Pilate looked at Jesus and said, “What is truth?” As silence filled the room, Pilate went back out to where the Jewish leaders were waiting and said to them, “He’s not guilty. I couldn’t even find one fault with him.
A third time, Pilate asked the crowd, “What evil crime has this man committed that I should have him crucified? I haven’t found one thing that warrants a death sentence! I will have him flogged severely and then release him.”
Christ suffered and died for sins once and for all—the innocent for the guilty —to bring you near to God by his body being put to death and by being raised to life by the Spirit.
He is the High Priest who perfectly fits our need—holy, without a trace of evil, without the ability to deceive, incapable of sin, and exalted beyond the heavens!
Just then, as Pilate was presiding over the tribunal, his wife sent him an urgent message: “Don’t harm that holy man, for I suffered a horrible nightmare last night about him!”
The God of our ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has done this. For he has glorified his Servant Jesus, the one you denied to Pilate’s face when he decided to release him—and you insisted that he be crucified.
Yet upon investigation I couldn’t find one thing that he has done to deserve the death penalty. When he appealed to His Majesty the emperor, I determined to send him.