Conquering Death – Pt. 5

If God’s people would take your
Bibles and turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 11, the Gospel
of John, where we have been now for four or five weeks, as we
are considering Christ conquering man’s most hated enemy. I’m not talking about an earthly
foe. I’m not talking about some nation
evil in their intent. I’m talking about death. And
we have been considering one of Christ’s greatest miracles,
one of the greatest miracles recorded in the Gospels, that
of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. We were there last
Lord’s Day in the particular section of Jesus raising Lazarus
from the dead. But in so doing, Jesus Presented to us that he is sovereign
that he is Lord even over man’s greatest enemy death that cruel
inevitable sudden Indiscriminate foe that man faces at every turn
Jesus Christ is sovereign and Lord even over death we go again
to John chapter 11 and beginning in verse one. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus
of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was
the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet
with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So the sisters
sent word to him saying, Lord, behold, he whom you love is sick. But when Jesus heard this, he
said, this sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory
of God, so that the son of God may be glorified by it. Now,
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard
that he was sick, he stayed then two days longer in the place
where he was. Then after this, he said to the
disciples, Let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to
him, Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you. And
are you going there again? John answered, Jesus answered
rather, are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in
the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of
the world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because
the light is not in him. This he said, and after that
he said to them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go that
I may awaken him out of sleep. The disciples then said to him,
Lord, if he’s fallen asleep, he will recover. Now, Jesus had
spoken of his death but they thought that he was speaking
of literal sleep. So Jesus then said to them plainly,
Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes
that I was not there so that you may believe, but let us go
to him. Therefore, Thomas, who was called
Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, let us also go so that we may
die with him. So when Jesus came, he found
that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now, Bethany
was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews
had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their
brother. Martha, therefore, when she heard
that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary stayed at
the house. Martha then said to Jesus, Lord,
if you had been here, My brother would not have died. Even now
I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus
said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha said to him,
I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last
day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection
and the life. He who believes in me will live
even if he dies. And everyone who lives and believes
in me will never die. Do you believe this? She said
to him, Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the
Son of God, even he who comes into the world. When she had
said this, she went away and called Mary, her sister, saying
secretly, The teacher is here and is calling for you. And when
she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to him. Now, Jesus
had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where
Martha met him. Then the Jews who were with her
in the house and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up
quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going
to the tomb to weep there. Therefore, when Mary came where
Jesus was, she saw him and fell at his feet saying to him, Lord,
if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And Jesus
therefore saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also
weeping. He was deeply moved in spirit
and was troubled and said, where have you laid him? They said
to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. So the Jews were
saying, see how he loved him. But some of them said, could
not this man who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this
man also from dying? So Jesus again being deeply moved
with then came to the tomb. Now it was a cave and a stone
was lying against it. And Jesus said, remove the stone. Martha, the sister of the deceased
said to him, Lord, by this time there will be a stench for he
has been dead for four days. Jesus said to her, did I not
say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?
So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and
said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that
you always hear me, but because of the people standing around,
I said it so that they may believe that you sent me. When he had
said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
forth. The man who had died came forth
bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around
with a cloth. Jesus said to them, unbind him
and let him go. Therefore, many of the Jews who
came to Mary and saw what he had done believed in him. But
some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which
Jesus had done. Therefore, the chief priests
and the Pharisees convened a council and were saying, what are we
doing? For this man is performing many
signs. If we let him go on like this,
all men will believe in him. And the Romans will come and
take away both our place and our nation. But one of them,
Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, you
know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is
expedient for you that one man die for the people, that the
whole nation not perish. Now, he did not say this on his
own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied
that Jesus was going to die for the nation and not for the nation
only, but in order that he might also gather into one the children
of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on, they planned
together to kill him. Therefore, Jesus no longer continued
to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the
country near the wilderness into a city called Ephraim. And there
he stayed with the disciples. We’ve spent no little time on this chapter as it has unfolded,
Jesus first, dealt with the nature of Lazarus’s illness essentially
downplaying it so much so that the Apostles thought that you
know Lazarus just had some minor sickness from which he would
soon recover ultimately Jesus communicates to them that no
Lazarus is indeed dead and that we are going to go and see him
he interacts initially with Martha, then ultimately with Mary, but
even his interaction with Mary is really an interaction with
the Jews who were attending essentially the wake, the funeral, the fallout,
the days that followed the burial of Lazarus. And we saw there
in verses 28 through 37 a willful ignorance on the part of these
Jews to who Jesus was. We saw a willful blindness to
the Lordship of Christ as Mary came and lay at His feet in worship
and called upon Him, Lord. We saw not only a willful blindness
to the Lordship of Christ, but a willful blindness to the compassion
of Christ. They chalked up His literal tears. His literal sadness, a deep groaning
that issued forth in tears on his face, they chalked it up
merely to the loss of a good friend. When it was really the
compassion of Almighty God, God’s mercy oozing forth, flowing from
Christ. They were willfully blind, not
only to Christ’s lordship and Christ’s mercy, but to Christ’s
ability. In verse 37, in just this cynical
fashion, they say, could not this man who opened the eyes
of a blind man have kept him also from dying? They knew very
well Jesus’ ability. And that will become very apparent
as we consider the Jews again this morning. Well, Jesus goes
on to raise Lazarus. The point that we considered
last Lord’s Day on Resurrection Sunday where Jesus began to deal
with the issue of faith. John tells us that that faith
would be honored. He records Jesus in verse 40
that if we believe we will see the glory of God. What flowed
from that though was an unpredictability to that
faith. The foundations of faith are
fully provided. God gives to every person ever
born ample evidence of his existence, ample evidence that he is the
sovereign director and ruler and creator of the world, ample
evidence. But faith is unpredictable. Even
though faith is promised to be honored, that we would see the
glory of God, even though the foundations of faith are provided,
that we have everything that we need to know and understand Almighty
God, the reception of faith is unpredictable. And that’s what
we see in verses 45 and 46. And they are crucial for the
understanding of this passage. Look at verse 45. I mean, it’s
just amazing. You see a dead man raised from the dead after
four days, what more natural response do you have than verse
45? Therefore, many of the Jews who
came to Mary and saw what he had done, raising Lazarus from
the dead after four days, believed in him. That part doesn’t surprise
us. That part is as expected. But the surprising part of faith,
the unpredictable part of faith was that it wasn’t everybody.
When it says many of the Jews, what it intimates there is that
not everybody. Many of the Jews believed in
him, but not everybody. And that’s what verse 46 tells
us, doesn’t it? Therefore, many of the Jews who
came to Mary and saw what He had done, believed in Him, but
some of them. This portion of the crowd, we
don’t know how many. We talked about the possibility
of who and how many might have been there. We know the disciples
were there. We know Martha and Mary were
there. Now we know Lazarus is there. We know many of the Jews were
there. but a portion, a portion of them could not, would not
believe. Faith is unpredictable. The same
people witnessing the same stupendous miracle, the same setting, the
same Savior, and in the end, not all came to faith. That’s
the surprising part, isn’t it? Well, some of them make the trek
off to the Jews. They’re tattletales. That’s what
they are. They run to tattle on Jesus. They run to the authorities
to tell the authorities what Jesus has done now. They have
a problem. They have a problem, and the
problem is Christ. The problem is Jesus Christ. He’s the problem, and they’ve
got to deal with the problem. What I want to look at this morning
in verses 47 through 54 is just facets to the solution to the
problem. Facets to the solution to the
problem. First of all, they hold a counsel
regarding the problem. Look at verse 47. Therefore the
chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council Now there
were some commentators that suggested that this was just an informal
meeting. I think it’s a very formal meeting It’s I I think
that in this meeting which was called a meeting of the Sanhedrin
there was likely a call to order a very formal beginning to the
meeting and Likely, very likely, they had an agenda through which
they were going to address. There was likely decorum. There
was a way that people would speak. There was order. There was likely,
amazingly, to open the meeting, there was a start of prayer.
The meeting was likely very orderly, very businesslike, perhaps not
according to our modern Robert’s rules of order since they had
not yet been arranged, but very formal, very technical, very
orderly. This was the great Sanhedrin. This is where they came to solve
church problems. The Sanhedrin consisted not only
of the current chief priests, former high priests, even family
members of those priests, sons. They were mostly Sadducees and
then also Pharisees. We’ll talk more about those two
parties in a moment. And they call this meeting, very
formal meeting, very hastily called. But this was their business. This is what they did. And it
would have been very easy to pull together a formal meeting
like this. So the adversaries of Jesus now
are all gathered and they determine that something has to be done. We’re not doing enough. The approach
that we’ve taken of just criticizing Christ, it’s not enough. And so these meetings, these
meetings of the Sanhedrin, they were for, get this, purely ecclesiastical
purposes. They were not for civil purposes.
They didn’t worry about stop signs and properties. They were
not for political purposes. It was the same assembly. that ultimately would decide
Jesus’ fate. In other words, this was a business
meeting of the church. And who of us haven’t attended
some doozies in our day, right? And so this business meeting
is convened, the chief priests and the Pharisees The chief priests,
largely being Sadducees, they were two very opposing parties. They didn’t like one another.
Truth be told, they hated one another. And so the opposition
to Christ is now spreading to the other party. Look at verse
47 once again. Therefore the chief priests and
Pharisees convened a council and were saying, what are we
doing? It’s not what should we do, what
do we do next, but what on earth are we doing letting this guy
run rampant? Why is he going about unchecked? The methods that we’ve employed
are not working. And they consider, they consider
perhaps what methods they had been employing chasing Jesus
around the city, criticizing his words, posing difficult questions
to him, downplaying his miracles, criticizing his followers. The question itself just is almost
utter and verbalized bewilderment. What on earth are we doing? But
this man is performing many signs. And I want you to note this,
that they acknowledge that. That without any more attempt
to downplay them or explain away his miracles, they say there
are plenteous, there are many, many signs that Jesus is doing. And they acknowledge it as a
matter of fact. On numerous occasions, as was
the case with the man born blind, remember? They desperately tried
to brush this miracle away, downplay it, cast doubt upon them and
such, but they can’t question the validity of these miracles
any longer. The facts are becoming self-evident. There were just
too many of them. Jesus was performing many signs,
too many, remember John says, even for the apostles to chronicle.
And too many and too public, overwhelmingly far too many people
had witnessed them firsthand. And the signs themselves were
too overwhelming in nature as to be ignored. They couldn’t
deny them. And what an amazing acknowledgement
this is from Christ’s enemies. What an amazing acknowledgement.
Jesus did many miracles. Now you imagine turning on the
TV to the nightly news and hearing the news report that. Or hear
your neighbor who is not a professing believer acknowledge that fact. Jesus performed many signs. That’s how astounding this is.
These are Jesus’ hated enemies. But even they had to agree. even though they’re behind closed
doors, they had to agree that Jesus was indeed doing many miracles. They couldn’t deny them any longer. So in this more private setting,
they resigned themselves to this position that yes, okay, Jesus
has done miracles, many miracles, and therein lies the problem.
The miracles are the problem. Jesus, the one doing the miracles,
is the problem. Even his own enemies didn’t deny
that he had worked these many miracles, which makes the modern
day denial of such even more absurd and willfully ignorant. Jesus’ own enemies didn’t deny
it. The Pharisees and the Sadducees
had done everything in their power to oppose Christ, thwart
his efforts, But here in the end, they throw up their hands
and they can no longer deny that Jesus had done these works. And
if even Jesus’ enemies acknowledge that he worked many miracles,
how does the modern mind dismiss them away so easily? But the astounding thing in this
regard is their acknowledgement of Jesus’ miracles only hardens
their heart. hardens their heart to him and
whatever this cause it is that he is pursuing and proclaiming. Whatever it is he stands for,
they don’t want any part of it. Because he has done miracles. Do you see how absurd this is?
Their heels are dug in, there is no factual evidence, no matter
how fantastic, or rather no factual evidence, no matter how fantastic
means anything to them, it won’t convince them, it won’t change
their heart, it won’t malleate their hatred of Christ. One pastor
said, in the hardness of their heart, they continue their own
chosen line and refuse to consider the evidence before their eyes.
It has always been the case in men’s minds who are made up to
oppose what Christ stands for and will not be convinced by
any amount of evidence. And so they’re in a dither. They’ve tried everything. They’re
frustrated, they’re angry. They have a problem. Look at
verse 48. If we let him go on like this,
all men will believe in him. And the Romans will come and
take away both our place and our nation. Now you might say,
you know, guys, we’re overreacting just a little bit. It’s Jesus. but they’ve already characterized
Jesus. Jesus was to them a political
Messiah. Jesus was the one that was going
to come and take their nation and take over and conquer the
Romans. They can only see it one way.
And if he isn’t that, then he is merely a rabble rouser. We continue to treat him like
we have, letting him have free course, across our countryside,
if we only criticize his moves or kind of split hairs on his
doctrine, on his theology, if we only rail against him occasionally,
if we continue to let him go and do as he pleases, we’re gonna
lose, and we’re gonna lose big. Now they trump this up because
they’re in a meeting and they’re wanting to stir the crowd, they’re
wanting to impart their own hatred of Christ to the Sadducees, And
believe me, the virus has already spread. Instead of even pondering these
signs and their significance, the raising of a dead man, their only thought is, how do
we slow this train down? How do we thwart Christ? How
do we stop him in his tracks? They go so far, look at this.
If we let him go on like this, all men, now that’s an exaggeration.
Of course, they don’t mean every living soul ever created, but
they’re, they’re pointing their own fears are becoming manifest
here. And they’re pointing to the exaggeration
of the facts that everybody is going to begin to follow Christ. And we’re going to be left empty
handed here. Perhaps there were even those
from their own temple and synagogues that had already begun to follow
Christ. Maybe they were seeing a shift
in numbers, as we would call it in our day. And so their statement that all men
can’t be taken literally, we don’t have to take it literally,
but their concern is that the Romans are gonna see this rabble
rouser take control, beginning to get more and more power. He’s
gonna stir the nest, as it were, and the Romans are going to come
and take everything that they possess. They’re gonna take their
place, the temple, their place in Jerusalem. They’re gonna take
away their protection from the Romans. They’re gonna take away
their beloved power. If nothing is done, This Messiah
is gonna create a rebellion that the Romans are going to come
and quash. That’s the worst case scenario,
but that’s how they see it. When it says they’re gonna take
our place and our nation, they point not only to the temple,
but they point to their nation, the nation of Israel, allegedly,
remember, God’s people, God’s nation, the nation that God had
planted, the nation that God said that he would stand behind
and guide and protect. The whole line of reasoning is
absolutely absurd. Why so? Because Jesus didn’t
want it and the Romans couldn’t have it. It’s just that simple. Jesus didn’t come to set up an
earthly kingdom. And the Romans could go no further
than what God allowed them, and the Jews knew this. Jesus’ constant
message was that his kingdom was not of this world. He was
not a political ruler. That’s initially why they hated
him. You’re not the guy we were looking
for. He was no conqueror. He wasn’t the Jew’s savior in
that sense at all. And likewise, the argument about
the Romans taking their nation, it’s the same lack of faith that
kept Israel in constant conflict with God, isn’t it? God was their protector. God
was their provider. They were his children. He was
their sovereign. They were his sheep. He was their
shepherd. But they doubt once again. They
doubt once again. And they paint this worst case
scenario that either Jesus is going to take over or the Romans
are going to think that he’s coming to take over and that
he is going to be wiped out along with us. One Puritan commentator made
this very astute observation. Listen to this. Council entirely forgot that
rulers, whether the Romans or any others, are not a terror
to good works, but to evil. If the Jews had believed and
obeyed God, they had nothing to fear. You see, they forgot
God was their sovereign, they forgot God was watching over
them, and they forgot the purpose of God-given government. evil
to the core. One pastor said the plain truth
is that this saying of the Pharisees looks like an excuse. Caught
up is a weapon against our Lord, a pretext for stirring up enmity
against Him. What they really hated was our
Lord’s doctrine which exposed their own system and weakened
their authority. They felt that their craft was
in danger but not daring to say this publicly, they presented
a fear, a fear that he would excite the jealousy of the Romans
and endanger the whole nation. Well, it played. The argument won the day. It
carried the meeting. It planted the fear, the concern,
the virus is spreading, and now the Sadducees have it. The second
facet of the solution to this problem, not only the counsel
regarding the problem, who is Christ himself, but a priestly
opinion about the problem. Who better to turn to? I mean,
after all, 21st century mind that’s the first thing that the
news does right they turn to the priest to talk about anything
religious. Well, why not here? Let’s let
the priest have the floor Look at verse 49 for a priestly opinion
about the problem But one of them Caiaphas who was high priest
that year this is really somebody High priest that year said to
them, you know nothing at all, nor do you take into account
that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people
that the whole nation not perish. Tell you a little bit about Caiaphas.
He was high priest for about 18 years. That doesn’t mean that
there weren’t other high priests concurrent with him, but this
guy was a powerful individual. When John says that he was high
priest that year, he isn’t limiting Caiaphas’ rule to one year only. He’s merely saying that Caiaphas
was high priest in that particular year, a very important, very
dynamic, very event-filled year. Caiaphas was high priest that
year. Caiaphas was of the sect called
the Sadducees, vigorously and vehemently contrary to the Pharisees. One would think that there might
have been a gap here. An opening for the Sadducees
to break rank with the Pharisees in support of Jesus. Now look,
Pharisees, you have been unfair to this man. You’ve been dogging
his steps. You have not been objective in
your consideration of him. After all, he just raised a man
from the dead. But that’s not what happened. It wasn’t to be. Nothing so unites
opposing enemies as a common foe. And that’s what they have. Caiaphas was this rude, harsh,
cruel man. One pastor said of him that Caiaphas
was rude and a sly manipulator, an opportunist who did not know
the meaning of fairness or justice, who is bent on having his own
way, is clear from the passages in the New Testament that speak
of him. He did not shrink from shedding
innocent blood. What he himself craved for his
own selfish purposes, he made to look on as if it was the one
thing needed for the welfare of the people. Did you hear what
he said? What Caiaphas is going to do
is twist the situation toward his own end, and he will literally
leave Jesus hanging. Caiaphas is going to twist the
situation so that he doesn’t lose any of his precious power,
even though it will cost Christ his life. Look at verse 50. Watch the way
he erupts. You know nothing at all, nor
do you take into account that it is expedient for you that
one man die, for the people and the whole nation not perish,
Now what we don’t have here is the backdrop of Caiaphas’ words. Maybe the Pharisees came back
from the raising of Lazarus all in a dither, the raising of Lazarus
from the dead, and they’re trying to come up with some alternate
story, some alternate narrative so that they could all agree
on I know they say, let’s say that Lazarus was never really
dead, but that Jesus came along at just the right opportunity
and just as Lazarus was beginning to recover. We don’t know. We don’t know exactly what narrative
they brought back to Caiaphas, but he didn’t like it. Whatever
it was, he didn’t like it. He didn’t buy it. His own version
is far better. Maybe they even tried floating
some stepped-up efforts to thwart Jesus’ ministry. That will work.
Watching His every move, dogging His every step, criticizing,
castigating, berating Him, debating Him and such, just like they’d
already been doing. Whatever it was that they suggested,
Caiaphas didn’t buy it. Caiaphas, the high priest, wanted
none of it. He and it seems that he alone
had the plan. The egotist had the plan to deal
with the problem, the problem that was Jesus and all of his
miracles. One historian said of Caiaphas,
in the patchwork of his personality, The strands of brazen impudence,
insane ambition, rancorous jealousy, and consummate cleverness were
interwoven. This is not a guy you want for
your neighbor, right? Not a guy you want in your office
pool. brazen impudence, insane ambition,
rancorous jealousy, and a consummate cleverness, all woven into one. Watch what Caiaphas does. He
uses the very direct personal pronoun, doesn’t it? You, in
a harsh tone of contempt, you know nothing at all. Contempt for his Pharisee brothers. And this sour relationship is
not unlike the relationship of our current day between Democrats
and Republicans. And note the arrogance of his
words. You know nothing. I and I alone am wise enough,
savvy enough, experienced enough to figure out a solution to this
problem. And he goes on to criticize even
their ability to reason. They cannot even figure out the
most basic difficulty. I take it that Caiaphas was probably
way out front on this issue. He’s not catching up. He’s been
against Christ from the very beginning. He saw him and wondered
why the Pharisees were having such a struggle. You know what, in the end, this
is no counsel at all, is it? It’s not plurality in action.
This is not a democracy, it’s a dictatorship. It’s a one-man
show, it’s completely autocratic. Caiaphas alone knows the way. Some people said that this brash
manner of his so-called leadership was typical of the Sadducees.
We know for sure that this was typical of Caiaphas. Josephus,
the Jewish historian, said of this sect, The Pharisees are
affectionate to each other and cultivate harmonious relations
with the community. Now that’s a bit of a broad brush
and a very positive one at that, because what we know of the Pharisees
isn’t exactly that. Listen to what he says about
the Sadducees. The Sadducees, on the contrary, are even among
themselves rather savage in their conduct and in their interactions
with their peers. They are ungentle as they are
to foreigners. In other words, they said the
Sadducees, especially in meetings, aren’t very nice. Note this,
Caiaphas and those he rebukes are not concerned about right
or wrong here. Only what’s best in their opinion. They want what’s most effective,
most expedient, not what’s most morally appropriate. Though he
claims what is best for the people and the nation, it’s really himself
and his party that he’s protecting. Basically says it’s better that
one man die than the whole nation. Why would we let the whole nation
perish? And this guy’s good, isn’t he? Listen to how one painted
the picture. Far better that one man should
die, whether innocent or not, for the benefit of the whole
nation than the whole nation should be brought into trouble.
That’s his reasoning. That’s his position. He should die to save the nation
from further trouble than live, and the nation be brought into
trouble by him. Christ’s death would be a public
benefit for the good of the whole. To spare him might bring destruction
to the nation. In other words, we have to kill
him in order to save our nation. After all, it’s only the right
thing to do. He’s good, isn’t he? What a shrewd manipulator. Why Caiaphas almost makes this
sound like an act of expected nobleness on Jesus’ part. Patriotic
self-sacrifice to die on behalf of his country. Who wouldn’t
do that? How could even Jesus oppose such
a plan? Paul characterizes such behavior,
Romans 3.8, let us do evil that good may come. and criticizes
it. So this is Caiaphas’s wise, well-reasoned,
and expedient course that one man, Jesus, die, instead of allowing
him to bring down the temple, the people, and the Jews, and
their nation, there’s a third facet to the solution of this
problem. As the data begins to unfold,
not only do we see the counsel regarding the problem and a priestly
opinion about the problem, but there’s a prophetic reality to
the problem. Look at verse 51. Now this, and
I take that to mean everything that Caiaphas just said, this
he did not say on his own initiative. This is an amazing statement. But being high priest that year,
he prophesied that Jesus was going to die. Now the Apostle
John is the one that interjects this comment. It’s a true revelation
of God, which we otherwise would not have known that these words
of Caiaphas were prophecy. This is amazing. Caiaphas, the
hater of Christ, one who is going to be very instrumental ultimately
in Christ’s death, absolutely instrumental here in his sentencing,
even before trial. Caiaphas stands there and utters
this statement, ill-advised, unprepared, off the cuff. And lo and behold, the origin
of it is the very throne of God. Amazing. Just absolutely amazing. They were words in effect placed
in the mouth of this evil priest by God himself. And he spoke the words, and he
meant the words. And what he meant, he was absolutely
guilty for. He’s not exonerated because these
words came from God and have a far deeper meaning. What Caiaphas
said, he meant. And that was the case with many
prophets. Prophets didn’t always understand everything that they
wrote, right? 1 Peter 1, in talking about the
deep things of God, Peter says this, as to this salvation, the
prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you
made careful searches and inquiries. They’re reading their own material,
right? Can you imagine Ezekiel? reading
his own material, trying to figure out what it means, just like
we do, made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know
what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating
as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to
follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves.
God didn’t let them figure it out. There were mysteries that
even the prophets who spoke them couldn’t decipher. It was revealed
to them that they were not serving themselves, but you and these
things which have been announced to you through those who preach
the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. That’s
the key. It wasn’t until the Holy Spirit
unlocked those mysteries, mysteries, he says, ultimately, things into
which angels long to look. Even the angels don’t have them
figured out. So when Caiaphas utters this
phrase, this really cynical, hateful, sinful sentence, he
knew exactly what he meant. Caiaphas meant that Jesus needed
to die so that the nation wouldn’t get destroyed. Caiaphas meant
every single syllable. Even though Caiaphas’ words were
prophecy, he was still responsible for speaking them. Caiaphas had a completely different
purpose in uttering them. Just as God, remember, prompted
a donkey to speak to Balaam, here he puts words, divine words,
prophetic words, into the mouth of this evil and ungodly priest. Jesus, he says, must die. He is going to die, in fact.
It is, says Caiaphas, in the announcement of what those who
heard him understood, it was a sentence. It was beyond just
a suggestion. Hey, let’s try this. Nothing
else has worked. It was beyond a suggestion. It
was a sentence. Shrewdly reasoned, an approach
to dealing with and eliminating their chief problem. He must
die. And remarkably, Caiaphas doesn’t
leave it at that. But he offers this cunning justification
for killing this man. Why? It would be for the nation. After all, who wouldn’t want
what’s best for the nation? You can just hear how heartsick this man is. Either
the nation dies or Jesus dies. It was that simple. And Jesus’ death, Caiaphas reasoned, would be the
preservation of the nation. Little did he know how true his
words were. Look at verse 51. He did not
say this on his own initiative. God put the words in his mouth,
but being high priest that year, He prophesied that Jesus was
going to die for the nation. That’s exactly what Caiaphas
said. But that’s not what Caiaphas meant. And not for the nation
only, verse 52, but in order that he might also gather into
one the children of God who are scattered abroad. What God meant
by these words was that Jesus was going to go and to be The
sacrifice for sinners. That he was going to go in place
of sinners. That he was going to die in place
of sinners. This is substitutionary atonement. That Caiaphas is preaching. This
is amazing stuff, I told you. Jesus is going to go and die
on behalf of the people. Thomas Watson, considering this
idea of substitutionary atonement, it is absolutely necessary in
scripture. Thomas Watson said it this way.
We, by our sins, had infinitely wronged God. And could we have
shed rivers of tears, offered up millions of holocausts of
burnt offerings? We could never have pacified
an angry deity. You hear what he said? No matter
how sad, no matter how remorseful, no matter how much you say you
hate your sin, and you’re willing to go and gather every barnyard
animal that you can find to offer up as a sacrifice, it wouldn’t
have saved a single soul. Therefore, Christ must die, he
says, that God’s justice may be satisfied. And so Jesus here
is introduced as the substitutionary atonement. That he must not only
die for the nation, but in order that he might gather into one
the children of God who are scattered abroad. Not only for his church,
Jews, and Gentiles, but for his people, making both into one,
as Ephesians 1 tells us. These are the other sheep that
Jesus mentioned in John chapter 10, right? Jesus says that he’s
going to gather them into one, into one people of God. And he’s
going to do it by his substitutionary sacrifice on the cross, that’s
what God says. Substitution, that’s our great
hope. One pastor said, note the extraordinary
manner in which Caiaphas’ words proved to be true. Though in
a way that he never intended, wished, or expected, he lets
fall a saying on a great public occasion, which comes from his
lips with great authority on the account of he is the high
priest. That saying was afterward fulfilled
in a most marvelous manner by the overruling providence of
God. But in a way that the speaker
never dreamed of, The thing was different afterward. Remembered
and remarked on, he was miraculously compelled by the Holy Spirit
to prophesy the redemption of mankind. He also foretold what
was practically fulfilled and afterwards, though in every way
marvelously unlike what he thought, that Jesus would not only die
for the Jewish nation, but for the benefit of all God’s children
scattered abroad. Jesus would come and die for
his church. And there’s a fourth and closing
facet to the solution to this problem. We see not only the
council and the priestly opinion about the problem and the prophetic
reality about the problem, but the intentioned plot that
came from it. Look at verse 53. So from that
day on, they planned together to kill him. This was the day. They had had murderous thoughts
before. Remember, they had just had stones in their hands ready
to stone him. Likely they brought the stones
with them. They had murderous intent. This
is a sentence. This is essentially the whole
thing put into motion. It’s a turning point. And from
that particular day, that very moment, as the words fell off
of Caiaphas’ lips, the death of Christ for sinners is already
underway. attitude from the very start
was cold and calculating and harsh. This brash suggestion
that he makes with disdain in the face of his Pharisee brothers,
perhaps forcing others like Nicodemus to stand down suddenly. From
that very moment, from that very moment, our redemption was set
in motion, that Christ would die die for sinners. The conclusion, the sentence
is death. The facts and the details, the
trial and all the rest of it, it will come in time, but the
sentence has already been rendered. The sentence is death. Look at
verse 54, Jesus therefore no longer continued to walk publicly
among the Jews. Jesus no longer walked publicly
with them, conversing with them. Instead, he retreated effectively
to the wilderness in accordance with the Father’s perfect timing.
Jesus isn’t running away and hiding. Jesus isn’t trying to
avoid the cross. What Jesus is guarding and protecting
is his own Father’s perfect plan. How well did God hide Jesus?
He took him to Ephraim. Look it up on a map. You won’t
find it because historians don’t even know where it is. Most people
suggest that it’s about 15 miles. Early church father Eusebius
said eight miles. Jerome said it was 20 miles northeast
of Jerusalem. Nobody knows where it is. We
might well think of it as being not much more than what we know
in our day and age as a campground, hidden in the woods, and what
more appropriate place for the one who humbled himself, taking
on human flesh, coming into the world, living in obscurity, born
in a stable, and ultimately humbling himself to the point of death. He did this for you and I. This is an echo of the words
of Isaiah, isn’t it? He was oppressed, was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to slaughter
and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did
not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment, he
was taken away. And as for his generation, who
considered that he was cut off from the land of the living for
the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due? The
stroke was due to you and I. Jesus, however, prophesied by
none other than God himself, putting the words in the mouth
of an evil priest, told us that Jesus Christ was going to die
for our sin. What glorious news that is. Would
you humble yourself before him? Our merciful God, we have coursed
through one of the most remarkable chapters in scripture. Hearing first of this man’s sickness,
a dear friend of Jesus, hearing the course of that downplayed,
not a bad sickness, ultimately revealing that it was death itself.
And after dealing with his beloved sister’s heartbroken, instilling
in them hope, and dealing with the hateful Jews who were so
willfully blind to him, ultimately Jesus comes to the tomb and raises
Lazarus from the dead. And only some believed. Lord God, we humble ourselves
before you. And we thank you for this chapter. We thank you for what it teaches
and promotes. That faith in Christ, faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ is mysterious. And Lord, if you have laid upon
our hearts the truth of this narrative, that Jesus Christ
has come for sinners to die on their behalf. Father, if there
are any who do not know Christ as their Savior, just as the
Jews standing around the tomb that day, this can be the day
of salvation. It’s faith in Christ, simple trust in all that Christ
accomplished in dying for us. We thank you and we praise you.
In Jesus’ name, amen.