Pilate’s Decision
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2022 · 27 March 2022
In John 19 we look again at the trial of our Lord Jesus Christ before Pilate the Roman governor. The Lord Jesus was humbled in every aspect of His life. The one who is the infinite, eternal God made Himself the suffering, lowly slave of God in taking on full humanity. Let us look at His life and some of the features of His life that demonstrate this kind of lifelong cross.
In His life He bore a kind of cross over three decades of His life in His humiliation and obscurity. But especially in the three years of public ministry He lived without reputation, without honor, without admiration. This is the one who was adored by the Father with perfect adoration and love, and the one whom all holy angels worshiped, and all demons feared.
In His arrest He was captured and He was bound. The the limitless one was tied up by evil men. The very one who could have overpowered them and killed them in a split second rather allowed Himself to be their captive so they could lead Him to death. He was bound by the agents of Satan, and one day angels will bind Satan and cast him forever into the lake of fire.
His betrayal was a kind of crucifixion. After three years of merciful privilege granted to Judas, that traitor chose Satan over the Son of God. In His trials before corrupt earthly judges who falsely condemned Him, the one true Judge to whom all final judgment is assigned was found guilty of things He did not do. He is the Judge before whom all people will one day stand.
In His scourging He suffered obvious pain, ripping and shredding of His flesh: shame, humiliation, pain, nakedness, and mockery. This is the one who never had a body up until then, and when He did have a body that body is scarred for all eternity, scarred for the transgressions of sinners. And even in His sentencing, there was a kind of cross, because He was condemned.
The one who is King of Kings, the one who lifts up and puts down all rulers, who will vanquish all kings when He establishes His earthly kingdom and reigns as King of kings and Lord of lords, suffered rejection by rulers and people alike, humiliation, and even death. And then the first time He came it was for a cross, for a crucifixion. His whole life was like a cross.
Now in John 19 we are at the very point of His actual crucifixion. In fact, in John 19:16 you will notice that this portion ends with the words, speaking of Pilate, “So then he handed Him over to the Roman executioners to be crucified.” This leads us to His actual crucifixion. Let us read verse 1- 15, “So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. 2 And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head.”
And they put on Him a purple robe. 3 Then they said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him with their hands. 4 Pilate then went out again, and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.” 5 Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, “Behold the Man!”
6 Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.” 8 Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid,
9 and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” 11 Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
12 From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.” 13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover.
And about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!” 15 But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” 16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away.” This is actual history, with real people in real events.
The Bible is not a mystical book, it’s a historical book. This is the final phase of the trial of Jesus. The Jews didn’t want to kill Him because they were afraid of the crowds. So they determined that it was going to be the Romans that are going to execute Him. This fit into God’s plan because in the Old Testament the picture of the serpent lifted up in the wilderness was a picture of Christ being lifted up.
So according to John 18:32, they insisted on a Roman execution to fulfill the words of Jesus. God was directing even their criminal hearts. They handed Him off to Pilate and said, “Kill Him. Don’t question us, just execute Him.” But Pilate needed a crime, an indictment. He needed evidence and some witnesses. He was a governor and a judge. He needed a reason to kill this man.
Six times it is recorded in the gospels that Pilate said, “Not guilty.” He knew there was no legitimate accusation. He knew Jesus was not leading a revolt. He knew Jesus was no threat to Caesar. “He also knew,” says Matthew 27:18, “that because of envy they had arrested Him.” So Pilate asks Jesus, ‘Are You a king?’ Jesus answered, “I am a king of truth. This is not an earthly kingdom, it’s a transcendent kingdom.”
Now Pilate had presided over hundreds of trials. All of the criminals, innocent and guilty alike, vigorously protest their arrest, argue for their innocence. But here is a man, who knows He is innocent, who makes no case. In his mind he is wondering, “Why doesn’t Jesus answer back? Why doesn’t he defend Himself? But as Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was led as a sheep to slaughter and He was silent.”
Pilate is now trapped by the previous blunders that led to Jewish rioting for which he was reported to Caesar a couple of times and had to be rebuked. He doesn’t know what to do with Jesus. His conscience is bothering him. His wife tells him don’t have anything to do with this man; she had some kind of a dream. Pilate doesn’t want to give in to the people that made his life so miserable, so he passes Jesus off to Herod.
Herod is a king who has some petty authority granted him by Rome in that area. Luke 23 tells us a little bit. Jesus is sent to Herod who is nearby, obviously there for the Passover as well. And it’s a joke to Herod. This is a king. It’s a mockery. Herod never met Jesus throughout His whole ministry. He sees Jesus and he thinks it’s a laughing stock to think of Jesus as a threat.
So after mocking Jesus, heaping scorn on Him, making the ridicule of the people around Herod, he sends Him back to Pilate. So when we come to John 18:39 Pilate’s got Him back, and this is the last of the phases of the trial. Pilate had established a good will gesture. Every Passover he would release a criminal. But, they did not want Jesus released, they wanted Barabbas.
Barabbas was an insurrectionist, a murderer and a robber. You don’t want that kind of person running around as opposed to a healer, a miracle worker, and a teacher of truth. But they chose Barabbas. Barabbas means “Bar Abba, son of the father.” So they chose that son of the father over the true Son of the Father. They chose Barabbas. So Pilate’s first proposal failed.
The second proposal is in John 19. Verse 1, “He took Jesus and scourged Him.” Pilate thought if He beat Him enough, in that bloody and battered condition they would pity Him. There were no limits put to Roman scourging. Thirty-nine lashes was all the Jews could do, because they wanted to stop short of forty, which was the Old Testament requirement as a maximum. The Romans had no such maximum.
So Pilate drags Him out to the crowd on the outside wearing the crown of thorns, verse 5, and says, “Behold, the Man!” “Is this enough? Take a look.” Verse 6, “When the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him.” This is the second time he said, “I give you permission to kill Him yourselves.”
Pilate is already in some kind of trauma. His wife has warned him. He knows that he’s on the brink of a riot. His conscience is berating him. He’s worried about his future career. But that’s not the worst of it; it really gets serious here. Verse 7, “The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.”
They finally arrive on that accusation: “Kill Him for blasphemy.” That is the final full rejection of Israel’s leadership of the Messiah, and there is no excuse. They really were ignorant. But they killed Jesus for saying who He really was. There was no mystery in what His claim was. They knew He claimed to be God’s Son, which is to bear the same nature as God; He claimed deity.
Verse 8 - 9, “When Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, 9 and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.” More afraid than of his guilty conscience? What else was there to be afraid of? Now why does he panic over this statement about Jesus, claiming to be the Son of God? Because every Roman believed in many gods.
So in the pagan perspective, Pilate is thinking, “This could be worse than just the Jews, worse than just Caesar. The gods may have come down and come after me.” He is frenzied. And to add to that, the warning from his wife came because his wife had some kind of a weird dream mentioned in Matthew 27. Pilate’s real questions was, “Did You come down from the gods?”
Pilate hardened his heart to a point that God hardened His heart, Jesus gave him no answer. In that moment Pilate passed into eternal night in his soul. Verse 10, “Then Pilate said to Him, “Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?” The truth of the matter is he didn’t have that authority and he knew it.
Well, technically he did, but that had all been forfeited. He was being blackmailed by the Jews and terrified by this Jesus that might be a god in his presence. Verse 11, “Jesus answered, “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” In Roman belief, there are no gods of grace, they’re all vengeful.
Jesus says, “He who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.” Caiaphas the high priest and the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Supreme Court had the greater guilt. Eternally there is punishment, and greater punishment. Verse 12, “From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.”
So the Jews had to shift back to, “This is a man who claims to be a king. He’s a rival to Caesar. If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar.” You know what Pilate heard at that time? “If I let this Man go, there’s going to be a riot. They’re going to send word back to Caesar; I’m finished.” And in an act of self-protection, he’s going to have to give in. That was the last straw.
Verse 13, “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.” He sets up court, takes his place as the judge. It’s still early morning. Verse 14, “Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”
Pilate renders no verdict, the people do that; they’re in charge. Verse 15, “But they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” When Jesus said He was the Son of God that was true. When they said, “We have no king but Caesar,” that was a lie. They will blaspheme God to kill Christ.
They said, “Let His blood be on us and on our children. We’ll take full responsibility.” Verse 16, “Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. Then they took Jesus and led Him away.” Pilate came on the scene in a dramatic fashion; he goes off the scene, as next to Judas, the greatest tragedy in the New Testament. Pilate asked the question, “What do I do then with Jesus who’s called the Christ?”
That’s the question every person must answer, and the answer will determine your eternal destiny. If you do not confess Jesus as Lord, you may be like the indifferent people, or you may be the screaming people who shouted, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” or anything in-between. Confess Him as Lord. Choose life; choose forgiveness; choose heaven; choose joy; choose blessings forever. Let us pray.