Shabbat Shalom, everyone. Open your Bibles. We are studying together in the Gospel of Mark. We have gone quite far into this wonderful Gospel that presents our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, as the servant of the Lord. They point to the person of Yeshua as the promised Messiah of Israel, the Savior of this world, of whom Isaiah promised many years ago in chapter 42 when he said, "Behold my servant." He presented a servant before our people of all the people of Israel, and finally in the fullness of time, he came, he was born to the Virgin Miriam, and here we see him living his life here until finally he is going to be to be the one that becomes the Lamb of God which will take away the sin of this world when he is going to die on the shameful cross.

Well, we have arrived to chapter 15 today, and follow me as I am reading the first 21 verses of Mark chapter 15. And I am reading verse 1. And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, and bound Yeshua, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, "Are thou the king of the Jews?" And he answering said unto him, "Thou sayest?" And the chief priests accused him of many things, but he answered nothing. And Pilate asked him again saying, "Answer thou nothing?" So that Pilate marveled. Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner whomsoever they desire.

And there was one named Bar-Aba, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him who had committed murder in that insurrection. And a multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. But Pilate answered them saying, "Will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews?" For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy. But the chief priests moved the people that he should rather release Bar-Aba unto them. And Pilate answered and said again unto them, "What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the king of the Jews?" And they cried out again, "Crucify him." And Pilate said unto them, "Why?

What evil hath he done?" And they cried out the more exceedingly, "Crucify him." And Pilate, willing to content the people, released Bar-Aba unto them and delivered Yeshua when he had scourged him to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away into the whole called Praetorium. And they called together a whole band. And they clothed him with a purple, and plated a crown of thorn, and put it about his head, and began to salute him, "Hail the king of the Jews!" And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own cloth on him, and led him out to crucify him.

And they compelled one Simon, a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross." And I think I'm going to stop here in verse 21 today, a ministry meeting of this Shabbat, this Saturday afternoon. When I read this passage, and I'm sure as you listen to my reading, it is a very moving passage that speaks specifically about the last hours in the life of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. You can just imagine, beloved brothers and sisters, here we have the person, this innocent man, by the name of Jesus, by the name of Yeshua, being taken from judgment to judgment, from court to court, from one leader to another leader, from one accusation to another accusation.

Here we see the person of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the promised Messiah of Israel, the Savior of this world, to see how he was treated, not only by the Jewish leaders of our own people, but also by the Gentile world. We see that the whole world have gathered together against the Son of God, against the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world. A verse that comes to my mind immediately when I'm reading such a passage, is what David, the king of Israel, wrote many, many years ago, long before the Lord Yeshua the Messiah was born to the virgin Miriam. David, the king of Israel, wrote in Psalm 2, these words.

Just listen to that. David, why do the heathen rage? Why do the heathen rage? And the people imagine vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Mashiach, against his Messiah, his anointed one. And they said, let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. David, prophetically, was writing already years before the Messiah came. And long before Yeshua was born in the city of Bethlehem, he predicted the fact that the whole world will rise up against the Lord's anointed, the Mashiach himself. And he asked, why do the heathen rage?

Why do the people imagine vain thing? The princes of this world and the rulers of the people of Israel, they all have gathered together against the Mashiach, against Jehovah, against the Lord and against his anointed. And if there will be an answer to give today, the answer is very clear. We all have sinned. We all have gone astray. We were all, as David of all says, in sin did my mother conceive me. And as Peter said, depart from me for I am a wretched man. That I am, we all have gone astray. And the Mashiach had to come in order to pay the price for our sin.

And that's why the whole world has risen against the Messiah, against the Lord and against his anointed one. So when we study the Gospel of Mark, and we arrive to chapter 15, just these last moments in the life of Yeshua, the Messiah. Let me just remind you one more thing before I'm going to go over these verses. In the previous chapter 14, you remember what happened. Yeshua celebrated Pesach in the city of Jerusalem. Passover, Pesach, on the 14th day of the month of Nisan, he celebrated the Passover in the city of Jerusalem. It was an evening meeting, sometime after sundown, the 14th day of the month of Nisan.

When he finished with Passover, with the Seder, the Pesach, he had left the upper room and he went down to the slopes of Mount Moriah, crossed the Kidron Valley, went up to Mount Olive, and there in the lower section of the Mount of Olive, there is a place called the Garden of Gethsemane, in Hebrew we call it Gatshmanim. He knew very well that Yehuda, Judas, will betray him, and he will sell him for 30 pieces of silver, and lo and behold, sometime later on in the evening, the very same day in the Hebrew calendar, came Yehuda, Judas, bring with him many to come with lanterns, with lights, and with torches, and with sticks, and they captured Yeshua the Messiah.

He betrayed him with a kiss. And you remember what Yeshua said to him? "Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" A kiss who is supposed to represent an affection and love was that which really had been used in order to sell the Lord, to betray him to those who oppose him. So sometime later, the very same evening, they captured the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and brought him to the house of Kayafa the High Priest. There in the house of the High Priest, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah stood before the Sanhedrin, the leaders of our own nation, the leaders of Israel, the spiritual leaders of Israel, who should have led the nation to accept the Mashiach, but they were in very sad spiritual condition.

And by being in such a condition, they did not accept that he was the Messiah. So instead of inviting him to lead the nation, you might say they rejected him. And in fact, what we find out is that the High Priest in chapter 14 and verse 61 said to him, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed?" "Hainn atahu ha-mashiach ha-ben ha-mevorach o-ben ha-mevorach?" And Yeshua said, "I am!" And immediately he said, "He shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming in the clouds of heaven." And immediately the High Priest rent his clothes. And he said, "You have heard this blasphemy." And there Yeshua was rejected by our own Jewish leaders some 2,000 years ago.

It is the same evening, very late at night. And all this night, we might say 9, 10, 11, 12, midnight, but did the next morning come up early? 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, you might say. It is still within the Jewish day of the 14th day of the month of Nisan because the Hebrew calendar, the day began at evening and end the following evening. And therefore, it is still within the same day. And what happened the whole night until early in the morning. You remember the cock crow where Peter denied his Mashiach three times. And now the morning finally has arrived. It is the same day in the Hebrew calendar. It is still the 14th day of the month of Nisan because Jewish calendar does not start from midnight to midnight but from evening to evening.

But it is still within the same day. And you notice where we are now in chapter 15. We find the Lord Jesus, the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, taken now and after pronounced guilty by the Jewish leaders, he is taken now to the Gentile leaders and there he will be again pronounced guilty and sent to be crucified to die on a shameful Roman cross. And you see, beloved brothers and sisters, that Psalm 2 is very accurate because the psalmists of Israel include all humanity. Notice that again, I am reading verse 1 of Psalm 2. the heathen, in Hebrew, the goyim rage. And the people, these are the people of Israel.

And then why do the kings of the earth, this is the kings of the Gentile world, and the rulers, this is the rulers of Israel, consulted together against Jehovah and against his anointed. And what we learn from this, that the whole humanity is guilty in the rejection of Yeshua, the Messiah. And if some of us here says, not me, I can tell you that the Bible say that you and I are just as guilty in the rejection of the Messiah as the people who rejected him some 2,000 years ago. So now let's go back to our chapter, Mark chapter 15. Notice that in verses 1 to 15, Yeshua is before the governor, Pilate.

While Herod was the governor of Galilee, here we have Pilate, the governor of Judea, Yehuda, and Yerushalayim, Jerusalem. And now you notice that it says in verse 1, Straightway in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and they bound Yeshua, Jesus, and they carried him away and delivered him to Pilate. Notice it says straightway in the morning. Earlier, the cock crow, when Peter denied the Messiah, he was already taken, it is the very same day on a Hebrew calendar, and now in the morning of the very same day, after he celebrated Pesach the evening, now he is going to become the Passover lamb at the very same day.

And so in the morning, the elders, the scribes, and the council, they tied the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, and they led him to Pilate. And it is kind of a very, very sad picture to see, remind us what Isaiah, the prophet of Israel said in Isaiah chapter 53, in verse 8, it says there, "He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation?" The word from prison here, he was captured in the garden of Gatshmanim, and he is taken now into the judgment hall of Pilate, eventually to be delivered and to be set on a Roman cross. Now notice that they tie him, as if he will run away.

They bound him. Doesn't this remind us how in biblical days, when our own forefathers, the people of Israel, offered sacrifices on the altar, they have to bind the sacrifice. They have to tie the sacrifice and lay it on the altar. And then the fire of God will come and will consume the sacrifice, and this animal, the lamb, will become atonement, kapara, kippurim, for the person who have offered that sacrifice. And doesn't it remind us of Isaac, Yitzchak? Ben Avraham, we just sang, "It was the Lord who summoned Abraham unto a land he didn't know, and he said to him, "Take now your only son, your Isaac, and bring him as a sacrifice on the altar." And Abraham took his son.

As we read in Genesis chapter 22, he took the knife in his hand, and built this altar there on Mount Moriah, Har Moriah. He laid down Isaac, but he bound Isaac. And Isaac didn't say a word. He was submissive to his father, Avraham. Here we see Yeshua doesn't speak a word. He allowed them to bind him. He could have spoken a word and destroy all his enemies then and there as he can do it today if he wishes. But no, he doesn't say anything. He allowed them to bind him. And to be led as a sheep to the slaughter. We learn from him here. The reason that he came, beloved brothers and sisters, is always moved when we think of the purpose of the coming of the Mashiach.

He didn't come here to improve things. He came to pay the price for our sin. He needed to become that sacrifice, the Lamb of God, which will take away the sin of this world. And so they led him away bound. And so he's arrived now to Pilate. Now Pilate was a wicked man. Our own Jewish people were under the authority of the Romans for years. Later on, the Romans will destroy the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD and burn it all the way to the ground. And many of our own Jewish people will be scattered, being taken as captives, as slaves. And over a million of Jewish people will die by the Romans.

And that man, by the name of Pilate, was the governor in Judea. And so we read here, in verse 2, Pilate now asking him a question. Now I'm sure he heard, already years before, about Yeshua, the King of Israel. And so he asked him a question. And notice Yeshua, Jesus, respond. He says, Pilate asked him, Are you the King of the Jews? We say this in Hebrew as you read the Hebrew text. And notice the answer of Yeshua. He says, you said it. Thou said it. In other words, the Lord did not deny the fact that he was the King of the Jewish people. You see, already 33 years before, when the wise men came from the East, they came to Jerusalem in the days of Herod the Great.

And they asked, where is he that was born? The King of the Jews. He is the King that was promised to Israel. Already long ago, God promised to David, He said, of your own descendant, of your own bowels, I will raise one, 2 Samuel chapter 7, who will be the ruler over my people Israel. He is the promised king. That God had promised our people of all, the people of Israel. And so he asked him this question. You know, it was Jeremiah who said, the prophet of Israel, at about 600 B.C. Behold, the days come, sayeth the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord. Jehovah is our righteousness. In other words, the promised king of Israel was already predicted by the prophet Samuel, David, by all the prophets of Israel when the Messiah will come. He will be the king of the Jews, the king of Israel. But you see, the very same prophets of Israel said that at the first coming of the Messiah, he will be despised and rejected. But at the second coming of the Messiah, he will be accepted and acknowledged and ultimately reign as king of kings and the king of the Jews.

But at this point of time, at his first coming, as Isaiah said, he despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrow that had been acquainted with grief. And so Pilate asked him, are you the king of the Jews? And Yeshua answered and he said, you said it. It came out of your own mouth. You are the one who is saying it. And ultimately, Pilate knew very well what many of the multitude who believe in Yeshua the Messiah in Israel have acknowledged him. Just a few chapters earlier, they have hailed him as the king of the Jews. Hosanna! Hosanna to the king of Israel, to the king of the Jews.

What happened? The moment Yeshua answered him about this question, Yeshua was now accused before Pilate by the spiritual leaders who did not want to acknowledge him. And that's why you notice these next verses, 3, 4, and 5. And the chief priest accused him of many things, but he answered nothing. And Pilate asked him, saying, verse 4, saying, answer thou nothing? Behold how many things they witness against thee. And verse 5 said, but Jesus, but Yeshua, yet answered nothing. So that Pilate marveled. You notice three times we read the word, he answered nothing. Now why he didn't answer? You see, when Pilate asked him whether he was the king of the Jews, he answered.

You said it. When the high priest asked him, are you the Messiah, the son of the blessed one, he said in chapter 14, I am. But anything else that they said accused him, he never said a word. And let's remind us, beloved brothers and sisters, that again, when the Messiah was going to come, he was not going to force his way upon anyone. He came first of all as a lamb to go to the slaughter. You see, that's what attracted us about him. What do you think attracted us so much about this person of Yeshua Christ? That's a huge interest to all humanity, whether they are rulers, or whether they are governors, or whether they are kings, or whether they are presidents, or prime ministers.

There is the pride that is existing in the human race, in you and I as well. But something about this man, that attracted our hearts, is that he was the unique one, the one that came from heaven, to really display what God had expected from humanity, who failed altogether. Again, I am reminding you once again, of what Isaiah said in Isaiah 53. We read, We like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, but the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us all. And then verse 7 says, He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was really fulfilling exactly what Isaiah, 750 years prior to the coming of the Messiah, predicted about Yeshua, the Messiah of Israel, the king of the Jews, the savior of sinners, but he opened not his mouth.

To remind us of the lamb, that being taken to the slaughter, what can he say? He doesn't say a thing. He is captured, he is tied, he is slaughtered, his blood is shed, and eventually he becomes an atonement, a sacrifice. And so Yeshua never opened his mouth. Beautiful to see the display that we have before us, of the mannerism in which the Lord Jesus, the Messiah behaved. And so how wonderful, how attractive it is to our own hearts as we read these verses. And so now, beloved brothers and sisters, in verse 6 and 7, we learn, Pilate every year had a certain custom during the feast of Pesach, Passover, to give our people Israel someone who was guilty to allow him to go out free.

That was a custom to appease our own people, Pilate have done so. And so we read in verse 6. Now at that feast, this is the feast of Pesach, Passover, placed unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired, and notice that it says in verse 7, and there was one named Barabbas, and you notice that I read it in Hebrew, Bar Abba, which lay bound with them that had a rebellion, rebellion, insurrection, with him who had committed murder in the insurrection, in the rebellion. Apparently, there were some rebels, and you know, in every generation, because our own people were under the Babylonian, then under the Middle Persians, under the oppressions of the Grecian, and by now under the oppressions of the Romans.

So from generation to generation, the Jewish community rose in seeking to rebel against those who were occupying the people of Israel. You can understand that. But apparently, in that particular time, there was one by the name of Barabbas, who was actually a murderer, as it says here in verse 7. Apparently, he killed someone, and he was captured, and he was now in prison. But it is not coincident, beloved brothers and sisters, that his name was Barabbas. In Hebrew, we call it Bar Abba. Bar means son. Abba means father. A son of the father. You know, when our boys have become 13 years of age, they have Bar Mitzvah, the son of the law.

Actually, the word for Bar is not son. In Hebrew, in Hebrew, we say Ben. But oftentimes, we use, because the Arameit and the Hebrew are very similar. At times, we use the Arameit in the Hebrew conversation. So we use Bar Mitzvah. Here, we have Bar Abba, the son of the father. But it's so interesting, because the name of this rebel, this murderer, was son of the father. Ben Abba, Bar Abba. And Pilate, during this time, used to give an opportunity for the people of Israel to receive someone to be set free, who was a prisoner, just to appease the nation. But what happened here, that there was a person specifically by the name of son of the father, who was there in prison.

So that was his custom. But you see what happened. The Bar Abba, who committed a murder and was a rebellion in prison, is now to be compared with the true Ben of the father, the son of the father, Yeshua the Messiah. For God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life. 1 John 4 says, "The father sent the son to be the savior of this world." It's not a coincidence that we have this murderer by the name of Bar Abba, and that innocent who was truly Bar Abba. You have the murderer here who is really guilty, and you have the innocent one who is being captured and bound.

You have the one who was not the son of the father only by name, but you have the other who was truly the son of the father, and both of them are presented before the nation. And so we read, in verses 8 to verse 11, the request of the multitude, and that multitude were some of those that followed the leadership of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, that listening to what they have influenced them to say and to do, and so you find out that the multitude, notice verse 8, and the multitude, crying aloud, began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. In other words, they requested from Pilate to do what he always have done to release one of the prisoners to them.

And so we read in verse 9, Pilate answered and said, "Will ye that I will release unto you the king of the Jews?" Now notice, brothers and sisters, that really he's making mockeries, playing with the souls and the hearts of the people. And he knows very well what was going on. He's evaluating the situation. The religious leaders did not want him, did not accept him. So the multitude followed their leadership. Though many have accepted the Messiah in Galilee and elsewhere, the Judean, those areas, they followed the instructions of the spiritual leaders. And so he's playing, "Do you want me to release the king of the Jews?" He doesn't say, "Do you want me to release Yeshua?" He wants me to release the king of the Jews.

And the answer, of course, notice that verse 10, "For he knew," notice he knows everything, "that the chief priests had delivered him for envy." You see, beloved brothers and sisters, the spiritual leaders have envied the person of Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. They wanted the authority that he had. They wanted a manner whereby people were following him, but they didn't have it because people didn't follow them because they knew them very well. They wanted to have what he had, and they could not have it, and they envied Yeshua, the Messiah, and because of envy, they influenced others to reject him as being the Messiah of Israel. And isn't it the same today in the church age?

Most of the time, most of the time, the problem that exists in the universal church today, and all these issues and conflict is because the priests and the leaders have often influenced mankind to follow after their opinion and their mannerism. And because of envy, they have caused the people to say that they should reject Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. Now, you notice in the Hebrew word, the word envy in Hebrew is kin'ah or lekanot. Now, it is interesting. In English, you have two words. Envy and jealousy. from the very same one single word, lekanot or kin'ah in Hebrew. But there is a difference between jealousy and envy.

That's why in the Bible we read that God is a jealous God. We don't read that God is an envious God, but that He is a jealous God. What is the difference between the right way of understanding the word kin'ah? It's simply this. Jealousy jealousy it means that you want the good of the one that you are jealous over. But envy is exactly the opposite. Envy is I do not have something and I want it and I gotta get it and therefore I will do anything I can in order to get it. And this is not jealousy. This is envy. Because they envied Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah, we read here, they delivered Him to Pilate because they envied what Yeshua had which they did not have.

We continue and you notice in verse 11 what the multitude does? The many are following after their leaders. And so we read in verse 11, but the high priest moved the people that they should rather release Bar-Aba, the man who was a murderer, unto them rather than Yeshua who was truly the son of the father, Ben-Ha-Aba. Can you imagine, beloved brothers and sisters, how sad the spiritual leaders, instead of leading the nation towards Yeshua, they have moved the nations to have a murderer release rather than an innocent man. The Bible teaches us that Yeshua was an innocent man. He was sinless. He was undefiled. He was separate from sinners.

He was that unique one. There was no sin whatsoever in Him, beloved brothers and sisters, but the chief priests have moved the people that they should rather release this murderer by the name of Bar-Aba, the son of the father and by releasing him, the true son of the father, the Mashiach himself, eventually will be condemned to death. And so, here we are in these verses 8 to 11, the responsibility of the priesthood. Now, I want for a moment just to elaborate for a few minutes of the fact that in any generation, whether it is before Israel became a nation, or whether it is after when the church was born and the time in which we live in today, that you will notice it's always the responsibility of the leaders to lead God's people in the right direction.

direction. And God always warns the leaders, whether it is Israel in our own history or whether it is the church, the assembly today, He always warns the leadership of the people of God to lead God's people in the right way. But, he knew that it was going to happen. if you turn with me to Acts chapter 20 for a moment, the apostle Shaul Paul said in Acts chapter 20 to the leaders in the city of Ephesus, and he warned them, verse 28, he said to them, take heed, therefore, unto your own selves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church or the assembly of God, which he has purchased with his own blood.

And then he said in verse 29, for I know that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter a among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Therefore, watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears. Paul knew that these kind of things will happen and that the people of God always have to be careful in who they are being led by, who they are listening to, and they need guidance and help by the Spirit of God through the Word of God to discern whether something is from the Lord or something is not.

look at this. In Mark chapter 15 and verse 11 the high priests moved the people that they should rather release a guilty murderer than an innocent man. Now, how is it possible? Well, you know how it is possible. because all we like sheep have gone astray. Instead of being humble and broken and honest before God, we allow ourselves to be influenced by men who do not lead us in the ways of the Lord. And by the way, Satan is a crafty fallen angel who is the God with small g of this world who have blinded the mind of them that believe not lest the glorious gospel should shine unto them.

2 Corinthians 4 He blinded men in the past. He is blinding people in the present and He will continue to blind people in a future day. And the only way to know the right way is when we go back to the Scripture humbly before the Lord, accept the Word of God and eventually recognize and realize who Yeshua the Messiah is. And so how sad that they were led astray by the very same leaders who should have lead them in a right way. Just look at history beloved brothers and sisters and you will see how often time again whether it is in Israel history or church history you will find out that this is the responsibility that God will have to deal with the leadership who lead God's people away from the person of Yeshua the Messiah.

There is another few more verses that are very important from verse 12 to verse 21 you notice now first of all Pilate now delivering Yeshua to be crucified. We read in verse 12 Pilate answered and he said again unto them what will ye then that I should do unto him whom ye call the king of the Jews. So you see okay the chief priests have moved the people to choose Bar Abba Bar Abba the murderer then Pilate asking what do you want me to do with Yeshua. Now again you notice that he used the word the king of the Jews. Now of course Jesus Yeshua is the king of the Jews.

He was born to be the king of the Jews. He will be one day the king of Israel the king of the Jews. He one day will reign over our people Israel in a future day when Israel will open their eyes and accept him as the Messiah. but here he is mocking. He is really playing with them. What will you want me to do then with the one whom you call the king of the Jews. So they cried again and they said crucify him. In other words release Bar Abba but crucify the true son of the father Ben Ha'aba. Now because of the influence they cried crucify him and then now notice that it's so amazing.

Verse 14 He said unto them Why? Why should I crucify him? What evil hath he done? What did he do wrong? What evil did he do? Now they couldn't find anything that he had done wrong. They could find in you. They could find in me. They could find in all humanity. But there was one man that never done anything wrong. He was sinless. He was undefiled. He was separate from sinners. He was born to the virgin Miriam in the city of Bethlehem. He was the Mashiach of Israel that will have no sin in him if he was going to be able to save mankind here in this world.

here in this world. He could not have any sin in him. What has he done? Could you turn with me to John 18 for a moment? And I want you to see what Pilate actually knew very well about the person of Yeshua the Messiah. He's asking what evil hath he done? John 18 verse 38 we read Pilate saith unto him what is truth? And when he had said this he went out again unto the Jews this is the Jewish leader and he saith unto them I found in him no fault at all. Turn to chapter 19 and verse 4 notice at the end I found no fault in him. Turn to verse 6 of John 19 at the end I found no fault in him.

There was no fault in Yeshua the Messiah. And you see beloved brothers and sisters he was that sinless one of whom Isaiah predicted look what Isaiah said in chapter 53 and verse 9 at the end he had done no violence neither there was any deceit in his mouth. Isaiah said it. The sinless one that would come that he will do no sin that he will be will be the perfect lamb of God that will be qualified to be the Mashiach the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of this world. For the benefit of us all I'm just going to read just one or two more verses in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21 verse 21 we read for he has made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

He knew no sin. Paul is saying on the other hand Peter a little bit later on said in 1st Peter chapter 2 and verse 22 Peter says who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth. Paul said he knew no sin. Peter said he did no sin. he did no sin. Now look what John said in 1st John chapter 3 verse 5 and ye know that he was manifest to take away our sins and in him is no sin. Now you see I always was fascinated with these three Jewish men. Peter, Paul and John. Paul was a bright man and he said he knew no sin. He was the man of the mind.

Peter was a man of the action and he said he did no sin. And then John was a man of affection and love and John says in him there was no sin. Amazing when you really think about these Hebrew men of God of early days whom God had raised to be an apostle and then they were the one that was blessing to the world in which we live in. How God used them to show us the uniqueness of the person of Yeshua the Messiah. So back to Mark chapter 15 and here in these next verses we find out that Pilate said what he has done no wrong.

And they cried out the more crucify him. And then in verse 15 Pilate willing to contend the people he released Bar Abba the murderer son of the father by name and then notice what he says here in verse 15 and he delivered Yeshua Jesus when he had scourged him to be crucified. He let the guilty man go and he let the innocent holy man take to the cross to be crucified to die. What an unjust world we live in. The guilty set free and the innocent and holy sent to die. Amazing. And why he had to go to die? It's for my sin and for your sins beloved brothers and sisters we were guilty.

All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way but the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all. Now finally look how wicked the men whereby the Roman soldiers had treated this holy man the Messiah Yeshua. and so we read in verse 16 to verse 21 listen to this. Look what the soldiers did. You would think they would have some sense and they know they see here's an innocent man and on the other hand the guilty one who was a murderer is set free. We will at least treat him somehow softly and tenderly because after all he was not guilty of anything.

They couldn't find anything. their own governor said I found in him no fault. But unfortunately he saw the evil heart of the human race. And so notice what he said. Look what we read. First of all the soldiers led him away into the hall called Praetarium. This is the judgment hall. And they called together a whole band. Can you imagine? Not one soldier two soldiers but 600 some might say. A band one tenth of a large company of soldiers. They called a band of soldiers who was one tenth of a legion and they gathered around him and remember he is tight he is innocent accused from every side Yeshua the Messiah and the Roman soldiers soldiers now behaved just as evil as our own Jewish people behaved previously at the night before.

And look what they do in verse 17. They clothed him with a purple robe and they plated upon him a crown of thorn and they put it on his hand. Put a purple robe and put a crown that made out of thorns and shoved it into his head. And the purple represents one who is a king it is in mockery. And the crown that is supposed to represent the person who is a king is made not out of gold and diamonds but a crown of thorns. And they shoved it down his head. And it reminds us beloved brothers and sisters as in the early days in the book of Genesis chapter 3 when God because of sin said to Adam thorns and thistles are going to come out of the ground because of your sin.

The consequence of sin was brought about the fact that instead of the land will be fruitful there will be thorns and thistles and with the sweat of thy brow you shall eat bread God said to Adam a long time ago in the Gan Eden in the Garden of Eden because of sin and here is the Mashiach the Messiah he's wearing that purple robe having that crown of thorn upon his head placed by the Roman soldiers. You can just imagine that he began bleeding. In verse 18 they mocked in hailing him as the king of the Jews. Notice they began to salute him hail king of the Jews mocking him as he is there in the midst of these hundreds of soldiers.

In verse 19 now they continue on and they smite him at his face. They smote him in the head with the reed and did spit upon him and bowing their knees they worshipped him in mockery. Now if you remember in the previous chapter 14 verse 65 they sped at him there in the home of Caiaphas. Now once again they are spitting on him at the praetorium at the judgment hall of Pilate. And that reminds us of what Isaiah in another chapter 50 that speaks of the servant of the Lord who said the Lord God has opened mine ear and I was not rebellious neither turn away back and listen to this verse 6 of Isaiah 50 I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that pluck off the hair and I hid not my face from shame and from spitting.

The Messiah was spitted upon first of all by some of the Pharisees there and now he is spitted upon by the Romans.

The way they have treated him there and you notice they mocked him by claiming and worshipping him falling at his feet as if they acknowledge him as the king but it was strictly done in mockery and finally beloved brothers and sisters in verse 20 when they had mocked him they took off the purple this is the purple robe from him and they put on him his own clothes and notice that they led him out to crucify him they were preparing themselves for the time in which they will crucify him so they led him now out can you imagine beated sped upon blood all over his body they stripped they beat him they hit him in

every hand and now he is going out there to be crucified and according to John chapter 19 this is the last verse I'm reading for today according to John 19 he first of all carried his own cross in the first part of verse 17 it says here and he bearing his cross went forth but imagine to carry this heavy load this tree upon his shoulders after he was beaten after he was mocked upon blood all over his body mocked by the soldiers walking out towards the cross where he will pay for the sin of this world we find out that immediately there in verse 21 and this is the end of our verses for today

they compel one by the name of Shimon Simon a Cyrenian who passed by coming out of the country the father of Alexander and Rufus to bear his cross apparently remember it is Pesach hundreds of thousands of our own Jewish people coming to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover this man by the name of Shimon he was from Cyrenian this is present day Libya somewhere in East Libya he was passing by they grabbed him they took him and they put upon him the cross of Yeshua the Messiah which at first he bore and then they led him ultimately to the place where he will be killed on a Roman cross to pay for the sin of this world

well beloved brothers and sisters just to mention this he was accused by the Jewish people and found guilty he was accused by the Romans and found guilty by the Gentile world and what we learn from this that when David says why do the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things the king of the worlds and the rulers comes against Jehovah and against his anointed the answer is simply this it's because we have sinned and the evilness of the human heart comes out and the Messiah became the one that paid the price for the sin of this world may the Lord help us to be appreciative of what the Lord Yeshua the Lord Jesus have

done for us