Consider Jesus for sinners slain...the last sacrifice for sin; and consider Father God, and those who would believe and receive. And consider Satan and his angels, hard at work in his chosen occupation...steering the world, in his many nefarious ways, toward a lost eternity.
Consider Israel...the Jews, and the religious elite; consider Pilate, guilty of neglecting the King of creation, God having ordained it so. He was well aware of the attitude of the oh-so-religioso, that Jesus must die, but the more he interrogated our Lord, the less he was convinced of His guilt. And even so...guilty of what?!
True, the religionists had charged their Christ with treason, and of refusing to "tithe" to Caesar, and of claiming to be a King, when really, all He had done was to teach them truth and to be The Truth in the midst of them. But as we've seen, Pilate was afraid, and he had no intention of losing this plum appointment as the figurehead of authority in Judea. So just like the rest of us, he was forced to make a decision...Jesus, or Judea? Caesar, or God? His wife's sound advice, or the religious elite's worst judgment ever to be cast upon an innocent man! So here was the quandry he was in, although we read in 19.12 that..."from henceforth Pilate sought to release him..", while the Jews cried the louder for blood.
Remember, Jesus had revealed to Pilate, as we read in vs. 11, where true authority truly comes from, and Pilate had been impressed. In fact, Jesus had made no effort to defend Himself, but had only lifted His Father God higher. And what an example, both for Pilate and for us. When we raise God up, we become more aware of our own humanity; and we increase our resolve to be more of what He would have us to be! To stand up for the right, when we're being manipulated to do wrong. That's what "having a little talk with Jesus" could do for you, removing the scales from your eyes and the pride from your heart, and the fear from you mind. That's what had been happening to Pilate, so..."from henceforth he sought to release him."
"But the Jews cried out..". They knew exactly where to stick the knife in order to do the most damage, and then, give it a good hard twist for good measure...these were the worst kind of hypocrites! There they were, the most favoured of God of all the peoples of the earth, beating up on Pilate in order to have this unblemished Lamb become the last sacrifice for their very own sins!
Then..."When Pilate therefore heard these words...", vs. 13. His resolve had been broken; the Jews were insistent, having pronounced their decision in the matter, and for them, there was no turning back. Have you ever gotten to the point where you had gone too far to turn back? Well let me tell you...there is no-such-a'thing! Our great God is the God of second chances! Every decision is reversible, and before you leap headlong into forbidden territory, believe me, there's plenty of time for sober second thought. Every one of us should stop in mid-step, or in mid-sentence, and think of the consequences of our saying or doing or being. Some of our decisions, after all, may very well have eternal consequences! So be prepared for justice, as in the case before us, to fall upon the unrepentant guilty.
For Jesus, final judgment was about to be cast, with disastrous consequence! Oh, not for Jesus, or for Father God, but for Pilate and the Jews. For us, His death would mean life and peace, while for the truly guilty, eternal loss and suffering. What a contrast, all due to the determination of guilt on a world lost in sin, to be borne by One Man, on the altar of His cross!
"Now it was the preparation for the Passover...", vs. 14. Remember, the Passover meal that had already been observed by Jesus and His disciples (13.1), preceding "that holy day" referred-to in vs. 31, and followed by the seventh-day Sabbath, left the first day of the week (our Sunday), as the first opportunity for the women referred-to in chapt. 20.1, to go and properly prepare the Body for burial. No work was allowed on these most holy of days of celebration in remembrance of God's provision for the escape of the children of Israel from their enslavement in Egypt (see Leviticus 23.5-9), so Joseph and Nicodemus, as we'll see from verses 38-39, took it upon themselves to make temporary arrangements for Jesus' body.
But first, as we read in vs. 16, (Pilate) delivered him to be crucified...", according to the will of the Jews, and according to the will of the Father, But also according to the will of Jesus Himself! He was led as a Lamb, to the altar of His sacrifice...directly to Golgotha, the appointed place for crucifiction. Little did those Jews know that they were, right there and then, fulfilling the prophecies of their own prophets!
And then, in John 19.19, we read the inscription written by Pilate himself..."Jesus of Nazereth, King of the Jews". This truly was God's King...King of the Jews and of the Romans and of all the peoples of the rest of creation! King in life, King in death, and King for eternity in His coming Kingdom! Pilate had been moved by the very will of God, regardless of what the religionists would have had to say, as we can see from vss. 20-22.
And the soldiers cast lots for His garments, as we read in vss. 23-24, fulfilling another prophecy..."Therefore the soldiers did these things." We can clearly see that it was God Who was in charge there, choreagraphing the minutest details, and we know today, that not one word of His Word will fail...exactly fulfilled to the very least letter. And there can be no doubt...at least not in my small mind, that the One Who hung there on that altar, was King, Messiah and the last Lamb to die for the payment of the debt of our sin.
The other Gospeleers all record further details, but that terrible sacrifice is recorded by all four, as we read in vs. 18..."...and there they crucified Him...". You know, back in the Psalms, chapt. 22, we read another record of these very events, and again, of course, in Isaiah 53, the landmark prophecy, still rejected by His own people..."He was oppressed and He was afflicted...", and that He was to die with the wicked on either side, being "numbered with the transgressors"!
So Holy Spirit has recorded all the details as found in all of The Book, that we require this side of glory...because it's all about Him! The solemn fact is, Jesus is the Lamb of God...and the Lamb was about to die! God had decreed it, the Jews were demanding it, and Pilate, as much as he would liked to have declined, chose to declare it, so..."...he turned him over to them to be crucified" (vs. 15-16). Then, as Matthew has recorded, he poured water into a basin, and washed his hands of the whole bloody affair; but he couldn't wash the stain of sin from his heart. Little did he know, that the Precious Lamb, slain for sinners lost, could be his only salvation!
Hallelujah...what a Saviour!
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