4 Pilate came out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him.”
5 Jesus then came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!”
6 So when the chief priests and the officers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for I find no guilt in Him.”
7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He made Himself out to be the Son of God.”
8 Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid;
9 and he entered into the Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.
10 So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?”
11 Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”
Jesus told Pilate, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above...” Pilate was no different than Pharaoh who was raised up for the very purpose of God, which was to show His power in him and that God’s Name would be proclaimed throughout all the earth (Romans 9:17). God works in every man but especially kings and those in authority. He turns the king’s heart like channels of water and He does it purely for His pleasure (Proverbs 21:1).
Jesus spoke it clearly, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above...” but do you think Pilate understood? No, of course not. It was a spiritual Truth and since Pilate did not have ears to hear, in other words he was spiritually dead just as the Pharisees were when they confronted Jesus (John 8:43), he could not understand the Truth standing right in front of him. If Pilate was not chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) he had no hope of understanding (Ephesians 2:12, 1 Thessalonians 4:13).
God was working in Pilate to condemn His Son thereby using Pilate for His glory. Pilate was doing exactly what God had decided long ago to do, he had no choice to do anything different (Acts 4:28). God worked in him to make him want to turn Jesus over to the Jews for crucifixion the same way He worked in the brothers of Joseph to make them want to sell him into slavery (Genesis 50:20)
Just as God has blessed this nation and raised it up for His purpose even though our founding fathers were disobedient to His Word (Romans 13:1), God gives earthly power to EVERY ruler who has ever lived or will live, not just Pilate. And He does it to bring glory to His Name.
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