Eloheynu melech ha’olam (Our God, King of the Universe)
Pilate therefore said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears My voice.” John 18:37 NASB
King – Sometimes I think that my own evangelical Christian background blinds me to the obvious. Actually, it makes me read the text as if it is part of my paradigm; as if it is obviously part of my whole view of the world. As I read this verse today, I suddenly realized that it is not about what I have always thought. It suddenly struck me that Yeshua’s conversation with Pilate is about being a king, not about being a savior! I have often thought that the statement, “For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world” was about saving us from sin. I have read this declaration as if Yeshua’s focus was about atonement, substitutionary sacrifice and forgiveness. But now I am reading this verse for what it says, not what I wanted it to say. And what it says is that Yeshua came to be king. He came to rule! He came to bear witness to the truth that He is sovereign. His kingdom does not originate on this earth. His power and authority come from above. And everyone who hears the message of His reign hears the truth of YHWH’s purpose from the beginning.
If there were ever an opportunity for Yeshua to set the record straight, Pilate provided that opportunity. Facing certain death, Yeshua has no reason to disguise His real purpose. He doesn’t falter. He speaks it plainly. His death is the means by which He will permanently establish the Kingdom of God on earth – His kingdom on earth! “ . . . and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power” (Mark 14:62). Can there be any doubt? The certainty of the cross is not the certainty of our forgiveness. It is the certainty that Yeshua is Lord over death, that His kingdom will never end because this King lives forever.
How could I have missed it? He came to die because His death defeats the one enemy that no earthly king can ever overcome. How could I not have seen that the cross is about death and life? Those who follow Him to the cross, citizens of His kingdom, share in the victory won there. They have been given the power to live forever.
Does this mean that the cross is about forgiveness? Now I’m not so sure. Yeshua’s analogy of the serpent in the wilderness points me toward power. His use of prophetic imagery points me toward authority. His declaration before Pilate seems to be clear. His announcement before the Ascension is remarkably straightforward (“All authority has been given to Me”). In the process of demonstrating His place as the eternal King, forgiveness is also accomplished, but now that I read what the text actually says, I wonder if our preoccupation with forgiveness isn’t just a bit too self-centered. I wonder if the grand plan of YHWH for the reunion of the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven isn’t just a bit bigger than my concern with sins. I wonder.
Topical Index: king, melech, cross, death, John 18:37
Yes, yes, yes! The “grand plan of YHWH ” is so very much better than what we were taught in Christianity. For decades I associated the cross with just ‘forgiveness and going to heaven when we die’. Reading the Scriptures carefully (and your work Skip, and that of Tom Wright ) reveals a far different picture, a marvelous hope. Forgiveness is involved, certainly, and we’re to be resurrected – like Yeshua was!!! And the age to come in which we’ll live in our new resurrected bodies is on earth where YHWH’s Kingdom rule will cover the whole earth. Such amazingly good news! Where did the ‘go to heaven, up there somewhere as disembodied spirits’ tale come from? Greek mythology?
For the first time in my life I’m actually excited about the Good News. Death is conquered! The most heart-wrenching events in our lives centre around the deaths of those we love ( and our own deaths won’t be too welcome either). But their deaths are not the end. Death does not have the last word!
The scene is the Mount of Olives. Yeshua is about to ascend to Heaven. There is time for ONE last question/comment from the disciples…time to sum up over three years of teaching/mentoring with the Master. Are you ready for it? “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” That’s it folks. Oh vey! I guess they don’t get it! Or actually maybe they do. Yeshua does not disparage their question, he does not ridicule it. He simply says it is not for them to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed. The King will return to rule in His rightful kingdom on earth when the Father’s will gets done here as it is in Heaven. In His timing. Amen
Very good. Thank you.
Dear Skip, I had a similar experience with this verse, some years ago. But it was not about Christ being the King, but that He was born to bear witness to the TRUTH. From Matthew till the last scriptures, we could have the impression that Yeshua was the Savior, a miracle man, a person that showed the purest LOVE. No He didn’t come in the first place as a Messiah of love but of as the Messiah of THE TRUTH. What a difference!!
Dear Skip, I think if take this accounts we’re missing the gueula , this is main action the mashiaj it’s suppose to do it, he’s not the savior of souls, to do the gueula he must be king also, mashiaj rules
Antonio,
Que quiere decir “gueula” en Ingles…para los que no entienden Espanol??
God Morning Skip!
Sometimes you have to turn a paradigm into a pair of dimes, LOL……
Have a bountiful day!
me
Praise Yeshua, our Great King!
He alone possesses the power of life and death. Kingdom Authority!
And He backed up every word He spoke with action.
Help me Father to do the same. May I always testify to the truth…in love…as my King does.
Skip,
Great comment. Since Handel’s Messiah people have voiced the words, ‘King of kings, and Lord of lords,’ yet rarely understood the implication thereof.
But can we separate the forgiveness of sins from the Kingship of the Messiah? This, after all, is the greatest heresy: that a person can have salvation without any obligation to obey the instructions of the King of kings.
On the other hand, it is the absolute Kingship of the Messiah that guarantees his plans will never be thwarted. And His plans include His people, as the book of Revelation makes rather obvious.
I don’t think we can separate them. But it is certainly evident that Christian common expressions about the cross leave one of these elements out of the picture.
~ But it is certainly evident that Christian common expressions about the cross leave one of these elements out of the picture ~ Oh? Evident to who? Too bad someone missed out on this, for Yeshua HaMashiach, (or Jesus (who is the) Christ), is both remembered, celebrated and worshiped as “both” Savior and LORD in my little corner of the world and with the ones I am privileged to worship with..
If He is represented or recognized as anything less than God incarnated in human flesh, then it is certainly time to move on.. and find another gathering of like-minded followers of the Way, for His instructions to us also were also to ~ forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.. for we are (all) part of a much larger family- the family of God.
And the answer is? lol! – “All of the above!” Prophet, Priest and King!!! Hallelujah!- What a Savior!!
But is He a Savior (only?) No, for He is also…. And He is…. and He is… and He is…
the eternal “I AM” Blessed IS the Name !! His Name is Wonderful!
And the child shall be called … “Pele-yoez-el-gibbor-Abi-ad-sar-shalom” (is there more?)
Dear Judi Baldwin the word gueula it isn’t spanish is the hebrew word for redemption,Israel must have the gueula from the mashiaj so the word will have its gueula too, this quiestion you will find in acts 1:6
Freedom from sin is an amazing by-product of the process of His Kingship. But when truth reveals who He is, it takes our eyes off of our snake-bitten selves and puts them on Him, to see Him as Isaiah did, high and lifted up. Only then can we truly see the depths of our sin, turn to The King, be cleansed and set apart to bear His standard, that the world will know – He is “Melech ha olam” – King of the Universe!
“Freedom from sin is an amazing by-product of the process of His Kingship.”
Hi Rick,
Freedom from sin is difficult for me to imagine in the human race
Seems to me that God sent one of his Sons to earth to teach us how to save ourselves
With the help of his Father (The King not a king)
How to enter His Kingdom
“You say correctly that I am a king.”
Hi Skip,
As I recall, years ago you said that in the Hebrew worldview “to be saved” is taken literally
God saves us from time to time
I tend to think God is like a king who is all good
And Jesus was a suffering servant of God, but a king of men and women
Who showed us how to act according to God’s will
Who taught us how to live and how to die
For me the cross is a symbol of death
But it is also a symbol of life
Of life’s fullness in the Here and Now
See what you think about this while i go play. Just a little food for thought.
http://www.therain.org/appendixes/app162.html
I just skimmed over the responses, so if I miss this I apologize.
Western Christianity has become victim to the “what’s in it for me” syndrome, i.e.a a self-centered religion of humanism . It is all about me, mine and I. We desire all of God’s blessings without ever considering our personal covenant responsibilities. My happiness and contentment are not the issues, my service to the King, and all that it requires, is the issue.
Blessing, grace, salvation, etc. as wonderful as these things are, are the byproducts of the sacrificing of our lives (personal desires, wants, goals, and needs) to the King and the furtherance of His kingdom, not ours. I personally want health, wealth, and happiness, but what God wants is love, worship, and obedience, only then will His blessings follow after me and overtake me.
It took my years to figure that simple truth out!
It took me ‘years’ to figure that simple truth out.
He that hath an year let him hear! It has taken me 61 of them to hear rightly.
Wow, that was well said.
Reminds me of the practice of ‘claiming’ bible promises. If the “Old” testament was done away with (“fulfilled”), then how come so many of the often claimed promises, come from there?
Skip,
Would it be fair to say that Pilate was the first witness to the nations of Jesus’ purpose and identity in his inscription over the cross?
Maybe we should start the “Slow Learners Club;” -Sometimes I feel like a “late bloomer.” Maybe it just takes the “slow ones” a little longer to arrive at the “aha” moment! There is a simplicity “in Christ”- ~ whatever He says unto you- do it” ~ Why call ye Me, LORD-LORD and do not things which I say? ~
Yes, obedience results in blessing. Now if we can just rid ourselves of the cultural or “Greek idea” of what this “blessing” might entail. Blessing is a state of being. I am “now’ blessed. All because of Him…
Love this! Thank you!
I had read that the word Ecclesia was wrongly transelated as “church”.
It (ecclesia) was the name given to the governmental assembly of the city of Athens, duly convoked (called out) by proper officers and possessing all political power including even juridical functions.
If this is really the case, then it makes sense that what we are called to is to establish the Kingdom of God and not a church as we know it. Recognizing and following Jesus as our King would be our main purpose.