The Lord was examined by the Jews according to the law of God in their religion (18:12-27). This examination was a very unpleasant thing. The Lord even suffered it in front of the denial of one of the closest disciples (18:17-18; 25-27). While He was being examined, Peter denied Him three times. Would you have been able to suffer this? If this had happened to us, we would certainly have rebuked Peter. But the Lord did not say a word.
While the high priest was examining and judging the Lord, the high priest was being judged by the Lord in His dignity (18:19-21). The Lord was fearless and spoke to the high priest in a very dignified way. While the Passover lamb was being examined, the examiner was being examined by Him, and the blemishes of the examiner were exposed.
The Lord was examined by the Gentiles according to the law of the Roman Empire (18:28-38a). The law of the Roman Empire was famous. Even today many countries base their law upon it. Before the Lord was examined by the Gentiles according to their law in the politics, He was examined according to the Jewish law for execution. Then He was examined by the Roman politics, by the law of the earthly power. The Jewish law for execution was to stone the criminal to death (18:31; Lev. 24:16). If that method of execution had been available at the time, the Lord Jesus might have been stoned to death. But that would not have fulfilled the prophecy spoken by the Lord when He said that He would be lifted up as the brass serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness (3:14).
Many years ago I read an article describing how the Jews slew the lamb during the Passover. The article said that the Jews took two wooden bars and formed a cross. They put the lamb on the cross, tying two of the lamb’s legs to the foot of the cross and fastening the outstretched legs to the crossbar. Then they slew the lamb so that all its blood was shed. Thus, the killing of the Passover lamb was a portrait of the crucifixion of Christ. Although the Jewish method of execution of criminals according to their law was to stone them to death, the Jewish nation was not in power when the Lord was crucified. Hence, the Jewish nation had lost the legal right to execute criminals according to their law. Not long before the crucifixion of Christ, the Roman government adopted crucifixion as the method of executing criminals. This was decided under God’s sovereignty that the prophecies regarding Christ’s crucifixion might be fulfilled (vv. 31-32; 12:32-33).
While Pilate was judging the Lord Jesus, he himself was judged by the Lord in His dignity (vv. 33-38a). Pilate, as a governor of the Roman Empire, was very timid. He was an excellent example of a politician. Although he knew what was right and what was wrong, he, like all politicians, was afraid of the people. The same is true of politicians today. Pilate found no fault in the Lord Jesus; he knew that the Lord had done nothing wrong. But the voices of the people subdued him, and he was not honest, genuine, nor faithful.
When the Lord was brought before Pilate, again it seemed that Pilate judged Him, but eventually He judged Pilate. As we have seen, one of Pilate’s characteristics was his timidity; he feared the Jewish people. He knew that the Lord Jesus was sinless and declared that he could not find anything wrong with Him. But because of his fear of the Jews, he condemned the Lord and sentenced Him to death. This was unfair and unrighteous. When the Lord told Pilate that He had come into the world to “testify to the truth” and that “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (18:37), Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” (18:38). This indicates that the Lord judged Pilate. In effect, the Lord said, “You are such a high administrator and yet you do not know what truth is. Then you are a false person. You are not true.” After this, Pilate was exposed and put to shame, and stopped judging the Lord. Here we see the darkness of politics.