John 18:36-38 36Jesus 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 the world.” 37Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I find no guilt in him…”
Christmas naturally poses questions to the world – who is Jesus and why is He so special? Why do people celebrate His birth? What is the meaning of Christmas?
• I am sure you have asked similar questions about Jesus at some point in your life.
• What better way to know Him than to hear from Him directly.
• We have just read from John 18 what Jesus said about Himself and the reason He came.
• It was an exchange He had with the Roman governor Pilate, who has the task of sentencing Jesus.
• Jesus was innocent but the Jewish leaders had him arrested and brought before the governor.
In speaking these words to Pilate, Jesus revealed His true identity:
“For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world — to bear witness to the truth…” (18:37a)
• We are all clueless why we are born but not for Jesus. He knows about His birth and He can tell us the reason He came.
• His words reveal the uniqueness of His birth and the purpose of His birth.
THE UNIQUENESS OF HIS BIRTH
Jesus did not have his start at birth. We all do but not Him. Jesus existed before He was born. He was able to state the reason for His birth.
• These are not the words of any ordinary man. His birth was the fulfilment of many prophecies from the OT scriptures. It was planned for.
• Christmas is a visitation, the coming of the divine into our world. Jesus came from God.
The theological word for this is INCARNATION. Jesus, who is God, takes on human flesh and becomes a man.
• Phil 2:6-7 says Jesus “6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”
• Christmas was not His beginning. He has always existed. At Christmas, God stepped into time and space and entered our world.
Prophet Micah prophecised it – Micah 5:2
• “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” ?????????????
• He was from of old, from ancient days. Daniel used a similar phrase - “Ancient of Days” ?????3 times in Daniel 7 (7:9, 13, 22) to depict the eternal God.
The Son of God entered our world! We are told to call Him Immanuel (Matt 1:23) - prophesied by Isaiah (7:14) some 740 years before His birth – meaning, “God with us”.
• No wonder Jesus has to tell Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
• If I am trying to build my kingdom on earth, then my servants (followers) would be taking arms and fighting for me now. But My kingdom is not of this world.
John, the author, wants us to know the deity of Christ, right from the start.
• Having been with Jesus for 3 years, John has seen and heard enough to know Him.
• When he sits down to write, he wasted no time telling us who Jesus is.
• His first words were (John 1:1-4), “1In the beginning was the Word (referring to Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. 4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (1:1-4)
• John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John proclaims the deity of Jesus without reservation. No words of greetings. No preparation for us, the readers. He did not beat around the bush.
• Jesus is the Son of God who came into our world. He is God-incarnate.
• Jesus “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (Col 1:15)
• Isaiah 9:6 prophesied, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Scrutinize the words of Jesus in the Gospels and that would be our conclusion.
There is no other explanation. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.
• C. S. Lewis, a great Christian writer, says, “… let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
Through His incarnation, Jesus crushed all misconceptions of God. We don’t need to guess about God. We see Him in Jesus.
• Jesus says, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (Jn 14:9).
• Jesus makes the invisible qualities of God visible.
God has come to us. He has come for us. And He is with us today.
• We are not alone, even in a pandemic. God is with us and He is sovereignly in control. We are called to know Him and trust Him.
• Many believe in Jesus but could not trust Him with their lives. They worry about their needs, their survival, their health, their future…
God did not promise us that there won’t be any troubles or storms in life.
• But He did assure us that He is with us even in the storms (like the disciples’ experience in the boat crossing the Sea of Galilee).
• He walks with us through the fire (like the experience of Daniel’s friends).
• He is with us when we walk through the dark valley (according to Psalm 23).
We have peace today because He is present.
• Jesus: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)
• Where else can we find peace if not from the Lord of the universe?
• Who else can we trust, if not the sovereign God who is supremely in control?
• In situations that are beyond our control, we trust the One who is.
If you do not know Jesus today, then this is a relationship you desperately need.
• God is our hope. Jesus Christ is our Saviour. He has come to make that known.
• In these troubled times, we need His presence more than any present!
We have seen the uniqueness of His birth, let’s see the purpose of His birth.
• Jesus tells Pilate, “I have come into the world — to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (18:37)
THE PURPOSE OF HIS BIRTH
• Why did Jesus come? He says to bear witness to the truth, to testify the truth, to present and speak the truth.
• What truth? The truth about God, about us and our relationship with Him.
• Who is in a better position to tell us about our life than God Himself? Who can tell us about God other than God himself?
• Anyone else telling us about God can only be speculation.
• Being God and coming from God, Jesus reveals the truth that gives the world its meaning and all of us the understanding of our purpose in life.
We live in a world ignorant about God, ignorant about what is right and wrong, ignorant of our relationship with God.
• Jesus testifies to the truth about God and our need for Him. We come to know that we are lost without God and living in sin.
• Jesus Christ is our only hope of returning to God. He paid the penalty of our sin when He died on our behalf. We can be forgiven today because of Him.
We need to believe in Jesus as our Saviour. This is the truth that Jesus testifies to and the purpose for which He has come.
• John explains to us why he has written this book – “30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:30-31)
• It has to do with our relationship with God. Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Many find it hard to accept this. They prefer to live life on their own without God.
• Others continue to stay in the dark because they have not taken the time to consider the claims of Jesus.
I once talked to someone who believes that knowing God is just one small part of life and the not-so-important part, at least it was to him then. He was completing his study and then he would need to look for a job, get married, settle down, build up his career, raise kids…
And then maybe, when he is old or when he retires, he will then have the time to consider God and pick one of the religions. He will decide then whether to believe Jesus.
Just like this Roman governor Pilate who asked, “What is truth?” and walked away.
• In verse 38, he asked this mocking question, “What is truth?” but with no attempt to listen. He doesn’t intend to. He was not interested in the truth.
• His attitude was: “I don’t know the truth, and I don’t care.”
A couple in New York bought an old Chinese bowl from a garage sale for $3.00. It turned out to be a bowl from the Northern Song Dynasty that was more than 1000 years old. Until someone told them what they had, the couple chucked the bowl at one corner in their house.
When they placed the bowl with Sotheby’s Auction House for sale, it was estimated to go for approximately $200,000. They decided to let it go.
It turns out that on the day of the auction, a dealer from London purchased it for more than $2,000,000!
Why would the bowl be sold for $3 in the garage sale? The answer is that the seller did not know what it was worth.
This is quite unbelievable but true. Many do not know the true value of things.
• They give up on things valuable thinking that they are worthless, and when they lose them, they realise they are precious.
• Our relationship with God is of grave importance. We cannot leave it to another day. There might not be another day.
Truth matters. Jesus Christ matters. The Gospel matters. Don’t chuck it aside like a $3 old Chinese bowl. You will regret it.
I hope you understand how much is at stake in the truth that Jesus has revealed.
• It is a matter of eternal life and death. Your life is on the line.
• God is real and we have sinned against Him. Jesus came to bear the penalty of sin on the cross, on our behalf so that we can be forgiven and be reconciled with God.
• As children of God, we have the hope of an eternal life with God. This is God’s will for us.
Brothers and sisters, as Christians we are now bearers of this truth.
• Be faithful bearers for Christ and the Gospel, and let us do it well.
• We give God all the glory and praise!
PRAYER:
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for living among sinful men. Thank you for identifying with our sin and suffering. Your incarnation shows the magnitude of your love for us!
May we all come to you and acknowledge you as Lord and our Saviour. Grant us the faith to trust you and submit to you.
Be with us in all of life’s journey and in all the challenges we face. We give you all the glory and praise, in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.
