By Manny Vazquez, M.S., LMFT, Follower of Christ, our Blessed LORD, Holder of a Bachelor’s Degree in Ministry and Leadership and a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology
Monday, August 3, 2026
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ,
Today, our Precious Holy Spirit led me to John 18:28-38, where the Holy Scriptures record the following:
“Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They did not enter the headquarters themselves; otherwise they would be defiled and unable to eat the Passover.
Then Pilate came out to them and said, ‘What charge do you bring against this man?’
They answered him, ‘If this man weren’t a criminal, we wouldn’t have handed Him over to you.’
So Pilate told them, ‘Take Him yourselves and judge Him according to your law.’
‘It’s not legal for us to put anyone to death,’ the Jews declared. They said this so that Jesus’ words might be fulfilled signifying what kind of death He was going to die.
Then Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned Jesus, and said to Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’
Jesus answered, ‘Are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about Me?’
‘I’m not a Jew, am I?’ Pilate replied. ‘Your own nation and the chief priests handed You over to me. What have You done?’
‘My kingdom is not of this world,’ said Jesus. ‘If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. As it is, My kingdom does not have its origin here.’
‘You are a king then?’ Pilate asked.
‘You say that I’m a king,’ Jesus replied. ‘I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.’
‘What is truth?’ said Pilate.” (Holman Christian Standard Bible [HCSB] version of the Holy Bible)
There is a supreme irony in this exchange between our LORD Jesus and Pontius Pilate that many people miss. In his interview of Jesus, Pilate displayed what a true fool is, someone who is far from God and who will never come to God. This idiot’s wife, who was practically nothing in that society, according to their stupid traditions, had more sense than Pilate because the LORD impressed on her in a dream that Jesus was the Real Deal, and she tried to warn her husband, who was an inept leader.
Pilate would be completely forgotten, except that he has the distinction of being the fool in charge when the Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees wanted Jesus killed for daring to challenge their authority.
I must say something here that bears saying. Yes, Jesus most definitely went to the Cross willingly, and it was the Blessed Father’s will that our Precious LORD hang on a Cross to suffer and pay for every sin ever committed by His people. But even though it was God’s will that Jesus pay the ultimate penalty, He did not put Jesus on that Cross. No, it was Pilate and the Roman soldiers who actually hung Jesus on that Cross at the behest of the Jewish leaders, and even though God used the horrible Death of our LORD Jesus to reconcile Christianity to Him, the murderers who put Jesus on that Cross are all burning in Hell (well, Hades) right now.
God uses everything for his good purposes, even horrible, evil things. I cannot tell you the number of young people I have known who have had a horrible history of abuse in their young lives and go on to help an innumerable number of people who have been abused.
Our Blessed LORD can redeem anything. Just look at Alcoholics Anonymous, which is composed of groups of believers who use their sobriety to disciple other alcoholics. I’ve known alcoholics who have been sober 30-40 years and regularly sponsor young men and women who are just beginning in their sobriety. The help they provide these alcoholics is truly inspiring.
So, if you were wondering, yes, the crucifixion of our LORD Jesus was a terrible thing that a handful of evil men did, and no, they did not do it under the direction of God. No, they did it because they perceived Jesus as a threat to their leadership, and moreover, they were absolutely correct. Jesus was here to turn their whole world upside down, and He succeeded because after He ascended into Heaven, He sent our Precious Holy Spirit to finish the job He started through a small ragtag group of disciples who set the world on fire after Jesus left.
So, what was so ironic about the exchange between Pilate and our LORD Jesus?
Consider John 8:30-47, where the Holy Scriptures declare the following:
“As He was saying these things, many believed in Him. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’
‘We are descendants of Abraham,’ they answered Him, ‘and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can You say, ‘“‘You will become free’”’?’
Jesus responded, ‘I assure you: Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill Me because My word is not welcome among you. I speak what I have seen in the presence of the Father; therefore, you do what you have heard from your father.’
‘Our father is Abraham!’ they replied.
‘If you were Abraham’s children,’ Jesus told them, ‘you would do what Abraham did. But now you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this! You’re doing what your father does.’
‘We weren’t born of sexual immorality,’ they said. ‘We have one Father — God.’
Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn’t come on My own, but He sent Me. Why don’t you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to My word. You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Who among you can convict Me of sin? If I tell the truth, why don’t you believe Me? The one who is from God listens to God’s words. This is why you don’t listen, because you are not from God.’ (HCSB version of the Blessed Holy Bible)
In verse 32 from the passage above, Jesus said, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Have you ever considered the implications of what our LORD Jesus is saying here. If you look at verse 32 in context of the whole passage here and passages surrounding it it context as well as several other passages in Scripture, Jesus is clearly saying that if you believe in Him, then you necessarily believe in the Truth. Our LORD Jesus is the Truth incarnate. He is the vessel of the Living God, Who came into the world to save those Who would place their faith in Him.
Some of the people with whom He was speaking in this passage were clearly demonic, for the Truth was not in them. How do I know? Well, Jesus clearly stated they did not believe in Him; therefore they did not have the Truth in their hearts; in other words, demons will never believe in Christ (they may know about Him; they may recognize; but knowing and recognizing Him are different than believing in Him).
Look very carefully at the above passage above. There were two groups of people near Jesus that day, those who believed in Him and those who believed Him. There are those of who love God and BELIEVE in Christ because He is the lover of our souls; because He is our dear Friend; because He is our LORD; because He is our KING; and because He is the One we will serve for all time.
The children of our enemy will never believe in Christ; they may understand the Gospel, and they tremble at the knowledge of that Gospel because, while to the Christian, it is the hope of Eternal Life, to them it the condemnation that they are lost. For demonic people, the mere mention of Jesus causes them to bristle; they cannot stand the Gospel message because it hurts them to know that they have no hope. So, dear Christian, when you perceive that a person is a demon incarnate, stop preaching the Gospel to them. You can kill them with kindness if you want, but you need to stop throwing your pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6).
So, getting back to Pilate, one of the only demons that our LORD Jesus gave His attention to, because the exchange needed to be preserved in the Scriptures, so that the world would understand that it was demonic mankind that was responsible for hanging our LORD Jesus on the Cross, but what demonic mankind meant for evil, God ultimately used to save His people from their sins and reconcile them to Him forever. Amen.
Note that at the end of the passage above from the Gospel of John, Pilate asked Jesus a very dumb, innocuous question, “What is truth?” This idiotic, demonic governor was asking the King of the Universe, the LORD of lords, the KING of kings, the embodiment of the Truth of God, “What is truth?” He was asking the Truth, what is truth? Do you see the irony? Pilate, a chief lieutenant of the enemy himself, had immediate access to the Truth of God, yet he was too stupid and blind to see that all he had to do was reach out of the Savior of the World, and Jesus would have gladly given him the salvation he so desperately needed.
And the ultimate irony that happened at that time was that when Jesus gave up his Spirit at the crucifixion that Pilate himself ordered, it sealed Pilate’s fate and the fates of the entire demon horde, including that of the horrific dragon himself, satan.
And for Christians, those before and those after Christ, the act of Jesus’ death on the Cross, along with His Blessed Resurrection three days later, sealed our fate as well, for as the Blessed result, we get to live forever with our Father God and His Son in a Future Radiant and Eternal Kingdom, completely free from all disease, pain, and death. Amen and Amen.