John 18:40

Then cried they all again, saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. THEN CRIED THEY ALL AGAIN, SAYING, NOT THIS MAN, BUT BARABBAS. NOW BARABBAS WAS A ROBBER....

33-40 Art thou the King of the Jews? that King of the Jews who has been so long expected? Messiah the Prince; art thou he? Dost thou call thyself so, and wouldest thou be thought so? Christ answered this question with another; not for evasion, but that Pilate might consider what he did. He never took upon him any earthly power, never were any traitorous principles or practices laid to him. Christ gave an account of the nature of his kingdom. Its nature is not worldly; it is a kingdom within men, set up in their hearts and consciences; its riches spiritual, its power spiritual, and it glory within. Its supports are not worldly; its weapons are spiritual; it needed not, nor used, force to maintain and advance it, nor opposed any kingdom but that of sin and Satan. Its object and design are not worldly. When Christ said, I am the Truth, he said, in effect, I am a King. He conquers by the co...

Verse John 18:40. _BARABBAS WAS A ROBBER_] See Matthew 27:16. The later _Syriac_ has in the margin, αρχιληστης, a _chief robber_, a _captain of banditti_, and it is probable that this was the case. He was not only a person who lived by plunder, but shed the blood of many of those whom he and his _gang_ robbed, and rose up against the Roman government, as we learn from Luke 23:19. There never existed a more perfidious, cruel, and murderous people than these Jews; and no wonder they preferred a _murderer_ to the _Prince_ of _peace_. Christ himself had said, If ye were of the world, the world would love its own. _Like cleaves to like_: hence we need not be surprised to

See the notes at Matthew 27:15....

EXPOSITION B. THE HOUR HAS COME. JOHN 18:1 John 19:42.—1. _The outer glorification of Christ in his Passion_. JOHN 18:1 (1) The _betrayal_,_ the majesty of his bearing_,_ accompanied by hints of the bitter cup_. JOHN 18:1 WHEN JESUS HAD SPOKEN THESE WORDS—_i.e._ had offered the prayer, and communed with his Father touching himself, his disciples, and his whole Church—he went forth

THEN CRIED THEY ALL AGAIN,.... For it seems that Pilate had made this proposal once before, and that this was the second time, though not mentioned; yet some copies, and the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, leave out the word "again": they all, priests and people, in a very clamorous manner, cried out as one man, with one united voice, all at once; SAYING, NOT THIS MAN, BUT BARABBAS; NOW BARABBAS WAS A ROBBER; who was an emblem of God's elect in a state of nature, released and set free when Christ was condemned. These, as he, many of them at least, are notorious sinners, the chief of sinners, robbers and murderers; who have robbed God of his glory, and destroyed themselves; are prisoners, concluded in sin and unbelief, and shut up in the law, and in a pit, wherein is no water, in their natural state; and were, as this man, worthy of death, and by nature children of wrath;...

28 _; Then led they Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment:_ That is to say, Pilate's hall. Pilate, at that time, was probably residing in one of the old and sumptuous palaces of Herod, there holding His court during the time of the Passover. John 18:28. _And it was early;_ They were very eager to prove their enmity to Christ; they had spent the night, and the earliest moments of the dawn, in examining their illustrious prisoner, condemning him, and abusing him, and now they were off to Pilate. John 18:28. _And they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled; but that they might eat the passover._ What could defile such wretches at these? Yet they were afraid of ceremonial defilement, though neither a

III. “I LAY DOWN MY LIFE, THAT I MIGHT TAKE IT AGAIN.” Chapter s 18-21 CHAPTER 18 _ 1. The Arrest in the Garden. (John 18:1 .)_ 2. Before Annas and Caiaphas; Peter's Denial. (John 18:12 .) 3. Before Pilate. (John 18:28 .) 4. Not this Man, But Barabbas. (John 18:39 .) The hour of His suffering had now come. With His disciples He went across the brook Cedron into the garden. It is the Kidron mentioned frequently in Old Testament history. When David fled from his own son Absalom, he passed weeping over this brook. (2

JOHN 18:28 TO JOHN 19:16. THE TRIAL BEFORE PILATE. From Caiaphas Jesus is brought to the Præ torium, the governor's residence, either Herod's palace in the W. part of the city, or the Antonia, near the Temple, to the NW. To avoid defilement the Jews remain in the open. The Passover has still to be eaten, in contrast with the Synoptic view of the Last Supper. Pilate, to respect their scruples, transacts his business with them outside. In itself this concession to religious scruple is far from improbable in the light of what is known of Roman practice, however we may judge the frequent going backwards and forwards between the prisoner and His accusers. The governor naturally asks first for a definite charge. The Jews endeavour to get his recognition of their decision without going into detail, demanding the sentence

NOT THIS MAN, BUT BARABBAS. He had not named Barabbas, but they, in their anxiety to reject Christ, at once name him. The people were stimulated to this choice by the bitter hatred of the priests. It is remarkable that this man Barabbas was confessedly guilty of the very crime with which the priests and rulers had falsely charged Jesus--that of sedition; and no plainer proof of their hypocrisy could be given to the watchful Pilate than their efforts to release the former and condemn the latter. PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. 1. The practical, vital question for every mortal, is that which confronted Pilate, _What shall. do with Christ?_ To every one comes Pilate's hour, when he must make his decision. 2. The Jews carried Jesus to Pilate "because it was not lawful for them to put any man to death." That proved that the "scepter (power) had departed from Judah." But that was the proof that Shi...