Today’s devotion serves as a test and reminder of our understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do we truly know Him personally, or is our knowledge merely second-hand?

Bible Reading Day 160

AM – 2 Chronicles 32, 33

PM – John 18:24-40

𝕿𝖎𝖙𝖑𝖊:  𝕾𝖆𝖞𝖊𝖘𝖙 𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖘 𝖙𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖞𝖘𝖊𝖑𝖋?

𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝟏𝟖:𝟑𝟑-𝟑𝟓 𝐊𝐉𝐕

𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑷𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝑨𝒓𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑱𝒆𝒘𝒔? ³⁴ 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝑺𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒚𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇, 𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆? ³⁵ 𝑷𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅, 𝑨𝒎 𝑰 𝒂 𝑱𝒆𝒘? 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆: 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒏𝒆?

Peter denied the Lord three times. Meanwhile, Jesus was being questioned by Pilate, who had heard of Him. Jesus’s reputation was widespread (𝕸𝖆𝖙𝖙𝖍𝖊𝖜 𝟏𝟒:𝟏; 𝕷𝖚𝖐𝖊 𝟒:𝟑𝟕; 𝟓:𝟏𝟓). Pilate likely knew about Jesus’s arrival in Jerusalem days earlier, when crowds shouted, “𝑯𝒐𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂: 𝑩𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝑰𝒔𝒓𝒂𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅” – 𝕵𝖔𝖍𝖓 𝟏𝟐:𝟏𝟑.

Now, Jesus and Pilate face each other. Jesus didn’t look like a typical king—certainly not one a Roman would recognize. Pilate then directly asks Jesus, “𝕬𝖗𝖙 𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖚 𝕶𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕵𝖊𝖜𝖘?” This was a simple question that could be answered with a yes or no. However, Jesus doesn’t respond. Why? Because answering ‘Yes’ would make Pilate see Him as a threat to Caesar, aiming to overthrow Rome. Conversely, saying ‘No’ would mean denying the truth and the hope of Israel.

The Lord challenges Pilate with a question: “🆂🅰🆈🅴🆂🆃 🆃🅷🅾🆄 🆃🅷🅸🆂 🆃🅷🅸🅽🅶 🅾🅵 🆃🅷🆈🆂🅴🅻🅵, 🅾🆁 🅳🅸🅳 🅾🆃🅷🅴🆁🆂 🆃🅴🅻🅻 🅸🆃 🆃🅷🅴🅴 🅾🅵 🅼🅴?” Essentially, Jesus is asking, “Pilate, are you seeking to understand who I am based on your own inquiry, or are you relying on what others have said?” His question targets Pilate’s conscience, urging him to take personal responsibility for his perception of Christ, independent of hearsay. Jesus prompts Pilate to reflect on the source of his knowledge: “Pilate, who told you this? Is it merely hearsay, second-hand information, or have you reached this conclusion on your own?”

Jesus was urging Pilate to transform his second-hand knowledge into direct experience. Sadly, Pilate dodged the question (v. 35). He might have confessed that his understanding of Jesus was second-hand and expressed a desire to know the truth himself. Instead, he diverted the conversation, asking, “🅰🅼 🅸 🅰 🅹🅴🆆? 🆆🅷🆈 🅳🅸🅳 🆈🅾🆄🆁 🅾🆆🅽 🅽🅰🆃🅸🅾🅽 🆃🆄🆁🅽 🅰🅶🅰🅸🅽🆂🆃 🆈🅾🆄?” This shift provided Jesus with an opportunity to clarify the true nature of His kingship (v. 36).

The importance of hearsay. Much of what we know is second-hand: I believe certain facts without direct experience—such as touching a fallen electrical line being deadly, heroin and cocaine being addictive, smoking causing cancer, and touching a hot stove burning you.

There are some things I must experience for myself:

• 𝕻𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖔𝖓𝖆𝖑 𝖘𝖆𝖑𝖛𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 — Simply knowing that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation isn’t enough; I must personally experience it to be truly saved.
• 𝕻𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖔𝖓𝖆𝖑 𝕽𝖊𝖛𝖎𝖛𝖆𝖑 — Hearing about past revivals is inspiring, but it won’t fulfill my need for revival in my life today until I experience it firsthand.
• 𝕲𝖔𝖉’𝖘 𝕭𝖑𝖊𝖘𝖘𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 — Hearing what God did for others may be encouraging, but it will not satisfy my need for God to do something in my life today.

As Jacob stated in 𝕲𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖎𝖘 𝟑𝟎:𝟐𝟕, “𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆…”