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The Gospel of John, The Period of Consummation, Part XII, John 19:11-16 - Lesson 189
Read Verses John 19:10 for review, Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
John 19:11, Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
Jesus tells Pilate what all those in authority should have uppermost in their mind.
That any authority derived from Caesar and Caesar's authority came from God.
Pilate's authority derived from Caesar and Caesar's authority came from God.
Note this Pilate: That all who are given authority are answerable to the one who gave them authority and ultimately that is God.
Pilate you have no right to use authority unjustly and illegally.
What you do will not be unrecorded. You are not sovereign!
Pilate had already abused his authority by flogging an innocent man.
Jesus Christ did not hesitate to point out Pilate's sin in abuse of his authority but he also pointed out a greater sinner than Pilate.
he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
The "he" of this verse is a personal "he".
The "he" of this verse is the high priest, Caiaphas.
Caiaphas was the politically motivated, spiritually insensitive, worldly minded, godless and unprincipled high priest.
A position in which God set high standards.
A position that carried with it the highest and holiest functions.
Caiaphas had disgraced his office and according to this verse will on day be called into account to a much greater extent than Pilate.
He fully acted as the representative of his nation and he will be called to account for his actions.
John 19:12, And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
The words of Christ to Pilate convinced him further of the need to release this man.
Most likely he pled with the Jewish mob and made arguments to them which John does not record.
But the Jews will have none of that so the Jews accuse Pilate of disloyalty to his emperor, Caesar.
They called him soft for wanting to let a man go who threatened Caesar.
Woe to anyone when the word got back to Rome of leniency toward insurrectionists, Caesar's enemies.
Pilate always desired to stay on the right side of Caesar and to be thought of as Caesar's friend and a loyal supporter of the emperor.
Was being the champion of this stranger worth the possibility of being on the wrong side of Caesar?
Certainly not in the mind of one who wished to keep his position.
He could not afford to displease the Emperor.
Political correctness is no new thing!
Political correctness simply comes from the same heart that Adam had after his fall in the Garden.
It is diametrically opposed to righteousness!
So now the Jews had struck the right note of Pilate's heart.
They had found the argument that turned Pilate to their thinking.
Instead of trying to convince Pilate of upholding their religious law they now became guardians of the rights of the Roman empire.
This event is typical of the world's way of duplicity.
Pretending one thing to accomplish another.
Double minded!
The Jews pretended caring about Pilate's continued friendship with Caesar in order to get their way in the murder of the Messiah.
And Pilate who pretended that he was the champion for justice until the price to his person became to high to bear!
First the Jews brought a general accusation of evil doing by Jesus Christ
They followed that by a charge that the very title "King of the Jews" was seditious.
Then they charged that their religious law had been offended.
In all these they could not sway Pilate but they now find success when they appeal to Pilate's own fears.
It finally gets personal with Pilate!
John 19:13, When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
968. bema, bay'‑ma; from the base of G939; a step, i.e. foot‑breath; by impl. a rostrum, i.e. tribunal:‑‑judgment‑seat, set [foot] on, throne.
1042. gabbatha, gab‑bath‑ah'; of Chald. or. [comp. H1355]; the knoll; gabbatha, a vernacular term for the Roman tribunal in Jerus.:‑‑Gabbatha.
When Pilate heard the saying:
If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
he brought Jesus out of the judgment hall.
He sat down at the judgment seat that was set up in a place called the Pavement, a stone paved area.
This is the BEMA (Bayma) seat of the Romans.
He is finished walking back and forth into the judgment hall and out to the Jews.
He is now revealed as one who fears man but does not fear God.
His own position and his life may be in danger if he refuses the appeal of the Jews.
Should he bring himself to be recalled to Rome to save a Jew, because justice demanded it.
"What is justice" he may have said as he had said, "What is truth?"
Man justifies whatever he does!
It is symbolic that until this time he has stood but now he sits. He is finished taking a stand for Christ and now he yields to the pressure of being called disloyal to Caesar.
So he sits in the Bay-ma seat, the judgment seat.
He has made up his mind! Why resist, the price is too great!
John 19:14, And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
John uses the Roman system of time in this verse.
It was about 6:00 o'clock in the morning.
The sixth hour was measured from midnight as we do today according to the Roman system.
According to Matthew and Mark, Jesus Christ was on the cross between the third hour and the ninth hour, 9:00AM to 3:00PM.
So since both accounts are true we must recognize that John uses the Roman system of time measurement.
Matthew and Mark use the Jewish system that starts the day at our 6:00AM so the Jewish sixth hour would be at our noon or 12:00 whereas the Roman sixth hour would coincide with our 6:00AM.
It was the preparation of the passover means that this day was the day the Jews killed their passover lamb.
They were to eat it in the evening so the passover lamb was to be killed prior to the evening allowing enough time to roast it.
Christ the true passover lamb gave up his life at 3:00PM which was probably very near the normal time that the passover lamb would have been killed in order to allow time for preparation, roasting and eating before the Sabbath began.
Passover occurred on the 14th day of the first Jewish month and this particular passover occurred on Friday so preparations were also done for the Sabbath day to follow and the feast of unleavened bread which occurred in the 15th day of the first month.
This was a very busy day in indeed for Jewish households.
So Pilate is now seated in the judgment seat.
He is defeated by his own ambition.
The Jews have discovered his price.
He values the favor of Caesar more than executing justice.
So one last time he: saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
He forces the Jews to look once more at the man that they so deeply hate.
Here Jesus stood, his face beaten, his head crowned with thorns, his bleeding back covered by a purple robe.
He had been up all night, a night begun by praying and bleeding drops of blood in the garden.
He had been bullied and abused by the Sanhedrin and its police.
He had been marched here and there and everywhere across the city.
He was exhausted and filled with pain of body.
This is who the Jews desired to crucify so Pilate says behold your king!
John 19:15,16 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
So Pilate's final appeal is rejected by the Jews.
They continue to demand the death of Jesus Christ.
In their flesh nothing but his blood will satisfy them.
And so too this is what God decreed, nothing but the blood of Christ will satisfy the justice of the Father.
But God's decree was given in love of the Son but the decree of the chief priests was given in hate.
God intended for that blood to be shed so as to extend mercy to sinners but the aim of his persecutors was to bring cruelty to one who was sinless.
The chief priests and the nation hid as it were their faces from him, they despised him, they esteemed him not as Isaiah had prophesied.
Pilate had said, Behold your king!
Now he responds to their cry of crucify him.
Shall I crucify him? Are you sure this is what you want?
He knows that this method of execution is a horrible way of death and it was mostly used for slaves and the most dangerous criminals
God through Pilate gives ample opportunity to the chief priests to consider their actions and to repent of their actions.
They respond with: We have no king but Caesar!
So again the Jews reject God as their king as they had done in the days of Samuel when they demanded a king other then God.
With this final rejection of Jesus Christ Pilate yields to them and delivers Jesus Christ unto them to be crucified.
He sacrifices every principal of honor and justice in order to prove his loyalty to Caesar. This is loyalty gone awry!
Matthew records in Mat 27:24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
By this act he sought to hand down the whole blame on the Jews when he himself was fully to blame for not executing justice to a man that he had declared innocent.
Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. |