Luke 23:14. "You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him". So says Pilate to the chief priests, rulers, and others who have brought Jesus to him, accusing Jesus of stirring up the people. Pilate concludes this speech by saying "I will therefore chastise him and release him." (Luke 23:16). Pilate finds no crime in Jesus, yet he has Him scourged to placate the crowd. This shows weakness on Pilate's part, and prefigures his ultimate capitulation to the crowd.

We have to stand up for the truth, always. We cannot give even the slightest capitulation to lies, or we will have picked at the thread that holds the seam between good and evil, risking that it will give way completely. Pilate, as a man in power, had a duty to be just. If he truly found no crime in Jesus, then, in justice, he should have released Him and reprimanded the crowd. When he chose instead to have Jesus flogged, even though Jesus was innocent, Pilate opened a hole in the seam.

In today's world our leaders, and even we, are often confronted by similar unreasonable mobs. This is the spirit of the Antichrist at work - it is the same evil influence that was affecting the mob that brought Jesus to Pilate. This evil influence always demands the subversion of truth and the punishment of a scapegoat. The individuals making up the mob may not realize they are wrong, they often think they are on the "right side of history," but the vehemence of their outrage should give them pause, if they allowed reason to creep in. In this state, though, individuality and reason have given way to mob mentality. The only way to defeat this is to stand up to it, to not give the mob an inch. This may not work in the immediate circumstance, sometimes we pay a great price for it, but ultimately, the mob and the Antichrist will only be defeated by individuals standing up for truth, even if it means personal sacrifice.

Pilate was warned by his wife not to have anything to do with Jesus (Matthew 27:19). As governor he was in a unique position to stand up to the mob, and was given his wife's dream as a warning to do so. Pilate was not strong or wise enough to act justly in Jesus' case, but we can learn a lesson from his mistakes. We know Jesus is the truth, we know how He wants us to act, we know we must not give an inch to evil, or it will have a hold on us and a greater hold on the world. We must reinforce the seam between good and evil, even with our lives if necessary. 

(Footnote: If you've noticed a common theme in this regard over the last few weeks, so have I! I think God's trying to tell us something!)