Ep 334 – John 18

As we near the end of John’s gospel, we arrive at the climax of the life of Jesus. This section of the gospel brings us to the primary reason for Jesus’ incarnation. It provides us with the purpose of His coming to earth in the first place: His death. Jesus came to offer His life a sacrifice for many. He was the substitute, chosen by God, to stand in the place of sinful men and women, bearing the brunt of God’s wrath against sin, in order that God might extend mercy, grace and forgiveness to those who could find it no other way. During His trial before Pilate, he was mocked, beaten and portrayed before the people as nothing more than a broken down, weak, and bloodied shell of a man. He was unrecognizable by those who knew Him. He was certainly no threat to the Roman Empire, so Pilate could not understand why the Jews would not agree with him and see Jesus as without fault. Pilate would have preferred to set Jesus free, but the people would have nothing to do with it. There were other forces at work that day, of which Pilate was oblivious. There were spiritual forces operating behind the scenes. This was a cosmic battle of epic proportions. Satan was the driving force behind the efforts of the Jewish leadership to have Jesus eliminated. They truly thought that with Jesus’ death, this whole thing would blow over. But what Satan and the Jews failed to recognize was that this was God’s divine plan. The crucifixion of Jesus was not an example of wickedness winning, but of God implementing His divinely ordained plan of redemption.