Closing in on the Cross of Jesus Christ
Part 6: When Ungodly Men Judged God
The Gospel of Matthew
Matthew 26:57-68
Sermon by Rick Crandall
(Prepared April 19, 2023)
BACKGROUND:
*Today in Matthew 26, we are getting ever closer to the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus and His disciples shared their last Passover meal together, and the very first Lord's Supper. Then Jesus went through an agonizing time of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, but His troubled disciples could not stay awake to pray.
*As the Lord finished praying, an army of soldiers and police entered the garden to arrest Jesus. William Barclay explained that "there is something astonishing about the force that came out to arrest Jesus. John 18:3 tells us that there were soldiers along with officers from the chief priests and Pharisees. The officers were from two branches of the Jewish police force, but "a band of men" or "a detachment of troops" was also there. In the original language that word meant a force of at least 200 men, and usually up to 1,000 soldiers. That's who came to arrest Jesus. And what a testimony of the Lord's power. When the authorities decided to arrest Him, they sent an army to do it." (1)
*The armed force had been directed to the garden by Judas the betrayer. John 18:12-14 says:
12. Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him.
13. And they led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year.
14. Now it was Caiaphas who gave counsel to the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.
*Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Matthew left out that first stop after the arrest of Jesus. So today's Scripture actually covers the second part of the Lord's trial before the wicked Jewish rulers. And as we read Matthew 26:57-68, please think about what happened when ungodly men judged God.
MESSAGE:
1. WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THESE UNGODLY MEN JUDGED THE LORD JESUS CHRIST? FIRST, THERE WAS TREACHERY.
*There was the worst kind of treachery from these judges. The trial was a total mockery of justice. It was conducted by the Sanhedrin, which was the highest court in Israel. The Sanhedrin was made up of 70 men, plus the high priest. And vs. 57 says, "Those who had laid hold of Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled."
*Some of these men were Pharisees, but the majority were Sadducees, and all of them were as evil as they could be. In Matthew 3:7 John the Baptist saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, and John rightly called them out by saying, "Brood of vipers! Who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"
*For the most part, both groups were a horrible brood of snakes. And it's hard to overstate how evil these religious leaders were. For over 3 years, Jesus had worked countless miracles to prove that He was the promised Messiah, yet these Pharisees and Sadducees totally rejected Him with murderous hatred.
*In Jesus' day there were only a few thousand Pharisees, but for over a hundred years, they had held power far greater than their numbers. They had added hundreds of ridiculous rules to God's Law, and they ruthlessly enforced them all. By Matthew 12, the Pharisees were stalking Jesus, looking for any opportunity to accuse Him of breaking their man-made laws. There, Jesus went into a synagogue and healed a man with a withered hand. But it was on the Sabbath day, and that was against the Pharisees' laws. Luke 6:11 tells us that they were filled with rage, and Mark 3:6 says they "went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him." By today's Scripture, they had been plotting the Lord's death for months. (2)
*The Sadducees were a group of wealthy aristocrats, who were happy to cooperate with their Roman conquerors. These upper-class crooks were normally bitter enemies of the Pharisees, because the Sadducees rejected the Pharisees' rules. But the Sadducees were worse than the Pharisees, because the Sadducees also rejected most of God's Word. They denied the existence of angels and demons. They denied God’s involvement in everyday life. They denied the resurrection of the dead. They also denied the afterlife, believing that souls perished at death.
*In short, the Sadducees didn't believe God's Word at all. Instead, they used the Old Testament books of Moses to enrich themselves. For example, they loved to price-gouge Passover pilgrims by exchanging their money and selling doves to them in the temple. That's why in Matthew 21:12, "Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves." The Sadducees also used God's Word as a tool to control other people. But worst of all, the Sadducees had also been plotting Jesus' murder for months, and now they were about to condemn our innocent Lord to death. (3)
*God's purposes for any earthly court are truth and justice. John MacArthur explained, "The hopes for justice promised in America's Declaration of Independence and Constitution were largely based on the Jewish justice system. This is also true for other fair legal systems. And that makes sense, because the Jewish system of justice came from God above. It was based primarily on one Old Testament passage, Deuteronomy 16:18-20, where God's Word says:
18. 'You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
19. You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
20. You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the LORD your God is giving you.'"
*God's purposes for any earthly court are truth and justice. But the only purpose for this corrupt court was to find a way to put Jesus to death. In vs. 59, "The chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death." Their verdict was decided before the trial even began.
*MacArthur explained that these evil judges "intentionally broke every single law of justice and jurisprudence known to them. For example, all trials were to be public trials. Secret, clandestine trials were prohibited. Everything was to be open so that no one could be falsely convicted in a rigged trial. The trials were never supposed to be held at night. There was no self-incrimination allowed. The judges who condemned a criminal had to wait another full day before the execution, and they had to fast all of that middle day. That did not happen in Jesus' trial. He was crucified the same day. At least two witnesses had to be interviewed separately, and their testimony had to agree."
*But these judges were more than willing to use false witnesses. Verses 59-61 tell us that:
59. Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death,
60. but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward
61. and said, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.'''
*MacArthur also pointed out that being a false witness was an extremely serious crime. "Anyone who gave false testimony was punished with the very penalty the false witness sought to bring upon the person he witnessed against." In other words, if you came into the court to witness that someone had committed a murder, and you were giving false testimony, you would pay the death penalty yourself. Whatever penalty you sought, you received, and that came from Deuteronomy 19:16-19." (4)
*We can see how desperate and determined those evil judges were to put Jesus to death.
2. WHEN UNGODLY MEN JUDGED GOD, THERE WAS TREACHERY, AND THE CHARGE WAS BLASPHEMY.
*This was the charge made against Jesus in vs. 62-65:
62. And the high priest arose and said to Him, "Do You answer nothing? What is it that these men testify against You?''
63. But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, "I adjure You by the living God that You tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.''
64. Jesus said to him, "It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.''
65. Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!
*There was no practical purpose for the Lord to reply to those false charges. Jesus knew the outcome of this trial before the foundation of the world. And by keeping silent, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy about Him in Isaiah 53:7. "He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not his mouth."
*But because Jesus remained silent in vs. 63, "The high priest answered and said to Him, 'I adjure You by the living God that You tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.''' That word "adjure" means "to extract or force an oath." So Caiaphas was putting Jesus under oath to God, forcing Him to say whether or not He was the Christ. That was another unlawful thing for the chief priest to do.
*But it's important to know that Jesus was under a solemn oath when He gave His testimony to the court that day. Jesus was under oath when He openly told the court that He was the promised Christ. In vs. 64-65:
64. Jesus said to him, "It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."
65. Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!"
*The charge was blasphemy. We usually think of blasphemy as taking the Lord's name in vain, and it is. But in this case, the Lord was claiming to be the Messiah, making Himself to be equal with God. And to the Jews, this was a high crime of blasphemy, punishable by death.
*When we look more closely at the Lord's response, there is no doubt that Jesus was claiming to be equal with God. Again in vs. 64, "Jesus said to him, 'It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.'''
*John Phillips explained that "'Son of Man' was the Lord's favorite description of Himself, and it shows up 88 times in the New Testament. The name 'Son of Man' acknowledged the fact that Jesus is the almighty Son of God, who humbled Himself to become a man. 'Son of Man' also identified Jesus as the long-expected Messiah and true King over all the earth.
*Jesus affirmed these truths by quoting a famous prophecy about the coming Messiah. In Daniel 7:13-14 the prophet said, "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed." (5)
*Everybody on that court clearly understood that Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah. Rightfully so! Jesus had already made the claim many times in the New Testament, and He proved it with countless miracles.
*For example, Mark 2:5-12 tells the story of Jesus healing a paralyzed man who was lowered into the crowded room by 4 friends. And this Scripture says:
5. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you.''
6. But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts,
7. "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? WHO CAN FORGIVE SINS BUT GOD ALONE?''
8. And immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts?
9. Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed and walk'?
10. But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins'' He said to the paralytic,
11. "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go your way to your house.''
12. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!''
*Who can forgive sins? Jesus Christ can because He is God! He is the eternal Son of God, who took on our mortality to die on the cross for our sins. Jesus is God. That's why our risen Savior can forgive sins. And Colossians 2:9 confirms that "in Him (that is, in Jesus Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."
*Jesus definitely made Himself equal with God, but that's not blasphemy. It's the truth! So the real blasphemers at that mockery of a trial were those who were blind to the truth, and rejected Jesus Christ.
3. WHEN UNGODLY MEN JUDGED GOD, THE CHARGE WAS BLASPHEMY, BUT THE PENALTY OF THE CROSS WAS GOD'S PLAN.
*We see the death penalty for blasphemy in vs. 66, where Caiaphas asked, "What do you think?'' They answered and said, "He is deserving of death.''
*The crime of blasphemy carried the death penalty. But the Jewish rulers did not have the power to execute Jesus. Only the Romans could do this. And this is very significant, because if the Sanhedrin could have executed Jesus, then He wouldn't have died on the cross. He would have been stoned to death.
*But God always intended for His Son to die on a cross. The Old Testament pointed to it in many ways. There were hundreds of Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, and some of them were specific prophecies about His death on the cross. A thousand years before Jesus died, the Holy Spirit inspired David to write these words in Psalm 22:16, "The assembly of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet."
*There are also symbolic pictures of Christ's suffering in the Old Testament. For example, in Genesis 3:21, after Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, an animal was killed. Its blood was shed to provide covering for their nakedness.
*Then in Genesis 22 God gave us the picture of Abraham and Isaac. There God commanded Abraham to do what our Heavenly Father would do one day: Allow His only Son to be sacrificed. And there on the mountain, God provided a ram, just as He provided His Son as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
*And on the night of the first Passover in ancient Egypt, God gave a way for His people to be protected. The blood of innocent lambs was spread on the wooden doorposts of their homes. Fourteen hundred years ahead of time, God was pointing to the cross, where Jesus, the true Lamb of God, died for us. (6)
*God intentionally took the power of execution away from those Jewish leaders. He has a plan, and He is going to see it through! So we can trust the Lord fully. Completely! Unconditionally!
4. THE PENALTY OF THE CROSS WAS GOD’S PLAN, AND THE CRUELTY WAS VICIOUS.
*We can see the cruelty of the Jewish rulers in vs. 67-68, where the Bible says, "Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, saying, 'Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?'''
*J. Vernon McGee explained, "How they hated the Lord Jesus! This is the natural antagonism of the human heart to His goodness, His righteousness, His holiness, and the fact that He is God. Do you realize, my friend, that if you and I had only our old natures, we would try to knock God off His throne? A few years ago a crowd was saying that God was dead! Do you know why they said that? Because they would like to get Him off His throne. Human nature hates Him.
*After He was condemned by the Sanhedrin Jesus was slapped, spit upon, beaten with fists, and ridiculed by the tormentors saying, "Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?'' Of course the Lord could have correctly answered every time. God knows all about us. As Hebrews 4:13 says, "There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." (7)
*Jesus also knows every mean and ugly thing we have ever done. But He allowed Himself to suffer the cruelty of that trial. And Jesus allowed Himself to suffer the cruelty of the cross for us! Jesus did not step away from the pain, because He wanted us to have the forgiveness we so desperately needed.
5. THE CRUELTY OF THE LORD'S ENEMIES WAS VICIOUS, BUT THE LORD'S VICTORY WAS SURE TO COME.
*It's the everlasting victory Jesus prophesied to Caiaphas in vs. 64: "Hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.'' This great resurrection victory belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to everyone who will put their trust in Him.
*John Piper explained, "Your future hangs on this victory more than on finances, or family, or health, or job, or world peace. The truth and triumph of Jesus Christ are the most important issues in the world."
*On the day of the trial, Caiaphas and those Christ-rejecting rulers were completely blind to the truth. But Jesus told Caiaphas, "You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power." And John Piper said, "In the days of his suffering Jesus was made to stand. He was the accused. He was charged and found guilty and sentenced to death, though he had never done one sin.
*But there is coming another day when the Son of Man will be seated, and not just seated anywhere. Jesus will be seated at the place of highest honor, next to our Heavenly Father! Jesus will not be the defendant in that day; he will be the Judge!" (8)
*In Matthew 25:31-32 Jesus said, "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats."
*Here in vs. 64 Jesus told Caiaphas, "You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." And one day every eye will see our victorious Savior coming in all His glory. As Revelation 1:7 says, "Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, and they also who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen."
CONCLUSION:
*The question is: Will you see Jesus Christ as your beloved Savior, or as your wrathful Judge? Put your trust in the One who died for us, rose again from the dead, and is surely coming again in victory over all His enemies. Put your trust in Jesus. Receive Him as your Lord and Savior. Call on the Lord to save you now as we go back to God in prayer.
*Then start praying for the people all around us who haven't yet trusted in the Lord. Some of them are as hardhearted as Caiaphas, and they will never see the truth until it's too late. But some will turn to the Lord. May God use us to help lead them to Him!
(1) Adapted from BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES - NEW TESTAMENT by William Barclay - Revised Edition - Copyright 1975 - First published by the Saint Andrew - Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Public domain - "The Arrest in the Garden" - John 18:1-11 - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/section/william-barclay/the-arrest-in-the-garden-john-181-11-7846
(2) Sources:
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanhedrin
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharisees
-BibleVerseStudy.com - "Who Were the Pharisees?" - https://www.bibleversestudy.com/johngospel/john7-pharisees.htm
-BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT) by William Barclay, Revised Edition (C) Copyright 1975 William Barclay - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Public Domain - "The Man Who Came by Night" - John 3:1-6 - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/chapter/william-barclay/john/3
(3) Sources:
-Adapted from GotQuestions.org - "Who were the Sadducees?" - https://www.gotquestions.org/Sadducees.html
-BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT) by William Barclay, Revised Edition (C) Copyright 1975 William Barclay - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - William Barclay - "Blind to the Signs" - Matthew 16:1-4 - https://bibleportal.com/commentary/chapter/william-barclay/matthew/16
(4) Adapted from SID sermon "The Illegal, Unjust Trials of Jesus, Part 1" by John MacArthur - Matthew 26:57, 59-61 - Code 2389
(5) Sources:
-EXPLORING THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "Power Over Disaster" - Matthew 8:18-27 - Downloaded to "Bible Study 6" from Olive Tree Bible Software, Inc.
-EXPLORING THE BOOK OF DANIEL by John Phillips, Kregal Publications, Grand Rapids - "Information in the Vision" - Daniel 7:4-14 - Downloaded to "Bible Study 6" from Olive Tree Bible Software, Inc.
(6) Adapted from: "Portraits of Jesus in the Old Testament" - submitted by ProclaimHisWord - Seen on GodTube.com
(7) Adapted from THROUGH THE BIBLE WITH J. VERNON MCGEE by J. Vernon McGee - Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville - Copyright 1981 - "Palace of the High Priest" - Matthew 26:57-68 - Downloaded to e-Sword by Rick Meyers - Copyright 2021
(8) Adapted from SID sermon "Compassion, Power and the Kingdom of God - 'You Will See the Son of Man Seated at the Right Hand of Power and Coming on the Clouds of Heaven'" by John Piper - Matthew 26:63-64 - 04/08/1990
