John 18:19-40
Jesus Questioned by the High Priest
19 The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and His doctrine. 20 Jesus answered him, "I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. 21 Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said."
22 And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, "Do You answer the high priest like that?" 23 Jesus answered him, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?" 24 Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Peter Denies Twice More
25 Now Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. Therefore they said to him, "You are not also one of His disciples, are you?" He denied it and said, "I am not!"
26 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of him whose ear Peter cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the garden with Him?" 27 Peter then denied again; and immediately a rooster crowed.
In Pilate's Court
28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. 29 Pilate then went out to them and said, "What accusation do you bring against this Man?" 30 They answered and said to him, "If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you."
31 Then Pilate said to them, "You take Him and judge Him according to your law." Therefore the Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death," 32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die.
33 Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, "Are You the King of the Jews?" 34 Jesus answered him, "Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?" 35 Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?"
36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here." 37 Pilate therefore said to Him, "Are You a king then?"
Jesus answered, "You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."
38 Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no fault in Him at all.
Taking the Place of Barabbas
39 "But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" 40 Then they all cried again, saying, "Not this Man, but Barabbas!" Now Barabbas was a robber.
Jesus spoke openly about the kingdom of heaven and who He is yet the the high priest still queried Him about His doctrine and disciples when they arrested Him. Since the Lord had taught openly and not in secret, He asked them to ask those who had listened to what He had told them. They hit Him in return for not telling them what they wanted to hear. Jesus asked them for what evil He was beaten and if not, why did they hit Him. He exposed their sin by telling them the truth of their motives and actions against the truth and what is good. While they shipped Him off to the high priest Caiaphas, Peter continued to deny following Jesus two more times until he heard the rooster crow to expose his fear of standing on for his Lord just as he was told he would do. Meanwhile back at the high priest’s, they marched Jesus from there to the Roman Praetorium, the judgment hall of the governor which was a courtroom as well. The Jews who brought Him there stood outside to wait for Pilate to come out and pass judgment because they did not want to dirty themselves in a pagan place. This is ironic since they were not acting godly by rejecting God’s Son as they were set on having Him killed to protect their standing (John 11:48) and power over the people. They could not comprehend that by having Him killed that they would be setting the stage for God to sacrifice His Son to deliver them from their sins and save their nation and the people (John 11:51-52)! This is the sovereign will of God in history as He arranged everything just as predestined to happen in God’s plan for redemptive salvation. When the Jews accused Jesus before the Roman governor, they were asked what His crime was and then told them to deal with Jesus thems since their accusations fell outside of Roman law. They wanted Him dead for falsely perceived blasphemy and could not kill Him themselves because of the Law of God. God had told us long ago in Isaiah 53:5, 7-8 and Psalm 22 that this would happen so that He could die for the sins and ours by His suffering and death at their hands of disbelief and rejection. Pilate asked Jesus if He really was the King of the Jews and He told him plainly that His kingdom was of Heaven above and not an earthly one that threatened Roman authority. He came to bear witness to the truth God according to the written word of scripture. He further explained that only those of the truth (called and chosen by God’s predetermined choice) were able to accept and receive Him as the truth. Pilate then asked, “What is truth?” in his own inability to grasp it but still told the accusers that he could not find Him guilty according to Roman law. As the rabble rose louder, Pilate found a way out of taking responsibility by enacting the custom of a substitutionary death by offering the people’s choice of who to release on the Passover. Thus they offered up Jesus by letting Him die in the place of a sinner who was an guilty criminal. This is a picture of how Christ subtituted His death for ours that we might not be judged, condemned, and put to eternal death for our sin as He took our place to hang on that cursed tree (Galatians 3:13) instead. This account demonstrated the denial of the people, the judgment on sin accounted to Christ instead of the guilty, and the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus for all who do not reject Him but believe through God-given faith and receive Him (John 1:12) to pass from spiritual death to everlasting life (John 5:24).
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