“We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God." When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, "You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?" Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.” [John 19:7-11]
Pilate's Verdict: “NOT GUILTY, still Condemned”
The religious trial was ended, and the civil trial is about to begin. The scene is the hall of judgment or the place of the governor. The Jews did not want to go into the palace of a Gentile. They felt that they would have been defiled and would thus be prevented from eating the Passover. It did not seem to bother them that they were plotting the death of the Son of God. It would have been a tragedy for them to enter a Gentile house, but murder was a mere trifle.Pilate, the Roman Governor, gave in to the religious scruples of the Jews by going out to where they were. He began the trail by asking them to state the charge against this Prisoner.
Their answer was bold and rude. They said, in effect, that they had already tried the case and found Him guilty. All they wanted Pilate to do was to pronounce the sentence.
Pilate tried to evade responsibility and throw it back on the Jews. If they had already tried Jesus and found Him guilty, then why did they not sentence Him according to their law? The answer of the Jews was very significant. They said, in so many words: “We are not an independent nation. We have been taken over by the Roman power. Civil government has been taken from our hands, and we no longer have the authority to put anyone to death.” Jesus had predicted (Matt. 20:19) that He would be delivered up to the Gentiles to be killed. Here the Jews were doing the very thing to Him. In many places, the Lord said that He would be “lifted up” (John 3:14, 8:28; 12:32,34). This referred to death by crucifixion. The Jews used stoning in cases of capital punishment; whereas crucifixion was the Roman method. Thus, by their refusal to carry out the death penalty, the Jews unknowingly fulfilled these two prophecies concerning the Messiah.
Pilate now took Jesus into the Praetorium for a private interview and asked Him point blank—“Are You the King of the Jews?” After the interview, Pilate now hurried to the Jews with the admission that he could find no fault in Jesus at all. It was the custom among the Jews at the Passover to request the release of some Jewish prisoner from the Romans. Pilate seized upon this custom in an effort to please the Jews and at the same time release Jesus.
The scheme failed. The Jews did not want Jesus; they wanted Barabbas. Barabbas was a robber. The wicked heart of man preferred a bandit to the Creator.
It was most unjust for Pilate to scourge an innocent Person. Perhaps he hoped that this punishment would satisfy the Jews and that they would not demand the death of Jesus. Scourging was a Roman form of punishment. The prisoner was beaten with a whip or a rod. The whip had pieces of metal or bone in it, and these cut deep gashes in the flesh.
Pilate then went out again to the mob and announced that he was about to bring Jesus out to them, but He was innocent. Thus Pilate condemned himself by his own words. He found no fault in Christ, yet he would not let Him go.
Pilate was willing to please the Jews, and so he turned Jesus over to the soldiers to be crucified. He loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
"...I find no guilt in Him"
“Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, "I find no guilt in him.”.... Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him...So he delivered him over to them to be crucified” [John 18:39 , 19:1, 19:16]
Jesus before Pilate
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
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