Latest / Reformed Thinking / Christ Condemned by the Crowd and Sovereign Redemption (Matthew 27:19-23)

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Christ Condemned by the Crowd and Sovereign Redemption (Matthew 27:19-23) · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine holding the absolute authority of life and death
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right in your hands. Right.
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I mean total control. Yeah, total control.
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You are the representative of the greatest empire on the face
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of the earth. You have, you know, legions of
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armed soldiers at your command. Absolutely.
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And yet, sitting there on your judges seat, you are completely
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terrified of the beaten leading man standing trial in front of
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you it. Is such a stunning scene.
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It really is so welcome to reformed thinking.
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Today we are bringing you into a deep dive that just, well, it
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shatters our modern expectations of clean, rational justice.
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Yeah. Because usually when we talk
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about a courtroom verdict, there is this assumption of precision,
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right, Right. You present the evidence, you
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weigh the facts, the judge points to the law, and then a
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binary conclusion is reached. Innocent or guilty, it is
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supposed to be very cold and rational.
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But today we are placing you right outside the praetorium in
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1st century Jerusalem. We are looking directly at the
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trial of Jesus before Pontius Pilate, specifically focusing on
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Matthew chapter 27, verses 19 through 23.
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And we have gathered extensive theological treatises analyzing
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this singular historical courtroom scene.
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We have, and our mission for you today is to look way past a
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simple historical retelling. We are going to analyze the
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massive theological weight of a Pagan ruler hesitating.
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A wife warning him. Yeah, religious leaders
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manipulating the situation and a crowd actively choosing a
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murderer over the Messiah. The stakes here are absolute.
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I mean, this passage from Matthew is not ancient history
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stored away in a museum. It holds a mirror up to the
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human heart right now, today. Yeah, we are going to look at
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the total collapse of human justice.
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The standard of human equity falls into total bankruptcy in
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the scene. It really does.
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Yet simultaneously, we're going to see the majestic, unstoppable
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unfolding of God's sovereign decree.
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The tension here is staggering. It is.
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You have the creature presuming to put the creator on trial,
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yes. The fallen will of man sets
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itself against the Almighty, and while the humans in this
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narrative act with total moral culpability, they accomplished
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nothing other than what the Father determined from before
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the foundation of the world. So I think we need to start by
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setting the scene of this political powder keg.
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Definitely, the context is everything.
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Right, because to grasp the theological weight of this
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trial, we first have to look at the immense earthly pressures
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placed upon the man sitting in the judge's seat.
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Pontius Pilate. Yeah, Pontius Pilate.
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So I want to offer an analogy for you, the listener, to keep
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in mind. Imagine a modern corporate CEO.
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OK. A CEO.
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Right. And this CEO has completely
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bungled 3 major client accounts. The board of directors is
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furious. He knows beyond a shadow of a
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doubt that one more mistake, you know, one more lost account
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means he is fired. And actually, in Pilot's case,
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it means he might be executed by the state.
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Yeah. Literal execution Pilot is
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basically that middle manager from hell who just wants to make
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it to Friday without corporate firing him, but instead he gets
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handed the trial of the century. He is sitting on a knife's edge.
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That analogy perfectly captures the sheer political terror Pilot
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was experiencing. I mean, let us look at his
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history. Pilate was the 5th Roman
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Procurator or Prefect of Judea. And he held that office from
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roughly AD 26 to 36, right? That is correct.
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Now, Judea was not a prime assignment for a Roman official.
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It was considered a volatile backwater province.
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Because the Romans just did not understand the Jewish religion
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at all. Not even a little bit.
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They did not understand their fierce monotheism or their total
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refusal to assimilate into broader Greco Roman culture.
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We have historical records from from Philo of Alexandria, right?
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A Jewish philosopher from that era.
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Yes, and his descriptions of pilots tenure are brutal.
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Philo writes about pilots administration being defined by
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graft, insults, robberies, outrageous wanton injuries,
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constant executions without trial, and unbounded cruelty.
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Wow. So Pilot presented this outward
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bravado, this iron fisted Roman rule, but internally his
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administration was just a House of Cards ready to collapse.
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Absolutely. And he had already provoked his
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boss, the Emperor Tiberia Caesar, multiple times.
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Right from the sources, it looks like Pilot was on incredibly
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thin ice with Rome. He had this bad habit of
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needlessly antagonizing the local population and.
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Tiberius Caesar hated provincial instability.
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Yeah, he hated riots. He was on the thinnest ice
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imaginable. I mean, Pilot had previously
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ordered Roman military standards which bore the imperial image to
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be brought into Jerusalem under the cover of night.
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And Jerusalem was the holy city, so the Jewish people view these
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images as idolatry. Yes, a clear violation of the
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second commandment. So when the people woke up and
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saw these standards, it caused a massive uproar.
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I remember reading about this. According to the historian
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Josephus, a huge crowd marched from Jerusalem all the way to
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Pilot's residence in Caesarea. Right.
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They surrounded his house for five days, pleading with him to
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remove the images. Five days and then on the 6th
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day, Pilot summoned them to the amphitheater, surrounded them
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with his soldiers and threatened to cut them down.
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They did not accept the standards.
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And the crowd's response is what really exposed pilots weakness.
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Because they did not back down at all.
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Precisely. The Jewish people threw
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themselves on the ground, bared their necks and declared they
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would rather die than see their laws transgressed.
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Wow, so Pilot was just stunned. Completely stunned, he knew he
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could not massacre thousands of unarmed civilians without
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Tiberius Caesar demanding his head for inciting a massive
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rebellion. Right, so Pilot blinked first.
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He did. He backed down and removed the
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standards. That incident taught the
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religious leaders a very dangerous lesson.
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That pilot could be intimidated by the threat of a riot.
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Yes, and later on Pilot appropriated sacred temple funds
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known as the Corbin to build an aqueduct into Jerusalem.
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Which sparked another massive riot, obviously.
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It did, but this time Pilot suppressed it with brutal,
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deceptive violence. He sent soldiers in plainclothes
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armed with hidden daggers into the crowd.
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Oh wow. Yeah, when the signal was given,
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the beaten stabbed many Jewish people to.
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Death, so Pilot cannot afford another riot.
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If word gets back to Rome that Judea is burning again, Tiberius
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will replace him and likely have him executed for incompetence.
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Without a doubt. And here we are at the Passover.
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Jerusalem is not having a normal week.
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The city is an absolute tinderbox.
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The population swells from around 50,000 regular residents
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to several 100,000 pilgrims from all over the known world.
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Yes, nationalistic and anti Roman sentiments are absolutely
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at a boiling point. Israel is gathered to remember
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their historical deliverance from Egyptian bondage.
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And they are longing for a new deliverer right, a political
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Messiah to break the Roman yoke. That is exactly the atmosphere.
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The Roman Garrison at the Antonia fortress, which
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overlooked the temple complex, would have been on high alert.
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Because any messianic claimant, you know, anyone drawing a large
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crowd, was viewed by Rome as a severe threat to public order.
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Right, but the religious leaders, specifically the
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Sanhedrin, viewed Jesus as an existential threat to their own
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religious hegemony and their fragile political survival.
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Yeah, they he had already condemned Jesus in an illegal
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late night trial at the House of Caiaphas.
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On the religious charge of blasphemy, they determined he
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must die. But here is the critical legal
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shift we need to look at. OK, what is the shift?
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Under Roman occupation, the Sanhedrin lacked the Ecus
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gladii, that is Latin for the right of the sword.
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They did not have the legal authority to execute anyone
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themselves so. They have to take Jesus to
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Pilate, yes, but Pilate does not care about Jewish religious
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disputes over blasphemy. I mean if they bring Jesus to
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Pilate and say he claimed to be the son of God, Pilate would
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just throw the case out. Absolutely.
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He would likely tell them to handle it according to their own
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customs as long as it did not disrupt the peace.
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So they had to translate their religious hatred into a legal
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framework that Rome would actually care about.
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They had to speak pilot's language.
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That is correct. So they manipulated the charges.
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They changed the religious charge of blasphemy into a
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political charge of Miestus. Miestus, which is high treason
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against the Roman state, Yes. According to Luke's account,
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they claimed that Jesus was forbidding the payment of taxes
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to Caesar and that he was setting himself up as a rival
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king. Oh wow, so by making this a
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matter of treason, they forced Pilot's hand.
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They trapped him in a corner. If Pilot releases a man accused
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of treason against Caesar, the Jewish leaders could send a
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formal delegation to Rome and report that Pilot is harboring a
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traitor. So Pilot is sitting there,
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utterly frozen. He is sitting on the bench
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preparing to make a highly calculated, pragmatic political
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decision just to save his own career.
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Just trying to survive the day. It is like our CEO is about to
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sign fraudulent paperwork to keep his job and suddenly his
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phone buzzes. Yes, the interruption.
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Right. He gets a text from his wife
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saying I just had a nightmare about that exact contract.
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Do not sign it, because right at this moment, an entirely
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unexpected supernatural interruption happens.
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We look at verse 19. Matthew writes while he was
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sitting on the judgement seat, his wife sent a message to him.
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This completely turns up the heat on the narrative.
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Let us talk about where Pilot is sitting.
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We need to examine that Greek term for the judgement seat.
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It is the word bhima. Bhima, OK, this.
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Is not a casual piece of furniture.
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The bhima is the official raised judicial bench used by Roman
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magistrates. It was a visible symbol of
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imperial authority. So when a ruler sat on the
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Bhima, he was not speaking as a private citizen.
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No, not at all. He was speaking with the
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absolute legal authority of the Roman Empire.
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His decrees from that seat were binding, carrying the full
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weight of Roman law. So Pilot is in the official
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place of justice, Yes. And the timing of this
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interruption is just staggering. I mean, why does Matthew include
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a dream from a Pagan woman right in the middle of the most
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consequential trial in human history?
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The timing highlights the utter innocence of Christ and the
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complete, inescapable responsibility of Pilot.
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Because a message arrives at the exact moment a verdict is being
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pressed upon the judge. Right Pilot is literally
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weighing the political math of executing an innocent man, and a
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messenger walks up to the bema and hands him this warning.
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The message from Pilot's wife says have nothing to do with
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that righteous man. And we need to look at the Greek
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phrase she uses there. What does the Greek say?
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The text uses the adjective de chios for righteous yes, in the
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Septuagint, which is the ancient Greek translation of the Old
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Testament, and throughout the New Testament.
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Decaios denotes absolute conformity to God's standard of
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holiness. So it means just upright,
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innocent, keeping the commands of God.
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Precisely by applying this specific term to Christ, God is
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ensuring that a testimony to the absolute, untainted innocence of
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Jesus is delivered directly to the very seat of Roman
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authority. I was reading through the source
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notes on this and the bitter irony of this moment is
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incredible. It really is.
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You have the high priests of Israel outside the palace.
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These are the men who hold the scrolls of Isaiah and Moses.
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They're scholars, right? These are the men who spend
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their entire lives studying the law of God, debating its finest
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points, memorizing its precepts, and they are actively
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orchestrating the murder of the Son of God.
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Yes. Meanwhile, A Gentile Pagan woman
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sitting in a Roman palace, who probably worships the Roman
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pantheon, displays more spiritual discernment than all
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the religious elites of Israel combined.
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It is a stunning indictment of Israel's leadership.
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God leaves Pilate without any legal or moral excuse.
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Heaven does not allow the condemnation of Jesus to appear
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as ordinary, flawed human justice.
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No God intervenes to ensure that the innocence of Christ is
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declared from the mouth of a Gentile woman.
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It is like a preview of the gospel going to the nations.
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Absolutely. The Jewish leaders reject him,
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but a Roman woman recognizes his righteousness.
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I want to touch on the mechanism of her warning because it raises
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a lot of questions for modern readers, she says she suffered
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much in a dream. Right, the Greek phrase is cat
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onar. And now some people might read
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this passage today and think, OK, I need to start keeping a
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dream journal and looking for divine revelation in my own
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dreams to make major life decisions.
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Yes, it is a common misapplication.
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But the theological sources we are looking at draw a very firm
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line here regarding how we interpret this event.
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Yes. The sources we are relying on
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take a firm cessationist perspective on this issue.
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We have to look at how God has communicated throughout
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redemptive history. Throughout the Old Testament and
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the transitional era of the New Testament, God occasionally used
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dreams to convey immediate, redemptive historical
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revelation. Like Joseph in Genesis or Daniel
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in Babylon. Yes, and Matthew actually uses
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that specific phrase, Kasanar, five times in his birth
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narrative to describe how God guided Joseph and the wise men.
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So it was a valid method of revelation at the time.
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It was. However, our sources make it
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clear that this text does not establish an ongoing expectation
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for believers today to seek divine guidance through mystical
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dreams. Because we have something much
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more concrete now. That is correct.
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The Canon of Scripture is complete.
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The written Word of God is our sufficient rule of faith and
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practice. We do not need extra biblical
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dreams because God has spoken definitively through His Son as
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recorded in the Scriptures. Spot on.
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This specific dream given to Pilot's wife was a unique,
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providential and non repeatable act designed solely to seal
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Pilot's personal culpability. God used it to demonstrate that
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even while the religious leaders were laying false charges,
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heaven was testifying to the truth.
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Pilot cannot claim ignorance. He was warned by his own wife,
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prompted by a divine disturbance in her sleep.
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So while God is testifying to Christ's innocence through a
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Gentile woman, the religious leaders of Israel are outside
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actively engineering a murder. The contrast is massive.
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We shift from the private quiet warning delivered to pilot
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inside the palace to the very public, malicious whispering
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campaign happening among the Passover crowds outside.
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Yes, out in the courtyard. Now I am stuck on this idea of
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of the crowd being manipulated. It is very easy to assume the
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crowd just spontaneously turned into a violent mob.
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That is what we often think of when we hear the word mob.
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Right. We see mobs formed today on the
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news, and often it looks like spontaneous, mindless chaos, but
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the text shows something much more calculated.
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Very calculated. So explain the mechanics of how
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the religious leaders actually poison this crowd against Jesus
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if we look. Closely at the Greek text we see
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a deliberate intellectual manipulation taking place.
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OK, in the Gospel of Mark's account of the same event, Mark
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uses the verb and he's on, which translates to stirred up.
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Stirred up? That sounds very emotional.
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It does. That word implies an emotional
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volatile agitation. It paints a picture of inciting
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raw emotion. But Matthew uses a different
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word in his account, right? Yes.
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He uses the word pitho, which translates to persuaded.
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Persuaded that fundamentally changes how we view the mob
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mentality here. It really does.
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This was not just a chaotic shouting match.
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This was a theological argument. It was an intellectual
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theological persuasion. The chief priests and the elders
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went into the crowds and used their spiritual authority to
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convince the people. We have to remember who these
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men were. Right.
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They were the respected religious scholars of the day.
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The people looked up to them for biblical interpretation.
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So they were not just yelling at people, they were making a case.
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Yes, these leaders likely argued from the Law of Moses, perhaps
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quoting Deuteronomy chapter 13. What does Deuteronomy 13 say?
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It commands the execution of false prophets who lead Israel
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astray. So they twisted the Scriptures
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to claim that Jesus was a blasphemer, a deceiver of the
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people who must die to protect the purity of the nation.
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Wow. So they did not merely incite a
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riot, They systematically convinced the crowds that
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demanding the death of Jesus was the righteous biblical thing to
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do. That is the horrifying part.
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It was a religious persuasion. That is absolutely chilling.
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They used the Word of God to justify murdering the word made
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flesh. They did, and this presents a
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terrifying warning for the church today.
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The men who were ordained to protect the flock of Israel, you
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know, the men who were supposed to guide the people to recognize
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the true Messiah, became the very wolves who led them to
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spiritual ruin. The sources we are studying draw
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a Direct Line from the chief priests to the dangers of
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institutional religion in any era.
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False religion is always most dangerous when it uses sacred
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religious vocabulary to oppose the true Christ.
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Absolutely. It really comes dressed in
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obvious wickedness. It comes dressed in clerical
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robes holding a Bible. We see this dynamic today in
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liberal theology, which retains the vocabulary of Christianity.
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Right, using words like love, grace, and salvation.
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But denies the absolute deity of Christ, and the inerrant
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authority of Scripture, they hollow.
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Out the meaning of the words while keeping the religious
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aesthetic. Precisely.
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We also see it in pragmatism and seeker sensitive ministries that
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intentionally soften the offense of the cross.
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Removing the demands of repentance just to draw a larger
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crowd. Exactly.
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I mean, yeah, for sure. We see it in the prosperity
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gospel, which uses the name of Jesus to promise an earthly
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crown of wealth and health while entirely avoiding the suffering
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and shame of a condemned Savior. When the visible Church
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prioritizes public influence, financial gain, or cultural
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acceptability over submission to the Christ of Scripture, it
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falls into the exact same pattern as the chief priests
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outside the praetorium. They wanted a religion they
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could control, and Jesus threatened that control.
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It is a sobering reality. The religious leaders use their
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institutional power to turn the public against God himself.
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They did, and the thrift is point out that this moment marks
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in a massive dispensational shift in biblical history.
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We are watching a covenantal earthquake happen in real time
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right there in the courtyard. We are indeed under the Old
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Covenant. The nation of Israel enjoyed a
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unique status as the corporate recipient of God's special
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revelation. They were God's chosen people,
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governed by the Mosaic Law. Yes, but in this critical hour,
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the formal representative leadership of ethnic Israel
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unites with the Pagan Gentile power of Rome to execute the
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Messiah. So this joint conspiracy is the
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climax of human rebellion. Both Jew and Gentile are
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implicated in the death of Christ.
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Yes, and the formal rejection of Christ by the leadership of
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ethnic Israel leads to a massive redemptive historical shift.
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Which is the temporary setting aside of the nation of Israel as
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the primary vehicle of God's working?
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Right. And the calling out of the
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Church during this current administration of the covenant
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of Brace Grotto's gathering a bride for his son from every
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tribe, tongue and nation. So this new body is built upon
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the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit and faith in Christ
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rather than physical lineage or geographic borders.
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That is the shift taking place here historically.
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So the religious leaders give the crowd an alternative.
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They frame the argument, and they force a terrifying binary
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choice upon the people. The choice between two entirely
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different men. This manipulation succeeds, and
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it leads directly to the most famous and consequential
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prisoner release in human history.
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Pilot offers them a choice, hoping they will ask for Jesus.
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Let us talk about the alternative, Barabbas.
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Barabbas is the ultimate get out of jail free card, but his
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freedom is paid for entirely with the blood of an innocent
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man. Such a stark contrast.
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I was looking through the source notes on Barabbas and the
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Aramaic translation of his name actually made my jaw drop.
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It is an incredible detail. It is almost too on the nose to
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be a coincidence. What is the meaning of the name
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Barabbas? The Aramaic meaning of Barabbas
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is Barabba. Literally translated, bar means
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son and ABBA means father. So his name means Son of the
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Father, Yes. The irony here is breathtaking,
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obviously orchestrated by divine Providence.
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Pilate presents the crowd with two options.
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On one side you have Jesus of Nazareth, the true, eternal,
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sinless Son of the Heavenly Father.
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And on the other side you have Barabbas, the counterfeit son of
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the Father. And we know from the gospel
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accounts that Barabbas was not just a petty thief.
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No, he was a noted insurgent, a rebel who had committed murder
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during an insurrection in the city.
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He was a violent nationalist who tried to overthrow Roman rule by
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force. Right.
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And the crowd looks at the sinless Son of God, who healed
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their sick, raised their dead, and preached love for their
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enemies. Then they look at this violent,
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seditious murderer whose hands are literally stained with
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blood, and they say, give us the murderer.
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Their choice exposes a massive theological concept.
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Total inability. Yes, total inability, often
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referred to as total depravity. The crowd was not forced at
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swordpoint to choose Barabbas. Pilate gave them a free choice.
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He did. They chose him willingly, but
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their willing choice reveals the absolute bondage of the fallen
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human heart. Left to themselves, fallen
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humans will always prefer a manageable rebel to a sovereign
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Lord. They wanted a political savior
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who would kill Romans, not a spiritual savior who would kill
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their sin. The crowd's choice demonstrates
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that unregenerate humanity will always prefer a Christless
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freedom over holy redemption. Our sources argue that this
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directly refutes any theological system that claims the human
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will is inherently neutral or capable of choosing God on its
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own. Right.
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They point out that this scene challenges systems like
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Arminianism or the doctrines of Roman Catholicism.
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Because those systems teach that man retains a sliver of
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uncorrupted free will. Will to cooperate with grace.
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But the textual evidence provides A devastating critique
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of the idea of a neutral free will.
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Just think about the conditions of this trial.
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The crowd is faced with the absolute Incarnate goodness of
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God standing right in front of them.
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Jesus is the embodiment of perfect love, truth and justice.
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Yet the unregenerate heart does not worship him.
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The unregenerate heart demands his immediate execution.
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This shows that the human will is an active, hostile rebellion
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against God. The will is free to choose what
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it desires, but because the heart is fallen, it only desires
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sin and rejects the light. Therefore, the sources conclude
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that salvation cannot be a cooperative effort between
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divine grace and human merit. Man's only contribution to the
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situation is the sin that makes salvation necessary in the first
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place. If left entirely to our own free
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will, every single one of us would shout for Barabbas.
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It is a dark mirror to look into.
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It really is. But the release of Barabbas is
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not just an exposure of human sin.
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It is also a vivid historical illustration of substitutionary
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atonement. It is the doctrine of imputation
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playing out in real time, right before our eyes.
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That is the glorious light shining through this dark
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narrative. Our sources quote the great 19th
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century preacher Charles Spurgeon, who framed this
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exchange beautifully. Yes, Spurgeon had a way of
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capturing the heart of the text. Spurgeon noted that Barabbas
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could look at the cross on Calvary later that day and say
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with absolute literalness, that cross was made for me.
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Those Roman nails were forged for my hands.
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That hill was chosen for my execution.
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I am the rebel. I am the murderer.
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But Jesus of Nazareth died in my place, and I walk free.
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That is the living definition of the doctrine of imputation.
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On the cross, our sins, our rebellion, and our guilt are
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legally imputed or credited to Christ.
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He bears the punishment we deserve, and in exchange, His
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perfect righteousness is imputed to us through faith so we can
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walk free from the judgment of God.
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We can connect this right back to the Old Testament types and
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shadows the entire Jewish sacrificial system was pointing
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to this morning. Yes, this moment fulfills the
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prophecy of Isaiah 53, where the prophet wrote that the suffering
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Servant would be numbered with the transgressors.
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Jesus literally takes the place of the transgressor Barabbas.
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It also acts as the historical fulfillment of the Day of
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Atonement described in Leviticus chapter 16.
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Oh. Right on the Day of Atonement,
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the high priest of Israel took two goats.
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One goat was slaughtered as a sin, offering to satisfy the
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justice of God for the sins of the people.
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Its blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat.
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The other goat, known as the scapegoat, had the sins of the
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people symbolically confessed over it by the high priest.
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And it was then released alive into the wilderness, carrying
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the guilt away from the camp. Here in the courtyard of Matthew
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27, we see these two roles separated between Barabbas and
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Jesus. Barabbas is treated like the
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scapegoat, sent free into the world with his physical life
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preserved. While Jesus is the sacrificial
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lamb LED away to slaughter to satisfy divine justice.
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The innocent and dies, and the guilty goes free.
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That is the gospel. So Barabbas walks out of the
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courtyard a free man. I can only imagine the shock on
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his face as his chains are unfastened.
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It must have been surreal for him.
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And Pilate is left holding a problem he cannot solve.
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The crowd will not take Jesus. No, they refuse.
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This leads to a question that I think destroys the concept of
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spiritual neutrality. In verse 22, Pilot asks the
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crowd, What then shall I do with Jesus, who was called Christ?
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Such a weighty question. Why is this specific question so
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devastating to anyone today trying to stay neutral about
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Jesus? Well, Pilot asked this question
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out of political entrapment and moral evasion.
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He knows Jesus is innocent. Luke tells us Pilot declared him
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innocent multiple times. Yes, and he has the warning from
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his wife, but he lacks the moral courage to release him against
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the crowds violent wishes. He wants to transfer the
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responsibility of the decision to the mob.
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He wants him to solve his political dilemma.
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He wants to watch his hands of the whole affair, which he
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literally tries to do later. But the text exposes that
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neutrality regarding Christ is a myth.
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No one can evade responsibility for Christ by appealing to
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circumstances, public opinion or institutional pressure.
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For you, the listener, to delay a decision about Christ, or to
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hide behind what the culture says, or to claim you need more
26:14
time is already a rejection of Christ.
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To not crown him as Lord is to leave him condemned in the
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courtyard. You cannot just abstain from the
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vote. No you cannot.
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Pilot tries to reason with them one last time.
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In verse 23. He asks why.
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What evil has he done? He is practically begging them
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for a logical reason to execute this man.
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The Greek word pilot uses for evil is Kakon, right?
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Yes, Kakon is a specific legal term.
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Pilot is functioning as a Roman judge, and he is seeking an
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actual crime, a specific wrong that warrants the punishment of
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crucifixion. He is looking for evidence.
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He is looking for witnesses. But notice the response.
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The text points out the absolute silence of evidence.
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The crowd gives no logical answer to Pilot's legal
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question. They offer no witnesses.
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They cite no Roman law. Broken they.
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Cannot name a single kakan. Instead they just get louder.
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The text says they were shouting all the more.
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They just turn up the volume. When sin and reason collide, sin
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abandons reason entirely and simply relies on volume.
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Unbelief cannot justify its hatred of Christ with facts or
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evidence. No, it relies on rage,
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intimidation and shouting down the opposition.
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We see this dynamic in our own culture.
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When biblical truth is presented, the response is
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rarely A measured counter argument.
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It is usually outrage and shouting.
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Look at the specific phrase the crowd yells.
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Let him be crucified. In the original Greek, this is
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the word starotheto. Sarotheto.
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Yes, it is a passive imperative verb.
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A passive imperative. I want to dig into that.
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What does that grammatical structure reveal about their
27:49
psychological mindset in that moment?
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It reveals the deep deception of sin.
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They want the result, which is the agonizing death, the cursed
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public humiliation of Jesus being stripped and nailed to
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wood. But they want to hide their own
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moral agency. Precisely.
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They do not yell we will kill him.
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They do not say give him to us and we will stone him, which is
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the Jewish method of execution. By shouting let him be
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crucified, they are pushing the physical action onto the Roman
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soldiers. They want the murder to happen,
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but they want Rome to hold the hammer.
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They are trying to keep their own hands clean while demanding
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the shedding of innocent blood. It is the height of hypocrisy.
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Absolutely. This brings us to the absolute
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philosophical and theological peak of this narrative.
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I want to push back here with a classic theological dilemma that
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always comes up when we discuss these events.
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Sure, sure. We have talked about the sheer
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wickedness of the priests, the crowd, and Pilot.
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But earlier you said this was all part of God's sovereign
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decree. Yes, it was.
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So if God ordained the crucifixion from before the
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foundation of the world, if this was a divine script written in
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eternity past to save his elect, how can you possibly hold Pilot,
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the chief priests or this crowd morally guilty?
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It is a profound, well, a staggering question.
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Aren't they just doing what they were destined to do?
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Aren't they just playing their assigned parts?
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That is the most significant question we can ask, and the
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sources address it using the framework of compatibilism.
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Compatibilism, which is a historic reformed framework.
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Yes, taught in historic Reformed documents.
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The idea is that God from all eternity did freely and
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unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.
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His decree is absolute. The cross was not an accident.
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It was the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, as Peter
29:37
preaches in Acts chapter 2. Yet God ordains things in such a
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way that humans act freely according to their own natures.
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Right. God is not the author of sin.
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He does not force Pilate to be a coward against his will.
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He does not force the priests to be envious against their
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desires. And he does not put a gun to the
29:53
crowd's head and force them to demand murder.
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They act willingly based on what their hearts genuinely desire in
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that moment. Precisely.
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They act with full moral culpability because they're
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doing exactly what they want to do.
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Their choices are their own. The leaders sin out of envy and
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a desire for power. The crowd sins out of deception
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and rebellion. Pilot sins out of cowardice and
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political self preservation. They are.
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Entirely guilty for their malice, yet the staggering
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mystery of Providence is that their wicked free choices
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accomplish nothing other than the eternal redemptive decree of
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the Father. They meant it for evil, but God
30:31
meant it for good. Human wickedness cannot
30:33
frustrate God's decree, and God's decree does not excuse
30:36
human wickedness. God uses the sin of man to
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accomplish the salvation of man. And the historical consequence
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of their choice was absolutely catastrophic.
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Shortly after this exchange, the crowd shouts one of the most
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terrifying sentences in all of Scripture.
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His blood be on us and on our children.
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They literally call a curse down upon their own heads and their
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descendants. And that curse fell upon them in
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a terrifying historical reality within a generation.
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This direct covenantal rejection of the King LED directly to the
31:06
events of AD 70, yes. 4 Decades later, the Roman legions under
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the command of Titus besieged Jerusalem.
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The historian Josephus details the horrors of that siege.
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Starvation, civil war within the walls, and the eventual
31:21
slaughter of over a million Jewish people.
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The temple was burned to the ground, not one stone left upon
31:27
another, just as Jesus had prophesied.
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The choice made outside the praetorium had severe generation
31:33
altering consequences. The physical city of Jerusalem
31:36
was judged, and the physical temple with its sacrifices was
31:39
permanently superseded by the spiritual temple of the Church
31:42
built on Christ, the cornerstone.
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It is a massive historical reality.
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But let us turn our focus back to Jesus himself.
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In the midst of all this chaos, as the crowd screams, as Pilot
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cowers on his throne, as the priests sneer in triumph, Jesus
31:56
is largely silent. Yes, he is.
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But reading through the sources, it becomes clear that his
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silence is not the silence of a helpless victim caught in the
32:03
Gears of a corrupt political system.
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No, his silence was majestic act of obedience to the Father.
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He was fulfilling the role of the suffering Servant from
32:12
Isaiah 53, who, like a sheep before its shearers, is silent,
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opened not his mouth. He did not open his mouth to
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defend himself or to call down a legion of angels because he was
32:24
willingly absorbing the condemnation that was meant for
32:27
his people. Every accusation he absorbed
32:30
without retaliation was part of his atoning work.
32:33
He stood bound and condemned by an earthly court so that guilty
32:37
sinners could stand justified, acquitted, and free before the
32:40
heavenly court. His restraint was not weakness,
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it was sovereign submission. He was the only one in that
32:46
entire courtyard who is actually in control.
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Absolutely. Let us bring all of these
32:50
threads together for you, the listener.
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We have spent this time looking in intensely at a scene where
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human justice completely collapses.
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We watch religious leaders use their spiritual authority to
33:00
manipulate a vulnerable population.
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We saw a cowardly civil ruler capitulate to mob rule just to
33:07
save his own political career. We watched a violent seditious
33:10
murderer walk out of the courtyard free while the sinless
33:13
son of God was handed over to be tortured and killed.
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Yet in all of this darkness, the righteous Christ accomplished
33:18
the salvation of his people. God's grace conquered through
33:22
the very injustice that men committed.
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The cross is the ultimate display of God's wisdom,
33:28
outsmarting the darkness of the world.
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I want you to leave us with a final thought.
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Maybe you'll look forward. I want to leave you with a
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chilling and glorious reversal found in our sources.
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The roles we see played out in Matthew chapter 27 will one day
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be eternally flipped. The Jesus who stood bound,
33:45
mocked, bleeding and silent before pilot's bima will return.
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But he will not return as a prisoner.
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He will return as the sovereign judge of the living and the
33:54
dead, seated on a great white throne.
33:57
On that day, the rules will be reversed.
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Pontius Pilate, the chief priests, the elders, the crowd,
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and every single person who rejected him will stand before
34:05
his judgement seat for the unbeliever.
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For anyone who prefers the things of this world over
34:09
Christ, this is a terrifying reality.
34:12
But for the believer, this eschatological reversal brings
34:15
supreme comfort. Because the judge sitting on the
34:18
throne is the very substitute who already stood condemned in
34:22
your place. He took your condemnation from
34:24
Pilate, so you never have to face his condemnation in
34:28
eternity. Thank you for joining us on this
34:30
deep dive into Matthew 27. We have looked at the historical
34:34
facts, the political pressures, and the massive theological
34:37
implications of this trial. We encourage you to consider
34:40
Pilate's question in the quietness of your own life
34:42
today. What shall I do with Jesus?
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You cannot stay neutral. The crowd made their choice.
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Pilate made his. What is yours?