Christ on Trial Before Pontius Pilate (Mark Sermon 84)

This morning I had the privilege to sit again in the “Discovering Christ” class, which is a class we have every week to study the person and work of Christ based on the Gospel of Mark. I was struck again as we began the cycle. We’re looking at infinite majesty of the person of Christ. That’s the purpose of the Gospel of Mark. It depicts Jesus in His remarkable person, His authority, declared to be the son of God at His baptism by a voice that came from heaven when heaven was torn apart and a dove came down and a voice said, “This is My Son whom I love; with Him, I’m well pleased.”

Then Jesus begins his ministry, teaching in a way that no one had ever heard before with authority, the ability to speak the truth of God in a powerful way, authoritative way- “You have heard that it was said, but I say to you.” Then as a demon possessed young man is there, to be able to instantly drive out the demon with a word. The demons were terrified of Jesus. He had no fear of them; He absolute authority over demons.  Then there was every disease and sickness known to man. There was no disease or sickness He could not cure effortlessly, instantaneously, personally, effectively, every disease and sickness.

We see His ability to control the wind and the waves when He was in the boat. A raging storm came down and the boat was filling with water. Jesus was asleep, then got up and stretched His hand over the wind and the waves and said, “Peace, be still.” Instantly they obeyed His voice. “What kind of man is this? Even the wind in the waves obey him.”

He revealed power over death as He raised Jairus’s daughter from the dead. He said, “Talitha Cumi, little girl, I say to you, get up,” and her spirit returned to her and she got up. For Him, death and sleep were no different. It’s just the same as waking a girl up from sleep. That’s how powerful Jesus is over death, but even more, His authority over sin, His ability to declare to a sinner, your sins are forgiven and they are.

This man that we’ve been learning about now in fourteen chapters now going into the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark is on trial before Pontius Pilate, on trial for His life, the only perfectly good man that’s ever been.  On trial for what? What did He do except love God with all of His heart, soul, mind and strength and love His neighbor perfectly as Himself and didn’t break any of God’s laws or man’s laws ever. He’s on trial before Pontius Pilate.

Things are not, however, as they appear. If we had been transported back in time and we were there, we’d see this prisoner arrested on trial before the Roman procurator, on trial for his life. But the reality is much different. It was determined in the mind of God that Jesus should die for the sins of the world and that that would be the process whereby it would happen. It was a foregone conclusion.

What’s really going on in this account of Jesus before Pilot is that Pilot’s on trial, actually. Pilot’s on trial. In order to make that case and to make it then relevant to us, I’m going to… often I just stick with the words of Mark. But this morning I’m going to be reaching out to all four Gospels.  I would say especially John 18:28-19:16 which probably puts the trial of Pilot himself more clearly than any of the other gospels. I’ll be leaning on that, but also some things from Matthew.

Whereas Pilot thought that he was evaluating and judging Jesus, the reality was that he was on trial and through him, all of us are, we all have a decision to make about Jesus because the Bible reveals that someday we’re going to stand before his Judgment Seat. The only way we’re going to survive that is if in this world, in this time now we have, come to personal faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Only that way will we survive judgment day, only that way.

So here’s Pilot judging, the only perfectly innocent man that has ever lived and by condemning Jesus to death, a man Pilot again and again asserts publicly that He is innocent. A man he may well have believed was supernatural and incarnation of sorts. We’ll talk about that. He was actually destroying his conscience and condemning his own soul, he did it, we’re told in the text, to please the crowd. Behind that we can say, he was trying to save his life and his job. But Jesus put it so plainly in Mark 8:36, “What would it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his soul?”

I don’t know if Pilate ever did repent of his sins and trust in Jesus as his Lord and Savior, I have no idea. But if he didn’t, he’ll spend all eternity wishing for this moment back. The real question in front of all of us, what about us? What about you? Not just that personal moment of repentance and faith in Jesus, but understanding really what this passage teaches us.  There’s so many lessons here. We’re going to see how God orchestrated in providence the condemnation of Jesus before the Roman procurator, before any of these things came to be, that God moved providential wheels to give the Jews, the chief priests, the Sanhedrin power over Pilate, so he would do what they wanted him to do, though he didn’t want to do it. We’re going to walk through that and learn providence.

Now overall, the purpose of this account, like any account in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is summed up in John’s purpose statement in John 20:31, “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and believing may have life in His name.” So that’s the purpose today.

I. The Charge Against the Silent Jesus: “King of the Jews”

Let’s walk through the trial. Let’s see what happens in Mark’s account, but then looking at the others as well. In the charge against Jesus… Jesus is arraigned before Pilate, the religious phase of the trial is over. The Jewish leaders had come to their decision. Look at verse 1, “Very early in the morning the chief priests with the elders, the teacher of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led Him away and delivered Him over to Pilate.” They have condemned Jesus to death, but they can’t kill him, as much as they would like to. The Romans took away the power of that local body to execute people. The Romans retain that right, so they needed Pilate’s involvement. They deeply wanted to put Jesus to death. They wanted him killed.

Now we notice in John’s account the hypocrisy of these Jewish religious leaders. In John 18:28, “Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness, the Jews did not enter the palace because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.”  This is disgusting, religious hypocrisy. They maintained an outward appearance of spirituality and legality, but their whole purpose that morning was to murder an innocent man and not just any innocent man but to kill the glorious Son of God. But they’re maintaining a certain pattern of religiosity so they can go through their rituals.

Pilate asks Him this question, verse 2, “Are you the King of the Jews?” That’s how it begins. This was the charge the Jews had figured would work with the Roman governor. They had tried to get him, as we know earlier in Mark’s Gospel, on tax evasion, saying you don’t need to pay taxes to Caesar, but Jesus openly asserted that they did. “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God, the things that are God’s.” So that didn’t work out, but this “King of the Jews” charge was weighty because it implied a threat to Roman interest in the area.

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ enemies took another approach. In Luke 23:5, they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.” That basically is a charge that He’s a rabble rouser, He’s an insurrectionist. Ironically, Barabbas, the very one they chose instead of Jesus, was openly an insurrectionist. So are you for or against insurrectionists?  In Luke 23:19, “Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city and for murder.”

Pilate zeroes in on this question, this charge, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus gives a very interesting answer. In verse 2, “You have said it,” or, “Yes, it is as you say,” there are different translations. In Matthew 27:11, “You have said it.” What does that mean? It’s somewhat mysterious.  Perhaps Jesus meant the words like this, “Yes, it is as you say, but it’s not what you mean or not how you mean. Or, you have said it but you really don’t understand it.” In John 18, he goes into it in more detail. In John 18:36-38, “‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews, but now my kingdom is from another place.’ ‘You are a king then,’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying that I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born and for this I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’ ‘What is truth?’ Pilate asked.” That’s a more in-depth conversation on Jesus’s kingship.

Jesus’s kingdom is infinitely more powerful and more complex, more spiritual than Pilate could possibly imagine, but it’s an entirely different thing than he was thinking when he asked, “Are you the King of the Jews?” So was He? Was Jesus King of the Jews? Answer: Absolutely, yes. As a matter of fact, that’s the purpose of the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew, the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. The first thing taught in the New Testament about Jesus is that He is the son of David, meaning King of the Jews. That’s true, yes, He was King of the Jews, but not the way anyone thought, not the way His disciples thought, not the way anybody on earth thought. Yes, He’s King of the Jews, but certainly not the way Pilate thought. Actually, Jesus is more than just King of the Jews. In Zechariah 9:10 it says, “He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.” So not just King of the Jews, but yes, King of the Jews.

Was Jesus a threat? Was Jesus a threat to Pilate? Was Jesus a threat to Caesar? Was Jesus a threat to Rome? Answer: yes and no. Let’s say no and yes. Jesus is no threat to lead an immediate political insurrection against Pontius Pilate and Judea or Caesar and the Roman Empire.  But Jesus threatened Pilate and Caesar with eternal damnation. Jesus’ kingdom is vastly more powerful than any earthly ruler could ever imagine. When Christ returns, He will set up a kingdom that will destroy all other kingdoms and will itself never be destroyed. This is the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2, it says, “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever.”  This is the meaning of the vision of a rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands. The rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold to pieces. Those represent empires. All empires come to an end at the Second Coming of Christ, and Jesus’s kingdom established will reign forever and ever. The account is given in Revelation 19 of the Second Coming, “Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule him with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty and on his robe and on his thigh, he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

“Jesus is no threat to lead an immediate political insurrection against Pontius Pilate and Judea or Caesar and the Roman Empire.  But Jesus threatened Pilate and Caesar with eternal damnation.”

Is Jesus a threat? Absolutely. Just not the way the Pilate was thinking. Jesus responds in silence, in direct fulfillment of prophecy. Look at verses 3-5, the chief priests accused Him of many things. Again, Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they’re accusing you of.” But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. This is in direct fulfillment of course, of 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 did not open his mouth.”

Why not? Why was Jesus silent? There’s a horizontal and a vertical aspect of Jesus’ silence. Horizontally, He’s silent because the trial is completely corrupt and unjust, and there’s nothing He can say that will change it, and He’s very aware of that. There’s no point in Him saying anything. As He says in Luke 22:67-68, “‘If you are the Christ,’ they said, ‘tell us.’ Jesus answered, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you a question, you would not answer.'” So He’s openly saying, “What’s the point?” Horizontally, there’s no point in Him answering.

Vertically, He must be silent because He’s our sin bearer and there’s nothing we can say in response to defend ourselves. We are guilty. We have broken God’s laws and He has taken our sins on Himself and cannot reply to Almighty God, and so He must be silent, vertically. Pilate was amazed at the silence. He had never seen any prisoner behave like this man. As procurator with the power of life, death, he was used to seeing prisoners in many different states. Some might beg and plead for their lives, groveling on the ground. Some might be terrified, unable to speak because of terror, paralyzed. Some might be sullen or defiant or louder defiant.  But Jesus had a supernatural calm to Him and a peace to Him. In the Gospel account, especially in John, there’s a sense that He’s in charge of the whole process. He has no fear at all. “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.” Pilot’s never seen a man like this before. Never.  Proverbs 16:32, “Better a patient man than a warrior. A man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.” Jesus was in absolute control of Himself, of His emotions, of His reactions at every moment. He was infinitely strong.

II. Pontius Pilate on Trial

It really is Pontius Pilate on trial. Look at verses 6-15, “That was the custom at the feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilot to do for them what he usually did. ‘Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews,’ asked Pilot, knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilot release Barabbas instead. ‘What shall I do then with the one you call King of the Jews,’ Pilot asked them. ‘Crucify him,’ they answered. ‘Why? What crime has he committed,’ asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify him!’ Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilot released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.”

Pilot’s on trial here, though he doesn’t know it. As we look at John’s account, we can see that Pilot again and again and again tries to release Jesus. It’s his top priority it seems, below self-interest. He wants to release Jesus, he wants to set him free.  Pilot knows that Jesus is innocent. In our text he says he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. Pilot has undoubtedly heard about Jesus’s miracles and the power that surrounded His ministry.

Thirdly, Greeks and Romans frequently believed that the gods and goddesses took on human bodies and mucked around in human life and did human things and got into human affairs, and they believed this. There’s biblical support of this conception. In the book of Acts, in Acts 14:11-12 when Paul and Barnabas were ministering in Lystra and did a healing miracle, it says, “When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in Lyconian language, ‘The Gods have come down to us in human form.’” That’s it right there. Barnabas, they called Zeus, and Paul, they called Hermes. They tried to offer sacrifices to them. This idea of gods taking on human bodies was well established in Greek and Roman culture.

Fourthly, we have Pilate’s wife who had a dream about Jesus and sends him a message during the trial about the dream, and we’ll get back to that in a moment. John’s Gospel, therefore, makes it plain that Pontius Pilate was afraid of Jesus. Most of the depictions of the trial do not show this aspect of Pilate, but he was afraid of Jesus.

In John 19:7-9, “The Jews insisted, ‘We have a law, and according to that law, he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God.’ When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid and he went back inside the palace. ‘Where do you come from,’ he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.” What do you think was in his mind when he asked him that question?  Are you a God? That’s what he’s asking. But however afraid he was of Jesus, he was even more afraid of what the Jews would do to him if he didn’t do what they wanted.

Now to get this background, we have to turn to a Jewish historian named Josephus, who tells us what the early stages of Pontius Pilate’s rule was like in Judea. It was bad. Josephus was a Jewish historian who lived shortly after Jesus, and he gives us insights. Pilate ruled the Roman province of Judea from 26-36 AD.  Once he was established in his position, he quickly offended the Jews multiple times by his high-handed and arrogant treatment of the Jewish people. Right away he marches into Jerusalem and sets up the Roman Eagles in the temple itself.  The Roman Eagles were looked on by the Romans and therefore by the Jews as idols, representatives of Caesar’s power. For him to put them physically in the temple was incredibly offensive to the Jews. They assembled and demanded that he remove the Eagles. Pilate refused and threatened the Jewish mob with slaughter if they didn’t disperse. Undaunted, the Jews bared their necks and said, “Go ahead and kill us. We’re not leaving.” So Pilate backed down, losing face and authority with them. Soon after that, he offended the Jews again with his handling of a public aqueduct conflict. Again, the Jews assembled a protest. Pilot had the crowd infiltrated with plain clothes Romans, bearing swords. When the Jews refused to disperse again, Pilot gave the signal and the soldiers slaughtered many of the Jews. Jesus talks about this, how Pilot had mingled their blood with their sacrifices. He killed a lot of Jews that day. But the Emperor Tiberius was so angry at Pilot for his mismanagement because if he’s stirring up trouble, Caesar will have to send more troops to the region.

This is key. He was under orders to keep things quiet and orderly and get along with the Jews. These two things happened before Jesus’s trial. Do you not see the hand of God in all this? He’s giving to the Jewish Sanhedrin, the high priests, the chief priests, power over Pilot and they traded it in, in John’s Gospel. No doubt about it. It says in John 19:12, “From then on Pilot tried to set Jesus free.” You see that statement? He wants to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar’s. Anyone who claims to be a king, opposes Caesar.” They’re clearly threatening to go to Tiberius, to go over his head. There’s no doubt about it.

Now, as I said, Pilot’s conviction is that Jesus was completely innocent. He knew it was out of envy that the chief priest had handed Jesus over to him. Three times in John’s Gospel, he declares publicly that Jesus was innocent of any charge at all. John 18:38, “I find no fault in him.” John 19:4, “Look, I’m bringing you out to let you know I find no fault in him.” And then verse 6, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against.” That’s three times a public assertion of Jesus’s innocence. Set him free, you’re in charge. Set him free if he’s innocent.

This whole conviction is even more greatly strengthened by his wife’s dream. Matthew 27:19, “While Pilot was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message. ‘Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man.'” Innocent man. “For I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

What effect do you think that message would’ve had on Pilot in the middle of this? In John’s account, he goes out to the Jews and back to Jesus. He goes out. He’s going back and forth. He doesn’t know what to do. He’s like a trapped animal. All of this was orchestrated by God. Why? Because He wanted to give His only-begotten son, in your place, as an atonement for your sins to bring you to heaven. That’s why, and Jesus was equally determined to die for you and me. That’s why all this was happening.

Now he tries the clever attempt. One of the things he tries is, “Oh wait, yeah, it’s the feast. I can release a prisoner. I got an idea. Let’s do that.” It was the custom at the feast to release a prisoner whom the people had requested. A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists, who had committed murder in the uprising. The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. Pilate brings it up in John’s Gospel. They both remember this custom. “Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews,” asked Pilate, knowing it was out of envy the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.

However, this clever attempt to get out of this whole thing was thwarted by the Jewish leaders. In verse 11, the chief priest stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. I don’t know how they did that, but they were running the show here. They had infiltrated the crowd. They had whispered, they’d called in IOUs, maybe bribed some people, got some people to shout things out for Barabbas and then shout, “Crucify!” for Jesus. They manipulate the crowd into a maniacal frenzy. “What shall I do then with the one you call King of the Jews,” Pilate asked them. “Crucify him!” they shouted. “Why? What crime has he committed? He’s innocent.” But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”  In Matthew’s account, “Pilate saw he was getting nowhere, but instead an uproar was starting.” It’s a frenzy. Satan must’ve been stirring this whole thing on as well. It was Satan that was in Judas Iscariot to orchestrate this whole thing. Satan’s fanning this whole thing into a flame because he was a murderer and he hates the Son of God and wants him killed.

The sinlessness of Jesus is clearly established. The roots of the chief priests and elders, their wicked hatred for Jesus was envy, greed, and power. The crowd vacillating just a week before shouting, “Hosanna, Hosanna!” Now they’re yelling, “Crucify, crucify!” This is the culmination of Jesus’s rejection by His own people. He’s been officially rejected by the chief priests and the Sanhedrin. He’s officially condemned to death, but now the people are shouting for His death. “He came to his own and his own did not receive him.” [John 1:11].  In Matthew 27, this stunning statement is made, “When Pilot saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. ‘I’m innocent of this man’s blood,’ he said. ‘It’s your responsibility.’ And all the people answered, ‘Let his blood be on us and on our children.’”

III. Jesus’ Blood on the Jewish Nation (Matthew’s Gospel)

Wow, what a statement. What does that mean? “Let his blood be on us,” mean we’ll take responsibility. It’s a common Jewish expression. Like in Leviticus 20:9, “If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father and mother and his blood will be on his own head.” In other words, he’s responsible for what’s coming to him. That’s their way of saying, “We will take responsibility, let his blood be on us and on our children.” This is the very thing that Jesus said would happen in Matthew 23, after the seven-fold woes. “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees.” After all that He says, “‘Therefore, I’m sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you’ll kill and crucify. Others, you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town and so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come down on this generation.’” They are going to be responsible for it all. They’re willing to take responsibility for the death of Jesus. Later they try to shirk this responsibility. In Acts 5, they said to the apostles, “You filled Jerusalem with your teaching and to determine to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” Well, you are, you are. So that’s the first sense, that’s the darkest sense.

But there’s another sense of “Let his blood be on us and on our children,” a much better sense. Because it is only by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross that our sins are forgiven, that our sins are forgiven. At present through unbelief, the blood of Jesus is upon them and their children for condemnation and for guilt, but if any individual Jewish person repents of his or her sins and trusts in Christ, His blood will be on them to cleanse them from all their sins, just as it’s on us for salvation and cleansing. For God delivered Jesus over as a propitiation, a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. It is by the blood of Jesus, by the shedding of blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. I believe that at the end of history, there’ll be a massive turning of ethnic Jews physically descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to faith in Jesus, and His blood will be on Abraham’s children for salvation. As it says in Romans 11, “And so all Israel be saved, as it is written. The deliverer will come from Zion; he’ll turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

“For God delivered Jesus over as a propitiation, a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. It is by the blood of Jesus, by the shedding of blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.”

IV. The Final Verdict

The final verdict is given by Pilot. In verse 15, “Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilot released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged and handed them over to be crucified.” Pilot could not evade responsibility. He washes his hands, but he’s responsible for what he did. He rendered a verdict, guilty, death on a cross, but it violated his conscience. He knew he wasn’t guilty.

Was it really Pilot who handed Jesus over to be crucified? It was at the human level, but as I’ve already said, Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare His own son but delivered Him up for us all. How will He not also along with Him, graciously give us all things?” Interesting, at the moment that He was delivered over to be crucified, Barabbas was set free. That’s marvelous, isn’t it? It’s an interesting picture. The guilty set free, the innocent dies. This is a picture of substitutionary atonement. As 1 Peter 3:18 says, “For Christ died for sins once for all the righteous, for the unrighteous to bring you to God.” Barabbas represents a disgusting, vile murderous sinner who’s set free from condemnation death by Jesus. I’m not saying Barabbas is in heaven. I hope so. Wouldn’t it be great to meet him and say, “Generations have been talking about you, now here you are.” But we don’t know. We have no knowledge, but I’m just saying he’s a picture of a guilty person set free and not having to pay the penalty that we deserve.

Concerning the flogging, it was a hideous punishment. Picture a rod of wood and long leather straps with bits of bone and metal at the end, like a whip, only enhanced. The straps would wrap around the victim’s body and then rip flesh off that victim’s back. It was a hideous torture. If done enough, it would be lethal. It was done to weaken the victim before the crucifixion, so he ordered that it be done. Why? He was innocent. In John’s Gospel, it was used as one of the steps that he tried to appease the people, but it didn’t work. Here it is written at the end. It’s beautiful because in Isaiah 53:5 it says, “He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our inequities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him. And by his wounds, sometimes translated stripes, we are healed.” As 1 Peter 2:24 says, “He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by His wounds you have been healed.”

V. Applications

First of all, the judgment theme. You’ve heard the evidence, you have the information. You’re sitting, in some sense, in judgment on Jesus. You’re deciding about Jesus. God gives you that time to do that. Make a right judgment. Evaluate Him properly. Look at the evidence. I began the sermon with the marvels of the person of Jesus as depicted in the Gospel of Mark. Make a right judgment about Jesus and trust in Him for the forgiveness of your sins and the salvation of your soul. Don’t do what Pilate did. Make a right judgment about Jesus.

Secondly, understand what’s going on here. I’ve said it two or three times, I’ll say it one final time. This account is evidence of God’s sovereign control over human history, His orchestration of events, His maneuvering of people and positioning of people because He’s sovereign over everything that happens on earth. What He was doing was giving the Jews power over Pontius Pilate so that he would condemn an innocent man to death. What God’s intention was to give Jesus as a Savior for your sin. Again here, Romans 8:32, “He who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also along with Him graciously give us all things?” What is the “all things”? I’ve been thinking about different pastoral circumstances that I’m walking through right now with different people in the church. It could be medical, it could be relational, it could be a sin problem, it could be financial. There’s all kinds of things going on all the time in the life of the church. I don’t know what’s happening in all your lives.The things that you’re yearning for are significant, they’re important. Romans 8:32 doesn’t minimize. It’s just saying, “With God already having given his only-begotten Son, everything else in the universe is lesser than that to Him. He would not withhold from you anything that would further His purpose in your life, which is to save your soul, use you in this world, and then take you to heaven.”  Understand that’s what’s going on in this trial here.

Thirdly, rejoice in God’s sovereignty over wicked, unjust human governments. As we go through a political process in this nation, and we wonder who’s going to get elected president or lesser roles, and not just our country, but around the world, we can see evidence of this kind of selfishness and weakness and caving into the crowd and injustice. Isn’t it wonderful to know that God is sovereign over that whole thing and rules actively over it for His own purposes, for His own glory, and for the good of His people?

Fourth, look at the fickleness of the crowd here. “Hosanna,” one week, a week later, “Crucify,” and distrust your own loyalty to Jesus. Say, “Prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart, Lord. Take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Help me not to be fickle and weak and vacillating in my love for Jesus.”

Finally, it’s time now to get our hearts ready for the Lord’s Supper. I’m going to close the sermon time and prayer ,and we’re going to transition to the Lord’s Supper. Father, we thank you for the word of God. We thank you for its power. We thank you for this account of the trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate. Now as we give our attention to the Lord’s Supper, we pray that you would be with us in this time. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Things are not always what they appear. If we could go back in time to the trial of Jesus before Pilate, it would physically appear to be what the gospel writers presented. But the reality of the event was vastly different. Whereas Pilate thought he was weighing Christ in the balance, it was actually his own soul that was hanging in the balance. By condemning Jesus to death, a man he openly asserted was innocent, and a man he believed may well have been divine, he was destroying his conscience and condemning his own soul.

He did it to please the crowd and save his life and his job. But as Jesus put it so plainly,

Mark 8:36 “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?

If Pilate never did repent of his sins and believe in Jesus, he will spend all eternity wishing he had this moment back

But the real question is, what about each of you?

You have the opportunity to sit in judgment on Jesus, to try him based on the evidence, and to render a verdict.

But like Pilate, all that’s really happening is you are rendering a verdict on your own eternal soul.

The Gospel writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—all wrote their accounts to give us the full story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection… John speaks for all of them when he gives the plain reason for why he wrote what he wrote:

John 20:31  these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

I. The Charge Against the Silent Jesus: “The King of the Jews”

A. Jesus Arraigned Before Pilate

1. The religious trial is over and the Jewish leaders had come to their clear decision

Mark 15:1  Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

2. They had to have Pilate’s consent because the Romans had deprived them of the authority to put someone to death

3. And they DEEPLY wanted Jesus put to death

4. Notice the HYPOCRISY of these Jewish religious leaders

John 18:28  Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover.

5. They maintain an outward appearance of legality, but their whole purpose is to MURDER AN INNOCENT MAN… and more than that, the GLORIOUS SON OF GOD

B. The Charge: “Are You the King of the Jews?”

1. Pilate asked him this question

Mark 15:2  “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate

2. This was the charge the Jews had figured would “work” with the Roman governor

3. They had tried to get Jesus on tax evasion, but he had clearly taught the need to pay taxes to Caesar

4. The “King of the Jews” charge was weighty, because it implied a threat to the Roman interests in the area

5. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ enemies took another approach:

Luke 23:5  they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”

6. But ironically, Barabbas, the very one they chose instead of Jesus was accused of leading an insurrection

Luke 23:19  (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)

7. So Pilate asks him this question: ARE YOU THE KING OF THE JEWS?

C. Jesus’ Enigmatic Answer

Mark 15:2  “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.

Matthew 27:11 Jesus answered, “You have said it.”

1. Strange statement! Mysterious

2. Perhaps Jesus meant it like this…“Yes it is as you say; but not what you mean!!” Or… “You have said it, but you don’t understand it!”

3. John 18: “My Kingdom is not of this world…”

John 18:36-38  Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.”  37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”  38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked.

4. Jesus’ Kingdom is infinitely more powerful than Pilate can possibly imagine, but of an entirely different nature than he thought

D. Was Jesus “King of the Jews”?

1. Yes… that’s the point of the whole genealogy in Matthew 1:  Jesus, the Son of David

2. Yes, but not the way the disciples thought… or the way the chief priests thought… nor the way Pilate thought

3. Actually, Jesus is king of more than just the Jews

Zechariah 9:10  He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.

E. Was Jesus a Threat?  No… and Yes… A THOUSAND TIMES YES!!

1. Jesus was no threat to lead an immediate insurrection against Pilate

2. But Jesus threated Pilate with eternal damnation

3. Jesus’ Kingdom has vastly more power than any earthly ruler could possibly imagine

4. When Christ returns, he will destroy all other kingdoms and set up his own

Daniel 2:44-45  “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.  45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands– a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.

Revelation 19:15-16  Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.  16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

F. Jesus’ Silence:  In Direct Fulfillment of Prophecy

Mark 15:3-5  The chief priests accused him of many things.  4 So again Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of.”  5 But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.

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 did not open his mouth.

Jesus’ silence is reasonable because of the INJUSTICE of this trial:

Luke 22:67-68  “If you are the Christ,” they said, “tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me,  68 and if I asked you, you would not answer.

So, he will not grace their insulting questions with any answers at all

G. Pilate’s Amazement

1. He had never seen any prisoner behave so strangely

2. As Procurator with the power of life or death, he was used to seeing prisoners in many different states

a. Some might beg and plead for their lives

b. Some might be terrified and unable to speak because of horror

c. Some might be sullen and defiant; or loud and defiant

3. But Jesus had a supernatural calm to himself… a reasonableness and peace and power… such as he had never seen in all his life as a government official

Proverbs 16:32  Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.

Jesus was in absolute control of himself, of his emotions and reactions, at every moment. He was immeasurably strong!

II. Pontius Pilate on Trial

Mark 15:6-15  Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested.  7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising.  8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.  9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate,  10 knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.  11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.  12 “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.  13 “Crucify him!” they shouted.  14 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”  15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

A. Pilate Really the One on Trial… Jesus “Fate” Was Sealed!

1. If you know what to look for, you see that it is really Pilate who’s on trial here, not Jesus

2. This is especially clear in John’s account of the trial… Pilate again and again declares to the Jews that Jesus is innocent and tries everything he can to set Jesus free

3. Let’s look at the facts of this case concerning Pilate

a. On the one hand, Pilate knows Jesus is innocent…  in our text it says he knew it was out of ENVY that they had handed Jesus over to him

b. Secondly, Pilate has undoubtedly heard about Jesus’ miracles and the power that surrounded his ministry

c. Thirdly, Romans frequently believed that the gods came down to earth in human form and tested the humans… this was a common feature in pagan religions, the “god incognito” theme… we even see this in Acts 14, when Paul and Barnabas were ministering in Lystra and did a miracle:

Acts 14:11-12  When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”  12 Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes

And they tried to offer sacrifices to THEM!

So, this idea of gods in human form was well known

d. Fourthly, we have Pilate’s wife’s statement and the dream which we’ll get to in a moment

e. John’s Gospel makes it plain that Pilate was afraid of Jesus

John 19:7-9  The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”  8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid,  9 and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.

f. BUT he was even more afraid of what the Jews would do if he refused them

B. Lessons from Josephus:  God Sovereignly Orchestrated Jewish Power Over Pilate

1. Josephus a Jewish historian who gives us valuable insights about the Jews’ relationship with the Romans at that time

2. Pilate ruled the Roman province of Judea from AD 26-36.

3. Once he was established in his position, he quickly offended the Jews multiple times by his high-handed and arrogant treatment of the Jewish people

a. He set up his Roman eagles in the temple; they were looked on as idols by the Jews, who assembled to demand that he remove them; Pilate refused and threatened the Jewish mod with slaughter if they didn’t disburse; undaunted, the Jews bared their necks and said “Go ahead and kill us, we’re not leaving!”  Pilate had to back down, because he didn’t want to begin his rule with a slaughter

b. Soon after that, he offended the Jews again with his handling of a public aqueduct conflict; again, the Jews assembled to protest; Pilate had the crowd infiltrated with plainclothes Roman soldiers; when the Jews refused to disburse, Pilate gave the signal and the soldiers slaughtered many Jews that day; but Tiberius was disgusted with Pilate and threatened him with dismissal and disgrace (and probably death) if he failed again

c. Through these incidents, the Jews gained a powerful level of control over Pilate which they used directly in the trial of Jesus… the final word in the whole thing was this:

John 19:12   From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

C. Pilate’s Conviction: Jesus Was Completely Innocent (vs. 18; John 18-19)

Mark 15:10 knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.

Three times in John’s Gospel, he declared publicly that Jesus was innocent of any charge at all…

John 18:38  With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no fault in him.

John 19:4  Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no fault in him.”

John 19:6  Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”

D. Pilate’s Deep Desire: To Release Jesus

E. The Desire Strengthened by His Wife’s Dream and Testimony

Matthew 27:19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”

1. See the amazing providence of God

2. He sends some kind of dream that terrified Pilate’s wife

3. She sends a message to Pilate to set Jesus free

F. The Clever Attempt:  Pass the Decision Over to the Crowd

Mark 15:6-10  Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested.  7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising.  8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.  9 “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate,  10 knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.

G. The Clever Attempt Thwarted by the Jewish Leaders

Mark 15:11  But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.

Perhaps they called in IOUs, or offered money; but they were adept in manipulating the crowd

H. The Maniacal Frenzy of the Crowd

Mark 15:12-14  “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.  13 “Crucify him!” they shouted.  14 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

Matthew 27:24 … Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting

I. Satan’s Seething Hatred Behind All This

1. We must see Satan’s invisible hand in all this murderous hatred!

2. Satan had inhabited Judas to betray Jesus into all this frenzy

3. Now he, the original murderer, wants to kill the author of life

III. Jesus’ Blood on the Jewish Nation (Matthew’s Gospel)

A. The Sinlessness of Jesus Clearly Established

B. The Roots of the Chief Priests and Elders Wicked Hatred for Jesus

Envy… Greed… Power

C. The Vacillation of the Crowd… and the Jewish Nation as a Whole

1. A week earlier… they were chanting His name and honoring Him with Palm branches as the Son of David

2. Now, they were calling for His death by crucifixion

D. The Culmination of Jesus’ Rejection

John 1:11 He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him.

E. The Stunning Statement Made

Matthew 27:24-25  When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”  25 All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

F. The Stunning Statement Interpreted Throughout Redemptive History

1. Meaning #1: “Blood upon” = guilty for the death

a. The phrase means to be guilty for, to be responsible for

Leviticus 20:9  “‘If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood will be on his own head.

b. Jesus had warned this very thing:  “And so upon this generation will come all the righteous blood…”

Matthew 23:34-36  Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town.  35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

c. Here… they are willing to take responsibility for the blood of Jesus… even throughout the future generations!!!

d. Later, they seem to shun that responsibility

The Sanhedrin to the Apostles:

Acts 5:28  you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

2. BUT  Meaning #2:  Cleansed by his blood!!

a. At present, through unbelief, the blood of Jesus is upon them and their children for CONDEMNATION… for WRATH… for JUDGMENT, not for salvation

b. But if any individual Jewish man, woman, or child turns in faith to Jesus and believes, then His blood is upon them for SALVATION and CLEANSING

c. And at the end of Redemptive History, God will work a vast revival among the Jewish nation

Zechariah 12:10  “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.

Romans 11:26-27  And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.  27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

IV. The Final Verdict: Jesus Condemned to Die

Mark 15:15  Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.

A. Pilate Could Not Evade Responsibility: He renders a verdict… one that violates his conscience… GUILTY, DEATH ON A CROSS!

B. But Who Really “HANDED JESUS OVER” to be crucified??

1. He certainly did… the text says he did

2. But the real actor here was God the Father

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all– how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

C. Barabbas Set Free: A Type of All of Us

1. Isn’t it amazing that substitution is acted out at that very time?

2. The guilty is set free and does not die

3. The innocent dies in his place

1 Peter 3:18  For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

Barabbas represents a disgusting, vile sinner who is set free from death by Jesus

I am not at all saying Barabbas is in heaven… I’m saying he’s a PICTURE of OUR SALVATION!

D. The Flogging

1. It happened earlier in the encounter in John’s Gospel

2. It was one of the attempts Pilate made to avoid killing Jesus… it just underscored Pilate’s cowardice and wickedness… and it did not work

John 19:1-4  Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.  2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe  3 and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” And they struck him in the face.  4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”

3. The flogging is BRUTAL… if it goes on long enough, it can be fatal

a. Straps of leather, embedded with pieces of bone or metal

b. The straps wrap around the victim’s body and rip deep gashes in his back… blood flows freely

c. It is an almost inconceivable level of agony

d. Part of our atonement:

Isaiah 53:5  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Word sometimes means “stripes”… can also mean bruises, welts, sores, something running freely with blood

Healed = healed from sin

1 Peter 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

V. Applications

A. The Trial of Eternity Going on Right Now: Judge Jesus Properly by the Power of the Holy Spirit… and TRUST IN HIM!!

1. By faith see Jesus properly as the glorious Son of God

2. By faith see Jesus seated on his throne, judging all the earth, including YOU

John 5:22-23  Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,  23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

Matthew 25:31-33  When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.  32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Matthew 25:34  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

Matthew 25:41   “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

3. Understand that you will spend eternity in either heaven or hell… and it will all be based on the judgment of King Jesus

4. Salvation is based NOW on calling on the name of the Lord

5. Trust in Jesus… judge Him properly… understand who He is… see through all the Satanic deception and understand that Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of Man who died on the cross for sins

B. Understand the Power of His Blood

Matthew 27:25  All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

1. The issue of Jesus’ blood is forefront… amazingly, for Jesus’ blood to be “upon us” spiritually is our only hope for salvation

2. The lesson of all the bloody animal sacrifices

Hebrews 9:22  without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

3. Through the blood of Jesus alone is forgiveness of sins available

Romans 3:25  God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.

4. The blood was shed once for all by Jesus Christ

5. Then, like the Passover Lamb’s blood… it had to be APPLIED

Exodus 12:22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe.

6. Let His blood be APPLIED to you by faith, by the power of the Holy Spirit

7. That is how His blood is UPON you for the cleansing of your guilt and your sins

1 John 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

8. Therefore…

a. If you have trusted in Christ, know that his blood has been applied to you for your cleansing

b. You are seen to be clean in God’s sight!!  Purified from all sin!!

c. Let that cleanse you from a guilty, accusing conscience

d. Many of you walked in here today with a guilty conscience… that’s almost certainly because you have sinned in some way

e. If you are a Christian, you are already clear POSITIONALLY in God’s sight

f. Now, concerning your recent sins, confess your sins to God and allow the blood of Christ to cleanse your guilty conscience

g. Walk as free children of God!!

C. Be Appalled at the Fickleness of Human Praise

1. A week earlier… it was “Hosannah!” Now it was “Crucify him!”

2. How fickle is the human heart!!  Ask the Lord to watch over your own ever-wandering heart

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it!

Prone to leave the God I love!

Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it

Seal it for thy courts above!

3. Therefore, don’t live for the praise of the crowd!!

4. Pontius Pilate lived in terror of the crowd… that’s why he didn’t set Jesus free, though he knew Jesus was innocent.