"Art Thou a King then?"
John 18:37.
P. Ben, Sep. 2016.
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Pilate's enquiry
was preceded by two things: delivering unto Pilate and delivering unto the
Jews. These two sins are signature failures of the chosen race and the heathen respectively.
Pilate recalls the nation's act of delivering up Christ unto him- 'Thine own nation...have delivered Thee unto me', to which
the divine response was- 'if My Kingdom....that I should not be delivered to
the Jews'. (John 18:36, 19:16)
Comparatively, the greater sin of the two was
that of the Jews delivering Jesus to Pilate than Pilate delivering Him up to
the Jews (John 19:11). The reason being that Pilate rejected Christ as the King
of the Jews while the Jews rejected Him as the Son of God, the title on which
He should rule as the King of the Jews.
Christ responded to Pilate- 'to this end was I
born, and for this cause came I into the world...'.
Both the Jewish prophetical ideas of Christ as Man, of the Seed of David
according to Flesh and Christ as the Son of God in terms with the Davidic
covenant is realised. 'To this end was I born' as the
manner of human birth should be- a perfect