Jesus on Trial - The Gospels

Published Dec 6, 2023, 8:00 PM

In this Bible Story, Jesus is taken before Pilate and brutally beaten. The crowd demands Jesus be crucified. Pilate, who knew Jesus was innocent, washes his hands clean and releases Jesus to be crucified. This story is inspired by Matthew 27:12-26; Mark 15:2-5; Luke 23:2-25 & John 18:28-32; 19:12-15. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.

Today's Bible verse is Luke 23:23 from the King James Version.

Episode 211: The crowds drag Jesus to Pilate demanding his approval of the death sentence. Pilate, however, takes Jesus aside to learn more about who He is. After taking Him aside, Pilate brought Jesus back out to the crowd to dismiss Him since he had found no wrong in Him. But the crowd would not have it! So Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, but neither did he find Jesus doing anything worthy of death. Finally, Pilate gave the crowd a choice, set Jesus free or set Barabbas - a murderer and insurrectionist - free. But the hate was too strong in the hearts of the crowd and they pushed for Jesus to be crucified.

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Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max Bard

Producer: Ben Gammon

Hosted by: Pastor Jack Graham

Music by: Andrew Morgan Smith

Bible Story narration by: Todd Haberkorn

Let us pray, and they were instant with loud voices requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed Luke twenty three twenty three. With every breath I take to day, I am in awe at the abuse you suffered on my behalf, Jesus, when I was knee deep in my sin and far from you, you saw my face and you knew my name. As the Nine tales whip rip through your flesh. I am forever grateful that with each stripe placed on your body it represented the sin that you would free me from. I praise you because it was through your pain and betrayal that I now live a life free from the chains and bondage of Satan. When life begins to deal me hard blows, let me look to you, Jesus as the encouragement to my faith. Let me look to you, Jesus, to remind me that my pain and troubles are only momentary, and that they will pale in comparison to the glory that awaits me. Thank you for standing trial so that I can stand in my new life free from Satan and free from the sting of death in Jesus name. Amen. Listening to these daily prayers strengthens your relationship with God. Continue hearing from the Lord by listening to today's Bible in a Year, brought to you by Bible in a Year dot com.

Jesus on trial. In our last story, Jesus was taken to the chief Priests to be questioned. Jesus was beaten, spat upon, yelled at, and denied by his closest follower, Peter, handed over to Pilot. Jesus now stands on trial to be killed. Pilot is to decide whether Jesus of Nazareth should be put to death as inspired by the Gospels.

This is Jack Graham with today's episode of the Bible in a Year. In our last time together, we heard how Jesus was beaten, cursed, and mocked before he appeared before the Jewish Sanhedron. He was asked if he claimed to be the Christ, the Messiah, and though he knew his words would cost him, he did not walk away from the truth. Jesus is in fact and claimed to be the Savior, the Son of God, the world's Messiah, the Jewish Messiah, and the Savior of the world. This was the very thing that the Jewish leaders needed to hand him over to the Romans for execution. This, in their minds, was blasphemy that he claimed to be God. We also learned that Peter denied the Lord three times, just as Jesus had predicted. And we learned how Judas, filled with shame and sin, made a tragic decision to end his own life and to end up in hell as the son of Perdition. Today we'll hear about the trial of Jesus before Pilate, the Roman ruler, seems reluctant to put Jesus to death, but the religious leaders and the crowds cry out for his death while demanding a murderer to be released. And while Jesus is clearly innocent, there's now no stopping what is about to happen, that our Lord would be condemned to dial across a brutal, vicious death and excruciating death for the sins of the world. Let's listen now to the reading of the Word of God.

Jesus was placed before ponscious Pilot with an angry mob behind him. The Jewish officials had riled up the crowds to accuse Jesus and demand his death. Jesus stood before Pilot, looking into the crowd. Some of the same crowd that at once shouted Hosanna in the highest to the son of David, was now calling for the ending of his life. Pilot, irked by the crowd, asked, what charges do you bring against this man? In visceral anger? They replied, he is a criminal worthy of death. He claims to be King of the Jews and the promised savior. Pilot took Jesus back into the palace, away from the mob to question him. So is it as they say, he said, underneath Pilot's regal and mocking tone, with genuine curiosity. Who truly is this man? He thought? Are you king of the Jews?

He asked?

Did you say this because you were curious or because somebody told you? Jesus replied, am I at you? Pilot answered you people have your own nation, priests, and way of doing things. Yet they brought you here to me to have you killed. What did you do to make them so angry? Jesus looked at Pilot the same way he looked at many people, with an intensity intermingled with great compassion and love. My kingdom is not of this world. He said, if my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting in the streets on my behalf rather than cry out for my death. For my kingdom is not of this world. So you are a king, Pilot asked again, this time with more genuine intrigue in his voice. Jesus answered, again, you say that I am a king for this purpose. I was born to testify to the truth. Those who hear the truth hear me too. Pilot, confused yet deeply engaged, asked Jesus another question, what is truth? Yet this was a question he was actually asking himself. After this, he went back out to the crowd of Jews and said to them, I find no charges against this man. Not satisfied until they saw the streets painted red with Jesus' blood, the crowd continued in their uproar. Pilots sent Jesus to Herod, the governor over the land, to help judge him. Herod, entertained by the idea of Jesus, asked him to do tricks for him. Herod demanded signs as proof of Jesus's deity. Jesus remained silent in solidarity towards what was about to take place, Herod and his soldiers mocked Jesus, dressing him up like a king. Pilot lobbied for Jesus's innocence, yet the outcome as murder was too great to simply ignore. Pilot then brought forth a choice before the people. During the passover festival, the governor was supposed to release a prisoner that was chosen by the people. He figured this was the best chance to release Jesus. He took Jesus, who was bruised from Herod's teasing, and brought him in front of the people. He also brought forth a man named Barrabas, a convicted terrorist and murderer. Pilot then gave the crowd a choice save the life of Jesus or Barrabis. Swiftly, as if the kindness and miracles of Jesus were wiped from their memory, they chose Barabis. He was the first person. Jesus took the place of Barrabas, was released, and a call for death wailed from the audience. Pilot, knowing he could not convince the crowd of Jesus's innocence, poured water and washed his hands clean, refusing to be responsible for Jesus's death, the crowd, possessed by a similar hatred that once gripped the heart of Cain in ancient times, sought to spill the blood of the righteous. Jesus was taken into the courtyard to be beaten, stripped, and tied to a pillar stained from the dried blood of past criminals. Jesus knelt before the crowd. A man slowly approached the naked and vulnerable Jesus with a cord of nine tails in his right hand, a whip with nine leather chords attached with shards of glass and bone. The first blow was a direct hit, sending pain up Jesus's spine into his head, the second ripping his flesh open and exposed, the third tearing the muscle beneath, the fourth going down all the way to bone whip. Jesus's flood was sprayed against the courtyard walls, drenched in his own blood. Jesus knelt silently. The ancient words of Isaiah echoed in his mind with a silent reminder of what he was here to do. He was oppressed and beaten, yet he did not open his mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers, he was silent and did not open his mouth. After the whipping, Jesus was taken back with the soldiers, where they dressed him in a royal robe and adorned him with a crown of thorns. They teased him, taking a reed and hammering the thorns into his temple. They bowed to him in mockery and spat in his face. Yet Jesus remained silent. The one who spoke the cosmos into existence and breathed life into mankind remained silent. Then Pilot took Jesus back before the crowds. Have you had enough, he yelled, I find no more guilt in him. Behold this man. When the crowd saw him again, they began yelling back, crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. Pilot, beginning to grow sick of this, yelled back, take him yourselves and crucify him. I find no guilt in him. The Jews answered back to him and said, by our law he should be killed. He has called himself God. Pilot took Jesus again away from the crowds. Desperately, Pilot asked, where are you from? Jesus was silent. Why aren't you speaking? Don't you know that I hold the power to make you live or die? Jesus, peering through the crowd of thorns still placed on his head, and said, you have no authority over me. Whoever delivers me to you is in greater sin. Pilot could hear the yells of the crowd outside. If you release him, you are no friend of Caesar's. Afraid of these words and that rumors of disloyalty to Caesar would spread, Pilot took Jesus before the people again. Then, after his torn flesh had begun healing and attaching to the fabric, they tore off the robe and sent him back to the crowds to be crucified.

As we begin today's scripture, Pilot is asking the crowds why they've brought Jesus before him. He had to have a good reason to send the lord to his death. The angry crowd yelled that Jesus claimed to be a king and savior of the Jews, but they also made false accusations, saying Jesus told them not to pay tribute to Caesar, just as Satan the deceiver always does in twisting the truth. The crowds are now twisting the truth and misrepresenting what the Lord had said. A claim to be king over Caesar would have been a threat against the Roman Empire, punishable by death. Pilot was not convinced that Jesus was worthy of being put to death, so he asked Jesus if he was really the king. Jesus asked Pilot if this was his own ideas, or if others had put him up to it. Pilot pressed further because he wasn't a Jew, and he didn't know what Jesus could possibly have done to anger these people. And patient and as loving as ever, Jesus replied by explaining the nature of the Kingdom of God. The kingdom of Jesus was not a kingdom that would overthrow the earthly rule of Rome. It was a different kind of kingdom, not of this world. He was the kingdom of eternal life, the Kingdom of God. He was telling Pilot that his authority did not come from the world and the governments of this world, but in the authority of God himself. His truthfulness and gentleness and boldness certainly intrigued even confused Pilot. Jesus continued and said it was for this reason that he came to the world. His purpose was to testify to the truth. Pilot responds with a question that many are still asking today, what is truth? We do not know if Pilot was genuine in his search for truth, or if he also liked the crowd was simply mocking Jesus. But we do know that he saw no fault in Christ and told the crowds there was nothing for which he could charge or crucify this man. This is an important point to remember. Jesus had done nothing wrong. He was sinless, he had never broken God's law or man's law. He was completely innocent as he stood before the crowd, and yet his innocence was of no consequence to the people, who would not relent until he was dead. So Pilot, hoping to get out of the situation, sent him to Herod, the Jewish governor of Galilee. Herod showed no interest in discerning the truth. He just wanted to see Jesus performed signs and wonders that he had been told about. Jesus would not perform for him, of course, so Herod mocked Jesus and then had him dressed up like a king and send him back to Pilot. Pilots still did not see a reason to sentence Jesus to death and hoped to release him by offering a pardon, as was customary to the Roman governor to do during the passover. So he brought two men before the crowds. One was Jesus, the innocent man with no faults. The other was a man named Barabbas, a criminal, an insurrectionist, and a murderer. He gave the crowds the choice to release one of the men. Do you choose Jesus or do you choose Barabbas, Pilot said, and the crowd made their choice. Give us Barabbas. In some ways, Barabbas, the insurrectionists who fought against Rome represent what they really wanted, Jesus to be one who would set them free from oppression. What they didn't understand is that the dea to which Jesus would die, the true Messiah, would free them from a much greater grip, the grip of sin and death. We then heard how our Lord endured beatings and lashings, and his body is torn apart violently and viciously, without mercy. The physical pain, of course, is excruciating, Yet Jesus endures it silently, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah that said the Messiah would stand like a lamb led to the slaughter, not opening his mouth. Pilot tries one more time to spare the life of Jesus, he says in Luke twenty three, Verses twenty two and twenty three. A third time he said to them, why what evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and then release him. But they were urgent, demanding with loud Christ that he should be crucified, and their voices prevailed. Finally, Pilot gave into the will of the people and sentenced Jesus to death, although so he knew that the one who stood before him was innocent. Jesus endured all of this, including the cross, because of God's unending and measurable love for us. This was the cup of suffering and pain that he cried out and asked the Father to take from him. And yet he submitted himself to the will of God, the perfect will, and the lamb of God is slain. The savior of the world is given as sacrifice so that we could have a relationship with God. You could have this relationship with God through Jesus Christ by believing in him that he died for you and rose again so that you could have eternal life. Let's pray together, Lord, we thank you for your love for us. Thank you for Jesus who gave your life on the Lord for us that we might be saved and give an eternal life. Thank you for what you did for us and dying that we might live. And we pray this in your saving name. Amen. Thank you for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast. I'm Jack Graham of Dallas, Texas. You can download the Prey dot com app and make prayer and Bible study the priority of your life. And if you enjoyed this podcast, tell someone about it, pass it on, let others know because it is our desire to get God's word to as many people as possible, as fast as possible. And if you want to know more about what it means to be a Christ's follower, what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, then go to Jack Graham dot org Jack Graham dot org and we have many resources that are available for you there. I also want to invite you to something very special. To join me and my wife's deb on a trip to Israel in twenty twenty four. We leave on April the first for a ten day journey, a trip that you will never forget, the trip of a lifetime. We also have a trip to Alaska, a Bible study cruise to Alaska that goes in July. We would love to have you for one of them.

Both.

Go to Jack Graham dot org or Prestonwood dot org for information. God bless you.

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