After the Lord Jesus was examined, He, the perfect One, was sentenced in man’s injustice (18:38b-19:16). This unjust sentence exposed the blindness of religion and the darkness of politics (18:38b-39; 19:1, 4-5, 8-14, 16). The Jewish religionists rejected the most just One and chose a robber (18:39-40; 19:6-7, 12, 15). How blind they were! They were veiled by their religion and with their hatred. The Gentile politician, Pilate, knew and declared that the Lord Jesus had no fault, yet he still sentenced Him to death in order to please the Jewish people (18:38a-39; 19:1, 4-5, 8-14, 16). How political he was! Religion and politics worked together to pronounce the unjust sentence upon Christ. Politics did not take the initiative; it was religion which took the initiative, utilizing the power of dark politics.
In the process for multiplication, the Lord Jesus was tested in God’s sovereignty by death (19:17-37). After being sentenced unjustly, He was crucified at Golgotha (19:17), which, in Latin, is Calvary and means the Place of the Skull. The meaning of the place where He was crucified indicates insult and shame. He suffered death in insult and shame.
At Golgotha, “they crucified Him, and with Him two others, one on this side and one on that, and Jesus in the middle” (19:18). This was the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 53:12, which said that the Messiah would be “numbered with the transgressors.” He was not only put to death in a place of insult and shame, but also was ranked with transgressors, being dealt with as one of the transgressors.
According to God’s sovereignty, the Lord was killed by mankind represented by Hebrew religion, Roman politics, and Greek culture (19:19-22). John 19:19 says, “Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross. And it was written, JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” This title was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek (19:20). The Hebrew represented Hebrew religion, the Latin represented Roman politics, and the Greek represented Greek culture. When added together, these three represent the entire world of mankind, signifying that the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God was killed by and for all mankind. When the chief priest of the Jews asked Pilate to change what he had written, Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written” (v. 22). What Pilate wrote was not of him; it was under the sovereign hand of God, and he could not change it.
Religion was blind, politics was dark, the governor was false, and the soldiers were greedy. When they had crucified Jesus, they took His garments and made a part for each soldier. Since His tunic was seamless, they cast lots to see whose it would be (19:23-24). This was not of the soldiers, but of God’s sovereignty. It happened that the prophecy in Psalm 22:18 might be fulfilled. The soldiers did exactly what was prophesied in Psalm 22:18. By this we see that the Lord’s death was sovereignly planned. If God had not planned it, no one could have put the Lord of life to death. All the fulfilled prophecies prove that the Lord’s death was not of man, but of God’s sovereignty.