Injustice System Pt 3

Back to John’s Gospel, John chapter
18. John chapter 18, where we began
several weeks ago, as we began to look at what I referred to
as God’s injustice, or rather, the injustice system. This has reference to the trials
that Jesus faced as he prepared for the cross, as God took him
to the cross. And we saw, first of all, the
first portion of the injustice system to which Christ was subjected
was this trial before Annas. It was an unjust trial. It was
completely unauthorized, this summons to Annas. Annas had been
the high priest but he was no longer the high priest and had
no just cause to have Christ brought before him with any kind
of authority. We saw also with regard to Annas’
trial this unlawful interrogation that Annas himself began to press
and pry and ask Christ questions And this was just more of the
unjust system, an unjust use of force, an unsanctioned transfer. When Annas dispatched Christ
to Caiaphas, that too was in and of itself unjust and unjustified. We began to look last week at
the trial before Caiaphas. Annas made some mistakes or if
he overstepped some of his authority, we saw that it became completely
out of control in his trial before Caiaphas. And we saw so many
crimes, there’s no way that I’m going to even review them all.
We saw that Caiaphas committed no fewer than a dozen crimes, any one of which would
have been brought a charge of murder or
brought a charge rather of death upon Caiaphas for what he had
done. Every one of them was a crime. I referred to them as the despicable
dozen. But everything from this midnight
trial, which was illegal, to the suborning of witnesses, who
were deceitful and the reception of which would have been a crime
in and of itself. This, again, direct interrogation
by the high priest, this dramatic incitement of tearing his robes
and stirring up the crowd, the abuse ultimately of the accused
where they beat him and punched him in the face, all while blindfolded,
mocking him, asking him to prophesy. All of that was utterly illegal. And yet the injustice system
only continues. And for this, if you would, I
want to go this morning, as we jumped out of the Gospel of John
last week and went to the Gospel of Mark, this week I want to
go to the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 22, if you would. And in Luke 22, we really have
part three of the religious trial. The trial started before Annas,
the once high priest, who was really the puppet master. He
was the one behind it all. He had been the high priest and
five of his sons and one son-in-law would be the high priest. He
was really the power, not the brains, mind you, but the power
behind the operation. We saw that As that trial spun
out of control, it took a different phase as we saw last week before
Caiaphas. And so this would be the third
phase. This, if you will, is the official
phase, the only official phase. And yet the trench work is already
done. They’ve already built a case against Christ. They’ve already
arrested Him. They’ve already arraigned Him.
They’ve already accused Him. They’ve already found Him guilty.
They’ve already sentenced Him. They’ve already abused the prisoner. And so when they come this next
morning to this official trial, the work is already done. And
yet this is the third phase. And it is good for us to consider
this particular section of scripture, Luke chapter 22, and we begin
in verse 66. When it was day, the council
of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes,
and they led him away to their council chamber saying, if you
are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, if I tell
you, you will not believe. And if I ask a question, you
will not answer. But from now on, the Son of Man
will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. And they
all said, are you the Son of God then? And he said to them,
yes, I am. Then they said, what further
need do we have of testimony for we have heard it ourselves
from his own mouth. There’s always been confusion
about the nature of Christ. There were controversies throughout
church history about the nature of Christ, about his eternal
sonship. about whether he was truly God
incarnate, whether he had set aside part of his deity in coming
down to take on human flesh. There have always been misunderstandings
and even heresies surrounding Christ. There has always been
a misunderstanding of who he is and of his nature. So we find
ourselves wanting, even believers sometimes, perhaps even desiring,
longing, if we could only speak to Christ, if we could only hear
from Him, who would Jesus say that He is? And I believe that’s exactly
what we have before us in this chapter. In the midst of phase
three of the the religious trial, the only official trial, we have
Jesus essentially declaring to us three titles to identify himself
to men. And in our own day and age, we
have so much misinformation. Some would call him a prophet.
Some would say that he is a fascinating part of history. Some would say
that he was the son of God, but they wouldn’t say that he retains
that title, that he is still the eternal son of God. Many
people are confused about Christ, and the sad thing is that many
who profess Christ are confused about Christ. They don’t know
his true nature. And so, it is important for us
to look to this passage, brief as it is, these few verses that
really extol and declare the very nature of Jesus Christ Himself,
our Savior. Jesus, as I said, utilizes three
titles to very clearly identify Himself, not just to us, but
to all people, not just in this little court, 70-member Sanhedrin,
but for all time, for all people to read and understand and to
clearly know who Jesus Christ proclaimed himself to be. First, Jesus is the Christ. and first and foremost he accepted
and did not deny this title that he was the long-promised Messiah
look at verse 66 if you would when it was day the council of
the elders the council of elders of the people assembled both
chief priests and scribes and they led him away to their council
chamber saying if you are the Christ tell us now we’ve already
painted the picture there are two essentially trials that have
already taken place. The completely illicit one before
Annas. The one that became immediately
illicit before Caiaphas. Caiaphas had the right to call
a trial. He had the right to call Jesus
before himself. He had a right to examine Jesus,
but the way that he went about it was completely illegal as
we saw last Lord’s Day. And now now it has an official
feel. One of the violations that Caiaphas
made was to hold this trial at night. Now it’s the next morning
and now they can officially hold a trial. There were portions
of the Sanhedrin, perhaps not every member, but now it says
the council of the elders of the people assembled chief priests
and scribes, everybody who was anybody. They all gathered, says Matthew. And they held this consultation,
they held an official meeting of the Sanhedrin. Chief priests,
elders, scribes, the whole council. And we’ve already seen that the
elders, chief priests, the scribes, that’s what formed the ruling
body, the Sanhedrin. This is an official meeting of
the Sanhedrin. The law said that they couldn’t
meet at night. And Caiaphas knew this. Caiaphas
is still trying to save face. And so he has this second meeting
the next morning with all of the officials. Everything had
already been rehearsed in the previous trial. I’ve talked to
several lawyer friends who have had cases that for one reason
or another were declared mistrials. And they said the second time,
you really are able to polish up, but so is the defense. The
second trial is always cleaner. You can throw out arguments and
pieces of evidence, and you can leave some witnesses completely
off. And that’s exactly what you have
in this trial. You have a honed argument that
now is brought before the Sanhedrin. Only those things most important
would be repeated. And it does us no harm to see
that some of these things are repeated, some of the same questions,
some of the same lines of reasoning are repeated from this lengthy
trial before Caiaphas the night before. Matthew’s gospel tells
us that this now official Jewish court, had not only accused Jesus
already, they’d already illegitimately found him guilty, and they’d
already determined his sentence. Death. But Matthew’s gospel says
it this way. When morning came, all the chief
priests and the elders of the people conferred together against
Jesus to put him to death. They’ve already determined his
guilt. They’ve already decided his fate. Now they have to figure out how
to carry out this plan, how to actually put him to death. And
so in this formal meeting of the Sanhedrin, what they have
to do is not just pass a legal sentence of death, but now they
have to actually bring it about. This isn’t about justice anymore. Their meeting was illegal. Their
methods were illegal. Their decision was illegal. Everything
about their case was anything but justice. And so Luke continues
and records that in this particular trial, this official trial of
the Sanhedrin, they begin to interrogate Jesus all again.
And they simply ask him in verse 67. If you are the Christ, tell
us. We’ve already seen that the witnesses,
when we looked at Mark’s gospel. The witnesses that they suborned,
that they tried to manipulate. They tried to twist their arm. They tried to get any two witnesses
that could agree on a factual claim against Christ. And they
couldn’t. And it was frustrating. So frustrating
that eventually the high priest himself took matters into his
own hands and began to berate Christ verbally. And so now in
desperation, they start to make a statement that ultimately can
be used not just in their Jewish court of law, But they want something that
they can hang on Jesus before Pilate, before the Roman governor,
this long-awaited Messiah. If he claimed to be this Messiah,
the anointed one, is what it refers to, kings, were anointed, prophets
were anointed, priests were anointed. It marked a special solemn occasion
where someone was recognized for some very special office
in the Jewish realm. Ultimately, anointing was applied
as a form of hospitality. It was applied to those who were
sick and even to those who were dead. But in this particular
case, to refer to Christ as, to refer to Jesus as the Christ,
the anointed one, they knew that it meant, they knew that he knew
that it meant that they were referring to the Messiah. Are
you the anointed one? Are you the Messiah? Are you
really and truly the King? the spiritual ruler in David’s
line who was promised in the Old Testament to come and to
rule. Are you that one? Are you God’s anointed? Are you
the Messiah? Are you the prophet, the high
priest, the eternal king? Are you the everlasting one who
is going to come and save Israel? The whole purpose of this meeting, very different from that in Caiaphas’s
house the evening before. There in the dark in front of
Caiaphas, they just want to really to get a conviction there of
murder in the Jewish court. But blasphemy, which is what
they’ve already indicted him and convicted him of and sentenced
him for, Blasphemy wouldn’t hold water in Pilate’s eyes. And so they needed a charge that
would stick. They needed something that would
rise to the level of a capital offense in Pilate’s eyes. They need a charge of treason.
They need to get Jesus to acknowledge that he is indeed this insurrectionist
that they would call the Messiah. As one said it, because the Jewish
land was under the power of the Romans, the Jewish council had
no right to execute the death sentence on anyone. In a sense,
they were powerless. They really couldn’t do much. And even when they passed a sentence
of death, they had to refer it to these secular authorities. So they’ve got to formulate a
charge. They’ve got to stir Pilate. They’ve got to get Pilate on
board. They’ve got to have provide Pilate with some reason, some
charge, some accusation against Christ that’s going to stick. That’s going to prompt Pilate
to seek his death, otherwise their efforts are lost. And so
they ask him point blank, are you? The Messiah, are you the
Jewish king, are you really, truly the anointed one? Because
if that’s the case, if they can only get pilot. On that line
of reasoning, they’ve got him and they know it. And you know what, Jesus knows
that as well. And so he doesn’t immediately
answer their question, he lets it stand. But in letting it stand,
he could even in that be charged with blasphemy if it wasn’t true. Are you the Christ? Tell us. Jesus accepted the title. He did not deny the title. And
if there was ever a time to set the record straight, this is
it. He will be dead in a matter of hours, and He knows it. If
there was ever an opportunity for Him to say, look, you have
blown this whole thing way out of proportion. I’m just a prophet. I’m just a guy like you and I.
I’m just a religious teacher. If there was ever an opportunity
to set the record straight, this is it. And Jesus doesn’t. He acknowledges. In His silence,
He acknowledges that He is the Christ. He is the Anointed One. He is the Messiah of which the
Old Testament Scriptures speak. And then He declares that they
won’t believe Him anyway. They won’t believe a word that
He said. They’ve already condemned Him
for blasphemy. They’ve already found Him guilty
What does His testimony mean before this court anyway? What’s in a name? What’s in a
title? I suggested to you that Jesus
uses three titles to clearly identify Himself to people. Not
only does Jesus accept and not deny the title of the Christ,
the long-promised Messiah, Secondly, Jesus identifies Himself as the
Son of Man. He declared and did not waver
in declaring that He was the God in the flesh, the man, though
He was God in the flesh, He was man in nature and in representation. If you would, look at verse 67
again. In verse 67, they ask the question, But he said to
them, if I tell you, you will not believe. He knows their hearts. He knows their demeanor. He knows
their purpose even in having this trial. And if I ask a question,
you will not answer. On many occasions, Jesus had
boldly declared his divine identity, his divine mission, his divine
purpose to these very men. They remained willfully blind.
On many occasions, in the midst of some tense interaction with
these Jewish leaders, Jesus would attempt to reason from the Old
Testament scriptures and would pose a question to them. Granted,
that as Jesus Christ is the very source of inspiration for the
written word, Jesus’ questions were indeed profound. Some real
head-scratchers, right? Jesus’ questions were indeed
profound, but they were so deep that again, they would refuse
to even attempt an answer at some of the questions that Jesus
proposed. What he said was true. Even in the course of this trial,
if what I said is true, why do you strike me? They wouldn’t
answer. They didn’t need to answer him. He was the prisoner, remember?
He was supposed to answer their question. Look at verse 69. If I tell you, you will not believe.
If I ask you a question, you will not answer. But from now
on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power
of God. And in so doing, He declares without any wavering at all that
He is indeed God in the flesh, God incarnate. He has taken on
man’s nature and He fully stands ready to represent man’s nature. This title, this title, the Son
of Man, was a title, this is the title that Jesus uses primarily
for himself. I mean, Jesus primarily uses
this of himself. The only other one outside of
the Gospels that uses it was Stephen. But it’s the title that
Jesus most often uses to describe himself. It’s a favorite way
of identifying himself. You might even say that it’s
his self-proclamation, it’s his self-designation, it’s his self-identity. It’s not only the way that Jesus
sees himself, it’s the way that he desires to present himself,
it’s the way that he desires to be seen and understood. He wants to be known as the Son
of Man. In the Gospels, all four of the
Gospels, Jesus is recorded as using this phrase over and over
again, 30 times in Matthew’s Gospel, 12 times in John’s Gospel. Sometimes people want to look
back into the Old Testament and try and discover some significance,
some tie-in, because the phrase is used in the Old Testament,
the Son of Man. In the Psalms, it’s used really
as the equivalent of the ideal man, the son of man. In other
words, a person. Those particular settings aren’t
really appropriate to apply to Christ. In Ezekiel, though, the
son of man is used by the prophet Ezekiel 80 times. And that’s
what has led a lot of people to try and read into Ezekiel
you know, that he’s referring to Christ in so many different
cases. So often, that title, Son of Man, is referring to Ezekiel. And it’s referring to mankind
or human limitations, our weaknesses, our feebleness, even incompetence. Well, that doesn’t hardly refer
to Christ. It’s used in Daniel as well,
and those, I don’t believe, refer to Christ either. And so because
of that, there has always been this perceived problem of associating Jesus and his use of the Son of Man
with any kind of equivalence with the Messiah. Is the Messiah
really and truly the Son of Man? As we’ve seen Throughout our
study of the Gospel of John, the nation of Israel would have
welcomed an earthly king. Had Jesus only come in and said,
gather your swords, get some horses, bring some clubs, we’re
going to go take over the Romans, follow me. They would have charged
up the hill with that kind of a savior, that kind of a messiah.
That’s what they wanted as a conquering king. They might have embraced someone
who even called himself the Anointed One, and they had done this for
years. For centuries, they had followed
those who professed to be the Christ. But the Son of Man? That wasn’t a title they were
ready for. That wasn’t an individual that
they were waiting for. It wasn’t a title by which the
Messiah, as they understood Him, was going to be identified. This title points to one who’s
a man. He’s a son of man. He’s like us. He has man’s nature. He’s nothing more than like us. That’s exactly what the title
points to. It points to the fact that Jesus Christ is our representative. Jesus Christ took on our nature. but to the Jewish religious elite. That whole understanding would
have been a real problem. One commentator put it, the idea
of a weak and suffering Messiah was unwelcome to the Jews, and
therefore a name which emphasized weakness was not a favorite one,
but the very reason which induced them to avoid the title induced
our Lord to take it. It expressed his Messiahship
definitely enough for his purpose. Remember, Jesus Christ is the
suffering servant of Isaiah. So in other words, the very reason
Jesus selected this title, Son of Man, is because it spoke of
his humanity. It spoke of his deity at the
same time. It was the link between heaven
and earth. It is the representation before
God of man. and of God to man. Jesus Christ
was that man. He is the son of man. And so
for Jesus Christ to refer to himself, to designate himself
as the son of man is to identify with the whole human race in
the most significant way that his kingdom would not be one
of might and power and conquering But it would be one that empathizes
with human weaknesses, our failings, our need of a savior. And in this one phrase, all humanity
really is gathered up. Under the Lord Jesus Christ,
the son of man. Because just as Adam was our
representative in the garden. And back to whom can be traced
our sinful nature, remember? The result of Adam’s fall in
the garden was that we would be inherently sinful, temporally
vexed, physically dying, spiritually dead. All of that directly traces
to Adam as our representative. But Jesus Christ is our representative
before God in redemption. Paul speaks of this when he refers
to what he calls the second Adam, 1 Corinthians 15. The first Adam
became a living being, the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. Just as God breathed life into
Adam and he became a living being, so Christ breathes life into
those who are dead, spiritually speaking. He says the same thing
in Romans 5. Death reigned from Adam to Moses. Even those who were sinning was
not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of him who
was to come. In other words, the second Adam. So this son of man relates Christ
not just to a single family. It’s not just that he was alleged
to be the son of Joseph and Mary. Not even to the entire Jewish
nation would this title tie him, but to the entire family of humanity
in general. Jesus Christ is our representative. Jesus Christ is the Son of Man. And Jesus says of Himself in
this regard, look at verse 69. From now on, the Son of Man will
be seated at the right hand of the power of God. He takes opportunity
to proclaim, even now, He’s on trial. He’s been accused. He’s been found guilty. He’s
already been sentenced. He knows that he’s going to die.
And yet he looks forward to eternity future, which for him will begin
in just a matter of hours. And he says that this son of
man, that he himself as the Messiah will be seated at the right hand
of the power of God. This is an echo of Psalm 110.
The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my feet until I make your
enemies a footstool for your feet. Jesus Christ is telling
his accusers, he’s telling those who have found him guilty, he’s
telling his earthly judges, in just a matter of hours, the role
is going to be completely reversed. And I will be your eternal judge. He tells them that he is the
very person to whom prophecy pointed. And even though he stood
there before them, really and truly condemned, in short order, he would be exalted
to the highest position imaginable. He would be at the very right
hand of God. Jesus isn’t finished. What’s in a name? I told you
that Jesus utilizes three titles to clearly identify himself to
man. Not only does he accept and not
deny the fact that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the long
promised Messiah. He is the son of man. He declared
without any wavering that he was God in the flesh and man
in nature. But he declares thirdly that
he is the Son of God. And he affirms and does not deny
when he’s asked that he was deity who was destined to reign at
the Father’s right hand, even as he’s already suggested. If
you would, look at verse 70. And they all said, are you then
the Son of God? Because this would not only If
he if he fell into this trap and was willing to answer this
question, not only would he be guilty before a Jewish court
of blasphemy, but he would be guilty before a secular court
of madness and insurrection. Are you then the son of God? And he said to them, yes. I am. Without any pause, without any
denial, without any equivocation, without any question, He declares
Himself to be the Son of God. Speaking of the Son of Man, the
Jews knew that He was talking about Himself, but they wanted
to pin Him down. They wanted to not only eke out
a charge of blasphemy from him. They wanted to draw a charge
of insurrection, a charge worthy of death in the Roman courts. And his enemies ask him point
blank if he’s the son of God. They didn’t really know who Jesus
was. They didn’t really know who the
son of God was. They didn’t really understand
even that terminology. But you know who did? The devil. The devil knew. When the devil
confronted Christ, the devil challenged Christ as
the Son of God. The demons knew. The demons came
out of their demon possessed bodies articulating Him as the
Son of God. And yet these religious elite,
with Jesus Christ standing in front of them, didn’t know who
He was and didn’t know whether He was indeed the Son of God. He was the incarnate Word. He
was the Messiah. He was God in the flesh. He was
indeed the Son of God. The whole purpose was simple,
to formulate this charge worthy of death, the capital charge.
In Jewish law, they’d already done that. But to get a charge
that would draw the attention of the Roman government, nothing
could be more effective than being some kind of fanatical
crazy man that was sure to seduce the ignorant people of the land. And so their assessment of this
charge is really simple, isn’t it? As soon as he agrees to them
and assents to this title, that he was indeed the son of God,
Verse 71, then they said, what further need do we have of testimony? We’ve heard it ourself from His
own mouth. Three little titles, three little
designations. Jesus is the Christ, a title
which He accepted, did not deny, the long-promised Messiah. Jesus
is the Son of Man, He declares it without wavering. Jesus is
the Son of God. He affirmed it without denying
that he was indeed deity destined to reign at the Father’s right
hand. You know what’s amazing? There was no vagueness, no uncertainty,
no question. It was enough for the Sanhedrin.
My question is, is it enough for you? We live in a day and
age where people are just flat bewildered about who Jesus is.
They count him as a historical figure. And in some sense, they
would even say that he is indeed the Savior. That part is, you
know, we’re eager to embrace that part. He is Almighty God
who has existed from eternity past. He is the co-creator of
everything that exists. He sat in session with God the
Father and the Holy Spirit in eternity past in a little meeting
that we often refer to as the covenant of grace, where upon
Looking at the fall of humanity as God looked into history and
saw the fall of Adam and Eve, came up with a plan of redemption,
effected a plan of redemption that included even himself. As God’s son coming and taking
on human flesh. that He would be the Messiah,
that He would be the Son of Man, that He would stand before God,
pay the penalty of sinners, and have God embrace and receive
that penalty in full for you and for me. Now, for the Sanhedrin, that
was enough to find Him guilty. Is it enough to convince you
of the verity of who Christ was, that he was the and the only
Messiah, that he was the and the only Son of Man, he was the
and the only Son of God? Examine your hearts before him,
would you? Our merciful King, Jesus Christ, desired that even
these accusers, even these false men with all their false methods
might know who he was. And so he stands before them
with all boldness and declares clearly who he was from all eternity. The Messiah. The representation
of mankind before God and God before men. The very son of God
that. Not only has reigned. But now is reigning and will
reign throughout all eternity. Father God, if there are any
who do not know this Jesus. Lord, may today be the day where
you bring them to repentance and to faith in a savior. Who
came to pay the penalty of sinners? Lord Jesus, may this be the day
of salvation. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.