Examining the details of the trial of Jesus, one would clearly see that Pontius Pilate struggled to sentence Jesus to death because he found him innocent.
DID HE REALLY HAVE THE POWER TO RELEASE JESUS?
In trying to answer the above question we might as well consider the following facts;
1. Pontius Pilate was given the position of a governor in this particular area, he had the authority to make the final decision. The bible scholars had established that he had made difficult decisions before.
2.As a governor, one of his responsilities was to maintain law and order.Therefore the right decision to exercise this duty was indeed to release Jesus, not to crucify him. Jesus had many followers than the priests. If the followers of Jesus had deciced to protest, the whole province would have been set on fire. If Pilate had released Jesus, he would have had a valid point to justify his decision, he could have seem to be avoidindg mass demonstrations.
3.Bible scholars again describe Pontius Pilate as stubborn and cruel, not really in good terms with the Jews. If he possessed these charachers what could have stopped him from making a decision against the Jewish crowd?
4.He was not a Jew but a Roman citizen, he was there to defend the Roman law not the Jewish beliefs. He would have suspended the political accusation of saying Jesus is calling himself king because after asking, Jesus told him that his kingdom was from above not from this earth or Roman Emperor. The only accusation now left is that Jesus is calling himself son of God and that was blasphemy, now this had nothing to do with the Roman laws, it was up to the jewish people to stone him to death according to their tradition. Again here at this point Pilate would have craftly stopped them from stoning Jesus to death by simply explaining to them that it will destroy peace and order.
5.Pilate's wife had a dream against the sentencing of Jesus to death. Firstly this would have made some changes because during that time people believed in dreams, for instance Joseph decided to marry Mary though she was pregnant because he was told in a dream by God to do so, the three wise men were instructed in a dream not to go to king Herold after visiting baby Jesus. Joseph and Mary were told in a dream to migtate to Egypt to protect Jesus. God communicated in dreams alot, therefore some would have taken Pilate's wife dream seriously. Secondly history says this wife was a Roman citizen who was close to his husband, she was much educated and powerful as most of the educated Roman citizen women at that time. Therefore she could have much influence on this matter. Perharps she was a secret to Pilate's success, may be like a an advisor.(behind the success of every man there is a woman people say)
WHY DID HE NOT USE HIS POWER AS A GOVERNOR?
I believe Pilate would have released Jesus and defended his position, he was showing much compassion towards Jesus so was his beloved wife.I dont think his political career would have been affected by this decision. It was only that God did not give him the authority to do so(John 19 verse 11) That would have worked contrary to God's plan of bringing salvation on earth, that is why he failed to stop the death of Jesus. Noone can stop God's plan.
On the other hand if God had wanted to fight these accusers, he could have used several ways and here I can only pick the ones mentioned by Jesus because I am not in a position to predict God's ways and noone will ever know his ways;
1.Jesus could have allowed and empower his followers to fight back. Jesus said it in the book of John18:36 the second part says' my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders but my kingdom is not of this world' This would have been another method and indeed he had many followers, remember him feeding the 5000, healing the sick,raising the dead so immagine all these groups raising up to protest, some were ready to fight, one of the desciples chopped the ear of the high priests slave who came to arrest Jesus.
2.Jesus could have used his angels from above to fight for him. In the book of Matthews chapter26 verses52-53 when one of his desciples tried to fight back Jesus said in verse 53' dont you realise that I could ask my father for thousands of angels to protect us and he would send them instantly? talking about the Lords army above I read bout them fighting difficult battles. There is this archangel called michael who appears very rare in battles but he can really cause destructions, we will see him during the battle of amalgedon after tribulations in the last days(DANIEL 12 VERSE 1).
HE ALLOWED TO BE SENTENCED TO DEATH TO SAVE US FROM OUR SINS
We have looked into many possibilities of how Jesus could have been released and we did not talk of the original discussions above in heaven we leave that for the day we shall meet Jesus face to face, to say thank you saving us. However when we read the book of revelations it seems noone accepted to drink from this cup, noone accepted it even the fighter archangel michael who the bible says guards the nations and is send to fight crucial battles. Dear readers the bible says the whole heavens stood silence when noone volunteered to come and die for our sins and it took the son of God to leave the throne for he said i will drink from this cup, i will go there and get tortured, mocked and humiliated just for my people to get saved.
Jesus is indeed the good shepherd who would die for his sheep, a king dying for the sins of his subjects.
who would not want to be part of this kingdom whose king can suffer like that for the love of his people? the kingdom which cannot be conquered by any other kingdom! the only kingdom in heaven and earth.
may be you are there and would like this king to be your saviour, he is inviting you and me to experience the joy in his kingdom and the call is for everyone and is now open, at one point in time it shall be closed and now is the best time to accept Jesus as your Lord and saviour
There is a prayer you may wish to pray below and before that let me explain in brief the meaning of each line
1. You accept you are sinner because the bible says all have sinned and fall short of his glory(Romans 3:22-23)
2. Accept Jesus and believe in him so that you can be called a child of God. The bible says in the book of John 1v12 'but to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.
3. You ask God to write your name in the book of life, you will want your name to be found in this book because it will be opened on the judgement day and those found will enter the eternal life(Revelations 20 :12)
4. You pray in the name of Jesus because he is the only way to God. We reconcile with God through Jesus christ.He is the one leading us all the way through.
please pray with me this prayer now that you know what you are doing;
LORD JESUS, I CONFESS THAT I AM A SINNER AND I ASK FOR FORGIVENESS.
I ACCEPT YOU TO BE MY LORD AND SAVIOUR.
PLEASE WRITE MY NAME IN THE BOOK OF LIFE.
IN THE NAME OF JESUS I PRAY, AMEN.
congraturations! you made the right decision you are now a member of the God's kingdom which rules heaven and earth. There is real peace and joy in this kingdom and eternal life.
