The Dignity Of The King Vs. The Depravity Of Humanity

The Lord Jesus had been arrested while in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:1-11). He was being hauled off to an illegal trial on false charges. This is the beginning of an obvious plot using any means possible by the Pharisees and the other enemies of Jesus to have Him killed and eventually forgotten. What happened at this moment and afterward was nothing more than blatant injustice on display with the objective of killing God Incarnate for the sake of religious apostasy. I can guarantee that this same contempt for the Lord Jesus is still within the hearts of unregenerate people. They are still determined to have the name of Jesus eradicated from every part of society and will use the law to attempt and achieve that objective. What the world system did not know was that their illegal and malevolent actions were under HIs Sovereign control so that our redemption would take place (Psalm 2:1-12; 1 Corinthians 2:7-8; Ephesians 1:4). Jesus had no reason to resist or retaliate when all of this was taking place. As God in the flesh, none of this was unexpected nor caught Him off guard. These enemies of HIs were in reality playing into His hands (Romans 5:6-11).

Jesus had been arraigned and brought before the corrupt High Priest Caiaphas, then shuffled off to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, and then over to Herod Antipas. All of these maneuvers were examples of injustice and the raw abuse of authority (18:19-24, 28-36). What Jesus went through was blatantly illegal according to Scripture (Deuteronomy 17:6, 19:15). These religious hypocrites were not about to let God's Word stand in the way of their objective. This was a vendetta disguised as a trial. Here are reasons why this entire set-up was illegal:

1) Arrests could NOT be made at night.

2) The time and date of the trial were illegal because it took place at night and on the eve of the Sabbath. This time precluded any chance for the required adjournment o the next day in case of a conviction.

3) A guilty sentence could only be handed down on the day following the trial.

4) The Sanhedrin was without authority to instigate charges. It was only supposed to investigate charges brought before it. In Jesus' trial, the court itself formulated the charges.

5) The charges against Jesus were changed during the trial. He was initially charged with blasphemy based on His statement that He would be able to destroy the Temple of God within three days, as well as His claim to be the Son of God. When He was brought before Pilate, the charge was that Jesus was a king and did not advocate paying taxes to the Romans. Jesus had settled that very issue within the Temple earlier in the week. Ironically, it was the Pharisees who had instigated it in the first place (Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17; Luke 20:20-26). This is nothing more than hypocrisy on the part of HIs accusers.

6) The requirement of two witnesses in agreement to merit the death penalty was not met according to the Law of Moses, which the Pharisees themselves claimed to obey.

7) The court did not meet in the regular meeting place of the Sanhedrin as required by Jewish law. This was done to keep friendly witnesses such as Nicodemus and Jospeh of Arimathea out of the process.

8) Jesus was not permitted a defense. Under Jewish law, an exhaustive search into the facts presented by the witnesses should have occurred. The Sanhedrin pronounced a death sentence upon Jesus, which was a violation of Roman law (John 18:31).

In listing these violations of basic legal procedures, it reminds me of the courtroom scene in the classic film "To Kill a Mockingbird" in which the defendant, Tom Robinson, who is black, had been accused of molesting a white girl who happens to be the mentally deficient daughter of the town's biggest racist, Mr. Jordan. Tom was brought up on false accusations that had no sustaining evidence, plus the fact that his right arm was useless due to an accident and therefore he could not have done the things for which he had been accused. His defense attorney, Atticus Finch, took the case because this incident took place in the 1930' South, which was rampant with racism and blatant hatred against the black community, and Atticus knew that Tom would not get a fair trial. Yet, Finch took the case and delivered a closing argument that proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Tom was innocent of the charges. The jury still found Tom guilty and eventually he was killed while trying to run from the officials who were to "escort" him to prison but were going to have him lynched in reality.