Jesus' fulfills Isaiah 53

John 19.....

Verse 1-3....Pilate appears to have Jesus flogged as a strategy to set Him free. It seems that Pilate was hoping that the Jews would have sympathy for Jesus after He was scourged or flogged.

Involved in the scourging was hitting and mocking, this was no ordinary “bullying” this was meant to inflict the highest degree of pain and humiliation!

But nothing could compare to the “flogging”

Scourging (flogging) by the Romans was the most exhausting, painful, and humiliating form of punishment.

Maybe even more so than hanging on the cross, which is unfathomable for us.

When someone was flogged, they were stripped, tied to a post, and beaten by several torturers.

The instruments would involve reeds which were wooden but acted like a whip, but with more effect. The Roman torturers, if the punishee was not a Roman citizen, they loved using the “cat of nine tails”....which was a wooden handle with several leather cords attached and attached to the end of those cords were bones and/or metal.

This type of beating would cause the body to be torn or lacerated to the point of muscle, veins, or bones being exposed.

Jerome, a Jewish historian who lived back in the 400’s, tells us that this “scourging” would take about 6 men, because it was so wearying and it went on so long that there had to be shifts in those who wielded the blows.

Isaiah 52:14 is prophecy of this scene, some 700 years before God gave us all the world a window into our atonement...........“As many were astonied at thee; His visage was so marred more than any man, And his form more than the sons of men:”

Verses 4-5........As I said earlier, the only reason Pilate had this done was to appease the crowd and get Jesus off of his hands.......well ignorantly Jesus appeased God’s wrath in his evil political stunt.

Pilate had Jesus brought out, saying “behold the man” thinking that this would cause sympathy amongst the Jews, maybe there was one among them that wouldn’t allow this to go on, but no one spoke for Jesus. It wasn’t to be..........

This coincides with Luke 23:13-16 “And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him: No, nor yet Herod: for I sent you to him; and, lo, nothing worthy of death is done unto him. I will therefore chastise him, and release him.”

This was Pilate’s plan, let’s see how it worked......

Verse 6-7.......They were still screaming for the death penalty......no sympathy for Jesus.....”Crucify Him”

It would of been more like a chant: “Crucify, crucify, crucify......”

Pilate with much frustration.....the pronouns “ye (yourselves)” and “Him” in the Greek have an emphatic force, indicating that Pilate was disgusted and frustrated with the Jews.

He couldn’t get this man off his hands.

The “Jews” state their law.....Leviticus 24:16 “And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death.”

This is all they could come up with on Jesus, but He was not guilty of it, He was telling the truth! They rejected the Truth of Jesus Christ with force!

The verdict was in and Jesus must be put to death......Roman law says the Jews cannot and the Jews were going to follow that law, only because they wanted someone else to do it.

Verse 8 is very interesting, John writes that Pilate was became afraid after he heard them state their law.....but mostly it was that Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God, that is what seems to be the reason behind Pilate’s fear.

There is some discussion about this.....this is one theory: Romans were extremely superstitious and they also believed in the mythical gods and they also believed that these mythical gods had children that was human with unique gifts........

So, when the Jews stated that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God; and also add to this what his wife told him: Matthew 27:19 “When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.” .......Pilate possibly feared because this could be a god’s child and he just had him flogged!!!!!

Pilate could of been afraid because he was running out of schemes to free Jesus and knew that this would be a colossal failure on his part.....

Killing an innocent man

Or causing an uprising with Jews.

It didn’t matter, Pilate was not lead by the fear of the Lord, but by the devil (self), and God used the hardness of his and the Jews hearts to fulfill His purpose for Jesus.

Verse 9......Pilate had another “inside” conversation with Jesus.......”Where are you from?”

This could be a sincere question about Jesus’ origin.....One writer wrote: “Pilate seeks to alleviate his own fear by questioning Jesus about his origins”

Pilate wanted to know Who he was dealing with!

Jesus did not answer! The peace of God is so evident in the account of Jesus’ passion, Jesus wasn’t out of control, angry,.........Peter said when He was reviled, Jesus did not revile back.

Verses 10-11........Pilate throws his weight around to Jesus....... “I have the power to crucify You or free You!” “Do, You know who You are standing before?”

Pilate sounds desperate for Jesus’ answer........

1st part of Jesus’ answer is that no human will ever have authority over Jesus unless it was allowed by God the Father!

This is such a powerful and awakening statement to me! All of what we read in all the accounts of how Jesus responds to what is happening........speaks to us that Jesus and His Father are allowing this to happen...........

If They wanted to stop it They could.

The evil Jewish leaders and the Roman cohort could of been wiped out with a spoken word from Jesus or 12 legions of angels. The power at Jesus’ disposal was and is unmatched!

The Jewish leaders, Pilate, the Roman soldiers, the Roman torturers could not have done what they done unless it was granted them from above!

That tells me that Jesus has given His life over to God.....in that Christ died while we were yet sinners for us!

Several verses tell this truth 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

But mostly Isaiah prophesied of this in Isaiah 53...........

What happened to Jesus, was God using these evil men to pour out His wrath on Jesus for our transgression, iniquities........our punishment was on Jesus instead of us......The perfect One taking the punishment of the imperfect! Being a ransom for many!

The Jews that handed Jesus over to Pilate has the greater sin.......why?

Consider the knowledge they had of God and prophecy.....Isaiah 53 would of been memorized and they would have spoke of it often.......yet they refused their Christ!

Pilate, a man ignorant of these prophecies, saw the innocence of Jesus and was dumbfounded by the envy of the Jews!

The Jews sin was greater because of their knowledge of prophecy and also the signs which they saw Jesus do.....combined they were without excuse!

Verse 12.... “and from henceforth” could be read “as a result” Pilate sought again to release Jesus.....

The Jews made a statement here that is loaded with irony......The Jews were no friends of Caesar either, they hated Rome. But they knew Pilate was fearful of Tiberius Caesar.

Pilate had made many foolish decisions that didn’t turn out well for him, so he was on “thin-ice” with Tiberius Caesar. The Jews knew that and that is why they said what they said.

Verse 13.......Pilate broke under pressure and prepared to render judgement.....the seat he sat in was placed on an area paved with stones called the “pavement” .....

The Greek word for “judgement seat” is “bema”.........Jesus will seat on the “bema” one day.....called the “Great White Throne” and He will render judgments......the only 2 differences between Pilate judging Jesus and Jesus judging Pilate is that Jesus will be right and justified in His judgement and the consequences of the judgement will be forever!

Verse 14......This verse is up for so much debate and since I have not studied the Jewish and Roman hours and am not as up to date on all of the Jewish calendar, we will just mention this statement by John.....

Preparation of the passover would of been the time they were sacrificing the Passover lambs, as I told you they would of been doing this as crossed the Brook Kidron earlier that morning!

This refers to the day before Passover (according to the Judean calendar) when they would prepare for the Passover.

This is one place I tend to agree with some who say that this would of been Friday and that Jesus was sentenced to die as the Jews were sacrificing the lambs......because John the Baptist said in John 1:29 “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

Now this seems to be contrary to the other Gospels and nobody has been able to come to a solid agreement on this.

The same goes for the “sixth hour”: “As for the time of day, this final decision and sentencing took place about the sixth hour. If we reckon the hours from sunrise to sundown, that would place it about noon. Mark 15:25 informs us, however, that Jesus was crucified at ‘the third hour’, about 9.00 a.m. Assuming that this is a correct reading of Mark’s sentence division, the discrepancy is apparent. Westcott (2. 324–326) attempts to resolve the problem by arguing that John used a ‘Roman’ method of computing time, beginning the day with midnight and thus taking about the sixth hour to refer to 6.00 a.m.”

This is much debated and I will not, because I do not want us believers to get caught up in disagreeing on these minuet details that could possibly misunderstood because we weren’t there and did not live under their calendar or time.

Don’t miss Heaven because you are arguing over days and times.......Don’t cause doubt in someone because of these arguments, do not allow them to stumble.....the facts are in what Jesus did and they are spiritual, man is hung on days and times which will end when the world ends, focus on the spiritual.......2 verses to keep in mind when thinking about discussing these things.......

1 Corinthians 2:14-15 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”

Galatians 4:9-11 “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.”

Pilate said in irony “Behold your King” as to say this what you are all up in arms about???

Jesus had to be at this time unbelievably bloody and weak!

Verse 15-16.......... After Pilate said that, the Jews cried out for Jesus to be taken away and crucified.........

Pilate asked them sarcastically, which caused a dreadful and damning statement from the Jews.....

“Shall I crucify your King?”

Pilate rightly said but wrongly believed “Your King”

The Jews response, “we have no king but Caesar!”

No regard for God at all, even if they didn’t believe in Jesus, their true hearts were exposed here.

This was only said to get rid of Jesus, but they were willing to deny God and falsely claim allegiance to Caesar to kill God’s Son!

That is when Pilate had no other choice but to kill an innocent Man! The Son of God, The Son of man!!

Let us continue to remember, for this reason Jesus was born into this world, God used this evil men to enact the “Chastisement of our peace” upon Jesus!

Acts 2:23-24 “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”