In Jesus’ answering Pilate, Jesus admitted that He was the King of the Jews (v. 11). But to the accusation of the Jewish leaders He answered nothing.
Pilate, the Roman governor, had the position to judge Christ. In principle, he should have judged Him according to righteousness. The kingdom of the heavens is based upon righteousness, but chapter twenty-seven reveals that the kingdom of the world is absolutely unrighteous. This chapter affords a contrast between righteousness and unrighteousness. The earthly government, the kingdom of this world, is unrighteous, but the kingdom of the heavens is righteous. The Lord Jesus stood before Pilate as the uniquely righteous One, yet He was condemned to death by the unrighteous worldly government. Later we shall see that actually Christ was judged and killed by the righteous God. Apparently, He was sentenced to death by the unrighteous worldly government. This sentence was unrighteous. Actually, He was condemned to death by God. This sentence was righteous.
The concept here in chapter twenty-seven is rather deep. In chapter twenty-six we saw a contrast between the life that can make it to be for the kingdom and the life that cannot make it. Now in chapter twenty-seven we have a contrast between righteousness and unrighteousness. The significance of chapter twenty-seven is that it shows the contrast between the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of the heavens. On the side of the kingdom of the world, there is unrighteousness, but on the side of the kingdom of the heavens, there is righteousness. On the one hand, Jesus was sentenced and condemned to die on the cross in unrighteousness; on the other hand, He was sentenced to die in righteousness. Both rightly and wrongly, Jesus was crucified. He was wrongly sentenced by the unrighteous worldly government. He was righteous and innocent, as even His betrayer testified. Pilate also testified that Christ was a righteous man, even washing his hands to show that he did not want to get involved in any unrighteousness. As we shall see, the Lord was sentenced rightly because He was sentenced to die by the righteous God. Thus, chapter twenty-seven is a chapter concerning unrighteousness and righteousness.
This contrast implies that the kingdom of the world cannot stand. The reason it cannot stand is that it is not built upon righteousness. However, the kingdom of the heavens and of God is altogether righteous. God’s kingdom is built upon righteousness. Because of the unrighteousness of the government of the kingdom of this world, Christ was wrongly condemned to die. Nevertheless, actually He was rightly sentenced to death by the righteousness of God. Thus, this chapter exposes the unrighteousness of the worldly government, and it reveals the righteousness of God’s government.
According to Roman law, the Sanhedrin acted illegally in arresting Christ. If Pilate had been just, he would have stopped the Sanhedrin from doing this. He would have said, “You have no right to do this because you are just a religious party. You cannot arrest people and judge them. This is illegal.” Pilate did not say this because he was unrighteous and fearful. Afraid of the Jewish religious leaders, Pilate acted against Roman law, which was very strong. The Roman Empire was famous for its law. But although the law was strong, the enforcement of the law was weak. Pilate was not even as righteous as Judas. If the betrayer of the Lord Jesus was able to say that he had sold innocent blood, the governor of the kingdom should have been even more righteous. Nevertheless, Pilate “washed his hands before the crowd, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man” (v. 24). This was a timid and irresponsible withdrawal. Verse 26 says, “Then he released to them Barabbas; but Jesus he scourged and delivered Him up that He might be crucified.” This was an utmost exposure of dark, unjust politics. This injustice fulfilled Isaiah 53:5 and 8.
When Jesus was appearing before Pilate, Pilate’s wife “sent to him, saying, Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much today in a dream because of him” (v. 19). This dream was sovereign of God. Pilate’s wife did not want him to get involved with this unrighteous matter. According to his conscience, Pilate also knew that Jesus was righteous and that the Jews were unrighteous in arresting Him. He also knew that he should have released this righteous man, but he was afraid to do this. Accustomed at the time of the feast to release to the crowd one prisoner whom they wanted, Pilate asked, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you? And they said, Barabbas” (v. 21). Barabbas was a most sinful criminal. No doubt, Pilate intended to release Jesus and to keep Barabbas. But the people wanted him to release Barabbas and to crucify Jesus. Pilate seemed to be saying, “You ask me to release the most sinful criminal and to crucify the innocent one.” Verse 23 says, “But he said, Why, what evil has he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified!” Pilate was subdued by the voices of the crowd. In order to appease his conscience, he “took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man; you see to it” (v. 24). Then the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children!” (v. 25). Thus, Pilate released Barabbas, but scourged Jesus and delivered Him up that He might be crucified. What a portrait this is of unrighteousness!
The Jewish death penalty was by stoning (Lev. 20:2, 27; 24:23; Deut. 13:10; 17:5). Crucifixion was a heathen practice (Ezra 6:11), adopted by the Romans for the execution of slaves and heinous criminals only. To crucify the Lord Jesus was not only a fulfillment of the Old Testament (Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13; Num. 21:8-9), but also of the Lord’s own word concerning the mode of His death (John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32), which could not have been fulfilled by stoning.