<p>23:25 <i>And he released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will</i>-&nbsp; The delivering of the Lord to the will of the Jews is all written from a human perspective. For it was by the determinate will of God, and not of man, that the Lord was handed over to death; and He Himself gave over His life, it was not in fact taken from Him. We have here a parade example of how things may appear one way from a secular standpoint, when they are in fact quite different from heaven's perspective.</p><p>This handing over of the Lord to crucifixion was ultimately done by God, the &quot;power&quot; behind and through Pilate. There is an unmistakable Biblical link between the term &quot;Son of God&quot;, the idea of God giving, and the death of the Lord Jesus. Whatever else this means, it clearly shows the pain to God in the death of His Son. Paul only uses &quot;Son of God&quot; 17 times- and every one is in connection with the death of the Lord. And often the usages occur together with the idea of God's <i>giving</i> of His Son to die- &quot;He who did not spare His own son but gave him up for us all&quot; (Rom. 8:32). This sheds light on the otherwise strange use of another idea by Paul- that Jesus was 'handed over' to death (Rom. 4:25; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:2,25). It was the Father who ultimately 'handed over' His Son to death. The idea of God's Son being <i>sent</i> to redeem us from sin is perhaps John's equivalent (1 Jn. 1:7; 4:10; Jn. 3:16). Jesus was the Son whom the Father sent &quot;last of all&quot; to receive fruit (Mk. 12:6)- and it is reflection upon God's giving of His Son on the cross which surely should produce fruit in us. For we can no longer live passively before such outgiving love and self-sacrificial pain. And we are invited to perhaps review our understanding of two passages in this light: &quot;When the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son... to redeem&quot; (Gal. 4:4) and &quot;God sending His son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for a sin offering condemned sin, in the flesh&quot; (Rom. 8:3). These verses would therefore speak specifically of what happened in the death of Christ on the cross, rather than of His birth. For it was in the cross rather than the virgin birth that we were redeemed and a sin offering made. It was on the cross that Jesus was above all in the exact likeness of sinful flesh, dying the death of a sinful criminal. The &quot;likeness&quot; of sinful flesh is explained by Phil. 2:7, which uses the same word to describe how on the cross Jesus was made &quot;in the likeness of men&quot;. We can now better understand why the Centurion was convicted by the sight of Christ's death to proclaim: &quot;Truly this was the Son of God&quot; (Mk. 15:39).</p><p>Pilate's guilt here is plainly stated, especially as he himself realized he had the power to release the Lord. He delivered Him &quot;to their will&quot; (Lk. 23:25), tacitly accepting that their will was stronger than his; although all this happened according to the will of the Father and Son. The Gospels carefully omit any record of Pilate pronouncing a judgment of condemnation upon the Lord, as was required and usual. He did not do so because of the deep weight of conscience within him.</p>