_THE KING OF KINGS_
JOHN xviii. 28-38.
What a strange King our Lord appears, claiming mystic sovereignty, and yet
betrayed by a false friend!
And yet, even in His apparent subjection His majestic kingliness stands
revealed. When I watch the demeanours of Pilate and Jesus, I can see very
clearly who it is who is on the throne; Pilate wears the outer trappings
of royalty, but my Lord's is "the power and the glory." Pilate fusses
about in a little "brief authority," but my Lord stands possessed of a
serene dominion. Even at Pilate's judgment bar Jesus is the King.
But His kingdom is "_not of this world_." And therefore this King is
unlike every other King. He seeks His possessions not by fighting, but by
"lighting"; not by coercion, but by constraint. His servants do not go
forth with swords, but with lamps; not to drive the peoples, but to lead
them. His visible throne is a cross, and His conquests are made in the
power of sacrifice.
And so His armaments are the Truth, and the Truth alone. "_For this cause
came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the Truth._" When
the Truth wins and wooes, the triumph is lasting. Garlands won by the
sword perish before the evening. To be one of the King's subjects is to
share His nature. "Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice."