The Cross: King of the Jews

John 18:33–19:22

Main Idea: The actions of Pilate, the crowd, and Jesus reveal that Jesus is the long-awaited King of the Jews.

1. The Recognition of the King
2. The Rejection of the King
3. The Response of the King

The United States of America was founded with a unique form of government. The founding fathers fashioned a government without royalty—no king, queen, princes, or lords. Their choice made the United States distinct from the European countries from which it came. In the Old Testament we discover a similar desire in the nation of Israel. Unlike any nation before or since, this nation was distinct. No other nation was chosen and governed directly by God himself. But the desire to be like other nations, particularly to have a king, surfaced repeatedly throughout their history.

In the case of the United States, they didn’t want a king because they thought they could develop a better type of government. In Israel’s case they didn’t need a king because God led them. They were a theocracy—God governed and defended them—yet they continued to cry out for a human king. Finally, God granted their wish and gave them a king named Saul. Their second king, David, was a great king, but after him the history of Israel is filled with more wicked kings than good kings. After the nation was split in two, both parts were defeated, and the people became captives. Israel’s desire to be like the other nations—to have a human king—proved disastrous.

However, that’s not the whole story. Long before the people were given a king, God promised to send a King to rule not just over Israel but over all the nations. One of the central themes of the Old Testament is the coming King who will reign over an eternal kingdom. This Old Testament theme sets the stage for what we discover at the end of John. In Genesis 49, before his death Jacob called his sons to circle around him, and he blessed them. His prophetic blessing creates the expectation that a King from Israel will rule a worldwide kingdom (Gen 49:10). This promise is repeated and expanded in Balaam’s final prophecy in Numbers 24:17. As we move forward in Israel’s history, Moses and Joshua lead the nation into the promised land, but neither of them becomes king. Various judges—like Gideon and Samson—deliver Israel from foreign powers, but they don’t become kings. The book of Judges ends this way: “In those days there was no king in Israel” (Judg 21:25).

Eventually Israel gets a king and establishes a monarchy under David. Is David the fulfillment of the promise made in Genesis and Numbers? He’s from the tribe of Judah. He has great military success. In 1 Chronicles 17 God makes a covenant with David, and the language he uses answers our question (vv. 11-14). David is not the King, but the King will come from the line of David. He will not only be a son of David but will be a Son of God, and he will rule over an eternal kingdom. After reading these promises, we’re left with a question. Who is this King?

In John 1 Nathanael, a devout Jew, calls Jesus of Nazareth “the King of Israel” (v. 49). Is Jesus the promised King of the Jews? That’s the same question asked by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Israel, in John 18:33. Earlier in chapter 18 Jesus was arrested and turned over to Pilate by the Jewish leaders. Now Pilate interrogates Jesus, which ends in Jesus’s being crucified. Is Jesus the King of the Jews? The answer is found in Pilate’s actions.

The Recognition of the King

Four times in this account Pilate publicly refers to Jesus as the “King of the Jews.” The first time comes after he questions Jesus (18:39). After having Jesus whipped, Pilate brings him out before the Jews and says, “Here is your king!” (19:14). Then he asks, “Should I crucify your king?” (v. 15). Pilate gives in to the people’s wishes and orders Jesus’s execution but not before having a sign made that calls Jesus the King of the Jews (vv. 19-22).

Why does Pilate continue to use the title “King of the Jews” to describe Jesus? Does Pilate believe Jesus is the prophesied King and this is his response of faith, or is he doing it to mock the Jews for pressuring him to kill a man he wants to release? Ultimately, Pilate’s motive doesn’t matter. Jesus is publicly identified as the King of the Jews. Not only do the Jewish leaders hear Pilate’s repeated pronouncement, but when the sign is tacked up on the cross above Jesus’s disfigured face, the whole world sees who is dying there. “The King of the Jews” is written in three languages because this King’s death impacts more than one nation. This King brings men from every nation into his kingdom. The pen of Pilate becomes the instrument God uses to announce to the world Jesus is King.

Not only does Pilate call Jesus the King, but his soldiers also dress him up and present him as a king (19:1-5). Pilate mocks Jesus and the Jews. The soldiers who strike Jesus do so to taunt him, but they don’t understand that Jesus is a King unlike any king this world has ever seen. He’s a King who humbles himself to die so he might deliver those who hate him and rebel against him. The garments they place on him and the horrible crown they force him to wear reveal he is a humble King who rules through his suffering.

The suffering of Jesus reveals the wickedness of our sin, our inability to please God, his grace in saving us, and the certainty of future acceptance. The horrible mistreatment of Jesus gives us confidence in God’s promises and reminds us Jesus is our ultimate treasure, for only his death could satisfy the debt of sin we owed. The suffering of Jesus that day so long ago reminds us of truths and realities we easily forget and overlook. Charles Spurgeon once said,

I received some years ago orders from my Master to stand at the foot of the cross until he comes. He has not come yet, but I mean to stand there until He does. (Quoted in Mahaney, “The Pastor’s Priorities,” 133)

We stand at the foot of the cross because the cross is the ground of our faith and the foundation of our hope.

The Rejection of the King

The picture we get of Pilate is not particularly flattering. He’s not the kind of guy you’d want your daughter to bring home at Thanksgiving. But the true human villains in this account are the Jewish leaders. They deliver Jesus to Pilate (18:35). They choose to pardon Barabbas (a thief, murderer, and thug) (v. 40). With that choice their flimsy shield of spirituality is torn away, and their wicked hearts are exposed. They incite the mob to chant at the top of their lungs, “Crucify!” (19:6). They appeal to God’s law as the reason for killing Jesus (v. 7). They threaten to bring questions about Pilate’s loyalty before Caesar (v. 12). Finally, they claim Caesar as their only king (v. 15).

What did Jesus do to cause them to respond with this level of hatred? Jesus challenged what they held most precious. Their system of religion was the most important part of their lives. They treasured more than anything the control they wielded over the nation—control through guilt and fear. Jesus came to offer freedom from guilt and fear. He taught that their religion wasn’t the answer, but the gospel—God’s free gift of grace—is what people need.

Why do men and women need the gospel? Because the human heart is like a pigsty. It’s dirty and nasty, full of filth. It smells rotten. Mud and waste fill every corner. Religion looks at that pigsty and says, “I can fix it.” It gets some wood and builds a nice shed and places it right over the pigsty. It picks out beautiful colors to paint the shed, plants flowers around the outside, and places a hand-carved “Welcome” sign over the door. It looks great at a glance, but when you open the door, the stench of pigs wallowing in their own filth leaks out. Religion only succeeds in changing the appearance, not the heart. Jesus takes a wrecking ball to the shed the religious leaders have built. He exposes their hearts, filthy and defiled. The gospel doesn’t deal in cosmetics. It gets dirty. It takes a shovel to the heart’s pigsty and starts digging out the muck of sin. It isn’t pleasant at first because exposed sin is ugly, but the gospel expels sin and transforms the heart.

We need our hearts changed. We don’t need our morals reformed or our behavior modified. If we attempt to change through religion, that is, through what we do—church attendance, charitable giving, disciplined living, strict moralism—we may succeed in putting a fresh coat of paint on our outsides, but inside our hearts will still be pigsties.

The filthy stench of their hearts is exposed in their statement claiming Caesar as their only king (19:15). They’re lying—outright, bald-faced lying. Earlier (ch. 8) they told Jesus they were enslaved to no one. They don’t view Caesar as their king. They don’t have a king! They’re more honest than they intend. They have no king because they’ve rejected the rule of God and the reign of his Son.

Back in chapter 19, verse 7, they said their law was the basis for Jesus’s death, but they don’t have just any law: they have God’s law. What is God’s law about? It’s about the coming King. It’s about Jesus. The law they use to condemn Jesus to death is written about the coming of Jesus. They have the gospel—the life-transforming message is theirs—and they treat it like a code of conduct. “Do this.” “Don’t do that.” “Paint the outside this color.” “Plant these flowers.” They ignore the life-giving gospel and embrace dead religion. It’s their chants of “Crucify! Crucify!” that eventually convince Pilate to deliver Jesus to be crucified (vv. 16-18). This all takes place during the Passover Festival (v. 14). On the day they celebrate their salvation from the king of Egypt, they kill their own King.

The Response of the King

Three times in this passage Jesus responds to Pilate’s questions. His first response is to the question, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (18:33). Jesus is a king, but his kingdom is not a threat to the Roman Empire. His kingdom is different from earthly kingdoms because it’s not from this world (18:36). Jesus is not saying his kingdom is disconnected from this world, as if this world doesn’t matter. He’s saying his kingdom is greater than this world. It’s beyond all world powers and includes more than the visible realm.

His kingdom has servants, but his servants operate much differently from the servants of earthly kingdoms. His servants could take up weapons to stop his crucifixion, but those are not his orders. His servants have different goals. Earthly servants seek to protect their king, but Jesus needs no protection. He protects his servants, not the other way around. His servants have different weapons. Earthly servants use swords and shields—in our day, guns and grenades—to do their king’s bidding. Jesus’s goals are not first physical. They’re spiritual. For him earthly weapons serve no purpose. One of the Reformers wrote,

Christ’s “kingdom” is spiritual and must be founded on the teaching and power of the Spirit. It must be built up in the same way, for neither human laws and edicts nor human punishments reach the conscience. . . . However, the depravity of “this world” causes Christ’s “kingdom” to be established more by the blood of martyrs than by force of arms. (Calvin, John, 418)

Understanding the difference between Jesus’s kingdom and earthly kingdoms forces us to look to his Word and not to this world for instructions on how to obey him. If his kingdom was an earthly kingdom, then we could observe other successful earthly kingdoms and operate based on their laws. But the unique nature of his kingdom calls for a unique source of instruction. We get our orders from the Word of the King himself.

Christians often feel out of step with the world around us because we are out of step with this world. We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom living among citizens of an earthly kingdom. As we follow our King, sometimes we’ll feel like we’re swimming upstream, against the current of our culture. We can’t give up and swim downstream, and we shouldn’t make it our goal to change the direction of the current. Instead, we trust God for strength to keep swimming and for opportunities to call others to join us.

Just as his kingdom is a different type of kingdom, Jesus is a different type of king (18:37-38). Jesus’s royalty rests in the uniqueness of his authority, as one who bears witness to the truth. The truth Jesus proclaims comes from God (8:40). Often truth is viewed as relative, as something that can be controlled. You can spin the truth to benefit your cause. But truth is fixed. It flows from the lips of God, who himself never changes. Jesus came to reveal God’s truth. We can’t spin it; we must submit to it. Truth is the instrument God uses to call men and women into his kingdom. Every person is born into slavery, held captive to sin, and deceived by Satan, the father of lies. His lies fill this world. His biggest lie is that we can find happiness apart from God. “If you can win his love, you’ll find happiness.” “If you’re successful at your job, you’ll find happiness.” “If you buy that boat, you’ll find happiness.” “If your family’s healthy, you’ll find happiness.” “If you’re invited into the inner circle, you’ll find happiness.” We’re like the Olympic sprinter from the movie Chariots of Fire. Before running the 100-meter dash, he laments, “Contentment! I’m 24 and I’ve never known it. I’m forever in pursuit, and I don’t even know what it is I’m chasing” (quoted in Keller, Counterfeit Gods, 73).

The world feeds us lie after lie, each bigger, bolder, and more outrageous than the last. Jesus speaks the truth. Those who respond to the truth are no longer slaves to the father of lies. Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (8:32). Jesus doesn’t spread his kingdom through the sword but through the Word. He brings salvation not through military might but through a message of truth. The gospel message makes kingdom subjects. Christians, as kingdom citizens, serve one another by bringing one another back to the Word of God. We remind one another of what the King said, not common sense or worldly solutions. God promises to transfer rebels from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light through his Word, and through his Word we learn how to live as faithful subjects in his kingdom.

I find great hope in Jesus’s final response to Pilate (19:9-11). All human authority is granted by God. Pilate has no authority over this event—the trial and crucifixion—unless God hands it to him. In this moment we see the superiority of Jesus’s kingdom. The King of the Jews is about to die, but his kingdom will not be shaken. In human kingdoms, if you take out the king, you create turmoil and the kingdom becomes vulnerable to attack. But Jesus’s kingdom is not in danger of being overthrown. He is sovereign over the proceedings. His death will not make his kingdom more vulnerable; it makes his kingdom victorious. His death instituted the spiritual effects of his kingdom. We are liberated from captivity to sin, death, and Satan, and we are citizens in his kingdom. But his kingly reign will someday take a grander form. Jesus will not just rule spiritually; he will bring everything into subjection to himself. He will return and establish a never-ending kingdom governed in perfect righteousness. His kingdom has come but only in part. There will be a day when the King returns and every knee will bow and every tongue confess he is Lord.

The kingdom of Jesus is not a fantasy. It’s not a fairy tale. In fact, our fairy tales are human attempts to wrestle with a desire we all feel. We long for a day when a victorious king appears to right all wrongs, defeat our enemies, and dispense justice to the oppressed. Jesus didn’t come as a victorious king because we were the enemies. If he had come to dispense justice, we would have been destroyed. The first time he came as a humble King, laying down his life so we could be spared and brought into his kingdom. Next time he will come as the victorious King, establishing his eternal kingdom.

When we comprehend who Jesus is and commit ourselves to Jesus as King, our lives will change. We’ll see the world and our role in it differently. Our King has given us a mission, and we’ll die trying to accomplish it. We’ll live with a wartime mentality, using our time, energy, and resources to serve our King and carry out his orders. There’s a big difference between a peacetime and wartime mentality. It might be best illustrated by the ocean liner Queen Mary. The Queen Mary was built in 1937 to carry passengers between England and the United States. It was a gorgeous ship and featured the best amenities. It was in every sense a luxury liner. But when World War II started, there was little need for a luxury liner. The Queen Mary was retrofitted and used as a troop transport. Instead of first-class cabins and luxury staterooms, it now had barracks and a mess hall. Shuffleboard courts were replaced with antiaircraft guns. The luxury was stripped away because there was a war to be fought. Our King did not come in luxury, and he doesn’t call us to luxury. He calls us to carry out his mission. We go to the nations and tell them death is defeated, shame has surrendered, and Jesus is King.

Reflect and Discuss

1. How do we know that David wasn’t the King promised throughout the Old Testament?
2. How does God use Pilate to announce Jesus as the prophesied King?
3. Why should the suffering of Jesus give us confidence?
4. How has Jesus given you freedom from guilt and fear?
5. Why does Jesus tell Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world”?
6. How is Jesus’s kingdom different from earthly kingdoms?
7. What lies do you hear about happiness apart from God? How does the gospel respond to those specific lies?
8. Why did Jesus not come as a victorious king the first time?
9. If Jesus had come to dispense justice, what would happen to you?
10. What does this passage reveal about Jesus that you need to believe today?