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62 And the high priest arose and said to Him, "Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?" 63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, "I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!" 64 Jesus said to him, "It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." 65 Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! 66 What do you think?" They answered and said, "He is deserving of death." 67 Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, 68 saying, "Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?" ~ Matthew 26:62-68
Today, we return to our study of Matthew 26. It was the last Friday for the Lord Jesus on this earth as the Son of Man. The stage had been set for Him to be put on trial. This trial will have six different parts: three in front of the Jewish religious leaders and three in front of the Roman political leaders. The first three Jewish trials happened between the hours of 1:00 and 5:00 in the early morning under the cloak of darkness.
In v.62-63 of today's passage we read, "62 And the high priest arose and said to Him, 'Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?' 63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, 'I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!'"
It is important that the Lord Jesus remained silent before His accusers. He did this in order to fulfill the prophecy of the silent Lamb found in Isaiah 53. In addition, the Lord Jesus remained silent because the burden of proof was upon His accusers, and as we will see, they had no case against Him. There was no justice in any of these trials. This entire process was completely illegal due to the fact that the Jewish writings known as the Mishnah outlined eighteen rules to be employed at a trial of a capital case. These so-called leaders broke many of these rules.
The very first rule of the Mishnah stated, "There shall be no trial for a capital offense held at night." The accusers of the Lord Jesus were supposed to wait till the next morning, even if the offense was known at night. The third rule in the Mishnah states, "It can never be done in private, it has to be done in the open, in a public place." They obviously broke this rule due to the fact that these first three trials took place in the cloak of darkness underscoring who was directing the actions of these religious leaders. And finally, the twelfth rule of the Mishnah states, "No high priest shall interrogate the prisoner." Not only did Caiaphas accuse and question the Lord Jesus, so did Annas. Both were High Priests.
In John 18 we are told the Lord Jesus was first taken to the house of Annas, the high priest. From there He was taken to Caiaphas, perhaps right next door where the Sanhedrin was gathered to question Him further. High priests were installed and removed by Roman rulers at that time. Rome had deposed Annas and made Caiaphas the high priest. So, officially, Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas, was high priest during Jesus’ ministry, but Annas, the former high priest, still held significant sway and was still called a high priest. From there the Lord Jesus was hauled before the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish legislative, judicial, and administrative council in Israel. The Sanhedrin managed in all of their religious blindness to go through with all three illegal Jewish trials ending with them violating the sixth commandment which reads, "Thou shalt not murder."
In v.64 of today's passage we read, "Jesus said to him, 'It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.'"
The Lord Jesus referred to Himself as "the Son of man," a messianic title found in the book of Daniel. He also claimed to have "the right to sit on the right hand of the power of God," a clear reference to Psalm 110:1 which reads, "The Lord says to my lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." Seated at the right hand of the Father is the place of honor, authority, and power. By claiming this honor, the Lord Jesus was claiming to be God.
In v.65-68 of today's passage we read, "65 Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, 'He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! 66 What do you think?' They answered and said, 'He is deserving of death.' 67 Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, 68 saying, 'Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?"'
The religious leaders of Israel failed to provide the Lord Jesus a proper and legal trial. This is why they resorted to their theatrics. At that point they accused the Lord Jesus of "blasphemy." During these three trials these leaders revealed their hatred for the truth resulting in physical abuse and mockery. For those who know they are losing the argument, they resort to feeding the flesh not the Spirit. As a result they yell and turn up the volume. In this we see who was being defined by the truth.
Though He was on trial, the Lord Jesus was actually the Judge. The scene serves as a foreshadowing of the final judgment to come, where those who mocked the Lord Jesus will stand guilty before Him. It was the Lord Jesus' love for His Father that enabled Him to come to this earth and to die for the sin of languishing mankind. Like the Lord Jesus, as we grow in our love for God, we will be set free from the hatred and insults of others. As this happens, we will find ourselves increasingly being defined by the God of truth. And, the more we grow in our understanding of God's love for us, we will grow in our love for God and His Word.
