Mark 15:1-15

I hope your Christmas was a time of rest and joy.

I hope it was a time of Thanksgiving and fun, and I hope

it was a time that helped you to reflect on the miracle and

marvel of God becoming man to save us.

There is only one Christmas miracle, despite what many

movies or TV shows or plays might say.

The one Christmas miracle is that the eternal Son of God came

to earth as a human infant to rescue us from sin and to

reunite us to God. This is a miracle.

It's a marvel, It's peculiar, it's not what you would expect

or predict. You can't make sense of it in

worldly categories. In the biblical accounts of

Jesus birth. Everywhere we look there are

strange and striking details, there are paradoxes.

There are things that make us stop and wonder.

The King of the universe comes to us in person and he comes as

a helpless infant. Jesus is the long-awaited king

and Messiah, the descendant of David who rescue his people.

But he's born in a Manger, a place for farm animals.

The one who deserves all honor comes in striking humility.

Angels light up the night sky to announce the good news, and the

people they tell are lowly, no account.

Shepherds, wise men from a distant land, travel from far

away to worship the baby Jesus and to bring him costly gifts.

But the local ruler over his own people views him as such a

threat that he seeks his life and force his parents to flee

for safety. Why all these paradoxes?

Why all these strange and striking details?

Because Jesus truly is the King. He's the King of the universe.

He's the King of kings and Lord of Lords.

He is the one we all need to submit to.

He's the only king who can rescue us from sin.

And these are all previews, hints, precursors of the way

He's going to do that. The only way He can bring in His

Kingdom and rescue us from sin is by going to the cross.

The only way He can not only enter into His Kingdom, but

bring us ruined sinners into it with Him is by dying on the

cross to pay for our sins. This King's Kingdom will only

come through the cross. The 5th century pastor Agustin

of Hippo put this point beautifully in a Christmas

sermon. Man's maker was made man.

That he, ruler of the stars, might nurse at his mother's

breast. That the bread might hunger, the

fountain thirst the light, sleep the way, be tired on its

journey. That truth might be accused of

false witness, the teacher be beaten with whips, the

foundation be suspended on wood. That strength might grow weak.

That the healer might be wounded.

That life might die. This morning we continue our

series in Mark's gospel, a gospel that's full of paradoxes

and surprises. We come to the very last passage

before Jesus crucifixion. So last week in the second-half

of chapter 14, we saw how Jesus was arrested.

He was abandoned by his disciples.

He was tried before a ruling council of the Jewish people and

he was denied by Peter. This week we come to Mark 15

Mark 15:1–14

verses 1 to 14. If you don't have a Bible,

please raise your hand and someone will bring you one.

In our passage, Jesus stands trial before the Roman governor

Pilots on the human level. His life is in Pilots hands.

If Pilot says Jesus gets to live, Jesus will live.

If Pilot says Jesus has to die, Jesus is going to die.

Now, there's one keyword that runs through our passage that if

you grasp it rightly and you understand its full meaning, it

tells us the truth of who Jesus is and of what's going on in

this trial. See if you can spot it as I read

the passage. Mark 15-1 to 15.

And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a

consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council,

and they bound Jesus, and led him away, and delivered him over

to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, Are you

the King of the Jews? And he answered him, You have

said so. And the chief priests accused

him of many things, and Pilot again asked him, Have you no

answer to make? See how many charges they bring

against you. But Jesus made no further

answer, so that Pilot was amazed.

Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner

for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison

who had committed murder in the insurrection there was a man

called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began

to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them.

And he answered them, saying, Do you want me to release for you

the king of the Jews? For he perceived that it was out

of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up.

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him released

for them. Barabbas instead.

And Pilate again said to them, Then what shall I do with the

man you call the King of the Jews?

And they cried out again, Crucify him.

And Pilate said to them, Why, what evil has he done?

But they shouted all the more Crucify him.

So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them

Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be

crucified. In our passage, Jesus is

referred to as king three times, and in the rest of chapter 15

he'll be called king three more times.

Now that's a word that in all of Mark's gospel has not yet been

applied to Jesus. And here in this chapter it

shows up six times. Now that we come to his trial

and his crucifixion, the word king is everywhere.

Here's the main point of our passage in one sentence.

Jesus is a king like none in this world, and his Kingdom is

not of this world. Jesus is a king like none in

this world, and his Kingdom is not of this world.

As we walk through the passage, we'll see what kind of king

Jesus is and what that means for you and me.

I'll have five points. What kind of king is Jesus?

Point #1 verses 1 to 5. The accused king.

The accused king, look again with me at verse one.

And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a

consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council,

and they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to

Pilate. Last week we're studying chapter

14. We saw in verses 53 to 65 that

the ruling council of the Jews, called the Sanhedrin, held a

hearing to establish a charge that they could try to use to

get Jesus put to death. I think verse one in our passage

is simply telling us what they did next immediately after they

had found their charge. When the high priest asked Jesus

if he's the Messiah, Jesus not only said yes, but he asserted a

that he had a type of authority that they took to be

blasphemous. They took it to be encroaching

on what belongs rightly only to God.

So they have their grounds that are sufficient for them to want

him to be put to death. But at that time, under Roman

rule, they didn't have the authority to carry out the death

penalty. That was something only the

Roman government could do. So in verse one, they consult us

to what to do next. OK, we have our charge.

What are we going to do? All right, we'll bring them to

pilot to have a trial before pilot.

It's it's very early in the morning.

It's probably right around Daybreak of what we now call

Good Friday, it was common for Roman officials to conduct

judicial business early in the morning and then spend the rest

of the day at leisure, kind of logging a few hours of their

main work and then spending the rest of the day, you know, doing

2 rounds of golf or whatever, that they had a life of leisure

after their basic responsibilities.

So it makes sense that they would bring it, bring it to him

first thing in the morning. Pilate, also known as Pontius

Pilate, was the 5th Roman governor of Palestine.

He lived at Caesarea on the coast, so that's northwest of

Jerusalem. But during festivals like

Passover, Jerusalem swelled with pilgrims and political tempers

ran high. So he would have spent the whole

duration of the feast a week or more in Jerusalem, kind of

overseeing things, making sure nothing got out of hand, giving

a more careful eye to what was happening.

Now, Pilate was a man caught between the rock of Rome's

imperial agenda and the hard place of his subjects,

resentment of Roman rule. Rome wanted order.

Rome wanted taxes. Rome wanted to be able to carry

out trade. They did not want intense

religious uprisings taking place kind of out of the periphery of

their empire. So pilot's a man caught in

between. He has to advance the Roman

agenda, but he has to do it in a way that is not going to cause

the resentment. And it's always simmering under

the surface in Judea to kind of bubble over and burn something.

Now this man Pilate, caught between a rock and a hard place,

holds Jesus's fate in his hands. Verse 2.

And Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews?

And he answered him. You have said so.

Now where did Pilate get this question?

How did he know to ask this question of Jesus?

Are you the king of the Jews? Mark's gospel doesn't tell us

explicitly, but I think we can easily figure out the answer

from the context. Again, before the Sanhedrin at

this hearing that's just happened.

Jesus has just confessed that he's the Messiah.

What is the Messiah? The Messiah is the promised son

of David. What was David?

He was the king over Israel, and the Messiah was promised to

reign on David's throne. So to be the Messiah is to be a

king. Not only that, but Jesus's

answer claimed A shockingly high authority.

He quoted to scripture passages Daniel 713 and Psalm 110 verse

one that equate his authority with God's authority.

God is the king of everything and Jesus is claiming to possess

that same authority. Now, a Roman governor is not

really going to care about a claim to be Messiah.

That's just going to sound like some obscure figure from a

religion he doesn't belong to, that he just has to have a kind

of professional working knowledge of to keep the peace.

He's not going to care about a claim to Messiah unless someone

tells him that that claim has serious political implications

that he should be interested in. So I think we're meant to

understand that Pilot gets his question from the Sanhedrin.

They inform on Jesus. Hey, Pilate, this guy's claimed

to be a king. You should ask him about that.

They translate Messiah into terms that'll make sense to

Pilate, king of the Jews. It's the question they hand him

to ask. Now, that is something that

Pilate might be interested in. Oh, King of the Jews.

Someone claiming to be king of the Jews could be a threat to

Roman rule. They could be a threat to Roman

order. They could be a threat to Pilot

personally. If someone says they're king of

the Jews, well, that sure sounds like they're going to want to

get rid of Roman rule. They might even rebel.

They might even lead some kind of armed uprising against the

Romans. That, at least, is how the

Sanhedrin would have tried to make Jesus seem to Pilate.

Hey, Pilate, this guy's a threat.

He claims to be a king. You don't want a guy like that

running free in Jerusalem, do you?

So. Pilate asks, and Jesus answers.

You have said so. Now, this is not a denial.

It's not even really an evasion. Instead it's an affirmation.

But it's a guarded 1, it's a cagey 1, and it pushes the

burden back onto Pilot. What does Pilot think?

You have said so do you think that?

Do you believe that? What does pilot think?

Jesus is not letting Pilot play any kind of detached role as a

mere judicial umpire, just calling balls and strikes.

Instead, he's forcing pilots to consider the true answer to his

own question. Here's one of the most important

things we all need to realize about Jesus's kingship.

It's not a question of whether you will submit to Jesus as

King, but only of when and how. You can submit to Him by faith.

Now you can confess him as Lord, You can entrust yourself to Him

and live your whole life for Him.

If you do, then one day you'll be united with Him forever in

His glorious Kingdom. That is how you should submit to

Him. But if you don't submit to him

now, you will be forced to submit to him later on the last

day. If you don't receive him as King

now, you will be required to bow before him on the last day when

he returns as judge. But then you will receive not

glory and blessing, but an everlasting curse and judgement.

At the present moment, there are 43 modern nation states that are

governed by a monarch. That means a King, Queen,

Emperor, Sultan, Amir, Grand Duke, the Pope, or another

monarch that serves as the country's head of state.

Some of these are constitutional monarchies or the monarchs role

is largely ceremonial. Some of these are absolute

monarchies where the monarch has near total power, and among

these are the 15 Commonwealth realms where Charles the Third,

the King of England, is head of state.

Modern monarchies include Eswatini, Lesotho, Morocco,

Bahrain, Bhutan, Brunei, Andorra, Belgium and Denmark.

Here's the thing, unless you live in one of those countries,

them having a monarch just does not matter to you.

And even if you live in one of those countries, perhaps one

that has a a constitutional monarch, a Commonwealth monarch,

having a monarch doesn't make much of a difference in your

life. And those ceremonial monarchies

are just kind of a fancy, expensive hood ornament of the

state, a relic leftover from an era when a whole lot of people

believe that kings ruled by divine right monarchies are kind

of a vanishing species from the modern world.

It's constant talk of shrinking them, getting rid of them,

dismantling them. But Jesus is different.

He really is the king of all all people, all places, all nations,

all times, every single human soul.

He's the king of every nation, every people, every person, and

he has absolute authority. When we think about a human

being wielding absolute authority, normally we are

rightly scared. We are rightly skeptical.

Why? Because human beings are fallen.

Self interested, self-serving. The more power you give to one

individual, the more harm they can do to others.

But Jesus is just the opposite. He's morally perfect.

He's morally pure. He came not to be served, but to

serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

He is the only monarch who deserves absolute authority.

Because he has absolute purity and perfection, we can trust him

to wield absolute authority. Because he is absolutely loving

only in Jesus, our absolute power and absolute compassion,

perfectly unified. And so Pilate asks.

And so Jesus answers. He is the King of the Jews and

Pilate better think about what that means, not so much for his

precarious political position, but for the good of his eternal

soul. Verses 3 and four And the chief

priests accused him of many things.

And Pilate again asked him, Have you no answer to make?

See how many charges they bring against you.

Mark doesn't list the specific charges that were brought

against Jesus, but Luke 23 verse 2 tells us some of them it says

Luke 23:2

and they began to accuse him, saying we found this man

misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to

Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.

This is just like in the testimony of the false witnesses

before the Sanhedrin. These charges are distorted.

They remember Jesus said something about paying taxes to

Caesar, but they got it exactly wrong.

Jesus said render to Caesar what is Caesar's.

He didn't forbid paying taxes to Caesar.

He in fact commanded it. So even though they're right

that he claims to be the Messiah, there's all sorts of

false testimony creeping back in to their charges against him

before Pilot. They want to stack the case

against him. They want to make sure it

sticks. They want to make sure that

Pilot feels it is in his own political self-interest to get

rid of Jesus. But Jesus doesn't respond.

He's silent. Again, we have to ask why.

And I think there are two reasons.

One is to continue to fulfill the Scriptures like Isaiah 53,

verse seven that testify to how the suffering Servant will be

silent before his accusers. But I think another reason is to

demonstrate faith in his Father. Jesus has already borne witness

to the truth that he's the Messiah.

He's already borne witness to the truth of his divine

identity. He's borne witness even before

Pilot to the truth of his kingship.

What more does he need to say? Nothing.

He doesn't need to dignify false charges by giving them an

answer. He doesn't need to dignify false

accusers by stooping to their level instead.

And here's another key point about Jesus kingship.

Even when he's on trial, he remains the judge.

Even when he's bound with ropes around his wrists, he remains

sovereign and free. He is not being condemned

against his will. Instead, he is giving up his

life willingly. He's not being led to defeat.

Instead, he's marching steadily toward victory, both at the

cross and beyond the cross. We see this even in how Jesus

responds to Pilate. Mark doesn't record Jesus using

any language that shows any deference toward Pilot's

authority. There's no respectful my Lord.

There's no verbal recognition that Pilot is the one who holds

power here. Jesus is not setting himself up

under Pilot's authority. Instead, he speaks to Pilot as

one who knows he is. In fact, Pilot's superior.

Doesn't look like it. You wouldn't see it by your

senses. But Jesus infinitely outranks

Pilot, and he addresses him from that position of sovereignty

even while he's being judged by Pilot.

Jesus knows that he is Pilot's judge, and he acts as Pilot's

judge. He doesn't need to get the last

word now, because he will himself get the last word on the

last day. So even after Pilate asks Jesus

why he's not responding in verse 5, we read.

But Jesus made no further answer so that Pilate was amazed.

Jesus kept his silence and Pilate was stunned.

What kind of prisoner is this? What kind of accused person is

this who can be so calm and collected in the face of such

weighty accusations when their life is hanging in the balance?

Jesus is the accused King and He knows He is not only innocent,

but He is the King of all those who are accusing him.

He has no need to answer to them, because one day they all

will answer to Him. Jesus has no need to answer to

you because one day you will answer to Him.

Point #2 the captive king. The captive king.

We see this in verses 6 to 9. As we've just seen in the 1st 5

verses of our passage, Pilate has heard the charges against

Jesus. He has heard Jesus make no

defense of himself, and he's amazed.

But what he's not is convinced that Jesus has done anything

worthy of death. The the trial is over.

The hearing is over. There's no guilty verdict.

There's no evidence for his guilt.

So pilots heard him. He's amazed that Jesus is calm

his his poise, his silence. But we're not moving forward

here with a guilty verdict. We'll see that explicitly in

verse 14. For now, it's important to note

that Pilate still has a dilemma on his hands.

The leaders of the Jewish people want Jesus put to death, but

Pilate does not see any good reason to do that.

So he's looking for a way out. Look at verses 6 to 9.

Now, at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner

for whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison

who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man

called Barabbas. And the crowd came up and began

to ask Pilot to do as he usually did for them.

And he answered them, saying, Do you want me to release for you,

the king of the Jews? As a way to gain favor with the

people During the Passover, Pilot was in the habit of

releasing 1 prisoner of their choosing each year.

It's a little bit like a presidential pardon.

And here Mark mentions one particular prisoner, Barabbas,

whom the crowd will later ask Pilot to release.

Barabbas is an Aramaic name. It means son of the Father.

Barabbas is a kind of photo negative of Jesus.

It we learned that he committed murder in the insurrection.

Insurrection is an armed uprising against Roman rule.

So Barabbas killed somebody during some recent attempt to

overthrow Roman rule. We don't we don't know from

history exactly what or when this is.

There's kind of several things it could have been, but Barabbas

was a known political opponent of Rome and a convicted

criminal. He was a captive because of

crimes he himself had committed. One key historical detail for us

to keep in mind is that crucifixion was a punishment

that the Romans reserved for those who had committed

insurrection. In other words, in ancient Rome,

the only way to get yourself crucified was to violently

resist Roman rule, which is exactly what Barabbas had done

according to Roman judicial norms.

Barabbas deserved to be crucified.

He actually had done what the chief priests are falsely

accusing Jesus of doing. He had violently opposed Roman

rule. So now the crowd comes up to

Pilot and asks him to release a prisoner for them.

Here's where Pilot spots his potential way out.

At this moment, Jesus is a captive.

He's in the same position as Barabbas and other prisoners and

pilots looking for a way not to kill him.

So he asked if they want him to release Jesus.

Pause here. Consider the God of the universe

is in a position of a condemned captive criminal.

Humanly speaking, his fate is entirely out of his hands.

He's powerless to intervene. He has no hope of securing his

own release. If that's what he was trying to

do. What is this captive king doing?

He is standing in the place of condemned sinners.

Each of us deserves eternal death for our sins.

Each of us deserves to have God's absolutely perfect justice

executed against us forever. And each of us is powerless to

escape our own condemnation. None of us can work our way out

of it. None of us can plead our way out

of it, argue our way out of it. None of us can present a case

that would go any distance toward getting the guilty

verdict against us overturned. Spiritually speaking, apart from

faith in Christ, each of us is a condemned criminal.

There's nothing you can do to escape God's sentence against

you. That's why Jesus had to.

That's why Jesus was willing to bear that sentence for you and

His death on the cross point #3 the envied king.

The envied king. Verse 10.

For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests

had delivered him up. In other words, pilots saw

through the pretexts the chief priests and the other Jewish

authorities offered. He saw that Jesus was a popular

teacher. He discerned that they resented

Jesus's popularity. He saw that their opposition to

Jesus wasn't principled so much as personal.

So Pilate wasn't persuaded by the case that the chief priests

made. He didn't think Jesus really was

a threat to Roman rule, whatever the Messiah is.

Pilate didn't think that Jesus was that kind of threat that had

to be dealt with by execution. He didn't think that Jesus was

very much like Barabbas. What kind of insurrectionist

doesn't even answer the charges against him?

So even though Pilot is far from being a spiritual model for us

here, he shows some shrewdness. He shows some insight into human

nature. He saw that the chief priest

envy Jesus popularity. What is envy?

It's grief or anger caused by another's success.

The chief priests wanted the hearts of the people for

themselves. Their vain glory blinded them to

the truth of Jesus kingship. They wanted for themselves what

rightly belonged to Him. Their envy made them glory

thieves. The fallen human heart is a

factory of envy. Who are you tempted to envy?

What is it that someone else gets that should make you happy

for them, but instead makes you sad or mad?

Whatever that object is, that's the cause of your envy.

That is something that you are loving more than you love God.

Envy is like a flashbulb that reveals in an instant how your

loves are out of order. If someone else's success makes

you sad or angry, that success you wish you had but don't is an

idol. How can you overcome envy only

by overcoming idolatry? How can you overcome idolatry

only by growing to love God more?

How can you come to love God more?

Consider the lengths God Himself went to in order to love you.

Consider what God put Himself through in the person of His

Incarnate Son in order to embrace you in His love forever.

How can you grow in loving God by meditating on how He first

loved you? So at this point in our passage,

Pilate is looking for a way out. Maybe this prisoner release

custom will do the trick, but he has to do it with the people's

consent. He can't just unilaterally

decide what good would it be to release to them a prisoner they

don't want, a prisoner they hate that would do Pilate harm.

Not good. So he has to hear the will of

the people .4 the innocent king. The innocent King We see Jesus's

innocence displayed in verses 11 to 14.

Look first at verses 11 and 12. But the chief priests stirred up

the crowd to have him released for them.

Barabbas instead. And Pilot again said to them,

Then what shall I do with the man you call the king of the

Jews? So far Pilots plan is not

working out. The chief priests stir up the

crowd to ask for Barabbas. So Pilot asks what they want to

do with Jesus. And there's that title again.

The man you call King of the Jews again.

I think this also confirms that they're the ones who told pilots

that Jesus is the King of the Jews.

The irony here is thick. The Jewish leaders reject Jesus,

claim to be the Messiah, and yet that's what they tell Pilate.

He is even an act of reporting on Jesus.

To Pilate, they unwittingly bear witness to the truth.

They speak better than they know.

They might have said. He calls himself the King of the

Jews. And even in the title that's

written up when Jesus is crucified, some people try to

correct it. Don't, don't put king of the

Jews, but he called himself king of the Jews.

But to Pilate, who cares? All the same to him you say king

of the Jews, I say king of the Jews.

That's who he is. So what do they want to do with

their own king? How do they want to treat him?

Verses 13 and 14? And they cried out again,

Crucify him. And Pilate said to them, why,

What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more,

crucify him. It's important to note that

several parties share responsibility for Jesus death.

The chief priests stir up opposition among the crowd.

The crowd crowd first crucifixion.

And as we're going to see, Pilot will cave to political pressure

and go along with their request. Leaders and people, Jews and

Romans. Everyone shares in this guilt.

These verses, too, are thick with ironies.

Barabbas is truly guilty. No argument there.

And Pilate declares Jesus innocence.

What evil has he done? None.

No evil deserving death. No evil at all.

No evil ever. In asking this question, Pilate

too spoke better than he knew you could.

Just let the question echo and echo and echo.

What evil has he done? There will not be an answer

because it's none. Another irony.

Barabbas deserves to die. Jesus deserves to live.

Another irony in demanding the release of a guilty person and

the death of an innocent person, the crowd itself becomes guilty.

And demanding the release of a murderer and the death of an

innocent man. They become complicit in that

innocent man's murder. It's as if the people have come

up with an ingenious solution. OK, Pilate, sure, Jesus doesn't

deserve death. You say so, but Barabbas does.

So there is a death sentence to be carried out here.

How about Jesus takes that one and Barabbas goes free?

What's going on here? Mark is teaching us that each

and every one of us is Barabbas. We're all justly condemned by

God for our sins. We all deserve to die eternally

for our armed rebellion against God's authority.

And yet God worked out a marvelous, miraculous prisoner

exchange brothers and sisters, you who trust in Christ for

salvation. Each of us is Barabbas.

Not just in that we've broken God's law.

Not just in that we deserve death for our sins, but in that

Christ suffered our death sentence and we get to go free.

This is the heart of the good news.

This is the heart of the gospel. This is the very heart of what

Jesus came to do. Each of us deserves eternal

condemnation. We're condemned.

We're captive. There's nothing we can do to

release ourselves. And yet, because Jesus steps

into that place of condemnation, judgment, justice, wrath,

everyone who trusts in Jesus for salvation is released, goes away

free, free and clear. No debt to pay, no punishment to

suffer, no wrath to fear. That's what Jesus came to do.

That's this great exchange he came to accomplish.

And it really does take the form of a prisoner exchange in which

we, each of us were, as it were, on death row, justly.

Jesus took our place and he rose from the dead to prove that

death has no power over him. Death has no dominion over him.

Death doesn't get the last word on him, and it will not get the

last word on all who trust in Christ.

If you've never turned from sin and trusted in Jesus, trust in

him as the substitute. You need the exchange.

You need the one to take your sentence, the only one who can.

An injustice on the human plane led to more than justice on the

divine plane. Jesus is the innocent king, and

he's the innocent king who's condemned to die for those who

are guilty, condemned criminals. Which brings us to the last

point .5 the crucified king. The crucified king, verse 15.

So Pilot, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them

Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be

crucified. Now Pilots motives here were

obvious. He wasn't motivated by justice.

He wasn't motivated by truth. If he had been, he would not

have condemned an innocent man instead.

He was motivated by political self preservation.

He wanted to keep the peace in order to preserve his position.

He let false peace triumph over truth and justice.

He let self-interest triumph over an innocent man's life.

Commenting on this verse, the 19th century Anglican Bishop JC

Ryle reflects powerfully on the temptations that all those who

are in worldly positions of power face.

Ryle writes. A man or woman in high place

without religious principles is one of the most pitiable sights

in the world. They're like a large ship tossed

to and fro on the sea, without compass or rudder.

Their very greatness surrounds them with temptations and

snares. It gives them power for good or

evil, which, if they do not know how to use it properly, is sure

to bring them into difficulties and to make them unhappy.

Let us pray much for great men and women.

They need great grace to keep them from the devil.

High places are slippery places. Pilate slips and Jesus's fate is

sealed. Barabbas is released.

Jesus is scourged. That's a painful beating with

whips that had stones and shards of glass or metal attached to

the tips, and Pilate has Jesus handed over, delivered over.

Barabbas walks free and Jesus walks to the cross without

knowing it, without intending it.

Pilate is playing a role in a far greater exchange.

He is setting in motion a wonderful substitution.

Ultimately, it's not merely Pilate making the exchange, it's

the God of the universe. Ultimately, Pilate isn't merely

handing over Jesus to the people's will.

He's handing over Jesus to God's will.

In this exchange, God delivers Jesus up to God's own will.

It was the will of the Lord to crush him.

He has put him to grief. All we, like sheep, have gone

astray, each of us to his own way, and the Lord has laid on

him the iniquity of us all. Jesus is the crucified King.

His Kingdom comes through the cross because he came to rescue

you and me. He came to redeem you and me.

He came to ransom you and me. What kind of king is Jesus?

He is a king like no king this world has ever seen or heard of.

He's a king who gives his innocent life for the guilty.

He's a king who submits to death so you can have life.

He's a king who allows himself to be judged and condemned in

order to deliver those who deserve that condemnation.

He's a king who gives everything in love.

He's a King who gives everything to those who deserve nothing.

All you have to do to receive everything from Jesus is turn

from sin and receive Him in faith.

If you haven't, I pray you will. Today, let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we praise you for this great exchange, this

marvelous substitution that you ordained and purposed and

accomplished through the willing submission of your eternal and

Incarnate Son. Father, we pray that we would

receive him as our Savior and joyfully submit to Him as our

King. We pray these things in Jesus

name, Amen.