You're listening to the teaching ministry of Harvest Fellowship Church in Boyertown, Pennsylvania. You can find out more about us on the web at www.harvestfellowshipchurch.org. We pray that through our teaching, we may present everyone mature in Christ. Father in heaven, we come before you tonight in the name of Jesus. We thank you Lord for your word. We thank you for your indwelling spirit. We thank you for your revelation to us through your word and applied to our hearts by the Spirit of God. Help us tonight, O Lord, to consider the gravity and the severity of your word. May we never be those who turn our backs upon you. Fill us, Lord, with enduring faith, strength, and hope. Take your word and make it profitable in our lives. We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. All right, let's review very quickly. Last week and last week we looked at Matthew 26 verses 30 through 46. And what do we see in Matthew 26, 31? This is as the disciples are coming out from that last Passover, that initiation, implementation of the Lord's Supper, of the New Covenant. And Jesus somberly tells his now 11 disciples, remember Judas is gone, he tells the 11 disciples at the Mount of Olives that they're all going to desert him that very night. He used the words of the prophet Zechariah to give the basis for his assertion. If you remember Zechariah 13, 7, strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. Well, after the father strikes his own son, and that's the one being stricken. It's the son being stricken by the father. After he strikes him as part of the triune God's plan to redeem a people unto himself, what did Jesus say? He said, I'm going to be raised back to life. So it sounds like bad news is actually good news. I'm going to be raised back to life. And listen up, 11 disciples, I am going to meet you in Galilee. You're going to rejoin me there. Just as I led you there before, you're going to come rejoin me, even after you've deserted me. What did Peter say? Peter said, I'll never desert you. I will never turn my back. Even if these 10 other disciples do, I will never desert you. And we saw that he demonstrated pride and presumption in these statements. Jesus said, guess what? You're going to betray me, or you're going to deny me three times. in just hours. And of course, Peter doubled down and he said, never, I'll never do that, even if I have to die with you, Jesus. And so it was at the Garden of Gethsemane that Jesus left eight of his disciples seated together, and he went a short distance away, taking with him this very bold and brash Peter, James, and John, and he went to pray. And it was in the presence of these three men, we said that these were his closest friends, Peter, James, and John, that he expresses to them, I'm in great personal distress. Why? Why is my soul grieved? Why is it grieved to the point, he says, even unto death? because of what's coming, because of the affliction that is coming to him. And so he asked these three friends, pray with me, watch with me. And he just goes a stone's throw away from them to pray. Three times he prays to his beloved father. And what does he pray? He says, if there's a way, he expresses this desire, if there's another way for the plan of redemption to be accomplished without me drinking this cup of God's wrath, then that is what he would prefer. And we saw that that was the expression of his humanity, his human nature. But he also expressed a far deeper desire. And the far deeper desire was not that he could not drink the cup of God's wrath, but instead that God's will, that the Father's will, would be accomplished, especially as prophesied. We saw in those things that what did Jesus demonstrate? That he truly was a man. He was a real man, as the writer of Hebrews says, a man like we are. So he's a real man who had emotions and real feelings. But we compared this steadfastness in prayer as Jesus gains confidence, strength, and assurance through his prayer. The disciples are headed in the opposite direction. They fail to watch with him. They fail to pray with him. in their own battle against temptation, instead they are sleeping. And after Jesus discovers them fast asleep a third time, He informs them that the hour has now come, the hour, His hour, and that His betrayal is imminent, His betrayer is at hand, and that leads us right into verse 47. So if you have your Bibles, Turn to Matthew 26. We're going to read verses 47 through 68. It's a lot of verses to get through. But hear now the word of the Lord. While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the 12, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, the one I will kiss is the man. Seize him. And he came up to Jesus at once and said, Greetings, Rabbi. And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, Friend, do what you came to do. Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels? But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled? That it must be so. At that hour, Jesus said to the crowds, have you come out against me? Have you come out as against a robber? with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him and fled. Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. And Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside, he sat with the guards to see the end." Now, the chief priest and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last, two came forward and said, this man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. And the high priest stood up and said, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the son of God. Jesus said to him, you have said so. But I tell you from now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his robes and said, he has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? They answered, he deserves death. Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, saying, prophesy to us, you Christ. Who is it that struck you?" And that's a very abrupt part to leave off, but that is where we'll leave off tonight at the end of verse 68. And may the Lord indeed write the eternal truths of his word to our hearts on this Wednesday night. And so this brings us then to our 94th teaching in the gospel. According to Matthew, we see betrayal, seizure, and interrogation. So as I just said, you know, Jesus was saying to his disciples, my betrayer is right here. The time of my betrayal is imminent. We see that in verse 47, that is exactly what happens. It says, while he was still speaking, while these words are still coming out of Jesus's mouth, And then the word technically in the Greek, behold or look, is there, which Matthew uses a lot. Behold, Judas came, one of the 12, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the elders of the people. And so who comes along none other than Judas Iscariot? Judas Iscariot, as you remember, as I mentioned last week, a man who is privileged among the twelve, an immense privilege to be called into personal discipleship with Jesus Christ, is now here, and he's here to perpetrate a deed of evil, an appalling deed. And suddenly he appears, and as Matthew records, that he's not by himself. But remember what had happened, at least according to what John records in his Gospels, that Jesus had exposed Judas at the Passover meal. There was an exposing. And so while Matthew doesn't tell us exactly why time was of the essence for Judas, that's probably why. He's been exposed. The other disciples are starting to realize that he is going to be the betrayer. And so he needs to act quickly. He needs to act right away. He is going to act tonight. the same night that he left and departed from that Passover feast. But he brings along with him, it says, a great crowd. He's not alone. He's accompanied by a host. Hundreds to possibly over a thousand armed men with him. Men with swords and daggers and clubs and cudgels. Why are they coming out with such a great host of armed men? There's an expectation of resistance. You're not going to escape us now, Jesus. Remember that? I believe it's in Luke where he just walks away as they were determined to throw him off the cliff. He just walked away. You're not going to get away from us now. And so this great crowd comes along with him, armed to the teeth. And where are they from? They're not hired mercenaries. These are from the chief priests, from the elders of the people. This is a mission and a host that was sponsored by Israel's religious leaders. Now this crowd would have been a mixed crowd in the sense that we have Roman soldiers and also Jewish men in there as well. So the Roman soldiers were assigned to the temple for security and they were authorized to carry swords. There was also Levitical temple police. There was personal security for the chief priest and the Sanhedrin and those would have been the men carrying clubs. And just consider in your mind, I mean, we just talked about how Judas, he goes off into the night. Jesus says, go do what you're going to do. He goes off. Think about this coordinated effort that must take place. The whole Sanhedrin has to be alerted. They have to assemble this large crowd. They have to procure the weaponry. And what else do they have to do? They have to find Jesus. They don't know exactly where Jesus is. And so Judas thinks he has a pretty good idea of where he's going to be, but he doesn't know. But this is the picture of this great crowd of people coming suddenly into this quiet garden area. Verse 48, now the betrayer. It's interesting how Matthew now pictures him to really hammer home. What is this man doing? The betrayer had given them a sign saying, the one I will kiss is the man. Seize him. And that's a statement of urgency. Seize him. And he came up to Jesus at once and said, greetings, rabbi. And he kissed him. And so this treachery of Judas is highlighted by Matthew. But he explains what was the plan. Well, there was a sign, there was a planned signal from Judas. Judas is leading this battalion of men and he tells them, listen, the one that I kiss on the cheek, that's going to be the one. And this type of kiss, this was supposed to be a special token, an indication of love and respect to the person that you are greeting. It was supposed to signify companionship, real, true companionship. And he says, whoever I do that to, and there's only going to be one man that I do that to, that's the one that I want you to go apprehend, to go forcibly seize, to arrest. And he immediately approaches Jesus. He doesn't pause. He doesn't contemplate. He doesn't think second thoughts. He goes immediately to Jesus and he says, Greetings Rabbi. This is a formal greeting equivalent to basically saying hello or hail. Hello Rabbi. Hail Rabbi. And of course that title Rabbi, it's an honorary title that disciples would use for outstanding teachers on the law. And so he kissed him. He greets Jesus through this kiss, and I'll leave you to decide exactly how he did it. Was this done under the pretense of respect, pretending to respect Jesus? Or is this a kiss of open contempt and derision? And we don't know, but I'll leave you to decide that in your own mind. But consider the words of Proverbs 27.6, faithful are the wounds of a friend, profuse are the kisses of an enemy. And what an incomprehensible act of evil perpetrated by this man. You know, at times we might think of the great benefit of going to a good, solid church. Judas went to the best church ever. The teaching of Jesus Christ, the ministry of Jesus Christ for three and a half years that he partakes of individually. He's called into discipleship. He's trusted so much by the other disciples that they give him the bag. He's the treasurer. They're not concerned. They don't think that he's stealing. He even is sent out by Jesus when Jesus sends out the 12 in the missional discourse. And his heart is unchanged. And if that doesn't indicate to us that it must be a gracious act of God for someone to be saved, then I don't know where else we would see it more clearly in Scripture. But Judas is here around Jesus. And yet he rejects him and he rejects him for a mere 30 pieces of silver, a tiny sum. Remember back to when he goes to the Pharisees, he goes to the chief priest. They don't come to him. He goes to them and they offer him a sum of money and he doesn't even negotiate. He doesn't say, no, I'll take 40 or I want 50. He just says, sure, I'll take 30. That's how little he thought of his relationship with Jesus. And so later on, as we get into the book of Acts later, you'll see what Peter says to the people of Israel. He says to them, you did this out of ignorance. You, even the leaders, they did this from a certain sense of ignorance. Judas does not do this from a sense of ignorance. And that's why Jesus said, it would have been better for this man if he had never been born. The condemnation that awaits him. But here he greets Jesus, and in verse 50, Jesus responds, Jesus said to him, friend, do what you came to do. Then they came up, this is the host, they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. How does Jesus address him? He calls him friend or companion. Now this word friend, we've seen it used before in the parables. We saw it back in chapter 20, verse 13, also in chapter 22, verse 12. But in those situations and in this situation here, we see the speaker, and here the speaker is Jesus, regretting and rejecting the conduct of the person that they are addressing. And so he is rejecting Judas's actions here, of course. What a bitter betrayal for Christ to endure. We talked last week about the humanity of Christ, the relationships that he had, the temptations that he suffered, as the writer of Hebrews says, yet without sin. But what a bitter betrayal to have one of the 12 betray him. Psalm 55, verses 12 through 14, and also verses 20 and 21, It says, for it is not an enemy who taunts me, then I could bear it. It is not an adversary who deals insolently with me, then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together. Within God's house, we walked in the throng. And then in verses 20 and 21, the psalmist writes, my companion stretched out his hand against his friends. He violated his covenant. His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. And of course, in the immediacy of the psalm, the psalmist is referring to his trusted friend Ahithophel. but it carries a much greater import, a far greater import than what was going on in David's life, but the greater David's life and how he was betrayed by his dear friend, Judas. And so Jesus says to him, do what you came to do. He's in control here. And so he authorizes to this man to carry out his plan of treachery. Could also be asked in question form as it is in Luke 22, 48, he says, Judas, Would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? Or he might even reword that, are you not even ashamed at the form of your betrayal? Are you not even ashamed, Judas? But he's not. And as soon as this interaction takes place, the armed host of men, they come up. They physically seize Jesus. When it uses this expression that they laid hands on him, This is not the laying on of hands that we do when we call a man to the front to commission him. This is a violent, physical action. the real power that Jesus possesses over these men. And if you read John 18, and I would encourage you to read all the gospel accounts, all four gospel accounts talk about these events. But in John 18, you'll see this scenario of where Jesus first exercises power over these men and then permits them to arrest him. And so it is, even though he possesses the power over them, he voluntarily surrenders himself to his enemies, and this would be his human enemies. And don't forget what is residing within Judas, Satan himself, the satanic, demonic forces that accompany these men. And so he's going to voluntarily surrender himself to advance to a place, and in that place is where he's going to win, where he's going to have victory in the most decisive of battles. Verse 51, And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And I actually think that this is quite a courageous move. It's not the right move, as we're going to see from Jesus, but this is quite a courageous move. This man here is standing in front of hundreds of armed men, and he just pulls out his sword and he says, not today. We're not going down like this. And so he pulls out his sword. Remember, Jesus doesn't resist. This person is resisting this man. He draws his sword. He strikes the servant of the high priest. And so in his zeal to defend Jesus, he strikes this man, detaching by force the ear of the personal servant, the personal slave of the high priest. And I hadn't thought much about this, but I think it would make sense that this was an intent to kill. This was an intent to kill, and most likely this man moved at the last second, or this man did not have a great swing, but he ends up cutting off his ear. And this slave would have been a representative of the high priest himself. And so behind Judas, this may have been the key man leading the entire band of soldiers to arrest Jesus, and an attack on him would be viewed as an attack on the high priest himself. Well, Matthew doesn't tell us who this disciple was, but who was it? It was Peter. And we know that through John, John 18. John named names. The other disciples said, we're not going to name names, but John named names. And there is actually some commentators take the opinion that John named names because he wrote his gospel so late that there could be no recompense against the people that he names, which is a very interesting thing to think about. But in John 18.10, he says, Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it, and struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. So that's how we know exactly who it was. We're not surprised by who it was, but John tells us exactly. It's always interesting, though, that John never names himself. The disciple that Jesus loved, or another disciple, but he names other people. So this is what happens. This is a significant event. This man's ear is cut off. Then Jesus said to him, verse 52, put your sword back into its place. This is an urgent statement. Why? Here's the reason. He says, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. And he asks a rhetorical question. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my father? And he will at once send me more than 12 legions of angels? But how then should the scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so? And so Jesus now, he reacts to Peter's display of physical force. And he tells him right away, he gives him a command, put your sword back into its sheath. There's a sense in what Jesus is saying that violence begets violence. Now, we don't look to this scripture to formulate every possible use of physical force in life. That's not the point of what Jesus is saying here. But Jesus is essentially saying here that this is not the time, this is not the place for it. Live by the sword, die by the sword. And he says, those who take the sword, he said, perish. They'll be ruined. And consider the Old Testament example of a man who served David by the name of Joab. And there's a perfect example of a man who lived by the sword and died by the sword. You can see that in 1 Kings 2, 28 through 35. What Jesus says here, though, about taking the sword and perishing by the sword, you can see allusions to that in Jeremiah 15, 2. And you also see a semblance of that in Revelation 13, 10. But according to Luke 22, 49, there's divine retribution for those who rashly handle the sword. This really builds off of what we talked about last week. What state are the disciples in? They're in a state of prayerlessness. Jesus had told them to pray, they failed to pray, he prayed, he's ready, they didn't pray, they're not ready. And so they are using the wrong kind of power. This is the wrong kind of power that Peter has demonstrated. They're lacking the right kind of power, the right kind of spiritual power that only comes through God himself. And in Luke 22, 51, Jesus said, no more of this, no more of this, Peter. And he touched Malchus's ear and healed him, even in his greatest affliction. We saw the agony of his prayers last week, and he's healing a man who's out there to arrest him. But he goes on in verse 53 to say to Peter and by extension the rest of his disciples, do you believe or do you consider that I don't have the ability? Do I lack the ability that I could not call out to my father and that he would immediately send to me 12 legions of angels? Do you not realize that, Peter? Do you not realize that other 10? The reality is, of course, the father can immediately do that if the son were to call upon him to do that. And not just 12 legions of angels, far more than that. The point is not that it would just be 72,000 angels. A legion was roughly 6,000 men. And so the number that he's giving here is almost astronomical. But he's saying that if I did not want this to happen, Peter, I could call upon my father. Similar to 2 Kings 6-17, when Elisha is there in Samaria with the young man and he asks the Lord to open that young man's eyes to see the host, the heavenly host, protecting that city. But Jesus says, very importantly in verse 54, that even though I could do that, he says, how then, if I did that, how then should the scriptures be fulfilled? If the angels were to rescue me, how would all the prophecy that's been prophesied about me, the son of man, how would it be fulfilled? How would they be brought to their designed end? And we could cite many such scriptures, but perhaps very importantly, we could think of Isaiah 52, verse 13, all the way through chapter 53. Who has heard our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed, et cetera. And so what's he saying to Peter? What's he saying to the other ten? He's saying, since I am not making such an appeal, since I am not using any type of force in this situation, what's clear and should be clear to you is that I am voluntarily laying down my life. And he says that it must be so, that it is done in this way, that it is done according to God's sovereign plan. And so in John 18, 11, Jesus says to Peter, put your sword into its sheath. And then he says, shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? And again, another rhetorical question with the implied answer of yes. 55, at that hour, Jesus said to the crowds, have you It's a plural, speaking to the group. Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day, I sat in the temple teaching and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples left him and fled. And so as Jesus is bound. He's probably actually bound with chains. This is a completely overuse of force. They're making quite a statement here. But as Jesus is bound, he now addresses this entire evil crowd, and he says to them, have you come out against me here as if I were a robber, or as if I'm a dangerous criminal, or you could even use the word a highwayman. Am I a highwayman? Am I an insurrectionist? Is that what you perceive me to be with such a display of force? And when he says, have you come out against me? In Luke 22, 52, it says that he says this to the chief priests and the officers of the temple and the elders. So apparently some of these men were also part of this crowd. But he says, do you really need such weaponry to capture me? He says, every day. Every day I used to sit in the temple. And that's the posture of a teacher. He would sit. Every day I used to sit, teaching in the temple, customarily. I did this very often. Why didn't you arrest me then? Why didn't you seize me then? What's he pointing out? They're cowardice. He's pointing out their cowardice. This is a secret plan in the middle of the night where no one can see it. But essentially, he's saying, my life before you has been an open book. And if I was truly guilty of any crimes, real crimes, real violations of the law of God, you would have seized me right there in the temple. And you didn't. But the point that Jesus is making here inferentially is not just that he's a harmless man, but it's actually quite the opposite. It's not just that he's not an insurrectionist, but that really he's the world's greatest benefactor. Think of all the descriptions we've read of him through Matthew, the healing of every disease and affliction, the casting out of demons, the gentleness and lowliness of heart, the prophet, The prophet that was to come after Moses, the prophet mighty in word and deed before God and all the people. And as Peter will say in Acts chapter two, verse 22, he says, a man attested to you by God, how through mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. He says, you've seen what I've done. You've heard what I've taught. Why didn't you arrest me then? And so he exposes their guilt. And that's what the law does. We can't see our guilt until the law exposes it to us. But then we have to act on that guilt. We don't stay in that guilty state. That is what should lead us then to repentance. And so Jesus here, he exposes their guilt. And we might even say, oh, if only these men would repent. but they wouldn't. They wouldn't repent. And Jesus even goes on to say, but all this has taken place, or all these things have come about, so that the scriptures of the prophets might be perfectly fulfilled, perfectly accomplished. He's saying to these men, the only reason that you have the power to bind me right now is because that this is God's plan. God's plan that was prophesied by some of your forefathers. Scriptures of the prophets, again, consider Isaiah 53, other passages such as Jeremiah 23, 6, Daniel 9, 26, Zechariah 13, 1. In fact, in Luke 22, at the end of verse 53, Jesus says to these men, but this is your hour and the power of darkness. Again, it's a voluntary, willing act by Jesus. And so then at that time, we could say all the disciples, every single one, just as Jesus had just foretold, they left him and they fled. And in some ways, I think that they saw that Jesus is not going to defend himself. What hope do we have? And they run away. This is the type of escape that seeks self-preservation. I just have to keep myself alive. And so these 11 men scatter just hours after they all proclaim. Remember, Peter was the spokesman, but they all proclaimed, I am with you even unto death. They're gone. But how little? might we understand them from this passage, how little do we know the weakness of our own hearts until we are tried with the greatest trials of life. And so knowing that, knowing the weakness and the frailty of our hearts, J.C. Ryle, he writes, let us resolve by God's grace to cultivate a spirit of lowliness and self-distrust. We don't trust our hearts. Let us settle it in our minds that there is nothing too bad for the very best of us to do. The greatest of Christians can fall the farthest, is what he's saying. He says, unless that person, that man, that woman watches, prays, and is held up by the grace of God, And he says, and let it be one of our daily prayers, quoting from Psalm 119, 117, hold thou me up, speaking to God, and I shall be safe. So as we look at this, we're not just seeing the betrayal of Judas, but we're seeing the desertion of disciples. And we ought to pray. We ought to pray to God to hold us fast, to keep us from deserting him, from betraying him. These men had failed to pray, and in their moment of temptation, they fell. Verse 57. And those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. And Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside, he sat with the guards to see the end." That's his purpose. He was sitting there to see how this whole event is going to play out. And so this mighty host of armed men, now in the early hours of the morning after midnight, They convey Jesus, this bound Jesus, to interrogation, and they're taking Him to the palace of the high priest, to Caiaphas' palace. Now, according to John 18, and again, this is why it's important to read all the gospel narratives. I'm not going to weave in every part of the other gospels, but it gives you a sense of all the events that took place. And Matthew doesn't record all the events for us. And so we know, according to John 18, that before he's taken to Caiaphas, he is first led in to Annas. Who's Annas? Annas is Caiaphas' father-in-law. And Annas himself had also served as the high priest of Israel before Caiaphas. And so there's this preliminary hearing you can read about in John 18 that takes place with Annas. And then Annas sends him to Caiaphas. And that's where Matthew picks it up. This being brought before Caiaphas, and it's not just Caiaphas, he says, Matthew says, where the scribes and elders had been gathered. This is a coordinated effort. Remember, this is the early hours of the morning. This is supposed to be while Passover is being observed. And here's all these so-called holy men in the middle of the night, here to try and to interrogate Jesus. Remember back in verses 3 and 4 of this chapter, the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and to kill him. This is still the plan. Now, for a capital case, a case that would potentially end in execution, A minimum of 23 of the 72 Sanhedrin members would have been required. Matthew doesn't tell us how many were there. I think it's fair to assume by the actions of at least a couple other men later that not every single one was there, but at least the vast majority. And as the high priest, Caiaphas would have been the one presiding over this Sanhedrin gathering. But Matthew tells us that in some ways, Peter here, he regains at least a semblance of courage because he follows what's going on, not too closely. He's not incredibly brave, but he trails after from a considerable distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest. That was as far as he dared to go. And so he goes inside, inside the courtyard. He's not indoors, but he's just inside the courtyard. He gets in there through, as John refers to himself, as the other disciple, John 18, 16. That's how Peter is allowed in, through John's influence. But he sits in there with, it says, with the guards. Verse 59, now the chief priest and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death. That's their intent, that they might put him to death. And so they're gonna try to use false testimony, but Matthew records, but they found none. They couldn't find any. Though many false witnesses came forward. And so this is their evil purpose. to procure testified lies against Jesus, whereby they might condemn him." And so where it says here the chief priest, this expression chief priest, this would refer to the high priest, any men who had formerly served as a high priest, and even men who are qualified to be a high priest in the future. And then the whole council here means that every constituent member of the Sanhedrin was represented, not necessarily that every member was present. But they're seeking false testimony. They want people to lie. This is what these religious leaders are looking for. Psalm 27, 12. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence." But through this false testimony, this is how they think that they can achieve the execution of Jesus. Now, the Jews were not allowed to carry out capital punishment. They were not allowed under Roman rule to execute people because they're not their own entity anymore. They're under the Roman rule, and we see that in John 18.31. And so not only are they going to seek to get this false testimony against him, but they have to put together a charge against Jesus that is going to assure his execution by the Romans. They can't put him to death, but they have to figure out a way to convince the Romans to do it. So we can look at these proceedings that Matthew records here and say this was nothing more than a sham trial. This was something where the outcome was already determined by the hands of these evil men. And so we're not going to do any type of deep dive into whatever technical aspects of the law, of their own laws that they violated. And there's actually a lot of debate over that, of what laws were actually in place at this time. But I think there's a certain sense of that being irrelevant to these men, because these men are filled with envy. They're filled with rage. They have a desire, and it's a singular desire, and that's to see Jesus dead. So they're not interested in fulfilling every jot and tittle of their law. So we're not going to go through each of those and to point out how they might have broken those. But why are they so angry with Jesus? Why do they hate Him so much? Well, it's because He's revealed something about them. In all of His preaching, in all of His teaching, in all of His denunciations against them, He's revealed their true motives, their inner hearts. All this exterior that may have fooled the masses of the people has been exposed by the God-man. And not only did He reveal their motives, but He called them the sons of Satan. which they were. And so this is not a trial. This is a calculated plot of murder. And it is these men, these men who are gathered here together, that we could say are the principal agents in bringing about the death of Jesus. And so they have this plan. We're going to get false testimony. We're going to bring up all these witnesses. But they couldn't find any. Their evil plan is thwarted. They couldn't get people to even properly lie about him. It says, though many false witnesses came forward. Deuteronomy 17.6 says, on the death of two witnesses or of three witnesses, the one who is to die shall be put to death. A person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. So they had this law given to them by God. You see the same principle in Deuteronomy 19.15. You know, it's interesting, we see the same principle carried on even within the Church. We looked at that in Church discipline, Matthew 18, 16. It is not just a single allegation. And we also see that in 1 Timothy 5, 19, where we don't admit a charge against an elder just from one person. And so that same principle is through and through throughout Scripture. Now, what do we see that's missing here? It's that nobody is asked to speak positively on Jesus' behalf. Well, after a lot of probably wearisome testifying, where Caiaphas doesn't feel like he's getting anywhere with this, it says in verse 60 that, at last, two came forward. And said, this man said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days. And the high priest stood up and said, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? So finally, Matthew says that there's two men who come forward who seem to be saying the same thing. And they say, this man, which is a statement of contempt, that this there, this man, or this fellow, says that he is able to destroy the temple of God. They were quoting from Jesus himself, at least loosely quoting from him. Had Jesus really said something like that? And yes, he did. John 2, all the way at the beginning of John, John 2, 19, says, Jesus answered them, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Jews then said, it has taken 46 years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days? And then John writes, they couldn't hear what John wrote, but he said, but he was speaking about the temple of his body. So he wasn't speaking about the Jewish temple, although later, as we saw in Matthew 24, he does speak about the physical destruction of the temple. And so the accusation here by these men is that Jesus had defamed the temple by declaring that He was going to destroy it. And you see that later even in the allegations against Stephen. They make the same type of allegation against him in Acts 6, and even against Paul in Acts 21, when they talk about him desecrating the temple. And so Caiaphas rises up and he hostilely asks Jesus, aren't you going to answer this allegation? What is it that these men have borne witness against you? But we might ask ourselves the question, why should Jesus respond to this? What's very interesting in Mark 14, 59, Mark records, he says, yet even about this, their testimony did not agree. So even these two men could not agree. And as far as we know, none of these false witnesses were punished for giving false testimony, for lying before God. And so we said, why should Jesus respond to this? He doesn't. Verse 63, but Jesus remained silent and the high priest said to him, I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the son of God. Jesus said to him, you have said so, but I tell you from now on, you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. So not a sound is made. Jesus refrains from answering to Caiaphas, from defending himself. If you remember way back to the Sermon on the Mount, we talked about that very principle, blessed are the meek. We talked about that idea of what do we want to do as soon as anyone makes an allegation? We're ready to defend. We're ready to fight. We are ready to say, no, you've got it wrong. But Jesus says, blessed are the meek. And he also said, blessed are you when people shall revile you and speak all manner of evil against you. And he always demonstrates what he preached, and here we see a perfect demonstration. He does not defend this allegation. Isaiah 53 7 says he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. You can also look at Psalm 39 9. But is this not a remarkable response, or we could say a lack of response, in the face of such egregious lies, egregious testimony? So whatever plan that Caiaphas had here is not working out. And you can almost feel this frustration exploding out of him. And he says, I adjure you by the living God. He's going to try to compel Jesus to answer him by putting him under an oath before God. Now, why would Caiaphas necessarily be so angry or hateful toward Jesus? We don't know. I mean, we know all these men definitely hated him. But if you remember back to when Jesus, he comes into the temple and he kicks out all the money changers. It's possible that Caiaphas was actually the man responsible for installing those money changers in the temple. And if that is true, just think of how much more would be the personal vendetta that he holds against Jesus. And so he says, I adjure you, I put you under this oath that you should tell us if you are the Christ. Tell us if you are this promised Messiah, the Son of God. Think back through our study of Matthew. How many times when Jesus healed somebody, what did he tell them? He said, don't tell anybody. This is not the time. This is the time to keep this quiet. Don't tell anyone my true identity. But that was no longer the case, because that time is now here. And now we just ask, why should he respond? Now we would ask ourselves, how could he not respond to a question like this? And of course, he's going to. And so what is the Jewish expectation of the Messiah? It's not the real expectation. So the way that he answers this question is not probably the way that they're thinking in their mind. They have this idea of a liberator, a liberator from the Romans, not a liberator from their sins. And if Caiaphas can get Jesus to assert himself and say, yes, I am here to destroy Roman rule, Well, what can Caiaphas do then? He can take it right to the Romans and say, this is a man guilty of sedition, he's hostile to the Roman Empire, and he can charge him as an insurrectionist. So now Jesus does respond. Jesus responds to Caiaphas and he says, you have said so. And I'd like to position this to you that this is what I would call a qualified affirmative. where he's basically saying, you have said it yourself, but I think you have a little bit of faulty understanding of what you even mean with that question. Jesus most certainly is the messianic son of God, but not, as I just said, not the Messiah, or at least the type of Messiah that most of the Jews were looking for. And so he gives a qualified affirmative. He's not saying, no, I'm not. He's saying, essentially, you've said it yourself. And there's a veiled, yes, I am. But this next part is not veiled at all. The next part is not indirect. He says, but, or nevertheless, I tell you from now on, you will see the Son of Man. So immediately after this, you're going to see me in a much different way, and that's gonna be in a position of authority as the ruler of my kingdom. He says, from now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power. This is at the right hand of the throne of God. Power here is just a reverent substitution for the divine name of God. How often throughout the New Testament do we see this expression about Jesus at the right hand of the throne of God? Colossians 3.1, Hebrews 1.3, Hebrews 8.1, Hebrews 10.12, Hebrews 12.2, 1 Peter 3.22, and there's other passages as well. but he goes on to give the full timeline. It's not just being seated at the right hand of power, he says, and coming on the clouds of heaven. The same thing that he concludes the Olivet Discourse with. This return in the clouds of heaven, the return, the second coming, the parousia of Christ. And so this is a very forthright answer by Jesus. He's not mincing words. He's declaring to these men that he's not just a human messianic deliverer, but he is saying, I am the divine son of man that Daniel foretold in Daniel 7. And also, I am the one who is the object of the psalmist in Psalm 110, verses 1 through 2. And in Daniel 7, verses 13 and 14, I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man and he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him and 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 in his kingdom, one that shall not be destroyed." Psalm 110, 1. The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies my footstool. And we've already seen Jesus refer to that before back in chapter 22 verse 44. But in this answer here that Jesus is giving, This is the way that Daniel beheld this coming redeemer. This is the way that David sang of him as this everlasting king who will be worshiped and who will reign forever. Doesn't seem like it in this passage with what's going on, but he's saying, that's who I am, and that's what you're going to see very soon. And so his answer is informing these men The next time they're going to see him, they're going to see him as the everlasting king, the one who will be worshiped, and the one who will reign forever. He is indeed, to answer Caiaphas's question, he is indeed the Messiah. He is the Son of God, but he is so in a far greater way than they can possibly conceive. And so his statement is very clear. He's saying, yes, I am equal with God. I am one with God. Consider what it says in Ephesians 1, 19, according to the working of His great might that He worked in Christ, that's speaking of God the Father, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly place as far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And there's this implication from even his answer here that it doesn't really matter what you're going to do to my body. Doesn't matter. Because I'm going to conquer death. I'm going to rise in newness of life. I'm going to be vindicated by the Father who is actually going to overturn whatever judgment you pronounce against me. And he's saying to these men, I'm going to come back and I'm going to judge you. Just as you are judging me now, I will come back to judge you. And there's a picture of that judgment that we even see in the martyrdom of Stephen. Who's standing to defend Stephen? It's the Son of Man. And who comes back in that initial type of judgment against these people? In AD 70, it's the Lord himself. And I would refer you even to the description of Jesus by John in Revelation 1, verses 17 and 18. But what's the reaction of these men, especially the high priest? Then the high priest tore his robes and said, he has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You, this is all of them, you have all now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? They answered, he deserves death. So what does Caiaphas do? It's very unlikely that he has his high priest robes on. This is not an official worship ceremony. So he would have torn his outer garment, and this is to officially signify that he is grieved, that he is outraged. What a massive show of hypocrisy we could say this is, because probably inwardly, this man is overjoyed. He's been looking for how can we frame Jesus? How can we accuse Jesus? All these witnesses, they can't even get their act together. They can't even lie the right way that I want them to. But now I've gotten the information that I want. And so he violently tears the fabric of his outer garment to make this demonstration, and he says that he has declared or that he has uttered blasphemy. He's declaring, he's saying that Jesus' admission here by his own words is a statement of blasphemy against God. He has reviled or defamed the name of God. Again, I would refer you to Leviticus 24, 16. But as he says this, is there an alternative? Yeah, there's an alternative, and what is that? It's to actually accept the words that Jesus says are true, that Jesus is indeed divine, that he is indeed in the fullest expression, or the fullest sense of the expression, the Son of God. But these men, Caiaphas and these other men, in their hard calloused, unbelieving hearts. They could not accept any other possibility except this conclusion that what Jesus says is blasphemy. And further, they may even be thinking, how could this man, this man from Nazareth, how could he judge us? How could he possibly say these words against us? After all, we are the appointed religious rulers by God over all of Israel. So Caiaphas says, we don't need any more witnesses. We have enough evidence. You've heard his blasphemy. Have you not all here heard this man's divine claim? How does it seem to you? What do you think? You could almost hear the triumphant jubilation coming off of his mouth, because he knows what they're going to say. They've already planned. And they answered, he deserves death. The assembled council who's there agree that Jesus' words make him worthy of death. There's a similar type of experience that Jeremiah faced back in Jeremiah 26 in verse 8. When Jeremiah finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, You shall die. You shall die. Why? Because he spoke the word of the Lord. And it was the same scenario, the priests, the so-called religious leaders, telling him that he needed to die. And so from their perspective here, from their interpretation of the law, they say Jesus is worthy of death because he's equated himself with God. Now, to allege to be the Messiah really could not be a capital offense. Otherwise, the Jews could never actually receive a Messiah. but claiming to be the exalted heavenly son of man, one who was Lord and next to the Father in heaven, that transgressed the boundaries of what these men could conceive to be possible for any mere mortal." But these men do have a problem, and what's that problem? It's that the Romans are not going to accept the charge of blasphemy as a capital offense. That means whatever they present to Pilate is going to have to be manipulated to now change the focus on Jesus as an insurrectionist and someone who presents a real threat to Rome. We're not there yet, and we're not getting there tonight, but in these last two verses, then they spit in his face and struck him, and some slapped him, saying, Prophesy to us, you Christ. Who is it that struck you? These evil men are so enraged that they spit in the face of Jesus, they strike him across his face with their hands. What a display of absolute cruelty. And not only do they physically mock him, but they verbally mock him. Verbal mocking abuse accompanied by physical abuse. Seems that in this case, he's probably been blindfolded. As they strike him, they say, who is it that struck you? If you really are the Messiah that you claim to be, you should know. Isaiah 50 verses 5 and 6, talking about the suffering servant, says, the Lord God has opened my ear and I was not rebellious. I turned not backward. I gave my back to those who strike and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard. I kidnap my face from disgrace and spitting. But it's through all of these things, it's through all of these actions that Jesus is actually triumphing. This cruel mockery and this savage beating that he's taking is actually an attestation that he is indeed the Messiah. the Father's beloved Son in whom those prophecies are actually being fulfilled right here in this moment. 1 Peter 2.23, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. And so while these men, they raise this cry of blasphemy, who are the ones who are actually blaspheming, but it is actually them. They are the ones blaspheming against the Holy Trinity. And so as they directly revile and dishonor the Son of God, the incarnate Son of God, in so doing, then they also blaspheme the Father who sent this Son into the world, and they also blaspheme the Spirit of God who empowered Him to do and to say all that He did in His ministry. So by closing application, as we consider what our Lord endured, and this is not anywhere near the extent of what He endured, we're not fully through that yet, but as we consider what our Lord endured, what are the applications to us? Or we say, how wonderful are the applications to us? How wonderful Is it that the Holy Son of God should have voluntarily submitted himself to such indignity so that he might redeem such miserable sinners as we are? That's a wonderful thing to consider. And further, as we consider that, we could say to ourselves, as we acknowledge the truth of our own hearts, we're not our hearts. before Christ called us into His kingdom were not our hearts as black as these men here who spit in His face." But there's this reality that if you have been called by God from somewhere to somewhere, from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, that it also should not surprise you that you will suffer. as Christ did, that you may endure mockery, that you may endure ridicule, that you may endure false reports against you. Why? Because you belong to Christ. And we should count that, as the apostles did very early in the book of Acts, as a wonderful thing. This final quote here, again from J.C. Ryle. He says, it is one of Satan's greatest devices to blacken the characters of godly men, and we could say, and of godly women, and to bring them into contempt. He says, if we are ever called upon to suffer in this way, let us bear it patiently. We drink the same cup that was drunk by our beloved Lord, but there is one great difference. He says, at the worst, we only drink a few bitter drops. He drank the cup to the very dregs. And to that, I say to you, hallelujah, what a Savior we have. So next week, we're going to continue on. And Peter's saga is not over. Peter is going to now profess. He doesn't know this man. I've never seen him before. I don't know who he is. So he is going to now follow through on another thing that Jesus foretold. The disciples all ran away, but Jesus had told Peter, you are going to deny me three times. So we're going to see that next week. And we're also going to see now, how does Judas Iscariot respond to everything that has now transpired? We've seen this awful, awful act of betrayal. But how will he respond as he sees things play out? So that is what, by the grace of God, we'll be on tap for next week. Thank you for your attendance, for your attention tonight. If you do have any questions, please come up. But I do pray that the word of the Lord, as you think of, as I just mentioned, persecution that could come our way. And we could arrive at a time where even access to the word of God would be of scarcity to us. And how great is it then to have availed ourselves to the means of grace on Sundays and Wednesdays and to continue to pour the word of God into our hearts so that in those moments of persecution, of temptation, of difficulty, that will not be void, that will come back out of us. The word of God, when it is embedded into our hearts, is never worthless. So I'd encourage you, and not even just through the studies we do here, but in your own personal devotion to the Word of God, to eat it up, to never take for granted that we have it in abundance right now, for there's no guarantee that that will continue for us. So let's close in prayer and give all praise, glory, and honor to Christ. Father in heaven, we come before you tonight. It is quite a sobering thought to consider what Christ endured for such evil people such as ourselves. How he voluntarily followed through, even as he had prayed in the garden, not my will, but thine. And this was, of course, the triune God's will for the God-man to go in this way. but to read about it, to contemplate it, to think about it, to think about our sin for which he was dying, to think about our sinful hearts that would have gathered him with the throngs saying, crucify him. And then the grace that you would impart to us. How could we get over such a thing? Oh, Lord, how could this not transform us? to be people deeply committed to you in spite of persecution, in spite of ridicule, in spite of abuse from others, that we might think it a light thing to be in the service of Christ in your kingdom. Give us the strength, we pray, to endure such things that we might not fall into the snare of temptation. And so we ask these things as we go our way this night in the name of Jesus. Amen.