verses 11-25. Not having evil against Jesus, Pilate urged him to clarify things, and he endeavored to declare it without guilt. His wife's message was a warning. God has many ways to warn sinners about their sinful enterprises, and it is a great mercy to have such restrictions on the part of Providence, on the part of faithful friends and our own consciences. Oh, do not do this abominable thing that the Lord hates! It is something we can hear that we are told when we are entering into temptation, if we want to consider it. Being dominated by the priests, the people opted for Barabbas. The multitudes that choose the world more than God, as king and portion of them, choose their own deception. The Jews insisted so much on the death of Christ that Pilate thought that refusing would be dangerous, and this struggle shows the power of conscience even in the worst men. But everything was ordered to show that Christ suffered not for his own faults but for the sins of his people.