To Encourage You

John 18:33-34 “So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?’”

What do you know about Jesus?  Whatever that is, how do you know it?  In the verses above from Jesus’ trial before Pilate, we see Pilate ask this question: “Are you the king of the Jews?”  Pilate was obviously perplexed.  Jesus surely didn’t look like a king.  Here he was bound and tried before the very people of whom He was supposedly a king.  Who was He then?  It just didn’t make any sense.  Jesus then replies to Him with His own question: “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 

Might I suggest that this question reaches beyond Pilate to each and every one of us.  What do we believe about Jesus and everything else associated with Jesus, like the Church?  And whatever that belief is, how did we arrive at it?  Was it arrived at in a first-person manner, or from second-hand information?  Is our knowledge based on what others have told us?  If it is, are we sure they knew what they were talking about? 

In the account above, all Pilate apparently knew about Jesus was based on false accusations about Him from people that hated Him.  Then didn’t really know Him, however. They thought He was of the devil.  They thought that they were more righteous than He was.  They thought He was a product of an illegitimate birth, and called Him a drunkard because He ate and drank with sinners.  Unfortunately for them, they had no idea Who He truly was.  They didn’t know God, so they didn’t know His Son either.  In fact, Jesus had told them this with these words: “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (John 8:19). Even worse, these enemies of Jesus thought they were sons of God. To this idea Jesus replied, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44).  Of course, they hated Him for this, and that hatred boiled over to their efforts to have Him tried and executed before Pilate.  So now Pilate comes face to face with Jesus.  And his first question: Who are you?  Are you the king of the Jews – really? 

So, how about you? Have you ever asked this question?  Do you really want to know?  If you do, you won’t find out by just asking other people.  You can’t just go by what others tell you about Him.  To some, He is no more than a curse word. To others, a good man, but nothing more. To others, He was a religious leader, no better or no worse than Buddha or Mohammad.  And others may have told you that He’s the Son of God that came to take away the sin of the world.  But have you asked Him personally who He is? Have you ever done what Pilate did?  Have you ever wanted to know? 

Jesus told us in His Word, “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). He also said “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). But that’s just it. We have to go to Him personally. It’s not something we can do through someone else. 

You see, it’s the most critical question in all the world: Who exactly is Jesus?  If He is real, if He lives like the Bible says He does, if we really want to know about Who He is, then we must to to Him.  We must read what He has said in the Bible as if it is being said to us, personally..  And we must talk to Him. We must tell Him we want to know Him. We must tell Him we want to know exactly Who He is. 

What the Bible says of God the Father is just as true for God the Son for He has told us “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).  You see, although Pilate asked Jesus who He was, he really wasn’t interested to know.   He went along with the crowd and condemned an innocent man.  But if you want to know, really want to know, He has promised you that if you seek Him with all your heart you will find Him. Either that is true, a message coming from the living God, or it isn’t true. It can’t be both.  But there’s only one way to find out – to go to Him personally and sincerely and ask.