13 Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, 14 and said to them, "You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. 15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. 16 Therefore, I will punish him and then release him."
18 With one voice they cried out, "Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!" 19 (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)
Neither Pilate nor Herod found any basis for the charges brought against Jesus by the chief priests and the teachers of the law. Pilate wrongly assumed that a severe flogging of our Savior would satisfy the bloodthirsty crowds yet they simply were not going for that. It appears they would rather have an insurrectionist and a murderer among them than a Savior! In unison, as one powerful voice, they cry out for the release of Barabbas. I am sure that no one was more surprised than Barabbas! All the while, Jesus spoke not a word - silently fulfilling prophecy from the pen of Isaiah:
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; Isaiah 53:2-8 (NIV)
Isn’t it interesting that Pilate recognized Jesus’ innocence yet being fearful of the crowds allowed them to determine the outcome? Isn’t it strange how we often fear man over God? Scripture tells us:
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Prov 1:7 (NIV)
“It is only the fear of God that can deliver us from the fear of man.” John Witherspoon
To fail to recognize God’s character and appropriately respond to His character by reverence, obedience, worship, trust and service to Him, we are missing the mark on what it is to fear the Lord and we are foolish. Contrary to what our selfish natures may scream, His ways are far higher and far superior and far more satisfying and far more profitable than our ways.
“The end of learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love Him and imitate Him.” John Milton
12 And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? Deut 10:12-13 (NIV)
Scripture states through the pen of the prophet Isaiah:
8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)
“God’s compassion on those who turn to Him comes because His thoughts and ways are far superior to human thoughts and ways, which in fact are evil. God’s plan is something people would have never dreamed of.” Bible Knowledge Commentary
Paul, quoting the prophet Isaiah, tells us:
9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" -- 1 Cor 2:9 (NIV)