John 19:13-18
 
John 19:13 (KJB)
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
 
Now the Jews really had his attention and he knew that he was not going to prevail over the evil wishes of the crowd since they were probably on the brink of a riot by now. Pilate was now ready to finalize this situation according to the desires of the crowd so here he brings Jesus out to the people. The Pavement or Gabbatha would have been a raised platform of stone on which the Judgment seat was placed. The fact that Pilate had sat down meant he was now ready to make the final judgment.
 
John 19:14 (KJB)
And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
 
It was now early on Friday morning and the passage tells us it was about the sixth hour which in this case would be 6 AM. This day was also the preparation for the Passover which would begin at sundown plus the next day was Saturday, the Sabbath. This was a High Sabbath which meant that the Passover and the Sabbath fell on the same day. Many times the passover did not fall on Friday or Saturday and fell in the middle of the week. Here though both the Sabbath and the Passover are on the same day.
 
John 19:15 (KJB)
But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
 
The crowd could not be silenced and even though Pilate could have released Jesus, he would now follow the dictates of the crowd. They wanted Pilate to crucify Jesus. In fact, the words “away, away, and crucify” are in the Imperative Mood in the Greek which means they were still demanding the death of Jesus, they wanted action not words. Pilate then incites the crowd worse this time by actually calling Jesus their King. The response of the Jews was that they had no king but Caesar. They proved right there that they were no better than the Romans whose king was also Caesar. (Luke 19:14 KJV) But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. The Jews would rather have Caesar as their king rather than their Messiah. This attitude was also prevalent in the time of Samuel when they demanded a king and spurned God’s leadership over them. (1 Sam 10:19 KJV) And ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your thousands.
 
John 19:16 (KJB)
Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
 
Pilate finally bowed his knee to the crowd and did what they wanted. Pilate now sent Jesus to be crucified and now they had led Him away. If you will notice there was no formal declaration made from the Judgment seat and they just led Jesus away. What charges could they bring upon Him? If Pilate fabricated charges, then he would be guilty of condemning an innocent man to death by the rulers in Rome. So they led Jesus away quietly.
 
John 19:17 (KJB)
And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
 
The normal routine for Romans was to make the condemned person carry their own cross unless the scourging had weakened them to a point where they could not. Jesus had been scourged and lost a lot of blood from the body and the head because of the crown of thorns. This treatment would have weakened Him considerably so they compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry His cross. (Mat 27:31-32 KJV) And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. {32} And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross. Simon carried the cross to the place of execution which was the place of a skull or Golgotha. There is nothing to indicate in the Scriptures that this place would have been on a hill but hills did surround Jerusalem and it would have made a great place for the Romans to enforce their message by crucifying people where they could be seen for a distance. This place could be Gordon’s Calvary but it is not known for sure and is just speculation. The way the hill looks today, one can see the eye sockets and bridge of a nose but no one knows how this place looked 2,000 years ago. The place of a skull could just have been a euphemism for the place of execution. The place could not have been too high or on an edge of a hill because the people who stood in front of the cross would have had to stand in the valley below and would not be able to read the signs which carried the charges plus Jesus spoke to Mary and John which means they would need to be close to hear Him since He was extremely weakened when He was placed on the cross.
 
John 19:18 (KJB)
Where they crucified him, and two others with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
 
The nails which were used to secure Jesus to the cross were not small roofing nails like we have today but were very big, almost like railroad spikes. They were driven through the wrist because if they were driven through the hands alone, the force of the body would have ripped the hands from the nails. So they may have been put through the hands and the wrists to secure the prisoner and to make sure it was hard for them to breathe so death would come upon them sooner. Along with Jesus were crucified two malefactors. One became saved and the other slipped into eternity unsaved. There have been records from Roman times that some prisoners who were crucified, stayed on the cross for up to nine days. Jesus had died in six hours because that is all it took to pay for the sins of the Elect of God and after these six hours, Jesus then commended His spirit unto His Father and then His body physically died. It is also theorized that maybe the two malefactors who were crucified with Jesus were accomplices of Barabbas.

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