“Lifted Up”

Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” They answered and said to him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have  delivered Him up to you.” 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,” that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying by what death He would die.

What accusation – This question formally opened the Roman civil phase of proceedings against Jesus, the fact that Roman troops were used at Jesus arrest proves that the Jewish authoritities had Pilate informed about this beforehand. Although they most likely had expected Pilate to confirm their judgment against Jesus and order His death sentence, Pilate instead ordered a new hearing in his presence. It is a gross indictment to call Jesus an evildoer. Yet, the twisted lying and false accusations is what was predicted by the Lord, yet, He determined to go to Jerusalem which is where he was arrested. Capital punishment was the most jealously guarded of all the attributes in Roman provincial administration. The fact that Jesus foretold that He would die by being “lifted up “ And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die (John 12:32-33). If the Jews were allowed to execute Him, it would have been by throwing Him down and stoning Him. But God providentially, sovereignly controlled all the political procedures to assure that when sentence was finally passed, it would be by crucifixion at the hands of the Romans. Jesus makes a statement to Pilate, “You rightly say that I am a King. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should be bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” (v.37)

Dear beloved friend, Jesus wants us all to hear His voice. And we can when we take His Word, the Bible, as the inerrant Word of God. We are to take His claim to be our King seriously, and see His first coming as His first advent in all humilty And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8). His second coming, will be that of a conquering King (Revelation 19:11-16).

May the Lord bless your walk!

Author: rontrujillo

Married 37 years We have six children. All of whom are adult. Three are married one of them blessed us with three beautiful grandchildren. Retired Firefighter @ Boeing Aircraft 37 years (Formally McDonnell Douglas) Born Again Summer of 1981 View all posts by rontrujillo