Six Trials

Six Trials
Matt. 26:62-64

62 And [kai] the high priest [archiereus] arose [anistemi] , and said [epo] unto him [autos] , Answerest thou [apokrinomai] nothing [oudeis] ? what [tis] is it which these [houtos] witness against [katamartureo] thee [sou] ?
63 But [de] Jesus [Iesous] held his peace [siopao] . And [kai] the high priest [archiereus] answered [apokrinomai] and said [epo] unto him [autos] , I adjure [exorkizo] thee [se] by [kata] the living [zao] God [theos] , that [hina] thou tell [epo] us [hemin] whether [ei] thou [su] be [ei] the Christ [Christos] , the Son [huios] of God [theos] .
64 Jesus [Iesous] saith [lego] unto him [autos] , Thou [su] hast said [epo] : nevertheless [plen] I say [lego] unto you [humin] , Hereafter [arti] [apo] shall ye see [optanomai] the Son [huios] of man [anthropos] sitting [kathemai] on [ek] the right hand [dexios] of power [dunamis] , and [kai] coming [erchomai] in [epi] the clouds [nephele] of heaven [ouranos] . KJV-Interlinear

62 And the high priest stood up and said to Him, 'Do You make no answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?' 63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, 'I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.' 64 Jesus said to him, 'You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.' NASB

Time is running short. Dawn is fast approaching. This is Passover day and people would soon begin assembling around the Temple area for the afternoon sacrifices which were required on this day.

The High Priest was getting rattled at their inability to come up with something concrete with which to convict Jesus. Their false witnesses couldn't get their stories straight. What would they have, to go to the Romans with in order to secure the proper death warrant?

Caiaphas again taunts Jesus. 'Don't you hear what they are saying? Don't you have anything to say for yourself?' And I might add to this scene, 'Trust me. I can help you out of this mess. Respond to these accusations which are 'very' serious.' You can just hear the seething righteousness in the High Priests voice and deceitful manner. This is the quintessence of evil.

Jesus Christ controls history. He has already made prior comments as to His Messiahship. In Nazareth, He read a passage from Isaiah and then declared, 'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,' Luke 4:18-21. He spoke to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. In response to her statement that 'Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ),' Jesus said, 'I who speak to you am He,' John 4:25-26. He had readily accepted the messianic shouts to Him as He entered Jerusalem the previous Friday, Matt 21:9. He continually referred to God as His Father, which the Jewish leaders rightly interpreted as a claim of deity, John 5:17-18, and He had already declared to the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, 'Before Abraham was born, I am,' John 8:58, taking that ancient title of God, Ex 3:14 for Himself.

Now Caiaphas taunts Him with his righteous questions, 'Before the living God.' And that part is right, yet Caiaphas refused to recognize it.

Jesus is silent. It was a deafening silence. It was a silence of dignity, of integrity. It was a silence of innocence, and infinite trust in the Father and Himself. The sacrifices spoke of the perfection of the Messiah. Each part of the sacrifice is examined during the ritual and each part represents a component in the perfect character and perfect person of the Messiah. The High Priest, if anyone, should know these facts.

No doubt there were some there who believed in Jesus as the Christ, as the Son of God. We have already studied that some of the priests came to their own conclusion that He was indeed the Christ, yet they remained the cowards they were. Which is what they should have done in this instance, but they remained silent not through their knowledge and understanding of the events, but because of their fear of the system, of Caiaphas and what he could do to them it they dare disrupt his proceedings.

Jesus Christ controls history. Dawn is fast approaching. There is yet to be the official trial, where He is to be condemned. There is the appeal to Pilate for an execution yet to be obtained. And we know that the sacrifices of the afternoon would be coming fast, so this all had to be cleared up before noon.

Jesus Christ controls history. He is to go to the Cross at the required hour, during the afternoon sacrifices of this Passover day. A protocol and procedure which has been established by Moses and followed to the letter by the Israelites for over 1500 years.

Now it was the time for His answer. The answer to which they had been hoping to obtain, in which He would incriminate Himself (in their eyes), by claiming to be the Son of God. The penalty for such a blasphemy from a normal human being, is death by stoning, Lev. 24:16. But they did not have the right to execute anyone without Roman permission. And the current method of execution was now crucifixion. Of course if any human claimed to be God that would be blasphemy. Jesus was in fact God and His claim would be truth.

We turn to Mark for His answer. As well as His quotes from Psa. 110:1 and Dan 7:13,

Mark 14:62
62 And Jesus said, 'I am; and you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.' NASB

Today they would sit in judgment against Him, but one day, Jesus Christ will return with clouds of believers (that will be you and me and all Church Age believers) at the Second Advent, and He will become their judge.

Jesus said, 'I Am.' This is the same 'I Am' He spoke to Moses from the burning bush. If this were a movie you can just picture the silence, the stirring music, those who believed and those who were on the verge of believing just stunned into silence, and fear, and their own trepidation because of these events, by His words. While those who disbelieve, will put on quite a show of ... well ... we'll have to wait for their reaction until tomorrow.

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