Behold the Man

John 19:1-15

We are continuing our study in the gospel of John tonight and we have come to chapter 19.

Nowhere in the bible do we get a clearer picture of the sovereignty of God behind the death of Jesus than from the gospel of John.

When we read this story, we cannot help with our human minds to think, if someone would have thought differently, or acted differently, maybe this would not of happened!!

Perhaps if the Jewish leaders would have believed in Jesus, or if Pilate would have been a stronger leader, this could have been prevented.

However, the truth is: Jesus was going to die on the cross, and nothing was going to stop it!! This was the will of God not only for His life but for the world!!

The point of this passage tonight is: To live for God we must surrender to His will in every circumstance we face.

John 19:1–15 KJV

Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe, And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid; And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King! But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.

Lets talk about the context of our story. We are in the final stages of the trial of Jesus. It is Friday morning, the day of the crucifixion.

Pilate is making every effort to try and rid himself of a problem. and it is a problem that continues to grow and come back into his face.

He stands between doing what is right by Roman law: which would be to release an innocent man, or appeasing a people he was appointed to keep the peace with. So, he is faced with this dilemma.

He begins to compromise, trying to find a way out. Not recorded in John, He sent Jesus to Herod. After all, Herod was the Tetrarch of Galilee. He was in Jerusalem at the time of the passover, Jesus was his responsibility. However, that didn’t work, Herod just sends Him back to Pilate.

He tried to tell the Jewish leaders, on several occasions: “I find no fault in Him, I find no fault in Him.” That didn’t work.

He then put his hope in the passover custom of releasing a prisoner to them, never anticipating for a moment that the mob would choose the murderer Barabbas, over the Messiah.

Then we come to our passage tonight, and Pilate is still trying to fix this problem he has. What Pilate doesn’t know is: all of his attempts are failing because it is the sovereign will of God he put Jesus to death. This has been determined before the foundation of the world.

Peter would say in the book of Acts 4:27–28 ““For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.”

So, the trial of Jesus before Pilate speaks to us about the will of man, and how futile it is, when it runs counter to the will of God.

That’s what we learn from this passage: we must surrender to the will of God in every circumstance we face!!

When we act in ways that oppose the will of God for our life, we are going to find nothing but frustration, confusion, and chaos!! That’s what Pilate finds in our passage.

The first thing I want you to see is:

I. The Persecution. Vs. 1-3

Here Jesus is punished by the Gentiles for absolutely no reason.

Look at Vs. 1, It says, “Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.”

Pilate has already spoken his judgment of Jesus. In Vs. 38, he said, “I find no fault in Him.”

He knows Jesus is innocent. He knows He is no threat to Rome. At least not from the standpoint of an insurrection. Pilate knows the Jews have handed Him over because of envy.

However, he is caught between a rock and a hard place. He has a desire to set Jesus free but he is afraid of the Jews. So, he makes another attempt here to satisfy them.

He has Jesus scourged or flogged!! What this means is: Pilate handed Jesus over to Roman soldiers to be beaten to a pulp!!

When a prisoner was scourged, they were tied to a pole, in the middle of a square, and beaten with a horse whip. However, the Roman soldiers were experts in torture and suffering.

For example, they would tie the end of their whip in a knot, so they could implement shards of bone and metal into it. So, when Jesus was being scourged, they were literally tearing His flesh from His body. Most of the time a prisoner would not even survive the scourging.

However, for Jesus this was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. It comes from what we call the servants song. Isaiah 52:14 “Just as many were astonished at you, My people, So His appearance was marred more than any man And His form more than the sons of men.”

Jesus was beaten to a pulp, but that wasn’t enough, notice Vs. 2. “And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe.”

The word “platted” here means they braided together thorns, probably from a date palm tree which was known for producing spikes 12 inches long.

The soldiers were mimicking the Roman coins. Their coins had the image of Roman emperor’s on them, wearing a wreath as a crown.

So, they were making fun of Jesus being a king. They pressed their man made crown onto His head, piercing His scalp and causing Him to bleed profusely down His face.

Then they draped a purple robe over His war torn shoulders. Purple because it was the color of royalty. But this was the coat of a Roman soldier. It was usually red but when the dye faded from the sun, it would become light pink or purple. It would have been heavy and caused excruciating pain on His bare bone shoulders.

Matt. 27:29-30 tell us, they took reeds like a stick, and walked around hitting Him in the head and spiting on Him.

Notice Vs. 3, “ And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.”

In other words, Jesus had become their sport. They were mocking Him and humiliating Him and smacking Him in the face. Like a mean boy with a magnifying glass on a ant hill, they were toying with Him.

This is the same way Jesus has been treated in every generation and the way people want to treat Him and His followers today. Look at what is taking place in Nigeria, and if we continue this downward slide toward socialism and communism it will becoming to a theater near you.

Jesus warns us in John 15:20 ““Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you;”

So, the first thing we see in this passage is the persecution.

The next thing I want you to see is:

II. The Condemnation Vs. 4-7.

Here we see Jesus not only persecuted by the Gentiles but condemned by the Jews.

Notice the beginning of Vs. 4, “Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them,”

Remember the scene in this story. Pilate is interrogating Jesus inside the Praetorium, and going back out on the steps to speak to the Jews.

If you remember the Jews refused to come into the Judgment hall because they wanted to remain clean for the passover. So, these hypocrites wanted God’s favor while putting to death God’s Son.

This was a violation of Roman law to begin with. Roman law said, the accusers must directly face the accused. However, Pilate is trying to appease them.

Notice the end of Vs. 4, “Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.”

There are at least 5 times in this passage where we read Pilate say, “ I find no fault in Him.” And is that is the case, we have to ask, “Then why did you have Him beaten?”

If Jesus is innocent Pilate, then you are allowing Him to be punished severely for no reason!! It shows us just how weak Pilate had become. He was afraid of the Jews reporting him to Rome and losing his position.

This was the perfect storm created by God. Pilate had no choice but do what the Jews want and ultimately fulfill the plan of God.

The scriptures repeatedly emphasize the innocence of Jesus. Matthew 27:4 “Judas said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”

Pilates wife declared it in Matthew 27:19 “While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man;”

The thief on the cross in Luke 23:41 ““And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.””

The Roman centurion in Luke 23:47 “Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent.””

And Pilate says it over and over again. Why? Because scripture is emphasizing the guilt of man. It was your sin and mine that crucified Jesus, to satisfy the wrath of God!

Notice Vs. 5, “Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!”

The phrase, “then came Jesus forth” tells us the beatings were taking place inside the judgment hall, and why do you think Pilate left Jesus dressed this way?

He was hoping to gain sympathy from the Jews for Jesus. He thought if they saw Jesus tortured, beaten, and humiliated they would be satisfied. But, he thought wrong, notice Vs. 6, they say, “Crucify Him, crucify Him.”

  There is a great lesson in this for us. No amount of Human sentiment, or pity will lead someone toward salvation. We cannot think that by telling people how Jesus suffered for them, it will cause them to repent and turn toward God.

If the Jews who saw first- hand the suffering He went through and it did not change their heart, how can we expect people to care today? The roots of sin run deep in our lives and we can ignore suffering. we see it every day on T.V.

Before we move on from Vs. 4, something has to be said about this phrase “Behold the Man!!” There are some phrases from Pilate during the trial of Jesus that have become iconic and this is one of them.

They become iconic because of their irony. For example, when he says, “what is truth?” and he is standing right in front of truth itself.

In the same way, “Behold the Man” speaks of the incarnation of Christ. He was indeed a man. And in Vs. 14 you “ behold the King” and that is ironic because Jesus is indeed the King!!

Notice the end of Vs. 6, after they say crucify Him. “Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.”

Again, Pilate declares His innocence here, but what I find interesting is: in his frustration, he gives permission to the Jews to kill Jesus themselves.

Remember by law they were not allowed to execute anyone. Although they often did it anyway by stoning. However, for various reasons, none greater than this is the way God has purposed Jesus to die, the Jews will not take Pilate up on his offer. They want Pilate to be responsible for His death.

Again, they are hypocrites want to be ceremonially clean for the Passover. Ironically, so they can be right with God. Meanwhile, being wicked sinners before God.

However, instead of the sight of Jesus causing pity from the Jews, it stirred their blood thirsty hearts for their ultimate desire: the crucifixion of Jesus!!

And what John is presenting us in this passage is both Jew and Gentile are responsible for the sacrifice of the Son of God!! God is sovereign and man is responsible.

Jesus died to satisfy the wrath of God, yet He died at the hands of sinful men. 2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Jesus was perfect, and the Jewish leaders hated Him because of His perfection. He came and He healed the sick, He raised the dead and opened the eyes of the blind. He came to the lost, the broken, and forgotten children of Israel, and taught a God of forgiveness and grace. They hated Him and they wanted to kill Him.

 Why kill Him? Look at Vs. 7, “The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”

Wait a minute. That’s not what they charged Jesus with before Pilate. They told Pilate He claimed to be a king and was leading an uprising against Rome, but now the truth comes out. They want Him to die for Blasphemy, and they want Pilate to do their dirty work.

The reality is: they hated Jesus because He claimed to be the Son of God. He came into the world and He wasn’t just teaching a different doctrine the scribes and Pharisees, He as teaching truth, and He was teaching it with the authority of God. The people were being swayed and believing He was the Messiah and they hated Him because of it.

the same thing is true in our lives. When you identify with Christ the world will hate you.

   In America, when you tell people you are a Christian you will be labeled a hypocrite, or a bigot because the world feels judged and condemned by your faith.

 In other countries it can cost you your life. North Korea, Afghanistan, and Nigeria dominate the list as the most dangerous places for Christians.

So, we have seen the persecution and we have seen the condemnation. The next thing I want you to see in this passage is:

III. The Fear Vs. 8-11

Here we see Pilate is powerless to do anything about what is taking place and He is afraid of where this is going.

Notice Vs. 8, “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;”

The saying Pilate heard was that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, but notice He was already afraid.

John had not mentioned Pilates fear before now, but it is obvious he was afraid of the Jews. This trial was going down hill fast and he was in a predicament that compromised his position in Rome.

He has just allowed Barabbas, a murderer, guilty of insurrection to go free, and he is failing to please the Jews by handing down a guilty verdict against Jesus.

Notice Vs. 9, “ And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.”

He had obviously moved Jesus back inside. Perhaps shielding Him from the angry mob. But what is important for us to understand is:

Pilate was superstitious. While he didn’t believe in the one true God of Israel, he believed in a multiplicity of demigods. People who would become superhuman. Little gods who sought retribution on the world.

Evidently, Pilate understood Jesus claims as the Son of God to mean He was one of these creatures. So, Pilate was afraid of retribution.

He had obviously heard the stories of Jesus miracles and could not help but recognize the majestic nature of Jesus, as He withstood the punishment and endured the suffering without speaking a word.

Again, this was all the fulfilment of prophecy. However, what I find interesting is earlier Jesus spoke to Pilate about spiritual things and Pilate refused to hear. (remember last week) Now, Pilate wants to hear but Jesus refuses to speak.

What that teaches us is: there comes a time when the opportunity to hear the gospel is removed and that time had come for Pilate.

Notice Vs. 10, “Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?”

Pilate was afraid and obviously frustrated by the silence of Jesus. Ironically, he says, “Knowest thou not.” Remember, he is speaking to the omniscient Son of God who knows all things.

However, not only is Jesus all knowing, He is all powerful. Yet notice what Pilate says, “I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?”

Pilate doesn’t even have the power over the Jews in this moment. Yet he thinks he has the power of life and death over Jesus.

Finally, Jesus speaks, Look at Vs. 11, “Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.”

This is so profound, Jesus has willingly surrendered Himself to the will of the Father. You see Jesus knew something Pilate didn’t know. He was going to the cross and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it.

For Jesus, all of this was a formality. All of the trials, all of the beatings were pointless because God was in control. As far as Jesus was concerned they could have taken Him from Gethsemane to the cross. He was willing to go.

There are a couple of interesting things I want to point out from this final statement from Jesus in Vs. 11. He says, “therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.”

Is a question: who is He talking about here?

Is He talking about Judas? I don’t think so, Judas didn’t deliver Him to Pilate. So, He must be talking about Caiphas and the Jewish leaders who were responsible for teaching the people about the Messiah, yet instead they rejected Him.

2. This statement removes the whole idea that all sin is the same in the eyes of God. We know that all sin separates us from God, however, some sins must be greater than others, because Jesus says so!!

So, in this passage we have seen the persecution. We have seen the condemnation and we have see the fear.

The final thing I want to show you is:

IV. The Decision Vs. 12-15

Here we see Pilate finally surrender to the will of the Jews and ultimately to the will of God!!

Notice Vs. 12, “And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend:”

This is a last ditch effort by Pilate to release Jesus, but the Jews have a trump card. Something they know will get Pilate to do what they want: They say, “ If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.”

In other words, Pilate if you don’t do what we want, we are writing a letter to Caesar about you and we are going to tell him everything you have done.

Pilate has a dilemma. Whatever decision he makes is going to be wrong. The question is: would he satisfy his conscious or hold onto his position.

The tittle a friend of Caesar was usually a badge of honor given to a governor for doing a good job.

Thus, what the Jews were saying is: if you release Jesus word is going to get back to Tiberias, the emperor of Rome at the time, and you are going to lose your job, maybe even his life.

Remember, there were already bad reports delivered to Rome about Pilate. He would only hold onto power for three more years after these events. Therefore, the Jews had become a greater threat to Pilate than Jesus.

Notice Vs. 13, “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.”

Apparently, that statement was all it took. For Pilate that sealed the deal. In his own self-interest he hives into the Jews and decides to execute Jesus.

The Judgment seat in the Greek is the word “bema” it was the place where the Roman ruler would officially announce his verdict. It has been adopted by the Holy Spirit to describe the throne of God.

Romans 14:10 “why do you judge your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”

2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

What is ironic here is: we have a corrupt Roman official sitting in Judgment of the one God has commited to judging the world.

Notice Vs. 14, “And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!”

Notice the reference to the sixth hour. John wants us to know Jesus is being sent to the cross at the very hour the passover lambs were to be slain.

Some scholars believe John contradicts the other gospel writers because Mark 15:25 “It was the third hour when they crucified Him.” The third hour in Jewish time was 9 AM.

According to MacArthur, John is using Roman time in this passage, which began at midnight and meant Jesus was sentenced to die at 6 AM.

John gives us this time reference for two reasons. 1. He wants to connect the crucifixion of Jesus with the sacrifice of the passover lambs. 2. Because it explains why the Jews want the body of Jesus taken from the cross so soon.

Friday night would be the beginning of the Sabbath and it was a special Sabbath of Passover.

John 19:31–37 “Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was crucified with Him; but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. For these things came to pass to fulfill the Scripture, “Not a bone of Him shall be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.””

Back in John 19:14 Pilate then presented Jesus as their King. This was to further mock Jesus but also, to humiliate the Jews. And this forever become one of those iconic statements from Pilate. Ironically, Jesus was their king.

Notice Vs. 15, “But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.”

The Jewish mob, led by their religious leaders shouted their rejection of Jesus However, they went even further and demanded His crucifixion.

But we expected that. They have rejected Jesus from the beginning. However, what they do here is astonishing. Not only do they reject Jesus but they pledge their allegiance to Caesar!!

Ironically, the Jewish leaders who accused Jesus of blasphemy were now guilty of blasphemy themselves!!

What we see throughout this passage is: mankind acting according to their will and yet God’s will rules.

God is sovereign and has a purpose and plan for our life, to conform us to the image of His Son and when we battle against the will of God we fail.

The results are frustration confusion and sin in life!! Therefore, we must surrender to the will of God in every circumstance we face!!