God on Trial (Matthew Sermon 142)

Introduction

As we come to Matthew 26:57-68, we come to a really shocking moment in the history of the world. The gospel, this indisputable fact, is standing in front of us: the eternal God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, sent his Son, his only begotten Son, into the world. He took on a human body, he lived a sinless life, never did anything wrong, never broke any of the laws of God, poured out his life to benefit and bless people whose lives were shattered and broken by sin. He healed people, he loved people, he lived a sinless life. And we, the human race, we arrested him, bound him, tried him, convicted him and condemned him and killed him without a cause. And that’s what we’re facing here in this account today. I think the greatest sin that has ever happened was the death of Jesus Christ. He’s the only sinless man that ever lived, so everything that was done to him was undeserved. He was a perfect man. Sinless, pure, spotless lamb. And yet, we put him on trial. Can you believe that? This is an account of God on trial. How shocking is that?

Now, in the Garden of Eden, as you know, there stood a tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In Genesis 2:15, I think a good translation of that verse is that God put Adam in the garden to serve it and protect it. The Hebrew word there “protect” implies some danger, some encroaching danger. Something’s going to come. We believe that by that time, Satan had already fallen into his rebellion, had already been cast to the Earth, and he was coming to the Garden. Well, why was he coming there? Well, one theologian that I read gave a plausible idea of why it was that God in his providence brought Satan to the tree.

I believe that God brought Satan, the fallen angel, the lead rebel against the law of God, brought him to the tree to be judged by Adam, the judge. It says in 1 Corinthians 6:3, “Do you not know that we will judge angels?” What kind of angels would we judge but wicked angels or fallen angels? So in the wisdom of God, he brought Satan to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that there would be a trial, there would be a court, and Satan would be condemned by man, the judge, because he had fallen to the Earth, and God had put man in charge of the Earth to fill it and subdue it and rule over it. And part of being a king, a ruler, is to be a judge.

But Satan cleverly turned the whole thing around. You know the story in Genesis 3. He initiated an encounter at the tree, not with Adam, but with his wife, with Eve, Adam’s helper. He turned the entire trial in its head, and basically at that first temptation, he put God on trial. And Adam, standing quietly by his wife’s side, was judging God, judging God’s word. “Did God really say… “ Judging God’s truthfulness in warning when he heard, “You will not surely die.” Judging God’s goodness in holding out apparently some kind of blessing that would have been beneficial to us. “For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open and you’ll be like God knowing good and evil.” And so there is Adam, our representative, and now he’s not judging this wicked creature who’s questioning God, instead he’s judging God. God is on trial at the tree with man the judge, and so it has been ever since.

The natural tendency of our rebellious race, we rebellious sons and daughters of Adam, is to put God on trial in our hearts and minds, especially when it comes to the painful issue of human suffering. Elie Wiesel, the Jewish survivor of the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz, said that he beheld there three Jewish men hold a trial of God in absentia for what was happening to the Jews in the concentration camp, the Holocaust, the slaughter. As a result of that, he based a 1979 play on that whole encounter called “The Trial of God.” It was set in a Ukrainian village in 1649 after the massacre of some Jewish villagers. In Elie Wiesel’s play, three travelling minstrels arrive in the village intending to put on a play, but instead put on a mock trial of God for the massacre that had happened in that village. Elie Wiesel putting God on trial.

C.S. Lewis wrote a book called God in the Dock. The British way of saying “God on trial.” He said that man rather than rightly seeing himself as standing on trial before a Holy God, instead prefers to see God standing on trial before us, accountable to us, for all the hard things that have ever happened in our lives or in this world. He has to give us an account for what’s happened in this world. So whenever there’s a hurricane or an earthquake or a fire or the tragic death of a child, the shocking surprise of some adverse circumstance leads people again to put God on trial.

But the truth is the exact opposite, isn’t it? The truth is the exact opposite. At the end of all things, we will stand on trial before God. God is the Judge of all the earth. And on that day, on Judgment Day, we will give an account for every careless word that we have spoken, and God will judge righteously. As it says in Hebrews 9:27, “Man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment.” As it said earlier in Hebrews 4:13, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight, everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.”

What’s even more amazing, as we come to our text today, the Bible makes it plain that Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the trinity, will actually be the judge of all humanity. Every single human being will stand before Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. He is the judge of all the earth. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.” Jesus himself said this in John 5:22-23, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son even as they honor the Father who sent him.” And yet in our text today, we have the judge of all the Earth, Jesus, standing before wicked, sinful men to be judged by them. We have God the Son on trial. And furthermore, it’s a wicked, unjust and illegal trial. What else could it be, because he was sinless? One that puts the sinfulness of the human heart on full display.

I. The Trials of Jesus: Jewish Justice Perverted First, Then Roman

Jesus’ Trial Had Two Major Aspects: Religious and Secular

Now, as we come to the trials of Jesus, there are two major aspects of Jesus’ trial. There was a religious trial before the Jewish authorities, and there was a secular trial before secular mostly Roman authorities. Jesus was tried by Jews and by Gentiles. I believe this was part of the sovereign plan of God. Just as Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin, we’re told in Romans, Jews and Gentiles alike are held guilty for the death of the Son of God. It bothers me when people out of fear, rightly in many ways, of anti-Semitism saying the Jews were in no way responsible for the death of Jesus. That is false. But it’s also false to say that the Jews were solely responsible for the death of Jesus. That’s false as well. Gentiles, equally responsible. God shut up both Jews and Gentiles alike in this particular sin, the condemnation of the Son of God. He orchestrated these two trials, God did, so the Jews and Gentiles alike would be guilty for condemning the Son of God.

Each of These Trials Had Three Parts

Now, each of these trials, the trial before the Jewish authorities and the trial before Pilate and Herod, had three phases. So in effect, Jesus had six trials. It’s really quite staggering. Six different hearings. In every case, Jesus condemned, found guilty. In the Jewish trial, there was first a preliminary hearing in Annas’ house, it’s recorded for us only in John’s gospel, in John chapter 18. Then second, we have the trial before Caiaphas, the then high priest, and the Sanhedrin recorded in our account here. And then third, the same group reconvened just after daybreak as recorded in Matthew 27:1. Three phases to the Jewish or the religious trial.

And then the secular trial also had three phases. First before Pontius Pilate. Then when he found out that Jesus was a Galilean and that Herod was in town, shipped him off to Herod for a trial. Herod just wanted to see a miracle, nothing doing, so he sent him back to Pilate for phase three, or really phase six at that point of his trial.

Greatest Miscarriage of Justice Before Jews and Romans Who Prided Themselves in Their Justice

And isn’t it amazing that there was such a great miscarriage of justice by two people, peoples I guess, who prided themselves on justice, specifically in court trials? The Jewish nation had righteous laws that sought to defend the innocent from false accusations so that justice would be served. The Romans also prided themselves on their court trials and their proceedings.

Jewish Justice Established in the Laws of Moses

Jewish justice established in the laws of Moses: judges were selected because they were righteous and upright men who would not take a bribe, for a bribe twists the eyes and ears of the judge and perverts justice. Deuteronomy 16. The Sanhedrin itself was established originally for the purpose of justice. Any community with at least 120 men could form their own counsel, and this council came to be known by the Greek term for sitting together, “sunedrion,” we get it as “Sanhedrin.” They would sit together and try to make sure that justice was done. The goal always was that every accused person got a fair trial. Capital crimes in particular were singled out for special treatment.

In Deuteronomy 17:6, it’s plain that no one could ever be put to death on the testimony of just one witness, there had to be two or three witnesses for someone to be put to death. False witnesses in Deuteronomy 19 were punished most severely, because if it was ever uncovered that someone broke the Ten Commandments and testified falsely, bore false witness against his neighbor, then whatever that crime was, it had a punishment, that punishment would be done to the false witness. And if it was a capital crime, the false witness would be executed. And that was the desire to uphold justice and righteousness. Furthermore, if in the end the individual was found guilty, the witnesses had to be the first to stone them, to put the individual to death, so that they stood accountable for their testimony.

Beyond the laws of Moses, rabbinical law and tradition had additional safeguards to be sure that justice was served. For example, the sentence of death could not be carried out until the third day after the trial. The council members were to fast in the intervening day. So once guilty and condemned to death, it had to be on the third day the execution happened, and in the intervening day, they were supposed to fast and pray and be sure that they were doing God’s will and that they hadn’t missed anything. This also gave additional time for evidence that might be used to exonerate, to set the individual free.

Witnesses, when they testified, had to give the exact time and date and location of the incident or their testimony could not be accepted. There was always the presumption of innocence, they were innocent until proven guilty. Therefore, the defense of the accused was supposed to be handled with great care. If the verdict of death was not overturned, then an officer of the council would escort the prisoner through the city to the place of execution and a herald would go ahead of the slow-moving procession declaring in a loud voice, things like this, “This man so and so” – stating the name of the convicted man – “is led to punishment for such and such a crime. The witnesses who have sworn against him are so and so and so and so. If anyone has evidence in his favor, come forward quickly.” Again, an effort to be sure that they were not condemning an innocent man. At the place of execution, the convicted man was urged to confess his crime, whether he did or not, he would be executed, but before that they would give him a sedative to dull his senses so that the pain wouldn’t be extreme.

In addition to these rules, no trial could begin or continue into the night. They wanted the people who were judging to be clear-headed. In the Sanhedrin, when the vote for conviction was taken, it would proceed from the youngest member to the oldest so that the youngest wouldn’t be swayed unduly by older members. If the vote was ever unanimous, and this is amazing to me, then the case was thrown out because there was an assumption that it could never be unanimous, and that there had to be some mercy, someone had a heart of mercy, and so clearly there would be a plot afoot to kill somebody. Sound familiar when it comes to Jesus?

All of This Thrown Out the Window in the Case of Christ

In all of these things, they operated under the principle, the Sanhedrin is here to save life, not to destroy it. The goal was not merely justice but, whenever possible, mercy. All of these were thrown out the window when it came to Christ. It was an unjust trial because he was innocent, and it was an illegal trial based on these rules. Jesus was basically condemned before he ever got to trial. I think if you read the gospel accounts, you know that’s true. They had already decided to put him to death, all they wanted was a semblance of legality painted over this most heinous act of wickedness ever in the human race. They wanted to appear to be legal and righteous as they were condemning this innocent man.

And so Jesus was illegally tried then before first being charged with a crime, he was tried at night and in private, he had no defense counsel, there were many false witnesses, and none of them was held accountable for their false testimony. He was executed the same day he was tried and convicted, so there was no chance at appeal, no opportunity for the council to fast and pray and seek the will of God. It was hastily thrown together with the barest semblance of justice because there was no justice in it at all. Furthermore, once he was condemned, they treated Jesus with utmost disgrace, spitting in his face and smashing him with rods and mocking him, mocking his prophetic ability. Things that should never have been done in any case. Why? Why this hatred?

II. The Jealousy and Greed of the Jewish Enemies of Jesus (vs. 57-59)

Key statement: vs. 57, 59

Well, in Verses 57 and 59, we begin to get an idea of why. We see the jealousy and the greed of the Jewish enemies of Jesus. Verse 57, it says, “Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled.” Verse 59, “The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.” I mean, this is not a trial, this is a plot, this is murder is all it is, by means of the court.

So they’re trying to kill him. Now, in the pre-trial at Annas’, which is again recorded only in John 18, Jesus calls them on it to some degree. If you know what to look for, Jesus calls them on the illegality of his trial. He’s not wondering what’s gonna be the outcome, but he wants to have it stated for the record how unjust and how illegal this whole thing was. So they brought him to Annas, Annas’ house. Why to Annas? Because he’s the real high priest, the real power behind the throne. I look on him like The Godfather in one of those mafia stories, a thoroughly evil man. Caiaphas was his son-in-law, a bit of a puppet, not just under the Romans, but under Annas himself.

And it says that the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. That’s illegal to be asking the accused these kinds of questions. So Jesus answers this, he said, “I’ve spoken openly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues or at the temple where all the Jews came together. I said nothing in secret. Why question me? Ask those who heard me.” What is Jesus asking them to do? Produce witnesses, right? “It’s illegal for you to be asking me directly. Where are your witnesses, Annas?” Well, when he said that, do you remember what happened? One of the officials standing near Jesus struck him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” He demanded. Jesus said the same thing, “If I have said something wrong, then testify to it. But if I’ve said nothing wrong, then why did you strike me?” It’s the same thing, “Where are your witnesses? This is not how we do a court trial.”

Why Were the Jews Determined to Kill Jesus… Even With Such Prejudice and Wickedness?

So why were the Jews determined to kill Jesus even with such prejudice and wickedness? Well, a lot of reasons. It’s strange because of the perfection of Jesus, Jesus, the only perfect man that ever lived perfectly filled with love for God and love for neighbor at every moment, poured out his life in service to sinners, never refused any of them anything they came and asked him for. Even if it was inconvenient, he would come immediately and care for them. The only man that ever perfectly obeyed the law of Moses.

The people gave this summary in Mark 7:37, “He has done everything well.” Think about that. Scripture gives this testimony in 1 Peter 2:22, “He committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” Jesus was sinless, so why the hatred?

Pilate Saw It Clearly… Scripture Testifies As Well

Pilate, in the next chapter, in Matthew 27:18, says very plainly why. It says, “He knew that it was out of envy” – out of jealousy – “that they had handed Jesus over to him.” So they were jealous of Jesus. It’s a deep spiritual principle.

Jealousy of Christ’s Righteousness, Popularity, and Power

They were jealous of him in the same way that Cain was jealous of his brother Abel. Do you remember? Jesus was perfectly righteous and they were completely wicked, and darkness hates the light and will not come to the light it says in John 3. Proverbs 29:27 says, “The wicked detest the upright.” There was a hatred there. Annas, Caiaphas were completely evil, corrupt individuals. And it says in 1 John 3:12-13, “Do not be like Cain who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.” So they hated Jesus because he was light, and they were darkness.

Secondly, they hated Jesus because of his popularity. Jesus was immensely popular with the crowds. As he rode into Jerusalem, almost the whole city was out there to greet him. “Hosanna,” they’re shouting. “Hail to the King of the Jews,” they’re shouting. And the Jewish leaders were filled with jealousy. Now, we don’t have any direct statements other than Pilate’s statement about envy or jealousy, but we definitely have it in the book of Acts concerning the apostles. In Acts 13:45, it says, “When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.” So they’re jealous of Paul when they saw huge crowds. How much more jealous would they be of Jesus?

They were also jealous of his power, thirdly. He had supernatural power, he could do things they couldn’t do. Remember when they ascribed his miracles to Beelzebub, the prince of the devils, remember? And Jesus asked them this question, “If I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons drive them out?” It’s a very interesting question. Do you think their sons were driving out demons? I don’t think so. In other words, “I can do things you apparently can’t do.” They knew that very well. Now, they missed the point of the miracles. The point was, this is God’s son. Instead, they tried to kill Jesus, the wonder-worker, and even kill Lazarus who was raised from the dead to try to kill the evidence.

But they were jealous of the apostles concerning this same thing in Acts 5. It says, “Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed. And then the high priest and all of his associates who were members of the party, the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy and they arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.” They’re jealous of Jesus because of his miracles.

Greed for Their Position

But they also had a position to protect. They were corrupt because they were making huge money on the animal sacrificial system. We’ve talked about this before, I won’t belabor it. But every animal that was brought to the temple to be offered as a sacrifice had to be inspected by Annas’ guys. I wonder if they figured out in terms of business, what percentage they had to accept through. I think they would like to have failed all 100 percent of the sheep that the pilgrims brought, but they figured that’s bad for business. They gotta be clever. So they probably failed like 70 percent of them, and then confiscated those animals and sold them to pilgrims the next day at a slightly elevated price.

And by the way, you couldn’t use your money, whatever money you had out in your outlying districts, you had to use the temple shekel, and there’s some money changers over there who will be happy to exchange money for you for a fee. Josephus tells us a quarter of a million lambs were sacrificed at the time of Passover. Do the math. I won’t do it, I know you’re thankful for that. But huge, huge profits rolling in. Annas and Caiaphas, very much like the Mafia, it was very corrupt, but it was corrupt in the name of religion.

And you know that twice, at least, Jesus drove out those wicked people from the temple. In John chapter 2, he made a whip of cords and drove out the money changers and drove out and overturned the benches of those selling doves and drove out all of the animals, and he was filled with the fiery indignation and zeal. “Take these out of here,” he said. “How dare you turn my Father’s house into a marketplace?”

Politics: The Triumphal Entry Had Aroused the Attention of the Romans

Oh, Jesus made some very powerful enemies there, very powerful enemies. And so they were afraid that the Romans would come with Jesus’ leadership here, the Romans would come and take away both their place and their nation, they said. They were afraid of losing their gig, so to speak, afraid of losing all of the money that they were making.

So, Before the Trial Even Occurred, Jesus was Guilty

And so even before the trial occurred, they were convinced that Jesus was guilty. So in verse 59, they “were looking for false evidence against Jesus so they could put him to death.”

Peter Is Following… and Getting Into Trouble… More Next Week

Now, an aside, verse 58, we’ll deal with it more next time, God willing, Peter is following at a distance. See that in verse 58. “Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.” We’ll talk about that, God willing, next week. But Peter should have been home, should have escaped. He wasn’t ready for what he thought he was ready for. I don’t know what his motives were, maybe partly loyalty to Jesus, partly pride for his statements early in the evening, partly curiosity just sitting down there to see the outcome. Never lifted a finger to help Jesus on his trial. But there he was. We’ll get into that next week.

III. The False Witnesses (vs. 59-61)

The Sanhedrin Not Looking for Truth… Because the Truth Was Against Their Evil Purpose

Then come the false witnesses. Look at 59-61, “The chief priest and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so they could put him to death, but they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally, two came forward and declared, ‘This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’” So again, clearly, they’re not looking for truth.

They Orchestrated False Witnesses… Probably Bribed Them; But They Did a Terrible Job

They’re orchestrating false witnesses, but they’ve done a very shabby job. I don’t know if there was a false witness school, but these folks were not graduates of it. It just wasn’t working well. So they wanted some semblance of justice, but a better semblance than that. It was pathetic. These guys’ stories just weren’t jiving at all, it just didn’t work. The best they got were the ones that were recorded here. “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.’”

The Testimony About the Temple

Now, basically, this is a charge of blasphemy against Moses and against the temple, this is the very thing that they’re going to use later to kill Stephen. So it’s a weighty charge, but it’s not the real charge. We’ll get to what the real charge was in just a moment. It really didn’t have to do with this statement. And frankly, they got it wrong. They were false witnesses and they got the statement wrong. Jesus, as far as I can tell, never said, “I am able to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.”

What he did say in John chapter 2 is when they asked him for what authority, what sign he would give for the right to knock over all these benches and drive all the animals out, what sign did he give to show the right of his authority to do these things? Jesus said these words: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” So who’s doing the temple-destroying in Jesus’ statement? Not him, his enemies. “You destroy, I’ll raise up.”

But the temple he had spoken of was his body. Very deep, not gonna get into it, but there’s a connection between the physical temple and Jesus’ body. And so even his disciples didn’t understand it at that time, but afterwards, after he was raised in the dead, they remembered this statement and they remembered the words that he had said, and they understood the statement, “Zeal for your house has almost literally destroyed me.” It was because of his zeal for the house of God that he was consumed, that he was killed.

False Witnesses Getting them Nowhere, So Caiaphas Takes Matters in His Own Hands

So the false witnesses were getting them nowhere, so the high priest takes matters boldly into his own hands, and this reaches a whole new depth of illegality here. This is the judge in the trial, stands up, directly addresses the accused – you’re not supposed to be condemned out of your own mouth – but directly addresses him basically saying in effect, “These false witnesses are getting us nowhere. Let’s see if we can deal with this directly.”

IV. Jesus’ Confession Before the High Priest (vs. 62-64)

This Was Illegal at Many Levels

Verse 62, “Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, ‘Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony these men are bringing against you?’” So this is illegal at many levels, it should never have been done, but this is what happened.

Jesus’ Silence a Fulfillment of Prophecy

Jesus was silent, and we’ll talk more about his silence when we get to the trial before Pilate, but this was in direct fulfillment of Scripture. Jesus, it says in Isaiah 53:7, “was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” He kept quiet. He’s not saying anything.

The High Priest’s Solemn Charge

Therefore, in verse 63, the high priest gives him this solemn charge, and this is an incredibly important moment in redemptive history right here, verse 63-64. The high priest at this point represents the Jewish nation as a whole. He says, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Now we get to the real issue here. You know what Jesus is being tried for? Blasphemy – not in reference to the temple – blasphemy in reference to the incarnation, that he claimed to be God.

That’s what the issue was here. Jesus was making a clear claim to deity in claiming to be the Son of God. In John 5:18, remember how they accused him of working on the Sabbath? And Jesus gives this incredible answer in John 5. He says, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working. My father’s working and I’m working. We’re both working.” As though Jesus had no idea what an incendiary statement that would be. He knew exactly how they would hear that. But it says in John 5:18, “For this reason, they tried even harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath” – according to them – “but he was also calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” That’s the issue here. That’s the issue.

Jesus’ Clear Answer

So, “I charge you under oath by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” In our text, it says, “Yes, it is as you say.” Mark has a simpler statement. He just says, “I am.” Do you realize the significance of that? That’s the name of the Angel of the Lord in the burning bush. That’s God’s name, that’s Yahweh’s name. So he says, “Are you the Son of God?” And he answers, simply, “I am.”

The Appeal to Daniel 7

But he doesn’t stop there. Remember last week I talked about Jesus’ incredible commitment to Scripture? He then reaches in the 39 books of the Old Testament, of all of the prophecies that he could have reached for, all of the prophecies concerning this key issue, in effect, he’s saying, “You’re clearly struggling with incarnation, let me help you. You’re struggling with, how could I be both Son of God and Son of man? How could I be both human and divine? Let me point you to the key text of Scripture in the entire Bible on that issue,” and he reaches for Daniel 7. Daniel 7:13-14. He appeals to it. This is what he says in Matthew, “I say to all of you: In the future, you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Again, he’s not directly quoting Daniel 7, he’s alluding to it, but he’s making it a prediction. “In the future, you will see.” Remember, everything Jesus says is true. So they will see him in the future, and they’ll see him as God. He will be at the right hand of the Mighty One, he’ll be coming on the clouds of heaven, and he will be coming for judgment and for wrath.

The Son of Man Vision

What is he alluding to? He’s alluding to Daniel 7:13 and 14. There it says, “In my vision at night, I looked and there before me was one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days,” that’s God the Father, “and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power. All peoples, nations, and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed or pass away.” That’s what he’s alluding to.

It’s the clearest text in the Old Testament on the deity and the humanity of the Messiah. Matthew 7:13 and 14. The key thing is that he is called Son of Man, so he’s human, and he is worshipped as God in the presence of God. This can only be the incarnation.

V. Jesus Condemned and Degraded by the Jews (vs. 65-68)

The Official Rejection of Jesus as Son of God and Son of Man by the Jewish Nation

Well, as a result of this, the high priest tears his robes and says, “‘He has spoken blasphemy. Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy, what do you think?’ ‘He is worthy of death,’ they answered. Then they spit in his face, and they struck him with their fists. And others slapped him and said, ‘Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?’”

This is a key moment. This is the rejection of the Messiah, the official rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish nation. John 1:11, “He came to his own, but his own people did not receive him.” Luke 19:44, Jesus wept over Jerusalem, he said, “because you did not recognize the time of God coming to you.” He was condemned by the Jewish nation.

The Sanhedrin Called on to Condemn Jesus by Acclamation: No Vote Needed

And interestingly, the high priest doesn’t wait for a vote, no secret ballot, he calls for a verdict by acclamation. “Hey, everybody, what do you think?” Which is completely unjust and illegal. And they all cry out what they’re supposed to cry, “Guilty, worthy of death,” these kinds of things. And then they start to mistreat him.

Jesus Degraded and Humiliated

They spit in his face. That’s one of the most denigrating, disgusting, dehumanizing things that could ever be done to a person, to spit in someone’s face. In every culture, it’s a symbol of overt disrespect, usually it would lead to a fight. And they hit him, and they go beyond that to mock him. They blindfold him, like it’s kind of a game of blindfold bluff. “Who hit you? Prophesy to us.”

Guys, remember, he never stopped being God. Jesus, the Son of God, read people’s minds. He knew everything about them. Remember the Samaritan woman, who, at the well, and Jesus said, “You’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.” Remember that? She runs into the village and said, “Come see a man who told me everything I ever did it.” A bit of an over-statement, but she was quite impressed by Jesus’ ability to know her. Remember what he said to Nathaniel, “While you were still under the fig tree, I saw you. That’s how I know that you’re a true Israelite in whom there’s nothing false.”

Blindfolded Jesus could have picked out any one of those people and told them what they were thinking that moment, secrets from their lives, all their skeletons in their closet. Jesus knew everything. “Oh, Lord, you have searched us and you know us. You know when we sit and when we rise. Before a word is on our tongues, you know it all together.” That’s who they were blindfolding and spitting on and hitting, the Son of God. And they condemned him to death, and to death he would go.

VI. Applications

Come to Christ!

So what applications can we take from this text? Well, all of scripture is written, everything in scripture is written for one purpose: To make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Jesus went through this trial for sinners like you and me. He was innocent, he was perfect, sinless. We are guilty. And Jesus came to stand in our place, to be tried in our place, to be condemned in our place, to suffer and die in our place. “All we, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. And by oppression and judgment, he was taken away.” He went through that for sinners like you and me.

So the best thing I can ever do is preach the gospel of this Savior, of him who stood in our place and who was condemned in our place as the hymn says, “Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned he stood. Sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah, what a Savior.” Is that true of you? Do you know by faith in your place condemned, he stood? All you need to do is trust in him, believe what I’m saying is true, that he was God the Son, died on the cross for you, and you will be forgiven.

Marvel at the Wickedness of the Human Heart

Secondly, marvel at the wickedness of the human heart. Marvel. This is the low point, I think. This whole trial, the condemnation of Jesus, and his death is the low point of the human race, the wickedness of the human race. And as I’ve said to you before, so I say again, whenever you find evidence of wickedness in the scripture, see yourself. Look in the mirror of God’s perfect law and find out who you are. It’s not the righteous that Jesus came to save, it’s not the healthy that he came to heal. We’re sinful too. And if you say, “I would never do what Annas and Caiaphas did and all that,” just understand that’s not the conclusion that scripture wants you to have. What scripture wants you to say is, “We are wicked. We are broken sinners. Thank God there’s such a Savior as Jesus.” Behold the wickedness of the human heart.

Understand the Tendency to Put God on Trial

And be aware of the tendency that we have to put God on trial. Have you ever done that? Have you ever tried God? Have you ever put him on a stand and cross-examined him? Have you ever said, “God, what are you doing to me?” Scripture says no one can say to him, “What are you doing?” But we do it a lot. When you go through a trial, don’t put God on the stand. Remember that he’s the King, he is God. Submit to what he’s doing in your life. Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand. Don’t fight his disciplines, don’t fight his judgments, humble yourself under his judgments, and say that he is righteous all together.

And understand non-Christians are putting God on trial all the time, we’re called to be witnesses at the trial. Does that sound good? “You’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses.” So testify to the goodness of Jesus. Testify to the power and the love of Jesus to his death, his resurrection. Be witnesses at Jesus’ trial. Amen. None of his disciples were there at that time, but now by the Spirit, we can do that, we can be witnesses at the trial of Jesus.

And if I can say this to you in terms of imitation, bear injustice more patiently than you do. You know what I’m talking about? Have you ever said out loud or at least in your heart, “That’s not fair”? You started saying it when you were a child and one of your siblings got something you didn’t get, and oh, the injustice of it. And it’s grown inside your heart so that more and more you see things that are done that are unfair, people who have disrespected you, people who have treated you falsely or wrongly. And frankly, the more you get involved in evangelism and missions, the more this is gonna happen to you. People will hate you without a cause.

The more you stand up for righteousness in our increasingly wicked culture, the more people are gonna pound on you and treat you unjustly. 1 Peter 2 covers that. When we are pounded unjustly, we are to imitate Jesus who handled himself so beautifully in this trial. It says again in 1 Peter 2, “He committed no sin, there was no deceit in his mouth. When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate. When he suffered, he made no threats.” So that’s how we’re supposed to bear patiently injustice. People being unfair to us. And again, it’s not just the big ones, it’s when someone cuts you off in traffic, when you’re standing in line, and then people circumvent you at the food line, and something rises up in your heart about the injustice of it. Now, you’ve got good manners not to say anything about it, but it’s in there, isn’t it? You know what I’m talking about. Go to Jesus’ trial and say, “He was silent, he was humble, and he had never done anything wrong. How much should I bear patiently anything that happens to me?”

Understand the Son of Man Prophecy: Jesus is Coming Again to Be Worshiped and to Judge the Earth

And then finally, understand the Daniel Son of Man prophecy. It is, along with Isaiah 53, the two most significant prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament, in my opinion. Isaiah 53 clearly explained substitutionary atonement, you heard me quote it earlier, but this one clearly explains the incarnation and the worship that Jesus is going to get from people from every tribe and language and people and nation. And that’s awesome. Daniel 7 says, in the future, the entire human race is going to see Jesus coming back on the clouds of heaven. And it says in Revelation 1:7, “Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.” You know why? Because it’ll be too late then. Now we have to see him with eyes of faith. Jesus is coming back. He’s coming back. It’s the next thing. He said, “Behold, I am coming soon.” Let us be faithful until he returns.

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the account of Jesus’ trial. We thank you for how he was willing to bear patiently the false accusations of wicked people so that he could affect our atonement by his death. It was unjust, it was illegal, it was wicked, and Jesus bore it patiently to set us an example that we should follow in his steps and also to atone for us that we might worship him forever and ever. We thank you for Jesus. It’s in his name that we pray. Amen.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

In the Garden of Eden there stood a tree—the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  In Genesis 2:15, Adam was put in the Garden of Eden to “serve it and protect it.”  PROTECT?  From WHAT?

Well, putting various passages of Scripture together, it seems that, by the time God formed Adam from the dust of the earth and entrusted the earth to him, Satan had already fallen in his failed rebellion.  God had cast him to the earth.  And the serpent was coming to the Garden of Eden.

Why?  One theologian believes that God was bringing the chief fallen angel to Adam so that Adam would JUDGE him and condemn him.

1 Corinthians 6:3  Do you not know that we will judge angels?

So, in the wisdom of God, he brought Satan to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to be CONDEMNED by Adam!  It was Satan on trial and man the judge…

But Satan cleverly turned the whole thing around… He initiated an encounter at the Tree, and not with Adam but with Eve, Adam’s helper.  And he turned the entire trial on its head… basically, at that first temptation, GOD WAS ON TRIAL, and ADAM, standing quietly by his wife’s side, was judging God.  Judging God’s word (“Did God really say…?”); judging God’s truthfulness and warning (“You shall not surely die!”); judging God’s goodness in holding out blessings (“God knows that when you eat of it, you will become like God, knowing good and evil.”)

Satan put God on trial that day, with man the judge.  And so it has been ever since.

The natural tendency of our rebellious race, we rebellious sons and daughters of Adam is to put God on trial in our hearts and minds…. Especially when it comes to the painful issue of human suffering.

Elie Wiesel, the Jewish survivor of the Nazi concentration camp in Auschwitz, said that he observed three Jewish men hold a trial of God in absentia for abandoning the Jewish people in the Holocaust.  Inspired by that, he wrote a play in 1979 called “The Trial of God,” set in a Ukrainian village in 1649 after the massacre of some Jewish villagers.  In Wiesel’s play, three traveling minstrels arrive in the village intending to put on a play, but instead put on a mock trial of God for the massacre.

C.S. Lewis wrote a book called “God in the Dock”… British way of saying “God on trial…” He said that man, rather than rightly seeing themselves as standing on trial before a holy God instead prefer to see God as standing accountable to them

Whenever there is a hurricane, an earthquake, a fire, the tragic loss of a child, the shocking surprise of some adverse circumstance, hurting people immediately put God on trial.  When people hear the claims of the gospel and understand that God will judge them some day, they desire to turn it around entirely.  But Scripture is plain:

Hebrews 9:27  man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment

Hebrews 4:13  Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Even more amazing as we come to our text today… the Bible makes it plain that Jesus is in fact that judge of all the earth… every single human being will stand before Christ on Judgment Day:

2 Corinthians 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

John 5:22-23  Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,  ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

And yet, in our text today, we have the Judge of all the earth standing before wicked, sinful, men to be judged by them…

We have GOD ON TRIAL!!

Furthermore, it is a wicked, unjust, illegal trial… one that puts the sinfulness of the human heart on full display

I. The Trials of Jesus:  Jewish Justice Perverted First, Then Roman

A. Jesus’ Trial Had Two Major Aspects:

1. Religious trial before the Jewish authorities

2. Secular trial before the secular (mostly Roman) authorities

Note:  I believe this was to share the blame for the death of the Son of God equally between Jews and Gentiles…  the gospel saves both Jews and Gentiles from sin, so it was appropriate for both Jews and Gentiles to display their wickedness and sin in condemning Jesus

B. Each of These Trials Had Three Parts

1. In the Jewish trial:

a. First, a preliminary hearing at Annas’s house, recorded in John 18:12-14 and 19-23

b. Second, the trial before Caiaphas (the High Priest) and the Sanhedrin recorded here

c. Third, the same group reconvened just after daybreak (Matthew 27:1)

2. In the secular trial, also three phases

a. First, before Pontius Pilate

b. Then, before Herod Antipas (tetrarch of Galilee who was in Jerusalem)

c. Then, finally, before Pilate one last time

C. Amazing the Greatest Miscarriage of Justice in History Before Jews and Romans Who Prided themselves in their Justice

1. The Jewish Law was meticulous in its protection of the innocent

2. So also the Roman Legal system was one of their great gifts to the pagan world

D. Jewish Justice Established in the Laws of Moses

1. Judges selected and commanded to be just

Deuteronomy 16:18-20  Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the LORD your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly.  ¹⁹ Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.  ²⁰ Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.

2. The Sanhedrin established for the purpose of justice

a. Any community with at least 120 men could form their own council to try cases

b. Council came to be known by the Greek term for “sitting together”—sunedrion

c. Goals was to be sure everyone got a fair trial

3. Capital crimes had to be proven by clear testimony from witnesses

Deuteronomy 17:6  On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

4. False witnesses punished severely

Deuteronomy 19:16-19  If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse a man of a crime,  ¹⁷ the two men involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the LORD before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time.  ¹⁸ The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against his brother,  ¹⁹ then do to him as he intended to do to his brother.

5. Witnesses in capital crimes had to be the first to exact the punishment… forcing them to stand behind their testimony

Deuteronomy 17:7  The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. You must purge the evil from among you.

6. Rabbinical law required the sentence of death could not be carried out until the third day after the trial… and the council members were to fast on the intervening day… this also gave additional time for evidence that might be used for the defense of the convicted man

7. Witnesses had to give the exact date, time, and location of the incident

8. There was always a presumption of innocence… the defense of the accused was handled with great care

9. If the verdict of death was not overturned, an officer of the council escorted the prisoner to the place of execution; a herald went ahead of the slow-moving procession declaring in  a loud voice, “This man [so-and so… stating the name of the convicted man] is led to punishment for such and such a crime; the witnesses who have sworn against him are [name and name]; if anyone has evidence in his favor, come forward quickly.”

10. At the place of execution, the convicted man was urged to confess his crime; then a powerful sedative drink was given to dull his senses and make his death less painful.

11. In addition:

a. No trial could begin or continue into the night

b. In the Sanhedrin, when the vote for conviction was taken, it would proceed from the youngest to the oldest, so the youngest would not be unduly influenced by the older members of the council

c. If the vote was ever unanimous, the accused was immediately set free, because the necessary element of mercy was obviously lacking

12. In all of these things, they operated under the principle:  “The Sanhedrin is to save, not destroy life.”

13. The goal was not merely justice but mercy wherever possible

E. All of This Thrown Out the Window in the Case of Christ

1. The Sanhedrin violated virtually every principle of justice and mercy when it came to the trial of Jesus Christ

2. Jesus was basically condemned before even coming to a trial… the Jewish leaders had already tried and convicted Jesus illegally and unjustly in their own minds long before He stood before them

a. Jesus was illegally tried before first being charged with a crime

b. He was tried at night and in private

c. He had no defense counsel

d. There were many false witnesses and none of them was held accountable for their false testimony

e. He was executed the same day he was tried and sentence… no chance at an appeal; no opportunity for the council to fast to be sure they were doing the right thing

f. It was hastily thrown together with the barest semblance of justice because there was NO JUSTICE IN IT AT ALL!!

g. Furthermore, they treated Jesus with tremendous disgrace… mocking Him and spitting upon Him… something that should never be done in any case

WHY????

II. The Jealousy and Greed of the Jewish Enemies of Jesus (vs. 57-59)

A. Key statement:  vs. 57, 59

Matthew 26:57-59  Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled….   ⁵⁹ The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.

See… “looking for false evidence against Jesus so they could execute Him…!!!” This was no trial but a plot… it was simply MURDER done by legal channels.

By this time, the pre-trial at Annas’s had already occurred, and Jesus had exposed Annas’s corruption and illegal methods:

John 18:12-14  Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him  ¹³ and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.  ¹⁴ Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people.

John 18:19-24  the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.  ²⁰ “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.  ²¹ Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.”  ²² When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded.  ²³ “If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?”  ²⁴ Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.

B. Why Were the Jews Determined to Kill Jesus… Even With Such Prejudice and Wickedness?

1. Jesus the only perfect man that has ever lived

2. Jesus, filled perfectly with love at every moment both for God and for others

3. Jesus, who poured out His life every moment in service for the poor, broken-hearted, pain-filled

4. Jesus, the only man who has ever perfectly obeyed the Law of Moses

5. The summary from the people:

Mark 7:37 People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said.

6. The summary from the Scripture:

1 Peter 2:22-23  “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”  ²³ When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

7. So… WHY the HATRED??

C. Pilate Saw It Clearly… Scripture Testifies As Well

Matthew 27:18  [Pilate] knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.

D. Jealousy of Christ’s Righteousness, Popularity, and Power

1. Righteousness

a. Jesus was perfectly righteous

b. Annas, Caiaphas, and many of the council were corrupt men who lived for pleasure and praise and money

1 John 3:12-13  Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.  ¹³ Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.

2. Popularity

a. Huge crowds from all over the region flocked to follow Jesus

b. As He rode into Jerusalem, huge crowds were praising Him and the Jews rebuked Him for allowing the crowds to praise Him

c. Jesus’ popularity was never directly connected to the Jews jealousy of Him, but it was with Paul and Barnabas in Pisidian Antioch

Acts 13:45  When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.

3. Power

a. Jesus could do astonishing miracles, which they were not able to do

b. His miracles only made them more jealous of Him… not desirous to follow Him

c. Again, their jealousy over miracles is not openly stated in the gospels… but it is in the Book of Acts concerning the Apostles

Acts 5:16-18  Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed.  ¹⁷ ¶ Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.  ¹⁸ They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

FILLED WITH JEALOUSY… they hated Jesus

But that’s not all…

E. Greed for Their Position

1. They were powerful men who were using their position to make a ton of money

a. Annas and Caiaphas controlled the Temple concessions centered around the animal sacrifices offered there

b. They had many ways of making money on the sacrifices… especially by inspecting the animals to see if they had any blemishes… they often did, according to the corrupt inspectors; then preapproved animals were sold at an elevated price to pilgrims

c. Also, they had money-changers who would make a profit on all money changing;  they wouldn’t accept any currency except the Temple shekel

d. Since there were hundreds of thousands of animals sacrificed every year, it was a TON of money rolling in

2. Beyond that, they used their power to confiscate the property of widows

3. Jesus exposed their wickedness openly in His teaching

Luke 20:46-47  They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.  ⁴⁷ They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.”

Matthew 23:27-28   “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.  ²⁸ In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

4. Even worse, TWICE Jesus had cleansed the Temple

John 2:14-17   In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.  ¹⁵ So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.  ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!”  ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Literally:  Zeal for your house will EAT ME UP… or destroy me… literally, this was a major reason why He died

F. Politics:  The triumphal entry had aroused the attention of the Romans

1. The Romans wanted peace and quiet and tax money rolling in

2. Any public disturbance, and heads were likely to roll, especially among the leaders

3. Hence Caiaphas’s statement:

John 11:47-50  Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many miraculous signs.  ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”  ⁴⁹ Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all!  ⁵⁰ You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

G. So, Before the Trial Even Occurred, Jesus was Guilty

Matthew 26:59  The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.

H. [Aside]  Peter Is Following… and Getting Into Trouble… More Next Week

Matthew 26:58  But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.

1. Mixed motivation:  partly loyalty, partly pride, partly curiosity

2. Getting into Satan’s net, about to be snared in a series of lies

III. The False Witnesses (vs. 59-61)

Matthew 26:59-61  The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.  ⁶⁰ But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward  ⁶¹ and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.'”

A. The Sanhedrin Not Looking for Truth… Because the Truth Was Against Their Evil Purpose

B. They Orchestrated False Witnesses… Probably Bribed Them;  But They Did a Terrible Job

1. Their stories were not lining up

2. There were major and minor discrepancies

3. Or obvious outright fabrications

C. The Testimony About the Temple

1. Charged with blasphemy against God’s holy temple

2. Later, this same Sanhedrin would execute Stephen on the same charge

3. BUT they got the statement wrong

a. When Jesus cleansed the Temple, they challenged His authority

John 2:18-21  Then the Jews demanded of him, “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”  ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”  ²⁰ The Jews replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”  ²¹ But the temple he had spoken of was his body.

b. Jesus basically said YOU destroy the temple… I will raise it up

c. He never claimed to be the one to destroy the temple

d. It was actually a prophecy of the very thing that was going on at that moment… they were going to destroy His body, He was going to raise it up

e. His resurrection would be the proof of His authority and deity to the whole Jewish nation

D. False Witnesses Getting them Nowhere!!  So Caiaphas Takes Matters in His Own Hands

IV. Jesus’ Confession Before the High Priest (vs. 62-64)

Matthew 26:62   Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” 

A. This Was Illegal at Many Levels

1. As we’ve said, a man could only be to death on EVIDENCE from WITNESSES

2. Self-recriminating statements could not be admitted as the only evidence in a case

3. Furthermore, the High Priest cannot seize this role and force the matter through as He does

B. Jesus’ Silence a Fulfillment of Prophecy

Isaiah 53:7  he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  

C. The High Priest’s Solemn Charge

Matthew 26:63   The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”

1. The issue:  the claim not only to Messiahship, but DEITY; to claim to be the Son of God was a claim to deity

John 5:18  For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

2. Thus the trial became a trial of BLASPHEMY

John 10:33   “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”

D. Jesus’ Clear Answer

Matthew 26:64  “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.

Mark 14:62   “I am,” said Jesus.

E. The Appeal to Daniel 7

Matthew 26:64  “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

1. Prediction of the future

2. This scene would be fulfilled at the Second Coming AND on Judgment Day

3. For their souls, it would be TOO LATE

4. But they would know His divine nature

F. The Son of Man Vision

Daniel 7:13-14  In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.  ¹⁴ He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

1. Astonishing proof of the deity AND humanity of Jesus!!

2. In the Daniel 7 vision, the “Ancient of Days” Almighty God, sitting on a mighty throne, ruling over the nations, with a river of fire flowing from His throne

3. Into His presence comes “one like a Son of Man”… human, yet coming right into the presence of Almighty God

4. Receives power to rule over all nations

5. All nations will WORSHIP Him… though He is a “Son of Man”

6. They were stumbling over the incarnation… how could a human being claim to be God???  But Daniel 7 opens the door for it

7. Jesus addressed the central issue in their case… the issue of blasphemy… if He was the Son of Man of Daniel 7, then He had every right to be worshiped and honored as the Son of God

V. Jesus Condemned  and Degraded by the Jews (vs. 65-68)

Matthew 26:65-68  Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.  ⁶⁶ What do you think?” “He is worthy of death,” they answered.  ⁶⁷ Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him  ⁶⁸ and said, “Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?”

A. The Official Rejection of Jesus as Son of God and Son of Man by the Jewish Nation

John 1:11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

When Jesus wept over Jerusalem, He said of the Jewish nation:

Luke 19:44  …you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

B. The High Priest Tears His Robes

1. Melodramatic and hypocritical display of grief over the blasphemy and of supposed zeal for the glory of God

2. This was the official moment of condemnation… led directly by the evil Caiaphas, one of the very ones who’d orchestrated the entire plot against Jesus

3. He calls on

C. The Sanhedrin Called on to Condemn Jesus by Acclamation:  No Vote Needed

Matthew 26:65-66  Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.  ⁶⁶ What do you think?” “He is worthy of death,” they answered.

1. As with everything else in this sham trial, the normal procedure of voting was abrogated

2. They are called on to yell their approval of the High Priest’s verdict

3. “BLASPHEMY” is the official charge; “GUILTY” is the official verdict… all that was left was the sentence:  “DEATH”

D. Jesus Degraded and Humiliated

Matthew 26:67-68  Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him  ⁶⁸ and said, “Prophesy to us, Christ. Who hit you?”

The hostility and evil character of these men flows out now

Their hatred for Jesus and all that He stood for

They hadn’t treated other, more vile prisoners like this

But Jesus was a different case… His goodness drew their poison out and exposed it forever

Spitting in the face is one of the greatest insults anyone could ever do to another human being

But they go beyond that, and play with His supernatural powers… BLIND MAN’S BLUFF

They did not know who they were dealing with:

Jesus, blindfolded, could have told everything anyone who slapped Him had ever done:

Psalm 139:1-4  O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.  ² You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.  ³ You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.  ⁴ Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.

As the Samaritan woman knew… Jesus knew everything about her!!

John 4:29  “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”

VI. Applications

A. Come to Christ!!

1. As we take the long slow march to the cross in Matthew’s account, let us realize that ALL of the suffering of Jesus was because WE are sinful

2. He was bearing YOUR sin as He stood condemned

“Bearing shame and scoffing rude
In my place condemned he stood
Sealed my pardon with His blood
Hallelujah, What a Savior!”

3. Isaiah 53 makes this substitution even clearer

Isaiah 53:4-8  Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.  ⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.  ⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  ⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

4. So… trust in Him!!  Believe in Him!!

B. Marvel at the Wickedness of the Human Heart

1. How evil are the men who condemned Jesus to death!

2. How they forsook their usual commitment to justice and mercy in order to put to death the only perfect man that ever lived

3. How corrupt and evil were their motives

a. Jealousy because of His righteousness, power, and popularity

b. Greed for their position of power and money

c. Willing to violate all their principles of justice to murder this man

C. Understand the Tendency to Put God on Trial

1. See that we all have this tendency now… to put God on trial and make Him answer to us

2. How easy it is to forget how mighty and powerful and holy He is

3. We need to grow in the fear of the Lord

D. Understand the Son of Man Prophecy:  Jesus is Coming Again to Be Worshiped and to Judge the Earth

Matthew 26:64  “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Matthew 24:30  “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.

Revelation 1:7  Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.

Matthew 25:31-33  “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory.  ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the roles will be reverses… the judged will become the Judge, and every single person on the face of the earth will stand before Him!

BE READY!!