Pilate Before Jesus

Wishing to satisfy the crowd...how's that for an epitaph?...Pilate who wished to satisfy the crowd. Write that in stone over his life.

It's a despicable thing. Over and over and over he declares the innocence of Jesus, but he released Barabbas for them and after having Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. Can you remember the excitement you felt as a kid when you opened a Christmas present that you desperately wanted? Of course, no matter how great the gift, your enthusiasm about it probably waned over time until one day you probably forgot about it altogether. Well, if Christ has transformed your heart and you have received the greatest gift of all, eternal life, that's not something you're going to forget about. And yet, because Christians are not perfect, there can be times when the joy of salvation grows a little bit cold. In moments like that, in fact all the time, you need fresh reminders of what Christ has done for you. So stay here on grace to you as John MacArthur looks at Christ's incredible sacrifice in the brand new series called The Divine Drama of Redemption.

And now here's John. Let's open the Word of God to the fifteenth chapter of Mark's gospel and in this particular portion of Scripture we meet this fascinating character by the name of Pilate. He is a name to add to the rogue's gallery that we've been accumulating in the drama of the murder of Jesus. Those like Judas and Annas and Caiaphas and Herod and now the Roman governor by the name of Pilate.

They are all part of the black backdrop set behind the shining glory of the Lord Jesus. All of them tried to use their position and their power and their influence and their wits to bring Jesus to His end. Here is the story of the final player in this rogue's gallery, a man named Pilate, a tragic self-serving coward who was on trial for his own life and his own career and his own eternal destiny as he stood before Jesus.

Let's read the account. Early in the morning, the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole council immediately held a consultation. And binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate. Pilate questioned Him, Are You the King of the Jews?

And He answered Him, It is as You say. The chief priests began to accuse Him harshly. Then Pilate questioned Him again saying, Do You not answer, see how many charges they bring against You? But Jesus made no further answer, so Pilate was amazed. Now at the feast, He used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested.

The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. The crowd went up and began asking Him to do as He had been accustomed to do for them. Pilate answered them saying, Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews? For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask Him to release Barabbas for them instead. Answering again, Pilate said to them, Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews? They shouted back, Crucify Him! But Pilate said to them, Why?

What evil has He done? But they shouted all the more, Crucify Him! Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them and after having Jesus scourged, He handed him over to be crucified. Then verse 12 is the ultimate question that every human has to answer, What shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews? Every one has their eternal destiny based on how they answer that question, Pilate and everyone since. Now the Jewish part is done, but they must bring the Romans into this. And that is why we see them binding Jesus here in verse 1 and leading Him away to Pilate.

You might ask, Why is that? The answer is in John's gospel, as John's record gives us a very specific answer, John 18, 31, they said, We are not permitted to put anyone to death. The eus gladii, which is Latin for the power of the sword, was taken from Israel. The power of the sword, the power of execution belonged only to Rome in all its occupied countries. The Jews had no legal right to execution.

They had no right to kill. So they must get permission from the Romans, so their case must come to Pilate. Now we pick it up in verse 1, early in the morning, the chief priests with the elders after the mock trial in the day come, that's essentially the whole council, immediately held a consultation.

The whole council is unanimous on this. They are all committed to the death of Jesus. So they hold their consultation as to this legal issue of having the Romans by necessity do the execution. So they bind Jesus. John gives us more details in John 18. He is bound and taken off to Pilate. Pilate, by the way, has a very elevated opinion of His power. He says to Jesus, don't you know that I have authority over you, I can do anything I want to you, John 19, and Jesus says, you have no authority over Me at all if it was not given you from on high. Jesus then is in Pilate's judgment hall at somewhere around 6 A.M., between 5 and 6 A.M. All of this happens very rapidly.

These places are very, very close together. John gives us a little more detail and it's good to get this detail, although we won't spend a lot of time digging down into it. Go to John 18 for a moment, a little more detail is necessary. They led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Praetorium...into the Praetorium. And it was early and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that they would not be defiled but might eat the Passover.

These hypocrites are something, aren't they? They don't want to be defiled while they're trying to murder the Son of God because they don't want to step on Gentile land, but they bring Jesus to the Praetorium. Pilate went out to them because they wouldn't go in and said, what accusation do you bring against this man? This is a legal question. Pilate is acting now as a judge. He is a judge. He is Rome's primary judge.

He is the final court of appeal in Israel for Rome and for any cases that need to be adjudicated by Rome. But they don't want Pilate as a judge. They want Pilate merely as an executioner. They don't want another trial. They don't want a retrial. They don't want any questions like this to be asked. So they simply answer in verse 30, if this man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered him to you.

They don't want to answer the question. They want to impugn Pilate for asking the question, as if to say, who are you to distrust us? We wouldn't be bringing him to you to execute because you alone have the power to execute unless there was reason.

He is an evildoer, that's why we're here and that's why we brought him. Now you have to know that Pilate was fully aware of Jesus. He had been fully aware of Jesus who knows how long, who knows how many weeks or months or years he had known about Jesus. He was well aware of the issues concerning Jesus and he is also well aware that this is a blatant miscarriage of justice. He knows that. So Pilate said to them in verse 31, take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.

Kill him yourself. He gives them permission to execute Jesus. And the Jews said to him, we're not permitted to put anyone to death, they're going to be so noble that they would never think of overstepping the parameters of Roman law. We're not going to do that.

We really are not allowed to do that. All of a sudden they're becoming so legal, so righteous. They don't want the responsibility of executing Jesus.

They don't want to deal with the implications and repercussions. They've got to give Pilate some reason for executing Jesus. And Luke 23, 2 comes in at this point, they make three accusations.

This is what they said. He is perverting our nation. He is forbidding to pay taxes and he's claiming to be king.

All false, all lies. He did not pervert the nation, they did. He did not forbid to pay taxes. He told people to pay their taxes and he paid his own. And while he claimed to be a king, his kingdom was never of this world. They lied.

But that was nothing new for them. Now we go back to the fifteenth chapter of Mark. This is what happened between verses 1 and 2. Pilate then questioned him, are you the King of the Jews?

And he went right to the third one because this one fascinated him the most, apparently. Are you the King of the Jews? And of course there's scorn in that because there's nothing about Jesus that makes him look royal or regal. Whatever his condition at this time, he has still a garment on that has been profusely stained by sweat and blood. He has a face that is battered and bruised from punches and slaps, spit all over his face.

He has not been washed. Pick up on John's version of this. Pilate entered into the Praetorium, summoned Jesus in, got Him inside, said to Him, Are You the King of the Jews? Jesus answered, Are You saying this on Your own initiative, or did others tell You about Me?

Pilate answered, I'm not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me, what have You done? Jesus answered, My Kingdom is not of this world. If My Kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews.

But as it is, My Kingdom is not of this realm. Therefore Pilate said to Him, So You are a king? Jesus answered, You say correctly that I am a king, for this I have been born and for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. Pilate said to Him, What is truth? Wow, an agnostic, a cynic. And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no guilt in this man. Well let's go back again to Mark's gospel. Are You the King of the Jews?

It is as you say. When Pilate says, I find no guilt in this man, the chief priests, verse 3, began to accuse Him harshly. Verse 4, Pilate questioned Him again saying, Do You not answer? See how many charges they bring against You? They were just throwing charges at Him. These are the Sanhedrin members. These are the judges of Israel. This is the Supreme Court. And there's a rare silence in court. Jesus gives no defense against these lies, against this illegal barrage.

Verse 5, Jesus made no further answer. So Pilate was amazed from the verb thaumazo, to marvel, to be in wonder. Here was somebody being accused of all kinds of things that he didn't do that weren't true. And he makes no defense...makes no defense. What's Pilate going to do? Pilate's in a tough spot. Between verse 5 and 6, something happens.

What happens? He sends Jesus to Herod. For the record of this, go to Luke 23, verse 8, Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus for he had wanted to see Him for a long time because he had been hearing about Him and hoping to see some signs performed by Him, want to see miracles.

He questioned Him at some length but he answered Him nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there accusing Him vehemently. They followed Jesus to Herod and they're there with the same screaming, screeching accusations. And Herod with his soldiers after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate.

Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day for they had been before enemies with each other. When Herod finally meets Jesus, he's not impressed. He thinks it's a joke. He looks at this beleaguered man and he concludes that this is no threat to anybody. He says nothing to defend himself and the chief priests and the scribes keep firing the accusations. They put a gorgeous robe on him, the word is lampros, it means brilliant, shining, bright, some kind of a dazzling robe on him.

And this is part of the comedy that's now beginning to crank up. This is a joke that this man is a king, that this man is a threat is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. Herod wants nothing to do with him, he just sent him back, verse 11, to Pilate. Why does Pilate send Jesus to Herod? I think from Pilate's point, to confirm Jesus' innocence.

That's what I think. I think he wanted Herod to say, I agree with you, this man hadn't done anything. And de facto, that's essentially what Herod did when he sent him back without any kind of sentence, without any kind of adjudication. From God's viewpoint, this is just another testimony in the mouth, if you will, de facto of a second witness, Deuteronomy 19.15, of the innocence of Jesus. It was only the Jews who want the Son of God murdered, only the Jews. So Jesus is now sent back to Pilate.

So let's go back to Mark 15 and we'll wrap it up. Back he goes to Pilate. Trying to hang on to justice, he makes an appeal which is recorded in the 23rd chapter of Luke. He said to them, you brought this man to me as one who incites the people to rebellion and behold, having examined him before you, I found no guilt in this man regarding the charges which you make against him, nor has Herod, for he sent him back to us. And behold, nothing deserving death has been done by him. Therefore...how's this for a conclusion?...therefore I will punish him and release him. Punish him for what? You just said he didn't do anything. I will punish him unjustly, illegally, cowardly and then release him.

Wouldn't you be satisfied with that if I just lash him? Now we pick up the story in Mark 15 again. At the feast, he used to release for them, this is phase three, Pilate phase one, Herod phase two, back to Pilate phase three. He used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. This was a kind of a way to conciliate with an occupied people, amnesty...amnesty for one prisoner of the people's choice.

By the way, ancient sources say this was a provision of good will that the Roman governors did in a lot of places to try to maintain some sense of mercy. And he was sure, I think, that the people would want Jesus. After all, Jesus was the miracle worker. So he's done with the Sanhedrin.

He's not going to deal with them anymore, they're incorrigible. But now he's going to turn to the population and he feels he's on pretty safe ground finally here because of what happened on Monday when Jesus came in and they hailed Him as their King. The man named Barabbas, verse 7, was his choice as an option.

He had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. Pilate thinks maybe this is going to be the way out, turn to the people. The crowd went up, verse 8, and began asking Him to do as He had been accustomed to do for them. Hey, it's the Passover, release a prisoner. So Pilate answers them in verse 9 and says, do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?

There's so much scorn in that. He is a man full of bitterness, guilt, hate. That history record that this pagan knew Jesus was innocent of all charges. And he gives the people of Israel the choice to stop the corrupt efforts of the Sanhedrin and to have Jesus released. He turns to the people expecting the response, yes, we want Jesus, the great teacher, the greatest teacher ever, the miracle worker.

We want Jesus. And the reason he thought he was on safe ground is in verse 10, very interesting verse. He was aware the chief priests had handed him over because of envy.

That's correct. That's...if you're looking for a motive here, there it is. They were jealous of his power, they were jealous of his popularity, they were jealous of his teaching, they hated him because of envy and he knew that. And he was sure it was the envy of the leaders that made them the way they were and if he went to the people, it would be different because the people had hailed him as their King and their Messiah. And we pick it up again in verse 11 of Mark 15, the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead.

Unthinkable. What did Barabbas ever do for anybody? What good was Barabbas? And yet Luke says they all together declared they wanted Barabbas. In fact, in Luke 23, 18, it's recorded that they said, away with this man and release Barabbas...release Barabbas. Let the guilty live, kill the sinless one.

Treat the guilty as innocent and treat the innocent as guilty. So now they render their verdict on Jesus and in the reality of it that Jesus renders His verdict on them. And Luke says, Pilate wanting to release Jesus still addresses the crowd again, verse 12, Pilate said to them, then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?

What do I do with Him? Verse 13, they shouted back, crucify Him. That's the crowd. They have been led into this hysteria by the Sanhedrin.

It's really hard to understand, isn't it, from Monday to Friday? They join the rest of the corrupt blasphemers. They take their place with Judas and Annas and Caiaphas and Herod and Pilate and the Sanhedrin. And Pilate, still incredulous, verse 14, said to them, why? What evil has He done?

Another declaration of innocence, another one. But the crowd is relentless. They shouted all the more, crucify Him. Pilate's finished, done Him and He collapses under the threat.

He has to bow to their will. And the first line in verse 15 is an amazing statement, wishing to satisfy the crowd. How's that for an epitaph, Pilate who wished to satisfy the crowd. Write that in stone over his life. It's a despicable thing.

Over and over and over he declares the innocence of Jesus. But he released Barabbas for them and after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified...scourged. What does it mean to be scourged? It means to be whipped, flogged is another term that could express that. Whips, a wooden handle, long thongs embedded in the ends of the thongs would be pieces of bone, sharp pieces of bone and stone and iron, massive blood loss. Many people died.

There would be two lictors alternating blows. He was handed over to be scourged. In John 19 we get a more detailed account of this. The soldiers twisted, John 19, together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, put a purple robe on him, began to come up to him and say, Hail, King of the Jews, the comedy continues, the irony, the sarcasm, the mockery, the scorn and they gave him slaps in the face like they had seen the Sanhedrin do. Pilate came out again and said to them, Behold, I'm bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in him. This is after the scourging.

He brings him back. Jesus came out this time wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe the soldiers had put on him in mockery. And Pilate said, Behold the man, take a look at him.

Is that not enough? So when the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out saying, Crucify, crucify. And 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. So he handed him over to be crucified.

How could this happen? Well, one answer is because man is so totally wretched. But the other answer is because God is so totally merciful. Here we see the worst of men and the best of God. He is bruised for our iniquities, isn't he, as Isaiah 53 says. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. John is chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary in the Los Angeles area, and he's titled his brand new Easter series, The Divine Drama of Redemption. And you know, John, it's significant that the title of today's message is Pilate Before Jesus. It's not Jesus before Pilate. And that helps put this part of the redemption story in perspective, because it speaks to who's really in charge and who's really on trial. In everything that's happening there in Jerusalem, it was God himself in charge.

This was a divine plan that was unfolding. Yeah, it's an irony that caused me to change the title from Jesus Before Pilate to Pilate Before Jesus. Pilate didn't know it. He was on trial, and Jesus was the judge. In fact, the whole nation of Israel was on trial, and Jesus was the judge.

The crucifiers were on trial, and Jesus was the judge. There is so much irony, so much unfolding magnificent beauty in the story of Jesus' trials and death that I wrote a book some years ago called The Murder of Jesus. It looks deep into the details of his trial, multifaceted trial, and all that led up to and including his crucifixion. Fascinating book, The Murder of Jesus, takes you to the scene of the crime.

And there are so many details that have been overlooked, even historically. In this book, we'll spell them out, draw them out of Scripture, and lead you up to a fresh and new understanding of the marvelous sacrifice of Christ, the book titled The Murder of Jesus, a great tool for kindling your love for him and your gratitude for your salvation. Now again, this is a book, 250 pages, that you're going to need to spend some time reading, because you're going to have to stop and take your breath as you read the details that led up to the death of our Savior. The book again, The Murder of Jesus, available from grace to you. And as John said, the murder of Jesus will give you a greater appreciation for your salvation. I can't think of a better reason to read a book than that.

To place your order, contact us today. Call our toll-free number, 800-55-GRACE, or go to gty.org. The book, The Murder of Jesus, looks at both the physical side of Christ's crucifixion and the spiritual, supernatural, redemptive side as well. It will help you better understand history's most heinous act of human injustice, as well as the greatest demonstration of love the world will ever see.

Again, to pick up a copy of The Murder of Jesus. Call 800-55-GRACE, or go to gty.org. And remember, at gty.org you can access thousands of free resources. You can read daily devotionals, or watch video from John's conference appearances, or download all of John's sermons, including his current series, The Divine Drama of Redemption, all free of charge. If you're not sure where to start, try Grace Stream. It's a continuous broadcast of John's verse-by-verse teaching that begins in Matthew chapter 1 and goes all the way through Revelation 22. The website again, gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson, encouraging you to be here tomorrow as John looks at the magnitude of what Christ endured on the cross and why He endured it. Don't miss the next 30 minutes of Unleashing God's Truth, one verse at a time, on Friday's Grace to You.