The Gospel of John: Jesus before Pilate(3)

First Baptist Church Leominster

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Let's turn to the little epistle of Jude in the

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New Testament just before the revelation. The New Testament, well the

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Bible sets forth two great dangers to a biblical understanding of grace, the grace of God.

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And one danger is legalism, which is either, you know, believing that by your works you merit

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God's favor, or legalism can be seen by people imposing standards or laws that are outside the

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Bible. So there's different forms or types of legalism. And the New Testament addresses this, of course, in Galatians and Romans and elsewhere,

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Matthew's Gospel, for example. But the second great danger to grace, probably what's more prevalent in our day, is the problem of licentiousness, or viewing the grace of God in Christ as a license to sin.

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You know, gee, it doesn't matter how we live, after all we're saved by what Jesus did on the cross.

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And Jude intended to write these Christians about other matters, and then he learned about this real problem among these

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Christians, that there were some who had perverted the grace of God, teaching that it didn't matter how you lived, as long as you believed the right things.

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They were basically, these false teachers were denying lordship salvation, frankly, that's the bottom line.

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And so Jude, Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the

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Father, kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

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Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write, appealing to you, to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

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For certain people have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our

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God into sensuality, and deny our only master and lord, Jesus Christ.

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I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.

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And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness, until the judgment of the great day.

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Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, served as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

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Yet, in like manner, these people also relied on their dreams, defiled the flesh, rejected authority, and blasphemed the glorious ones.

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But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, the

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Lord rebuked you. But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.

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Woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain, and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain, to Balaam's error, and perished in Korah's rebellion.

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These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds swept along by winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead uprooted, wild waves of the sea casting up the foam of their shame, wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

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It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the

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Lord comes with ten thousand of his holy ones to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

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These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires. They are loud -mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

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But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, in the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions.

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It is these who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the

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Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our

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Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt.

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Save others by snatching them out of the fire. To others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

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And now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only

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God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever.

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Amen. What a passage, huh? Incredible. Let's pray.

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Thank you, Father, for your word. Help us to take to heart, Lord, the warnings of Scripture as well as the promises.

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Help us, our Lord, to be on guard with regard to false teachers who may teach or preach up grace, but it's a twisted notion of grace.

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We know our God, grace, your grace, not only, of course, enables us to receive the full and free forgiveness of sins, but it also, our

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God, enables us to defeat the power of sin in our lives. And we thank you, our

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God, for a full salvation. We thank you that you are saving us from all of our sin, our

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God, not just its penalty but its power and ultimately from its presence. Help us, our

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God, to be true to you and true to the gospel. Help us to proclaim grace as you teach it in the

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Scriptures. Keep us from error, our God, and help us, we pray, as a church and as individual

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Christians to witness faithfully of your word and also to live faithfully before you according to your word.

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Now, bless us, our God, as we turn our hearts and minds to the gospel of John, give us understanding in some of these rather difficult matters.

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We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's turn to John's gospel.

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And this is the third Sunday. I thought it was going to be the last Sunday. Well, I thought last week was going to be the last

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Sunday, dealing with this trial of Jesus before Pilate, but today is the third, and then

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I realized we're going to need one more Sunday yet, so, but we're getting there, and we'll get down, we'll get through most of this today,

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I think. And so this is the third Lord's Day in which we are giving our prayerful focus to the trial of our

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Lord Jesus before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. We've addressed, of course, the first stage of the trial in chapter 18, 28 to 40.

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There we read of how Jesus was led from the house of Caiaphas to the praetorium, which was the official residence for the

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Roman governor in Jerusalem. His actually home praetorium residence was in Caesarea on the coast, but he had one here in Jerusalem also, and they led

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Jesus there to be tried by him. It seemed at first Pilate was reluctant to try

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Jesus, after asking for a specific charge from the Jews who brought him, he told these

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Jewish leaders, you take him and judge him according to your law. Of course, they refused to do so, for they wanted

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Rome to find him guilty and to have him executed. This action would not only shield them somewhat, perhaps from an uproar of the

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Jewish citizens who were sympathetic to Jesus, but also they wanted his death to be in a manner that Jesus would be crucified for.

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They believed this would greatly serve their desire to have Jesus discredited in the eyes of the people, the

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Jewish people of Jerusalem and Judea, for not only would he have been viewed as a criminal by Rome, but his crucifixion would also suggest to them that sought that God had also disavowed and forsaken him on the cross.

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If God were for him, God wouldn't have allowed him to hang there in this suffering, naked form.

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The Jewish leaders before Pilate charged Jesus with claiming to be a king, which would have been a direct challenge and threat to Rome's power, of course.

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But upon his inquiry of Jesus, Pilate determined this was a false or empty charge, for Jesus made it quite clear that although he was indeed a king, his kingdom was of a spiritual, not political nature.

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Pilate concluded, therefore, that Jesus was no direct threat to Rome and Roman authority.

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Pilate declared publicly he had found no fault at all in Jesus. Jesus was not guilty.

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He did not warrant execution. And so he went before the

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Jews, and after he proposed releasing Jesus, the king of the Jews, according to the common practice at Passover, Rome would let a criminal free.

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The Jewish leaders demanded that Pilate not let this man go, but rather they demanded that Pilate would release

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Barabbas. They wanted Jesus executed. Well, that concluded the first portion of Pilate's trial of Jesus, and then we came to John 19, verses 1 through 16 last week, in which we have the second portion of Jesus's trial before Pilate.

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Again, we began to address it, but let's get the entire context again for us by reading the first 16 verses of John 19.

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So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. The soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe.

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Then they said, Hail, king of the Jews. They struck him with their hands.

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Pilate then went out again and said to them, Behold, I'm bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no fault in him.

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And Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them,

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Behold, the man. Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out, saying,

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Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, You take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him.

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The Jews answered him, I should say probably them,

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I'm guessing, We have a law, and according to our law, he ought to die, because he made himself the son of God.

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Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the crematorium and said to Jesus, Where are you from?

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But Jesus gave him no answer. And Pilate said to him, Are you not speaking to me?

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Do you not know that I have power to crucify you and power to release you?

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Jesus answered, You could have no power at all against me unless it had been given you from above.

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Therefore the one who delivered me to you has the greater sin. From then on,

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Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying, If you let this man go, you are not

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Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.

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When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.

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Now it was the preparation day of the Passover, about the sixth hour, and he said to the

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Jews, Behold your king. But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him.

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Pilate said to them, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.

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And then he delivered him to them to be crucified. And then they took

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Jesus and led him away. This account in John of Jesus before Pilate is the longest narrative that we have in any of the four gospel passion accounts.

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It's quite detailed, and as we've already declared, it really sets forth

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Jesus being in control of everything as it's unfolding. Pilate is really presented as rather a pitiful guy who really couldn't have his will done to have him released.

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And of course, we see Jesus being ultimately declared sentenced to death by means of crucifixion.

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We break down this chapter into four divisions. We have the treatment of the king, verses one through three, the presentation of the king, behold the man, the authority from above, and then lastly, the judgment seat.

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We've already addressed the treatment of the king, just a little bit of review. After Pilate had initially examined

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Jesus, then went out to speak with the Jewish leaders, he again entered his residence to prosecute

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Jesus further. He seemed to be going in and out, in and out to the Jews and back to Jesus. Though Pilate had found in Jesus no fault at all, he called for this great act of injustice perpetrated upon the

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Savior. That is, he had him scourged. And this week I came across some further information about this

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Roman practice of flogging. Again, it's a graphic description, but I think it's important that we know and understand.

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Three forms of corporal punishment were employed by the Romans, an increasing degree of severity, fustiago, these would be

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Latin words, I believe, beating, secondly, flogolatio, flogging, and thirdly, the verbaratio, or severe flogging or scourging.

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The first could be an occasion, an occasion of punishment in itself, but the more severe forms were part of the capital sentence as a prelude to crucifixion.

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The most severe, not sever, severe verbaratio is what is indicated here by the

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Greek verb translated flog severely, and then you have the Greek word mastigu there.

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People died on occasion while being flogged this way, frequently it was severe enough to rip a person's body open or cut muscle and sinew to the bone.

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It was carried out with a whip that had fragments of bone or pieces of metal bound into tips.

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It was after this took place that Pilate's soldiers mocked him, verses 2 and 3 read, and the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns, put it on his head, they put on him a purple robe, then they said,

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Hail, King of the Jews, they struck him with their hands, and then Pilate brought him out before the gathered

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Jewish crowd, verses 4 through 7. So that's the treatment of the king, mocking him, of course, maltreating him severely.

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And then we have the presentation of the king, Pilate presenting Jesus, as it were.

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Pilate again went out of the praetorium to the Jews who wouldn't go in unless they'd be defiled, ceremonially, they were standing outside waiting for this sentence, but Pilate purposed to prepare them in advance for Jesus' appearance, then

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Jesus would come forth to them, and so here, verses 4 through 7, once again,

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Pilate then went out, notice he's going out without Jesus, he went out in advance, said to them,

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Behold, I'm bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no fault in him, and Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe,

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Pilate said to them, Behold, the man, therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out, saying,

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Crucify him, crucify him, Pilate said to them, You take him, you crucify him, for I find no fault in him, they answered, we have a law, and according to our law, he ought to die, because he made himself the son of God.

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Now, Pilate may have had Jesus scourged in this fashion in order to placate the

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Jews, doesn't this satisfy you? Look at him, and in this way, he might have spared

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Jesus from being executed, some have proposed this, it seems like Pilate repeatedly sought to get

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Jesus released, one might conclude this from Pilate's presentation of Jesus after he endured his treatment,

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Pilate said before them, Behold, I'm bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no fault in him, look how severe he looks, we've done everything we can to get the truth out of him, clearly he's not guilty, incredible.

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Interestingly, Matthew added a detail here that we might cite, when

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Pilate had been examining Jesus, Pilate's wife had come to him in order to warn him, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying,

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Have nothing to do with this just man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him, that must have added a little bit to Pilate's apprehension,

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Pilate announced for the second time, before the Jewish leaders, I find no fault in him, but of course they would not listen,

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Pilate then presented Jesus to them, declaring, Behold the man, the other gospel writers do not record these words of Pilate, John does, and we would argue for a particular narrative reason, as we'll show.

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In this presentation of Jesus, Pilate also is setting forth once again another example of John's literary irony in the manner in which this is recorded, and this is set forth by this commentator, once more

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Pilate steps out of the praetorium to address the Jews, he delivers his verdict and then dramatically presents

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Jesus, a sorry sight, swollen, bruised, bleeding from those cruel and ridiculous thorns, aware as he is that the people who must choose the man who will receive the governor's amnesty, he presents

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Jesus as a beaten, harmless, and rather pathetic figure, to make their choice of him as easy as possible.

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In his dramatic utterance, Here is the man, in Latin, ecce homo, Pilate is speaking with dripping irony, how is this?

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Here is the man you find so dangerous and threatening, can you not see he is harmless and somewhat ridiculous?

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If the governor is there by mocking Jesus, he is ridiculing the Jewish authorities with no less venom, there is no friendship between Pilate and Jews, but the evangelist, this would be

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John, records the event with still deeper irony, here indeed is the man, the word made flesh, as he declared back in John 1 .14,

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all the witnesses were too blind to see it at the time, but this man was displaying his glory, the glory of the one and only son, and the very disgrace, pain, weakness, and brutalization that Pilate advanced as suitable evidence that he was a judicial irrelevance, irony there.

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In verse 5, we again read of the presentation of Jesus by Pilate, then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and purple robe, but notice how

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John wrote this, he set forth Jesus, making

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Jesus the subject of the verb, he did not say, then Pilate brought Jesus out, who was wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, although it's mentioned in verse 4, before Pilate came out and advanced to prepare him, but rather verse 5 says, then

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Jesus came out, see Jesus is set forth, forward, as really the one in charge, the one who is preeminent here, it's

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Jesus who came out and presented himself before these people, Jesus is the subject of the verb,

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Jesus presented himself before the gathered Jewish crown, it's but another subtle way that conveys the dignity and the superior standing and authority of Jesus, who's not one who's being led about as a defeated prisoner, but he comes forth as a dignified and resilient sufferer,

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Jesus is the man who is in front and center, displayed before the world, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, here are

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J .C. Ryle's words, a mock royal robe was thrown over our Lord's shoulders, in order to show how ridiculous and contemptible was the idea of his kingdom, the color purple was doubtless meant to be a derisive imitation of the well -known imperial purple, the color worn by emperors and kings, some have thought that this robe was only an old soldier's cape, such as a guard house would easily furnish, some, with more show of probability, have thought that this robe must be the gorgeous robe which

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Herod put on our Lord, mentioned by Saint Luke, again John doesn't even record Jesus going before King Herod, the

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Jewish king of Galilee, when he sent him back to Pilate, a circumstance which

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John has not recorded, in any case we need not doubt that the robe was some shabby cast off garment, it's worth remembering that this brilliant color, scarlet or purple, would make our blessed

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Lord a most conspicuous object to every eye when he was led through the streets from Herod or brought forth from Pilate's house to the assembled multitude of Jews, once more we should call to mind the symbolical nature of this transaction also, our

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Lord was clothed with a robe of shame and contempt, so that we might be clothed with a spotless garment of righteousness and stand in white robes before the throne of God, amen.

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Then John wrote and Pilate said to them behold the man, here we're getting into some subtle but very apparent literary emphasis here,

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John then wrote Pilate said to them behold the man, the Greek word translated behold, edu, before the man serves to draw great attention to the declaration, behold the man,

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Pilate says. John the Baptist did the same when he called out behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, it's a particle given to arrest attention and give emphasis to what to be said.

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When John recorded that Pilate presented Jesus, hey behold the man, John was conveyed to his readers, not just to the

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Jews as to what they witnessed but conveyed to us, the readers. John was conveyed to his readers through Pilate's words more than what

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Pilate himself intended, where Pilate was simply presenting a rather pitiful and pathetical man before the crowd, pathetic man, behold the man,

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John or rather the Holy Spirit was setting before the readers of this gospel a much greater presentation.

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Here's a rather extended but a very good setting forth of the truth of this declaration, he said it far better than I could so I'm giving you this extended quote.

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Whatever the political or simply cruel intentions of Pilate regarding the introduction of Jesus in the cosmological context of the fourth gospel, this title, behold the man, proves for the reader rich insight into the person and work of Jesus Christ.

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How? A brief explanation of the use of the title in Genesis 322 is necessary in order to make the connection to its use here.

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Although the Septuagint, LXX, Roman numeral 70 because it was thought the

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Greek translational testament was drafted by 70 Jewish scholars, the Septuagint uses a different noun for the man,

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Adam, rather than the gospel, Anthropos. The noun not only means man, humanity, but the

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Hebrew term can also mean, be translated as the man, which is how most

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English translations render it. Even the article, and the article is the word the in English, in the man, and there's the

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Greek word and you see the little o or Greek omicron, that's the word we translate as the, the man.

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That article makes the man significant, definite, and stands out.

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It's significant in the title, suggesting that the illusion is a reference to a particular man, Adam.

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The title is spoken by God in Genesis 322. There, by the way, God is pronouncing judgment on fallen man.

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He says of Adam, behold the man, and then the curse is rendered for his sin. Behold the man, and now

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Pilate, behold the man. It's recorded this way by the Holy Spirit through John to point the reader back to Adam.

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Where Adam brought death, Jesus brings life. The title is spoken by God in Genesis 322 in the context of God's announcement of the guilty verdict to be placed on all creation,

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Adam, Eve, and the Spirit, and the serpent. In Genesis 3 then, the title declares the mortality of Adam.

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He's gonna die, and assumes an ironic reality, for behold the man announces

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Adam's alienation from God and his existence in a state of death. The title announces to the first human life that it now exists in a state of depravity and impending death.

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Behold the man, Adam. In the Gospel of John, however, a reversal of this state of death has begun with the coming of Jesus.

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Jesus's life, John 1, 4, John 14, 6, who has entered into the depraved condition of the world, into the depraved flesh condition of man, you know, he became man, he became, the word became flesh and dwelt among us, in order to recreate.

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This is why the Genesis motif is so central to the Gospel. Let me just interject.

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Remember how Genesis 1, 1 began? In the beginning, and you have the account of creation,

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Adam and Eve. John 1, 1, in the beginning. It's a Genesis theme in John also, and so where you have

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Adam in Genesis 1, 2, 3, you have Jesus the second, Adam, the life -giving spirit, here in John, where Adam brought forth death,

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Jesus brings forth life, as our covenant head. And so what started in the beginning, in the first week of creation, will be finalized by a renewal of Adam in a garden, and there's emphasis in John's Gospel of Jesus being arrested in the garden, like the

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Garden of Eden, where Adam fell, Jesus is restoring mankind, and that work of restoration began in the garden, where the fall began with Adam.

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The exaltation of Jesus and his glory has continually been directed at the cross, the place of death and humiliation that most clearly expresses the nature of his kingship.

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By this declaration, Pilate's words make the point explicit to the reader. Rather than garnering sympathy for Jesus, as is often assumed,

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Pilate is extending publicly the application of shame to Jesus performed by the soldiers inside the

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Praetorium, serving to expose before the same public his own prideful ignorance, but to the reader,

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Pilate is an unconscious witness to Christian truth. Irony, once again, which permeates

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John's Gospel. We should frequently contemplate the shame, contempt, the pain, and the torment that our

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Lord endured in order to save us from our sin, and to enable God to justly forgive our egregious sin, and to confer upon us, of course, unspeakable glory.

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Jesus Christ endured what we should have suffered, so that through his sufferings we would be secure in our everlasting presence before him and his

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Father in glory. He was the only man who could bear God's wrath in our place, and thereby bring us life, just as Adam, as the head of the human race, brought eternal death upon us, so behold, this man has brought eternal life to us.

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John's Gospel is incredibly rich, as I hope that we've discovered working through this narrative.

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Well, what was the response of the Jews to Pilate's proclamation introduction of Jesus? Behold the man.

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We read in verse 6, therefore when the chief priest and officers saw him, they cried out saying, crucify him, crucify him, kill him.

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They would have crucified Jesus to put him to death in the manner that would bring the most contempt upon him from those who witnessed the spectacle, and would cause the most agony they could have devised to be heaped upon him.

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Again, all would have looked upon Jesus hanging upon his cross as having been forsaken by God as a great sinner, for God to have permitted him to undergo such a tormenting and humiliating death in such a public manner.

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That's why they wanted him crucified. What was Pilate's reaction to them? Asserting the third time that he had found no basis of guilt in Jesus.

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Everywhere in the New Testament, when Christians or Christianity or Jesus was brought before an official

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Roman court, they were Christians, the faith was declared not guilty.

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No threat to Rome. Everywhere in the New Testament. And so Pilate's reaction, you take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him.

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That's the third time he made this declaration. But the Jews always seemed to have a response to object to Pilate's desires and efforts to release

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Jesus. Verse 7 records their appeal to Pilate. Jews answered him, we have a law, according to our law, he ought to die because he made himself the

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Son of God. They didn't say that earlier. Now they said it. Earlier they charged him with being a king, that's a challenge to Rome.

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But now they say he claims to be the Son of God. And John records no answer from Pilate at this point, this new charge.

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But John does recount what Pilate did. He once again turned, entered the Praetorium to speak with Jesus once again, but now he did so with even greater fear than what he had before.

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Again, you know, King Jesus is set forth as the one with dignity and authority and power here.

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Pilate's running back, he's afraid of the Jews, he's afraid of Caesar and what Caesar might think, he's afraid of Jesus.

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He's a pitiful character, if anyone is, Pilate. And so now we come to this third section, the authority from above, verses 8 through 11.

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Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, that he claims to be God, Son of God, he was the more afraid and went again into the

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Praetorium, said to Jesus, where are you from? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then Pilate said to him, are you not speaking to me?

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Do you not know I have power to crucify you, power to release you? And Jesus answered, you could have no power at all against me unless it had been given you from above, therefore the one who delivered me to you has the greater sin.

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On the first occasion, the Jews accused Jesus before Pilate, they said that Jesus claimed to be the

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King of the Jews. There's no suggestion that the Jews had told Pilate before verse 7 here that Jesus claimed to be the

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Son of God. Now they're bringing this up. Upon hearing this charge, we read

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Pilate was more afraid, he was already afraid, now he's more afraid. We read of Pilate's reaction, verse 8 and 9.

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Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid and went again into the Praetorium, said to Jesus, where are you from?

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Interestingly, this suggests that Pilate thought there might be some credibility to his assertion, he's the Son of God.

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Jews didn't think so at all. Pilate, gee, maybe there's something to this.

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The Jews dismissed it out of hand. It was flagrant blasphemy that Jesus would claim to be the

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Son of God. We saw this back in John chapter 10. I won't read the whole passage there, but basically they said to Jesus, do you say of him, the

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Father, sanctified center of the world, you're blaspheming because I said I am the Son of God. They regarded that claim of Jesus as blasphemy.

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But though the Jews rejected Jesus' claim fully without hesitation, it would seem that Pilate was pondering if this claim of Jesus were true.

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Where are you from? Pilate's belief in this possibility resulted in him becoming very afraid.

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And then one described it, the narrator. This commentator,

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Klink, by the way, he gives a lot of emphasis to the manner in which the gospel is written, to the narrative.

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And when you get into that kind of study, you don't so much speak about John the author, but rather an author creates a narrator, and the narrator is telling the story.

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And so he always refers to the narrator. We, of course, understand it as John, but the narrator sometimes,

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I'm really getting off here, a narrator is sometimes fused with a sense of omniscience.

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It's like he's in every room and watching everything and hearing all the details, hearing the conversation.

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And so the narrator is a projected storyteller, as it were, and that's what he's saying here.

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The narrator explains that Pilate was afraid, with the addition of an adverb making the fear even greater.

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He was very afraid. This may be Pilate's first response in regard to Jesus.

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It was religiously, or at least superstitiously, motivated, denoted by the questions he's about to present to Jesus.

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It's possible that a polytheistic Roman was more open to claims of divine sonship than a monotheist, which facilitates further the irony of the gospel.

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For a Roman outsider proves to be more ready to believe something divine about the

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Son of God than his own people. It's amazing the twist and turns in this account.

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We read that upon Pilate hearing this claim of Jesus from the Jews, he re -entered his residence again.

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Again, verse 8b, went again to the praetorium, said to Jesus, where are you from? It was a common belief among pagans of the

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Roman Empire that the gods would occasionally come down and appear as men to other men.

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And you recall in the book of Acts, the people of Galatia thought that of Paul and Barnabas after Paul had healed a crippled man.

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When the people of Galatia saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the

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Lycanian language, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. And Barnabas they called

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Zeus, Paul Hermes, because he was a chief speaker. And then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garland to the gates, intending to sacrifice to the multitudes.

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They thought Paul and Barnabas were gods. Pilate probably had that kind of superstitious worldview.

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Maybe there's something to this. Where are you from, Jesus? Pilate was very afraid.

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Perhaps this Jesus is the son of God, but we read Jesus gave him no answer. He'd answered him before when

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Pilate asked him if he was a king. Yeah, I'm a king, but my kingdom's not of this world. But he doesn't answer him here.

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Why did Jesus not answer Pilate? John doesn't say why. Perhaps Jesus thought that by this question of his origin,

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Pilate had gone beyond his authority and responsibility to determine his guilt or innocence. One commentator proposed this thought, since Pilate had already shown himself incapable of perceiving truth, what is truth?

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He spoke, you know, he asked, rather cynically. And since he had no apprehension of the kingdom, which is not of this world, it was impossible that any answer could be given to this question.

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Interestingly, both Augustine and Chrysostom, the silver -tongued one, he was supposed to be a great preacher, led contemporaries with Augustine.

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They thought that Jesus not responding to Pilate fulfilled Isaiah 53, verse 7.

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He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

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And I think they were right in their understanding. Jesus was fulfilling scripture. Pilate must have thought that by the silence of Jesus, he was not showing due regard for his authority.

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Of Pilate, it was said, he's very conscious of his dignity and power. It's incredible that Jesus will not speak with him, of all people.

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I remembered a quote from Spurgeon, a proud man is quick to imagine insults. He had a way of expressing things to the point.

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Pilate reminded Jesus who it was that refused to give him an answer. Pilate said to him, are you not speaking to me?

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Do you not know I have power to crucify you, power to release you? So Pilate then attempts to force

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Jesus to speak, probably irritated or offended at the silence of Jesus. Pilate's first question with the emphatic pronoun to me is probably to be understood as an expression of astonishment.

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You do not speak to me? Implicit rebuke is this, a bound, beaten, bloodied, and soon to be crucified prisoner will not speak to me, the

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Roman prefect. By this, Pilate establishes the ground for his next question, which he bases on his authority either to release or crucify

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Jesus. With the twice stated, I have authority, making a strong claim to the power he has over Jesus.

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And from a fallen man's perspective, Pilate did have authority, great authority. F .F.

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Bruce wrote about the kind of authority he had. Pilate is annoyed by Jesus's silence.

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It borders on contempt of court. Moreover, it's foolish for Pilate is the one man who can be of any use to him in his present situation.

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No one has the power to condemn is without the power to acquit says a maxim of Roman law.

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And it may be that by mentioning acquittal before condemnation, Pilate implies that acquittal, if it's possible is still his intention.

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Pilate's authority was indeed delegated to him by the emperor. But so long as he retained the imperial commission, it was within the limits of his province, a very far reaching authority indeed, imperium, as the

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Romans called it, which gave its holder great discretionary power. And he thought it, you know,

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I'm in, I'm the man in charge here. But then Jesus made it quite clear to Pilate that Pilate's authority is derived from God, which implies

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Pilate is not the ultimate authority, but that he's responsible to God for how he executes his authority.

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As governor of Judea, you're not only accountable Caesar, you're accountable to God who's given you this authority.

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It was a rebuke again, Jesus in charge here. And I can imagine

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Jesus standing there, perhaps looking down, I don't know, having just been scourged by whips, beat in the face with Roman soldiers bleeding, standing there quite bloody, having just been ravaged unjustly by Pilate, even though Pilate had formally and publicly declared of Jesus, I find no fault in him.

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And then he had to listen to Pilate make claims he had absolute uncontested authority to do whatever he wanted to do.

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And with no responsibility or accountability, Jesus would set him straight on the matter. Again, verse 11,

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Jesus answered, you could have no power at all against me unless it'd been given to you from above. And Pilate must have concluded the implications of that statement from Jesus.

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Pilate seemed to be flaunting his authority, warning Jesus that he and he alone had power to crucify

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Jesus or set him free. But Jesus in his weakened and suffering condition tells him you could have no authority except what

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God has given you. My father has given you, although he didn't use that term. Now understand this,

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I've never heard this before until I read it the other day. There are those who believe that when

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Jesus told Pilate that God had given him authority to execute

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Jesus, that this is not to be understood that God gives everybody in authority their authority, but rather it only had to do specifically with Pilate in this trial of Jesus.

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You follow what we're saying? And this block quote describes this, this view.

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Commentators both ancient and modern have understood this statement to refer to the divine institution of government as it's spoken of in Romans 13, which clearly it sets forth, you know, those in authority as being placed there by God.

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They're God's ministers. But in more recent exegesis, this has been replaced correctly, we think, and this is a solid

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Reformed scholar, Ritterbos, correctly, we think, by the view that it relates to the concrete situation that is to Pilate's power to release

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Jesus or crucify him. For that reason, the divine background of Pilate's power is described as given from above.

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Jesus's kingdom has just been described as not from this world, and Jesus has repeatedly described the origin of his own coming and work as from above.

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It is from above that Pilate also has received his power, and in that context that he plays his divinely given role.

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By saying this, Jesus not only explains Pilate's position but also his own. In that providential arrangement given from above,

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Pilate's interrogation of Jesus is a stage in the process in which Pilate himself must fulfill the will of God, and this is a theme that's found throughout

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John's gospel, that God is directing it all. Therefore, Jesus is in God's hands, not

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Pilate's. He keeps silent because he must drink the cup that the father has given him to drink.

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Part of that cup is the necessity of submitting to Pilate's arbitrary use of power, and letting himself to be crucified as a criminal, thus bearing the sin of the world being made to be sinned by God.

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In other words, there are those scholars who reason when

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Jesus told Pilate he only had authority because God in heaven had given it to him, he was speaking only of that occasion in which

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Pilate was trying Jesus. God would use Pilate to complete his purpose and crucify his son, and of course we would argue or agree that God was controlling the immediate decisions of Pilate to affect this end, and it may have been

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John's intention as a gospel writer to emphasize this in recording the authority given to Pilate.

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It's consistent with the flow of the story of the gospel of John, but one need not say therefore that this does not reinforce the biblical teaching found everywhere that God in his sovereignty imparts to every person in authority that authority that he enjoys and exercises, for it does just that.

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The Bible teaches everyone in authority. Are you a father? God has given you that authority.

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Are you a husband? God has given you that authority. Are you an employer, a supervisor? God has given you that authority, and you're accountable to God for what you do in that position of authority.

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God appoints every person in authority. Everywhere in scripture, God has taught his sovereign control over all who are in authority, and I cited some verses there that clearly state this.

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Proverbs, there's a number of them. The preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the

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Lord. Everything Pilate spoke was decreed of God. There are many plans in a man's heart.

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Nevertheless, the Lord's counsel, that will stand. All people in authority, God is working through them, and then again the fourth right statement in Romans 13.

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Let everybody be subject to governing authorities. Why? Because there's no authority except from God.

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God's sovereignty extends to Pilate's words and decisions, and his sovereignty extends to your words and my words and the decisions we make.

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This does not remove human responsibility, but rather accentuates it. For if God has placed you in the position of your authority, it means that you are responsible and accountable to him as a steward of your authority.

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You will give an account before the Lord one day on how you exercised your authority. I know of situations,

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I won't get any specific, you know, of the husband and the father who just thinks it's his right as being the head of the household to have everybody serve him at his every whim.

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You know, I'm here and I'm the leader. God has said so, and you're going to do what

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I tell you. You're here to serve me. That's his attitude, and is it any wonder he has rebellion surfacing in so many different ways?

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You should not view your authority as a privilege or a right that entitles you to have those under you as your servants in submission to your wishes and whims.

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Did you use your authority to be self -serving or abusive of others under you, or did you use your authority as God intended, and as our

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Lord Jesus modeled for us, not only during his earthly ministry, but also now as he serves in heaven,

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God gives authority to people so they might serve others under them, not be served by them.

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That's a perversion of authority. Authority brings responsibility.

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God has given you ability and responsibility and authority to better serve others under you.

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All authoritarian abuse will be requited by King Jesus on the day of judgment. It's a relatively rare thing to see anybody responsible in authority, isn't it?

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Because it's a fallen worldview. But then even though Jesus declared

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Pilate's responsibility implying his culpability for his unjust actions, Jesus declared that there were worse offenders than Pilate.

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Jesus said in verse 11, therefore, the one who delivered me to you has a greater sin.

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Jesus was not absolving Pilate, for although he's not his own source of authority, he does bear responsibility for the authority given to him from above for greater sin clearly implies that Pilate too had sinned.

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But you weren't the worst here. Some have thought Jesus was referring to Judas Iscariot.

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No, Judas turned Jesus over to the Jewish leaders. Judas didn't turn

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Jesus over to Pilate. The one is probably a reference to Caiaphas as the high priest who was also representative of the

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Jewish people. Jesus is probably referring to Caiaphas and all the

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Jewish leadership as being more, their sin was more egregious than Pilate's, not excusing

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Pilate. It's a sad thing that some people, many people through history have taken this this one who has a greater sin than you,

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Pilate, that being the Jewish people, and anti -Semites have taken this to justify their hatred and persecution of the

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Jewish people, God killers. And the scriptures certainly speak of the great guilt of the

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Jews in having crucified their Messiah. But in Peter's prayer to God the Father, he stated forthrightly both

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Jews and Gentiles were complicit in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, truly against your holy servant

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Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod, representative of the Jews, Pontius Pilate, representative of the

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Gentiles, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together. We're all guilty.

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And then we come to the judgment seat. We're only going to touch on this. I told you we weren't going to get done.

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We read that Caesar seemed to settle himself in his desires and resolved to exonerate Jesus, pressing upon people in authority their responsibility before God, may move them to act justly and responsibly into their position of authority.

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Yes, you're in authority over me, but may I just, you know, remind you of your responsibility too, that there's one over you.

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And, you know, that may incur the wrath of that person, but if it's done privately and with a proper spirit, it may be an appropriate thing in speaking to others.

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But then the Jews introduce a new wrinkle into this whole matter. The Jews cried out saying, if you let this man go, you're not

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Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. And apparently the

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Caesar at this time was Caesar Tiberius. Josephus says he was noted as being suspicious of people under him of not being loyal to him.

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Pilate no doubt knew this, you know, this must have really struck some further fear into him. Pilate's kind of a pitiful person as you read this account, even though he seemed to be in charge.

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We won't go through the details there. Well, when he heard this, you know, we read down in verse 13, when

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Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out, sat down in the judgment seat in a place that's called the

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Hebrew. He brought out Jesus once, and now he brings him out again, this final occasion, and the official verdict will be pronounced from the judgment seat.

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I want you to notice one more rather unusual thing here in this gospel account.

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It's amazing. I never saw this before. Notice with somewhat ambiguity of the sentence in our

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New King James version, but it's also reflected in the ESV in King James too, I believe.

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Who was seated on the judgment seat? Was it Pilate or Jesus? Look at the English word again.

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When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat.

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Depending on if you take that verb, sat down, either as a transitive or intransitive verb, it could either be

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Pilate or Jesus sitting down on the judgment seat. Pilate might have sat

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Jesus down on the judgment seat in order to mock the Jews. Here's your king of the Jews, all right?

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Or it may have been Pilate who came down, sat on the judgment seat to officially, all right, declare the sentence upon Jesus.

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Now, why didn't John make this clear? Why didn't the Holy Spirit make this abundantly clear?

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And we would argue, of course, it was unintentional by the

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Holy Spirit. And so the Greek grammar could go either way. We would say pretty obviously, historically,

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Pilate sat down on the judgment seat, but that is not what John says clearly and directly. And so the

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Holy Spirit may have intentionally had John pen these words in this way for a subtle but important purpose.

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And again, here is one who explains this, and then we'll close. We must remember that we're not interpreting the historical event itself by the account recorded in this text.

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This is not to deny or even minimize the reality of the event, but to suggest that the inspired account may intend to communicate truths beyond what was seen by those present.

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Jesus the man is also the lamb, that's an example. In other words, John records something for us to understand, the

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Holy Spirit intending for us to understand, that those observers may have had not a clue in the wording of, you know, who was it,

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Jesus or Pilate sitting on the throne? Did Pilate come in, come out, and have Jesus sit on the throne? In fact, the narrative's nondescript account may be entirely the point.

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That is, the narrative wanted to present two coexisting and competing realities simultaneously, namely the authority of both

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Pilate and Jesus, which verses 10 through 11 made clear was the central issue between them.

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Who has authority? From the narrative's perspective, both were sitting on the judgment seat. The verb could go either way.

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The historical strand of the gospel's plot would suggest Pilate was the one seated, for the seat did not belong, for the seat did belong to his

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Roman office, and yet the cosmological strand of the gospel, the bigger picture of the story of the

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Bible, of the gospel's plot, just as strongly suggests that Jesus was the one seated, for the seat also belonged to the divine office.

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God's in authority here. In order to communicate this, the narrative intentionally makes the sitting of this judge explicitly implicit, so that the scene is presented in the fullness of its historical and cosmological content.

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If Pilate placed Jesus on the judgment seat, then he was certainly making a mockery of the Jews, as he would do again when

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Jesus was placed on the cross. But if Pilate himself was sitting on the judgment seat, then the joke was on him, for the place where he sat was given to him by a much higher authority than the very man he was supposedly about to judge.

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There are twists and turns in this narrative that are just absolutely incredible. It's an amazing, it's the word of God.

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The bottom line is this, though Pilate was passing judgment, actually Jesus Christ was in ultimate control, for he's the true king of the

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Jews, and not of the Jews only, but of the whole world, as John's gospel presents. We've got more things to say about these last verses next week,

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Lord willing. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word, and although we understand our

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God, it's a beautiful narrative. We also recognize its complexity, and we just pray, our

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God, that you would help us to see and understand the subtleties as well, because we know that you placed them there for us, our

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God. And thank you, our God, for good men that have given the time and effort to display these before us, to help us to appreciate more fully our

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Savior and your work, our Father, through him. And so help us, our

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God, again to go forth from this place confident that you are in authority over the history of this world, and that we not be distressed, our

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God, or discouraged, but by what we might see unfold before us in coming weeks, perhaps, but that we may have confidence in you, in our

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Savior, our Lord, King Jesus, that you are furthering your purpose through history, ultimately to the consummation when

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Jesus Christ will return. Help us, our God, to be faithful and to be at peace within our souls, our

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God, as we reflect upon this truth. For we pray, Father, in Jesus' name, amen.