Oh, btw, FYI Matt 27:11 (KJV) "And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest."
Mark 15:2 (KJV) "And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest [it]."
Luke 23:3 (KJV)"And Pilate asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest [it]."
You'll forgive me if I prefer the words of our Lord.
Do you even know what the Lord is saying??? He's saying that this was Pilate's claim, not His...
Joh 18:33 Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again, and called Jesus, and said unto him, Art thou the King of the Jews?
Joh 18:34 Jesus answered him, Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me?
Joh 18:35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me: what hast thou done?
Joh 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
Joh 18:37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Joh 18:38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.
Joh 18:39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover: will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews?
Joh 18:40 Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
Jesus never once said or admitted he was the King...Jesus' Kingdom is NOT, NOW, from HERE...And it won't be til he comes back with His Bride...Not that Kingdom anyway...
If some of you folks would quit reading the hype put out by your church and get into the Bible, you'd pick up on some of this stuff...
...
But I'm looking for it to happen any time now...
Sorry...just gotta laugh about these two statements juxtaposed.
Friend, we were not told that the Kingdom was at hand (that the axe was laid at the foot of the tree) just so we could all stand on edge for 2000 years. The Kingdom is here and is among us. It is advancing, and it will one day be fully consumated.
My apologies for not getting back with you sooner. Was tied up with something:
You correctly cited John 18:36
John 18:36 "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence."
You'll note, of course, that Jesus said my kingdom IS not of this world. He did not say my kingdom will not be of this world. The word recorded by St. John here is the Greek verb eimi (to be, to exist). It is in the third person singular active present. It is not in the future, the aorist, or the perfect. It is in the present.
Secondly, of course you note the word "hence." Hence (enteuthen) is an adverb of location. It literally means (depending upon how its used) "to here" or "from here."
So, based upon the tense of the word eimi and the meaning of the adverb enteuthen, it's obvious that Jesus was acknowledging in this section that he was a king...just that his kingdom was not here.
As a side note, if you would care to examine Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, you'd note that the entry with the waving palms was appropriate for a king, as well.
You said, If some of you folks would quit reading the hype put out by your church and get into the Bible, you'd pick up on some of this stuff...
To which I'd like to respond, if you actually read your Bible, you would have no alternative but to come to genuine, apostolic Christianity.