Commentary on the Gospel of John

                                   Chapter Nineteen

                                                                                                                                              Verses 12-16

Yet Pilate, still afraid that Jesus might be a son of the gods, persisted in his desire to let Jesus go. But the Jews retorted that any man who claimed to be a king would have to put himself in opposition to the rule of Caesar. Luke also records that the mob falsely accused Jesus of teaching that the people should not pay taxes to the Romans. Luke 23:2. When Pilate heard that argument, he decided to put Jesus on trial himself. Pilate sat down in an open place called the Pavement and put Jesus to an open trial. The fact that Pilate sat down demonstrated that he meant to wrangle with the Jews for a long time. Maybe he thought they would give up and go away. Pilate sat down at about six in the morning, and Jesus was crucified at about nine in the morning, so Pilate's trial lasted for about two hours. Pilate kept demanding that the Jews recognize Jesus as their king. Pilate must have thought the Jews would not desire to have their king crucified. Pilate had become very clever himself. He meant to force the Jews to choose between one who claimed to be their king even if they did not believe that He was their king or their recognition of the power of Rome. The mob continued to shout that Jesus should be crucified, and when the chief priests declared "We have no king but Caesar," that sealed Jesus' fate in Pilate's judgment. Pilate recognized that the Jewish leaders had denounced their loyalty to their God and had adopted a loyalty to Roman rule. Pilate could write a letter to Tiberius and tell him that the Jews had submitted to Roman rule.

But the fact that the Romans and the Jews were willing to put to death an innocent man solely for political reasons happened to be a monstrous evil. Deep in their hearts they all knew that Jesus was innocent. Jesus had prophesied that when He would be lifted up on a cross, the Jews would know that he was the Son of God. John 8:28. The Bible (KJB) also relates that the Roman soldiers got a feeling inside that they had crucified the Son of God. Matthew 27:54. Science has discovered that the sub-conscious minds of humans knows far more than does the active conscious mind at any time. Deep within their hearts, all clear-minded humans know that they possess an evil nature that is not natural for them, and they also know that they possess a good nature that is right for them. Every clear-minded human has at one time or another felt a desire to abolish their good natures and indulge themselves in destructive pleasures. This feeling happens to be the same as a desire to get rid of God. The Jews and the Romans, who represented all of humanity, under the influence of the Devil, allowed their evil natures to dominate their active consciousness to the extent that they tried to put God to death. Acts 4:25-28. But deep within their sub-conscious minds, the Holy Spirit inspired them to realize that they had committed a monstrous sin against the Son of God. But what they did not know was that Jesus suffered and died on that cross to purge forever all sins and evil natures from all living humans so that He can recover and recreate all of their good natures that have been marred by sin and evil. John 12:31-32; John 5:28-29; John 5:24; John 11:25-26; Hebrews 2:9-15; I John 3:8; Revelation 21:1-5.

Most of human history has been driven not by government but by philosophy. Philosophies of groups of people has determined the kinds of governments they will have and the kinds of relationships they will have with each other. When humanity reached that stage of development that they called the Enlightenment, most of its philosophers adopted the idea that science and a material philosophy would eventually answer all of mankind's questions and develop a better future for all humans. Knowing this fact, the Devil raised up atheistic philosophers  who wrote that people did not need the idea of God anymore. Darwin, Nietzche, Marx, and others, caused whole nations to turn against God, and the prevalent evil that ensued caused horrible wars and the murders of millions of innocent people. But now science has begun to discover that God must really exist. In any event, Christ's victory over the Devil and all evil will ensure in the end that God will make everything all right. Revelation 21:1-5; Revelation 22:11-12. After all, God possesses Almighty Power over all sin, evil, and the Devil, and His Love can never fail. Matthew 28:18; I Corinthians 13:8.