John 18:37
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.
Before Pilate Jesus openly affirmed that He is truly a king and the Messiah, yet His kingship claimed no earthly throne or political power against Caesar, for His kingdom is not of this world but a kingdom of truth. For this He was born and came into the world in human flesh, to bear witness to saving and eternal truth and to reveal the Father's character and the knowledge of God amid moral darkness and error. He Himself is that truth, its author and living embodiment, and He bore witness to it by pure doctrine spoken with authority and by a perfect life in which every precept was an exposition of His own example. Everyone who belongs to the truth hears His voice by receiving His word, walking in His light, and following Him in obedience and disinterested benevolence. His testimony convicted Pilate and stirred in him a longing to know the truth, yet Pilate asked What is truth and left without waiting for an answer, and having disregarded the light he received no further light.
Trial Setting Before Pilate
The saying belongs to the trial before Pilate that followed arrest and condemnation by the Sanhedrin, when Roman confirmation was required to carry out the execution. The charges brought against Him contradicted one another and had no value, and Pilate declared that he found no fault in Him. Satan had stirred up hatred against Him, and his agents had joined a violent mob in seeking His death.
To Pilate's question whether He was King of the Jews, asked while Pilate was seeking to set Him free, He answered that Pilate said He was a king. The exchange stands against a sharp reversal, for the crowd that had hailed Him as king later reviled Him in the Judgment Hall and demanded His crucifixion. The disciples had been prepared beforehand for this rejection, and were not to base their faith on the changing opinion of the crowd.
The chief priests and elders understood His teachings and greater works as a claim to be King of the Jews with an authority higher than their own. Jealous lest He draw the people away from themselves and become king, they would not accept Him as their king but plotted privately to stop Him. They hired false witnesses, condemned Him, and cried crucify Him in order to have Him put to death.
By murdering Him they brought about the very exaltation they sought to prevent, for His death made Him the Redeemer of mankind and Saviour of the whole world. This was like selling Joseph into Egypt to prevent his dreams of dominion, which led to his dominion over his brethren and his becoming a saviour to his father's family, without lessening the guilt of those who did the evil. His words also identify the hour of His betrayal and condemnation as part of the purpose for which He came into the world. He spoke them to Judas without reproach, though Judas's confession arose from guilt and fear of judgment rather than deep grief for betraying Him.
Kingship Not Earthly
Before Pilate He openly confessed that He is truly a king, affirming His kingship and that He is the Messiah. That confession stands joined to His birth and coming into the world to bear witness to the truth, with all who belong to the truth hearing His voice. Though truly a king, He was treated unjustly when no sin was proved against Him, and His testimony led Pilate to go out and declare that he found no fault in Him.
His kingship did not mean seeking earthly political power, royal honors, an earthly throne, or rule against Caesar. He explained His mission to Pilate precisely so Pilate would see He was innocent of aspiring to earthly kingly honors and was no earthly political threat. His purpose in being born and coming into the world was to bear witness to the truth, not to seek an earthly throne.
His kingdom is not of this world and not an earthly kingdom established by force. It is a kingdom of truth, and what He spoke to Pilate was about that kingdom of truth. His word unlocks the mystery of that kingdom for those prepared to receive it, and His testimony and bearing before His accusers brought conviction to Pilate and reinforced the truth of His innocence.
Bearing Witness to Truth
To this end He was born and for this cause He came into the world in human form, to bear witness unto the truth, to saving, eternal Bible truth and the words of eternal life in contrast with error. His kingship is bound up with that witness, for He was born and came as a king whose kingdom is not of this world, and everyone that belongs to the truth hears His voice. His word unlocks the mystery of that kingdom of truth for those prepared to receive it, its own power commends it and spreads His kingdom, and receiving and applying the truth reconstructs ruined human nature.
He left heaven and the heavenly courts to teach and reveal saving truth clearly and plainly and powerfully amid moral darkness, error, and superstition, shining as true light and as the way to life. His work as Teacher and great Teacher was to reveal the Father's character so that people could worship God in spirit and in truth, to reveal the knowledge of God and what is true and false, and to enlighten those who are spiritually blind. The truth He spoke came with freshness and power rather than human opinions, and His work was to save perishing souls.
He came to save perishing souls and to deliver people, bringing restoration of body and soul. His compassion and healing of the suffering reveal that delivering mission, bringing hope, gladness, praise and service and mercy, and bringing glory to God. He came also to meet the crisis then upon Him, the terrible humiliation and rejection by the world He came to save in the choice of Barabbas over Him. He had borne that crisis in anticipation all His life, in a lifetime of protracted anticipation rooted in leaving the heavenly world for a world marred and seared by the curse of sin.
He knowingly accepted the burden of human guilt and the suffering that redemption required, giving Himself in sacrifice for sinners, and if the cup had passed from Him the plan of redemption would have failed. He endured on behalf of humanity the most humiliating suffering human nature can endure and died to confirm the truth. Christ Himself is that truth and the Light of the world shining amid the moral darkness of this sin-cursed world, the Truth, the Word of God, the Light of Life, and the wisdom of God. Truth was a living reality to Him because He was its author, He is one with God with all truth and all elements of truth in Him and of Him, He stood in the councils of God and dwelt in the innermost recesses of the heavenly sanctuary and the everlasting heights where unadulterated, original truths were familiar to Him, so to Him all truth was ever present and self-evident.
What conflicts with the truth He came to reveal and unfold is false and delusive, however plausible or deeply reverenced, a delusion and falsehood unable to sanctify or save. He bore witness by pure doctrines revealing the contrast between truth and error and between light and darkness, and truth never languished on His lips but was clearly defined in His words, works, and spirit. It fell with the freshness of a new revelation and with power, with earnestness proportionate to its infinite importance and to the momentous results depending on its success, and with calm authority because He spoke truth from the Father, taught what He knew and testified what He had seen as One having authority, and spoke with authority because He knew the truth and revealed God's wisdom. His word is with power because from His own personal knowledge He unfolds truth that can never perish, the words of eternal life, with principles set forth in precept and example.
He uttered no worthless sentiments, notions, opinions, suppositions, fables, prevarications, untruths, or lies, but only important, pure, clean, holy, eternal gospel truth of the highest order framed from eternity. Truth was His authority and gave force to His requirements, commandments, and reproofs, and He met false theories as dangerous evils. As He met Satan in the wilderness with a plain affirmative Thus saith the Lord without controversy and without attacking error, so He met error the same way. His witness was backed by a perfect example with no inconsistent act, for every precept He taught was an exposition of His own life, and He was the embodiment and living representation of the law with righteousness and truth always on His lips and truth never failing in His words or in His actions.
His perfect loyalty to right magnified and honored the law of God and showed what man may and can be by becoming a partaker of the divine nature. His mission answers Satan's work to make truth of no effect, for Satan sinned by transgressing the law and ever since seeks to perpetuate sin and to make God's law appear imperfect and unjust and tyrannical and a yoke of bondage. To keep Satan's power from victory Christ came as the representative of the human race to represent the law by fulfilling all its claims, showing that man may be righteous through His righteousness, and knowing the horrors of man's condition He brought both the message and the means of deliverance and an assurance from heaven of complete salvation unto everlasting life. He is the center of the message of salvation: He was crucified for human sin, rose from the dead, and ascended as humanity's intercessor.
Hearing Christ's Voice
Everyone who belongs to the truth hears His voice, hears His words and listens to Him by walking in His light. He was born and came into the world to bear witness to the truth as a king whose kingdom is not of this world and not an earthly kingdom, and belonging to the truth is shown by listening to His voice. Though truly a king with no sin proved against Him, He was treated unjustly, yet His testimony led to the declaration that no fault was found in Him.
His word unlocks the mystery of His kingdom of truth for those prepared and ready to receive it, and its own power commends it and spreads His kingdom. Receiving and applying the truth and making it their own reconstructs ruined human nature and can rebuild the ruined nature.
Hearing His voice gives the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ, which enriches man's intellectual nature with the highest and most sacred knowledge. That knowledge sheds a flood of light upon the atonement, renders all things bright and glorious with the beaming light of the Saviour's countenance, and is the consummation of all knowledge. Truth so heard benefits the soul and must be defended against error.
Hearing His voice is shown by unmistakable evidence of obeying Him. It means following His life of pure disinterested benevolence, for He assumed human nature to display God's glory in the happiness of man and gave His life to accomplish it. Those who act their part without delay with faithfulness to deliver God's institutions in peril, rallying in consecrated united effort in faith without censure and condemnation and without allowing Christ's name to be reproached, are among those who hear His voice, and those who faithfully help brethren in need give an example of hearing and responding to that voice.
Those who belong to the truth will not put men where God should be and will not walk in the sparks of their own kindling but will follow the light of God's Word. People who love darkness and resist correction reject His voice. Whatever deviates or leads away from His eternal principles, however plausible or deeply reverenced, is delusion and falsehood unable to sanctify or save.
Pilate's Response Rejected
Christ's claim to bear witness to the truth stirred in Pilate a desire and longing to know what truth was and how it could be obtained. His testimony about His kingdom of truth, together with His bearing before His accusers, brought conviction to Pilate and reinforced the truth of His innocence. Pilate wanted to know the truth and asked, What is truth. But he did not wait to receive an answer to so important a question before leaving the judgment seat.
He was convinced and convicted of the truth but unwilling to yield. He was compelled to acknowledge that Christ was no pretender, with not a single trace of deception in His words or deportment. Though truly a king, He was treated unjustly with no sin proved against Him. His testimony led Pilate to go out to the crowd and declare that he found no fault in Him, declaring Christ innocent.
Pilate disregarded the light Jesus gave him, so Jesus had no further light for him. Having borne that witness to the truth and told Pilate plainly that He was the Messiah whose kingdom was not of this world, He gave Pilate no further answer when asked Whence art thou. This silence came because Pilate had abused his high office of judge by yielding his principles and authority to the demands of a bloodthirsty mob and rabble.
Living Truth Today
Christ came to bear witness to the truth, and His disciples following His example are to teach the gospel by word and example, live godly lives, speak openly for the truth, and lift up Christ as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Bearing witness to the truth is a defining duty of Christ's followers, and when tested they must testify to the truth even under severe opposition. This part of the account of His trial before Pilate, where He affirmed that He is a king come to bear witness to the truth and that those of the truth hear His voice, is meant to speak to the hearts of those who believe in Him.
The same experience of standing for truth under unjust judgment will come to believers. They are therefore to stand on the elevated platform of eternal truth while every false platform is shaken to pieces, refusing to trust in man or to afflict their souls over human words and actions. Christ is in heaven taking a view of all these things, with every circumstance of life open before Him, and He will sustain, help, bless and strengthen those who cling to Him and lean by faith on Him as personal Saviour.
His Word is truth and is power to every soul that walks humbly before God, and the way to become strong is to keep repeating with sure and steadfast faith the truth as it is in Jesus. He came to bear witness to the truth and to enlighten those who are spiritually blind, and everyone who belongs to the truth hears His words, for truth benefits the soul and must be defended against error. The purpose for which the only begotten Son of God was born and came into the world was to bear witness to the truth and to reveal saving, eternal Bible truth in contrast with error, and as He met Satan in the wilderness with a plain affirmative Thus saith the Lord without controversy and without attacking error, so saving truth must be repeated affirmatively in speech and in Christlike deportment rather than by dealing with objections, with that truth expressed in words and daily life as essential for salvation. Truth is represented in His words and character as the Father's representative, revealing what is true and what is false, so people are to trust Him and hold firmly to the truth stated in the Old and New Testaments.