THE
JUDGMENT OF THE JUDGE
Texts: Daniel 7:9-14; Matthew 26:47-68 Sanhedrin. Made up of seventy-one members, with the high priest serving as its leader, this council sat in a semicircle when investigating matters of importance (m. Sanhedrin 1:6; 4:3). It seems likely that such a procedure took place here. The council consisted of Sadducees, Pharisees and leading middle-class laymen, known as the elders (Bock, Luke; IVP New Testament Commentary Series). I.
THE INJUSTICE OF THE TRIAL
A. The trial of Jesus was not hastily prepared. For a while now, members of the court had been plotting, scheming and lining up false witnesses to testify against Jesus (Matthew 26:3-5; cf. Matthew 12:14; John 7:30, 44; 8:59; 10:31, 39; 11:53; 11:47). B. The only thing that hadn’t been planned by men was the timing of Jesus’ trial. The chief priests and elders didn’t want to put Jesus to death during the feast of Passover (Matthew 26:5), but that was part of God’s plan! C. The stealth and plots of the chief priests and elders remind us of many of the Psalms where the Psalmist is surrounded by evil (Psalm 10:7; 31:13; 35:20; 52:2; 55:10). D. The trial of Jesus was a violation of the second greatest commandment (Leviticus 19:15-18). Leviticus
19:15-18 (NASB95) II. THE TRIAL OF JESUS IS THE FIRST TIME JESUS
DECLARES PUBLICLY TO ISRAELWHO HE IS
(cf. John 4:25-26)
A. From the time of Jesus’ conception and birth His Messianic identity was inferred and implied, but Jesus let other people draw their own conclusions – until His trial. B. There are times in Scripture and even our own lives when God is with us and we don’t know it. C. Christ is in the midst of the church through the work of the Holy Spirit and we often don’t see His work. III. WHY DIDN’T JESUS TELL OTHER PEOPLE THAT HE
WAS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD? (cf. Matthew 16:20)
A. The Jews had a misconception of what the Christ would accomplish. B. It is part of our fallen presumptuous human nature to assume that “God is on my side.” The question we really need to be asking is “Am I on God’s side?” IV. THE
TESTIMONY OF JESUS UNDER OATH
(Matthew 26:63-64)
A. Jesus’ testimony before the Sanhedrin is the greatest public claim Jesus made about Himself during His life on earth. B. When the high priest says, “I adjure You by the living God” He is placing Jesus under oath. 1. An oath is an abbreviated covenant. 2. Oaths are the most sacred and supreme form of testimony that can be given to the truth. 3. Jesus did not defend Himself against the false accusations that were being brought against Him. He “kept silent” (v.63). According to Leviticus 5:1, Jesus was obligated (cf. Gal.4:4-5) to answer when He was placed under oath. John 20:30-31 (NASB95) C. There are at least five things Jesus affirms under oath in v.64 (see Building the Temple of God): 1. He affirms that He is the Christ (see Psalm 2). 2. He affirms that He is the “Son of God.” 3. Jesus claims to be the One Psalm 110 spoke of sitting at God’s right hand (cf.Acts 2:33–34; 5:31; 7:55–56; Rom 8:34; Eph 1:20; Col 3:1; Heb 1:3, 13; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Pet 3:22) 4. He is the Son of Man Daniel saw (Daniel 7:13). 5. The high priest and the Sanhedrin will see Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Jesus uses the title Son of Man in many different contexts some of which are: His betrayal, sufferings, death, resurrection, coming in glory to Judge, His right to forgive sins, His lordship over the Sabbath, His humility, His Incarnation. “Jesus probably preferred the name because it stood farthest removed from every possible Jewish prostitution of the Messianic office” (Geerhardus Vos, The Self-Disclosure of Jesus p.251). Matthew 16:13-18 13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He began asking His disciples, saying, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”16 And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” “I gave My back to those who strike Me, And My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting” (Isaiah 50:6) Who is guilty of blasphemy? Because the curse caused by our guilt was awaiting us at God's heavenly judgment seat, . . . .Christ's condemnation before Pontius Pilate . . . is recorded, so that we might know that the penalty to which we were subject had been inflicted on this righteous man . . . when he was arraigned before a judgment-seat, accused and put under pressure by testimony, and sentenced to death by the words of a judge, we know by these records that this role was that of (personam sustinuit) of a guilty wrongdoer . . . we see the role of the sinner and criminal represented in Christ, yet from his shining innocence it becomes obvious that he was burdened with the misdoing of others rather than his own. . . . This is our acquittal, that the guilt which exposed us to punishment was transferred to the head of God's Son… At every point he substituted himself in our place (in vicem nostram ubique se supposuerit) to pay the price of our redemption (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion II. xvi. 5, 7; quoted by J.I. Packer, “Sola Fide: The Reformed Doctrine of Justification”). D. WHAT DO YOU THINK? (Matthew 26:66) QUESTIONS FOR
SABBATH DISCUSSION & MEDITATION: Pray that God would enable you
and give you the desire to be conformed to His Word as read and preached
today. What is the Sanhedrin? Was the trial of Jesus
hastily prepared? Why or why not? What was the only thing that
didn’t go according to the schemes and plots of the Sanhedrin? Why does Jesus wait until
His trial to publicly proclaim Himself to the Jews as the Christ, the Son of
the living God? What is an oath? What five things does Jesus
affirm under oath? Memorize Matthew 26:61-68
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