John chapters 18 and 19 tell a story of many people today. There is an all important question asked by Pilate that never directly gets answered. However, the very question he wants answered is actually answered… and yet, he still rejects it. What am I talking about? Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” Let me explain.
In John 18, a band of chief priests and Pharisees came at night to take Jesus. Jesus knew this. He even asked them when they came, “Who do you seek?” They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus then said, “I am.” This is the very name that God used of Himself when speaking to Moses out of the burning bush. As soon as Jesus said this, the people who came to take Him fell backward to the ground. Jesus was not stumbled at this. He asked again, “Who do you seek?” Jesus answered the same way, “I am.”
After this, they bound Jesus and led him away first to Annas where they asked Jesus questions. Jesus told them that He had always spoken openly and not in secret. Therefore, they should have known what He taught. Jesus then challenged the priest stating that He had never spoken evil. Next, Jesus was taken to Caiaphas, the high priest, and then to Pilate, the Roman prefect (governor) of Judea.
This is where the event gets very interesting. Pilate asked the Jews what accusation was brought against Jesus. They said that Jesus was a criminal, an evil person. Pilate questioned Jesus again asking Him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus wanted to know if Pilate was saying this of his own belief or if someone else told him this. Pilate stated that he was not a Jew and that the Jews, Jesus’s own nation, delivered Him to Pilate. So Pilate asked, “What did you do?”
Jesus answered the first question Pilate asked by stating, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight for me; but, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am. For this reason, I was born, and for this cause I came into the world, that I should bear witness unto the TRUTH. Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.”
Pilate seemed confused by the way Jesus answered. Jesus said that he came to BEAR WITNESS to the TRUTH. Pilate then questioned this, “What is truth?” It does not appear that Pilate waited around for the answer. What Pilate did do, however, is go tell the Jews that he found NO FAULT in Jesus.
What was it that Jesus was bearing witness to? The truth… the truth that He told? The truth that God told in the Old Testament? What was this truth that Jesus testified to? The truth that there is a New Covenant? The truth that the prophet to come should be hearkened to (Deuteronomy 18:18-19)? The truth that Jesus is the “way, the truth, and the life and that no man comes to the Father but by Him?” What is this truth? Let’s see what Pilate was coming to know.
Pilate found NO FAULT in Jesus. Jesus confirmed that he was a king and that his kingdom was not of this world and that he came to bear witness to the truth. Pilate found NO FAULT in Jesus. Ponder this for a moment.
Now Pilate tried to release Jesus and the Jews asked for Barabbas instead. So, Pilate had Jesus scourged. Why? To make Jesus confess to a fault? To make Jesus lie to avoid further pain? Wasn’t this the point of scourging… to make people confess? But, when all was said and done, Pilate went to the Jews and said, “I find NO FAULT in him.”
Again, after the chief priests and officers cried out “Crucify him, crucify him,” Pilate stated “I find NO FAULT in Him.” Pilate is then told by the Jews that Jesus deserved to die because He made Himself the Son of God. What was Pilate’s response? He was more afraid! Why? Could it be that Pilate had found NO FAULT in Jesus, thus he found that Jesus had not yet lied up to this point? Could it be true, then, that Jesus was the Son of God? Would this be the kingdom of which Jesus was a king? Pilate found NO FAULT in Him.
Pilate then went back to Jesus and asked Him, “Where are you from?” Jesus did not answer. Why? Maybe because He has already told Pilate that His kingdom was from somewhere else? Pilate then questioned (or was it threatened?) Jesus, “Don’t you know that I have the power to crucify you or release you?” Pilate must have been stunned when he heard Jesus’s response: “You could have no power against me unless it was given to you from above.”
After this, Pilate sought to have Jesus released? Why? Somehow Pilate came to know that Jesus was considered by some to be the King of the Jews. Jesus told Pilate that He came to be a king of a different kingdom. Jesus told Pilate that He came to be a witness to the truth. Pilate found NO FAULT in Him. Pilate had Him scourged and found NO FAULT in Him. Pilate came to hear that Jesus made Himself the Son of God. Pilate became afraid. Pilate heard that he could have no power without someone giving him that power. Pilate sought to have him released… but there was a temptation presented to Pilate.
The Jews cried out that Pilate could not be a friend of Caesar because no one could make himself a king and speak against Caesar. What was Pilate’s dilemma? If he were to admit that Jesus was a king and let Jesus go, Pilate himself would lose his position in the Roman Empire. So, Pilate had to make a decision. He was in a dilemma. He had found NO FAULT in Jesus… the one who claimed to be a witness to the truth, the one who claimed to be King of the Jews, the one who claimed to be the Son of God. What would Pilate do?
Pilate brought Jesus before the people and announced, “Behold your King!” But, the people cried out to crucify Jesus, and Pilate turned Jesus over to be crucified. But that is not the end of the story. What did Pilate do next? He had a title put on the cross which stated, “JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.” He didn’t write what the Jews wanted written, “He SAID, I am King of the Jews.” Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.” Why is this? What made Pilate do this? Did he believe that Jesus was the King of the Jews? Did Pilate believe that Jesus was the Son of God? He found NO FAULT in Him.
I believe that Pilate knew the truth. He asked about it and Jesus didn’t lie. Pilate had to know about what Jesus taught. He had to seek the facts out. He knew what happened after Jesus died and was raised from the dead. Remember that the two disciples on the road to Emmaus asked Jesus (not knowing it was him), “Are you the only one in the region who doesn’t know what has happened these days?” Everyone knew the commotion… people were stating that Jesus was risen from the dead. Pilate came face-to-face with the truth. However, he seemed to reject what it meant, what the implications were for knowing that truth. Pilate didn’t want to lose his position in the Roman Empire. There was something that kept him from acting on what he was finding to be the truth.
We see many people today who are given substantial evidence, even facts, that support the claims of Christ. However, some of these people will outright tell you that even if they saw Jesus raised from the dead, they would not believe. Why? Might I suggest that they have something to lose… money, relationships, power, position… something! Yet, each of us has that shame within us that we need to do something with. What did Pilate do? In Matthew 27, Pilate simply washed his hands in the eyes of all who looked on him. Was this sufficient? He stated that he was innocent of the blood of this just person, but was he? We are not told. I hope that Pilate came to know the truth… AND to accept what it meant.
Romans 10:9-11 states, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.”
What about you? Are you willing to look at the truth and accept it… or will you reject it despite the evidence for it? Think about it!
Holding Forth the Word 