens? Well, Jesus is the ideal citizen of God’s Kingdom and leads by example (unlike so many leaders today). What he says, he does himself, so we can with confidence follow “WWJD” and know that we will be in the “right” in God’s eyes. Ephesians 4:11-13 and Philippians 3:12-14 lays out our long-term goal as believers. To come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of the example of our King—Jesus!
Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.