Jesus before Pilate
John 19:1-16
Intro: On the night of Jesus' arrest he was taken back and forth from various Jewish courts to Roman courts and in between he was mocked by soldiers, and beaten within an inch of his life. All this was done before Jesus was taken to Golgotha to be crucified.
Jesus stands before Pilate:
As our text begins in Chapter 19 of John, Jesus has already been questioned by Pilate, the Roman Procurator. Pilate was in an uncomfortable situation of trying to keep the peace in a region full of religious zealots. Though Roman soldiers were garrisoned in Palestine, Caesar didn't want to have to send legions all the way from Rome to put up with a Jewish rebellion.
On the night before Passover, with the city of Jerusalem filled beyond capacity with Jewish pilgrims coming from great distances, Pilate's quiet evening is interrupted by Jewish religious leaders bringing a prisoner to him. They have already condemned Jesus to death in their Jewish courts, but because they were under Roman occupation and rule, they could not carry out their death sentence on their own. So they are bringing Jesus to Pilate to get him to do what they are not allowed to do on their own.
Pilate is out of his element here. He doesn't know who Jesus is or what he has done to earn a death sentence from the Jews. He asks Jesus if he is King of the Jews which is a pretty good question considering that Pilate is clueless about this whole situation. Jesus admitted to being a king, but not of any earthly kingdom. At the end of Pilate's first questions of Jesus, he goes back out to the Jewish mob outside the Praetorian to tell them, "I find no fault in him at all."
At this point, Pilate comes up with a quick plan to deal with this matter and get it out of his hair. Remembering that sometimes they would release a prisoner at Passover time as a good will gesture for the masses, Pilate offered to release Jesus hoping that this would placate the mob. What he didn't know was that the Jewish leaders had whipped up this mob into a murderous frenzy. How ironic that just a few days before, the crowds were shouting "Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Now they are shouting, "Crucify him!" When Pilate suggested releasing Jesus, the crowd surprised him by offering another option, "No, release Barrabas!" Barabbas was a robber and a trouble maker who was better kept behind bars. That moment of brilliance got Pilate nowhere.
Still trying to get this whole matter out of the way, Pilate came up with another idea to placate the mob, but avoid doing away with Jesus. He decided to have Jesus flogged and then released. The idea behind this scheme was to appeal to their pity. Surely, a beaten and bloody man would be in such a sad state that the crowds would relent on their talk of crucifixion. After being beaten nearly to death, the soldiers put a robe and a crown of thorns on his head, and they taunted him calling him King of the Jews. Pilate brought Jesus out before the crowd and said, "Here is the man!" Surely, this was punishment enough to satisfy the crowd. Pilate still didn't realize that the mob's frenzy was incited by the Jewish religious leaders. When Jesus was brought out before the mob, the chief priests and officials shouted, "Crucify, Crucify!"
Pilate's response was, You take him and crucify him. As for me I find no basis for a charge against him." This was when the Jewish leaders revealed to Pilate their charge against Jesus. "We have a law, and according to that law he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God." Now, that might have been a proper motive for the Jews to want to kill him, but such a charge would mean nothing at all to a Roman court. Rome had no reason to take legal action on a religious matter. By this time, Pilate was at the end of his rope. He was searching desperately for any way out of this tight situation.
Pilate asked Jesus, "Where do you come from?" I assume this question was designed to give him an excuse to call for a change of venue. In fact, that is why Pilate had earlier sent Jesus over to Herod who quickly sent Jesus back to Pilate without making any judgment. Jesus did not answer Pilate's question which made Pilate even more frustrated. He said, "Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you realize I have the power to either free you or crucify you?"
Jesus response to Pilate reveals that Jesus was not a helpless victim here but willingly offering himself up as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus said, "You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." We remember Jesus saying, "No one takes my life away from me, I give it freely." Jesus was still in charge, even in the midst of torture and judgment.
What Jesus said to Pilate made him even more determined to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders settled the matter once and for all. They said, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar." Pilate's final words to the crowd were these: "Here is your king...Shall I crucify your King? Their response was ironic. "We have no king but Caesar!" Obviously this was a statement they didn't mean. Would they choose the hated Roman, Caesar over their messiah? Evidently, they would indeed.
Jesus was turned over to the Roman Soldiers for the start of his walk to Golgotha to be crucified. So what does this section of scripture teach us? It teaches us that Jesus time in the Garden of Gethsemane had fully prepared him for what he was able to do through that dark night before the Jewish leaders and the Roman magistrates. Jesus was not a helpless victim or a misunderstood itinerant preacher. Jesus was the fulfillment of prophecy. Isaiah chapters 49-53, written about 750 b.c. foretold all that Jesus would endure as the suffering servant. This wasn't a departure from the plan, it was the plan all along.
Isaiah’s Suffering Servant:
All we have to do is look back in Isaiah chapters 49-53 to see that everything that happened to Jesus was foretold in prophecy. Isaiah is often called the Messianic prophecy because it has so much to say about the details of Jesus’ life. But one thing that seems confusing about Isaiah’s prophecy is that it talks about a mighty conquering king who rules the nations and it also talks about a humble suffering servant. When the Jews looked at these prophecies they decided that there could be no possible way for the Messiah to be both a suffering servant and also a conquering king. In fact, some decided that the suffering servant must be the Jewish people themselves going through persecution. What they didn’t know was that the Messiah would come to earth, not once but twice. The first time he would suffer and die for their sins, and the second time he would come as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. For our purposes today we will focus on what Isaiah foretold about what Jesus went through on the night of his arrest, trials, beatings, and crucifixion.
Here is what Isaiah tells us about the suffering servant:
1. A savior for the whole earth: Isaiah 49:6 says, “…It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jecob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. Jesus was not just meant to be a savior for the Jews alone, but also for all the nations of the earth.
2. The Messiah would be rejected by Israel: Isaiah 49:7 says, “The redeemer and Holy One of Israel, to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation…” This is the very reason the religious leaders of the Jewish nation were shouting for him to be crucified.
3. Beatings: Isaiah 50:6 tells us, “I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. All the horrors that Jesus endured had been foretold in detail.
4. Disfigured: Isaiah 52:14 says, “…there were many who were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form beyond any human likeness. When Jesus went to the cross, because of the beatings he had endured, he looked far worse than any crucifix might picture him. Jesus was a bloody mess, and his face was so badly disfigured it no longer looked human.
5. Despised and rejected: Isaiah 53:3, “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised and we held him in low esteem. No one could imagine the Messiah being despised and rejected, but Isaiah said that very thing would happen.
6. Pierced: Isaiah 53:5 says, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. Crucifixion is a death by piercing of the hands and feet on a cross. Such a death was never heard of in Isaiah’s day, but he foretold exactly how Jesus would die.
7. Jesus did not speak at his trial: Isaiah 53:7, He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. We know that Jesus spoke to Pilate, but he did not speak any words in his own defense. Jesus did not defend himself or try to avoid being condemned to death.
8. Assigned a grave: Isaiah 53:9 says, “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. It was common in those days for crucified men to be piled into a mass grave set aside for criminals, so this would have happened to Jesus’ body if Joseph of Aramathea had not asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. The tomb Jesus was buried in was an unused tomb reserved for a rich man. Therefore Jesus fulfilled both parts of this prophecy even though that would seem impossible.
We look at these 8 prophecies from Isaiah concerning the suffering servant and see how well they pointed to the details of Jesus torture and death. This helps us to know that everything that happened to Jesus was prophesied centuries in advance. Jesus’ words to Pilate revealed that Jesus knew all that would happen to him long before the events unfolded on that horrible night.
Conclusion: There is another prophecy from Isaiah 53 that sums up the reason behind Jesus arrest, beatings ,and death on the Cross. This is the reason why for all that was done to Jesus. "All we, like sheep, have gone astray, and God has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6) Jesus, the Word of God, and the Light and Life of God was also the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Praise the Lord! Jesus went willingly to the cross.
