Judas Hangs Himself
Matthew 27:3-10 and Acts 1:18-19
About 6:00 am Friday morning, the fifteenth of Nisan

Judas Hangs Himself DIG: What did Judas do with the thirty pieces of silver? What did the Sadducees do with it? How was it a fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy? Did death relieve Judas’ guilt? How does the Matthew account dovetail with the Acts account of Judas’ suicide?

REFLECT: Both Peter and Judas caved in under pressure, yet history has treated them very differently. Why? What is the effect of the suicide of an unsaved person? What is the difference between remorse and repentance? Is there any sin that you can commit that cannot be forgiven by the blood of Christ?

Judas clutched at the messenger’s robe. The little man asked to see Caiaphas at once. The messenger gave the betrayer the back of his hand. The high priest, he shouted, was too busy to spend time with crazy people. Judas’ deceitful eyes saw a knot of people gathering around him and the messenger. The apostate apostle was certain they were all trying to stop him from explaining how this trivial matter had gotten out of control.

He swallowed and determined to try to speak softly. What he wanted to say amounted to breast-beating remorse, but his voice was so subdued and shaky that no one could grasp a word he was saying and people started to laugh. The messenger laughed too, and then he broke through the little ring of people to deliver the messages to Caiaphas who seemed preoccupied. Judas, still whispering hoarsely, begged him to please stop and listen. When the messenger jogged away, the betrayer threatened to return the thirty pieces of silver. Then the high priest, as a matter of justice, would have to return the prisoner. This, he mumbled to himself, was simply a matter of justice or lack thereof.

When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse (Matthew 27:3a). But his remorse was not repentance of sin. Mattityahu did not use the Greek word metanoeo, which means a genuine change of mind and will, but metamelomai, which merely points to regret or sorrow. The betrayer did not experience spiritual repentance, but only emotional remorse. Even though he would not repent of his sin, he could not escape the reality of his guilt. Genuine sorrow for sin (metamelomai) can be prompted by God the Holy Spirit in order to produce repentance (metanoeo) as Rabbi Sha’ul states in Second Corinthians 7:10. But, Judas’ regret and sorrow only led to guilt and despair.

The words that Christ had spoken to him in the garden of Gethsemane: Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss (Luke 22:48)? must have burnt a hole into his soul. He decided to return the thirty pieces of silver to the Sadducees in the Temple (Matthew 27:3b). The word for Temple here is the Greek word naos, or the sanctuary itself, and not hieron, for the Temple Mount. Once the sin had been committed, all the glamour or supposed justification passed away quickly and only the naked reality remained. Jesus was condemned to be crucified. As Judas watched the Master being carried away to Pilate, the full enormity of his treachery finally began to dawn on him as he realized the Jewish leaders fully intended to put Yeshua to death.¹⁵³⁶

The people in front of his eyes diffused into vague forms and melted against the whiteness of the marble columns in the Royal Stoa. He was alone again. He clutched at his neck and then he began running. Reaching the Court of the Gentiles, he raced north toward the Sanctuary. He ran through the crowds of worshipers with remarkable agility, and he ducked and skidded and jarred people without a second thought or apology.

When Judas reached the Court of the Priests, he turned into the inner room of the offerings. Several of the Sadducees were there holding a discussion. They knew Judas, because these were the men who had paid him. When they saw him, they were dumbfounded as he approached bowing and groveling and rubbing his hands together and smiling. He had come to ask a favor and he did not want to alienate them, so he pretended not to notice their aloofness.

Judas wet his lips and was determined that he would not shout. He cleared his throat and with forced sweetness, said, “I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4a). Evidently the money was a continual reminder of His sin. This was not true repentance, but remorse and regret for the consequences of his actions. Peter also failed Messiah with his three denials. Yet, he even with that terrible sin he truly repented and was ultimately restored (to see link click Mn – Jesus Reinstates Peter).¹⁵³⁷  For Judas, however, the roads, the streets, people’s faces all seemed to condemn him. He always felt it, and he imagined it until his whole being was on fire. He tried to give the blood money back to the chief priests who served under the high priest Caiaphas, but they were unsympathetic.

The Sadducees looked at each other and then back at the traitor. They couldn’t be less sympathetic for this little man. The high priest had negotiated for the deliverance of the Nazarene, and had paid for it. They had been ordered to pay the traitor thirty pieces of silver out of the Temple treasury and they had done it. There had been witnesses to the transaction. What more did he want? “What do we care?” the ranking one among them said, “That’s your problem” (Matthew 27:4b NLT). His only reward would be infamy.

Judas’ mouth opened to speak, and then it closed. The shock of their words was beyond bearing. Didn’t they understand? The whole arrangement was a mistake. He tried to speak to them again, but they were in an animated conversation and they had work to do to get ready for the Chagigah offering at 9:00 am. Judas wanted to cry, but the tears of remorse just would not come.

He stood, wild-eyed, mouth open, staring at the Sadducees. His thoughts, imprisoned in the confused brain of the false apostle, kept racing around in circles. It was then that he realized, without a shadow of a doubt, that what they had meant was that the entire matter was out of their hands. They were not going to lift a finger to save this troublemaking rabbi, and if Judas had, as he protested, betrayed innocent blood, then it was his crime, and not theirs.

Judas stood indecisively for a moment. Then he made a decision. He could correct the misunderstanding by returning the money. In his twisted mind, if he accepted nothing for the betrayal, then it was no longer betrayal. The Torah said that no deal was complete until each of the parties had full possession of the merchandise. Well, Caiaphas had Jesus. But Judas would nullify the agreement by returning the money.

Yes, that would do it!

He reached into his outer robe and untied the long leather strings around his money apron, and pulled it out. The priests paused for a moment to watch him. Then, nervously, Judas counted out thirty silver coins. Then, not being certain whether he was perhaps returning thirty-one, he counted them again. He had thirty. In utter desperation and frustration Judas defiantly threw the money into the holy place (Greek: naso) and left (Mattityahu 27:5a). The music of the money rang through the big room and the coins danced and spun and rolled in slower and slower circles until they came to rest on the floor. Then Judas turned, apron in hand, leather strings flying behind him, and ran. Heaven and earth had vanished. Judas was so totally trapped in the darkness and corruption of sin that he became a willing instrument of the Adversary. He had totally renounced Christ. Satan controlled him. There was no escape, no help, no counsel, or hope anywhere. Therefore, Judas rushed out from the Temple.

Because the Sadducees were forced to take back the silver coins, they had to devise a way to dispose of it. They picked up the coins and said: It is against the Torah to put this into the treasury. Since the money was blood money, it was contaminated and abhorrent to ADONAI (compare Deuteronomy 23:18). Accordingly, it could not be deposited into the Temple treasury, the place from which it had presumably it had come. This much the Sadducees would admit, though they were quite oblivious to their own complicity.¹⁵³⁸  Evidently the pious hypocrites had convinced themselves that the ends justified the means when it came to turning Jesus over to the Romans. And yet they were pious about using this money! It was blood money in the truest sense of the phrase (Matthew 27:6).

But by stating it was blood money they condemned themselves out of their own mouths. By definition, blood money referred to money illegitimately paid and received to falsely convict a man of a crime that led to his execution. So at the height of hypocrisy the Sadducees had no problem about taking money out of the Temple treasury to pay for Judas to betray Jesus, but now they had reservations about putting it back. In doing so, they testified to the world of their guilt. It is fascinating to notice how callous and unfeeling they were about their crime, in contrast to the crushing agony of the betrayer that drove him to kill himself in a futile attempt to pacify his guilt.

So, in order to soothe their consciences, they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners. This field was where potters had collected clay to use in their trade. Perhaps the clay was depleted and the field was available for a cheap price. The religious leaders may have reasoned that they would use the blood money to buy a defiled and useless field in which to bury defiled foreigners, or Gentiles. Or the field may have been used to bury any traveler who died while visiting Jerusalem, especially those who were indigent.¹⁵³⁹  But it was bought with blood money. That’s why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day (Mt 27:7-8). Therefore, Judas did not personally buy the potter’s field, but he did so indirectly. The Sadducees actually bought the Field of Blood with the payment he received for his wickedness (Acts 1:18a).

In an effort to soothe his guilt Judas then went away and hanged himself (Matthew 27:5b). As Judas ran out of the Temple his lungs burned and cried out for air, but he did not stop. He went south through the wealthy residential section of the Upper City, then through the Lower City, little legs flying, eyes bugged out like those of one who does not see, and to families out for a holy day morning stroll he was a comical figure. Some called out as he passed, but Judas heard nothing.

When he reached the broad white Roman steps, Judas hurried across them, skipping so the he would not fall, and then ran through the tall cypresses pointing green apostrophes at the sky. Instead of breath, little cries came from his mouth. He ran as far as the inside of the wall, and then, like an animal looking for an exit, he turned right and ran to the west. When he came to the gate leading to Bethlehem, a sea of people were coming in, and Judas swam the tide with his legs churning and his arms flailing.

Outside the wall, he ran along the little path that hung over the Valley of Hinnom. The little field he had helped to buy lay directly across from him, but Judas did not know; nor would he have wanted to know. Now he was slowed to a walk, because the path clung to the wall and hung over the edge of nothing. Far below were the jagged chunks of rock left over from the building of the wall.

Judas walked carefully along until he came to a lonely fig tree. It grew out from the path and hung its spring leaves over the valley. The traitor placed his foot against the tree trunk and pushed violently. The tree barely shook. He breathed hard – painfully hard. He looked around for something, but could not find anything to assist him. Then he looked at the money belt in his hand and crept up the small trunk until he found a strong branch. Judas leaned out and tried to rock the branch. It moved slightly.

He leaned out, straddling the branch, and tied the thick leather belt to it. It was the money belt that had carried those thirty pieces of silver. Then he took the other string, on the far side of the apron, and tied it securely around his neck. Judas made several knots behind his ear and then slowly, carefully, he crept off the branch.

The little man clung to the wood with both hands for a moment. He was now quite calm and collected. Finally, he was at ease with his decision, foolishly thinking he could escape his pain. Then he released one hand . . . and then the other . . . and fell into eternity. It was done. Judas dropped a few feet and swung back and forth like a lazy pendulum. The branch creaked as he swung. After a few seconds, he reached up to the leather belt and tried to grasp it and lift himself up. His mouth opened and contorted, but no sound came out. His legs convulsed and drew themselves up, almost to his chest. He made one more attempt to pull himself up, and then his hands fell back and settled by his side and he swung back and forth in a wide arc. He was the first of the Twelve to die, and he died before his Master.¹⁵⁴⁰

It was early morning. At that moment, the sky lighted up and the darkness changed to bands of yellows and unbelievable pink. The colors became diffused and spread over the dome of the sky until, at last, the Levite on the highest pinnacle of the Temple could sound his shofar and Yerushalayim began to awaken.

It was the first day of the Passover and according to Jewish law if there was a dead body hanging in Jerusalem then the whole city was considered defiled and the morning offering could not be celebrated. But since the body hung in the Valley of ben Hinnom, the City of David was considered cleansed and the celebration of the Passover could begin. They could return later and recover the body for burial.

Consequently, the betrayer’s body hung there until the sun set on Passover. However, the festivals of Unleavened Bread and Pesach together lasted for seven days (Exodus 12:19). No one would dare touch his body during that time for fear of defilement. Heaven only knows how long he hung there that week, but ultimately the weight of his body broke whatever branch he hung on and he fell headlong down the steep cliffs onto the jagged rocks of the Valley of Hinnom below. His body burst open and all his intestines spilled out (Acts 1:18b).¹⁵⁴¹  Death, however, did not relieve his guilt. It only made it permanent. As the Savior of Sinners repeatedly declared, hell is a place of eternal torment, of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12, 13:42 and 50, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30). And eternity is a long time.

Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, the Field of Blood (Acts 1:19). The location of that field is unknown, but traditionally it is believed to be near the Greek Orthodox Church and Covenant of Saint Oniprius, where the Valley of Hinnom joins the Kidron Valley, southwest of the City.

In classic Jewish fashion, Matthew combines a number of prophetic passages and puts them under the heading of the main scroll, or Jeremiah.¹⁵⁴² Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Isra’el, and they used them to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me” (Mattityahu 27:9-10). While Zechariah specifically mentions the purchase price (Zechariah 11:12-13), it was Jeremiah that dealt with the purchase of the field. So when Matthew talks about the field of blood or the potter’s field, he was building upon what Jeremiah had already written (see my commentary on Jeremiah Cz – Judah is Like a Broken Jar).

In his third symbolic action, ADONAI told Jeremiah to buy a jar and take the elders of the people (civil leaders) and the elders of the priests (religious leaders) to the Valley of Ben Hinnom. Earlier Jeremiah had told them that the Valley of Ben Hinnom would be renamed the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room (Jeremiah 7:30-34). It was there that the Israelites practiced child sacrifice, burning their sons and daughters in the fire (2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chronicles 33:6; Jeremiah 19:5). The origin of the word Topheth (topet) is uncertain, but possibly it came from a word for oven. But there was a deliberate change in vowels where the vowels from the word shame (boset) were transferred to Topheth to emphasize the shameful character of the practices there. These high places of idol worship were located in the Valley of Ben Hinnom. Over the centuries Topheth became known as the potter’s field.¹⁵⁴³

When Jeremiah broke that jar in front of the Jewish leadership, he was, in effect, prophesying what would happen to Isra’el. Jerusalem and the Jews were to become as broken as that jar – and once broken it couldn’t be repaired. Thus, there was a curse put on Topeth. For they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room (Jeremiah 19:11). But little did they know that when the Sadducees bought the potters field, they bought Topheth and the curse that went along with it. And that is exactly what happened. The curse was fulfilled when the Romans came and destroyed the City and the Temple (see Mt – The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD).

Jeremiah went on to say: In this place (Topheth, or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, or the Valley of Slaughter) I will ruin the plans of Judah and Jerusalem (Jeremiah 19:7). How were the plans of Judah and Jerusalem ruined when the chief priests picked up the thirty silver coins and bought the potter’s field? From the time the Pharisees attributed the miracles of Messiah to Satan they began to plan to kill Him (John 10:25-30, 11:45-53; Matthew 26:3-5; Mark 14:1-2, 10-11; Luke 22:1-6). Therefore, in the context of the B’rit Chadashah, the Great Sanhedrin, comprised of the leadership of Isra’el, was planning to have Jesus executed. Part of that planning included the payment of the thirty silver coins to Judas. Later, the same thirty silver coins were used to buy the potter’s field. Caiaphas, Annas and the rest of the Jewish leadership thought they had gotten rid of the troublemaking Rabbi and all the problems he was causing them.

The curse of Topheth was fulfilled in two stages. We know this because Matthew 27:9 declares: Then what was spoken of by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled.

The first stage was the destruction of Solomon’s Temple, Jerusalem and Judah (see my commentary on Jeremiah Gb – The Destruction of Solomon’s Temple on Tisha B’Av in 586 BC) and the subsequent Babylonian Captivity (see my commentary on Jeremiah Gu – Seventy Years of Imperial Babylonian Rule), and the second stage was the destruction of Herod’s Temple, Yerushalayim and Judah by the Romans and the subsequent diaspora.

The first destruction by the Babylonians was the result of spiritual adultery (see my commentary on Jeremiah At – Unfaithful Isra’el) and a refusal to listen to the message of God’s prophets about repenting, and the second destruction by the Romans was a result of the rejection of Yeshua Ha’Meshiach on the basis of the Oral Law (see Ei – The Oral Law) and the decision of the Great Sanhedrin (see Lg – The Great Sanhedrin).

No one could be more evil than Judas Iscariot. Only eleven other men in all of history have had the intimate, personal relationship he had with the Son of God. No one has ever been exposed to ADONAI’s perfect truth, both in precept and example. No one has ever been more exposed firsthand to God’s love, compassion, power, kindness, forgiveness and grace. No one has had more evidence of Yeshua’s deity or more firsthand knowledge of the way to salvation. Yet in all of those remarkable three-and-a-half blessed years with the Truth, Judas didn’t take so much as the first step of faith.

In a way that defies comprehension, Judas persistently resisted and rejected God’s truth, God’s grace, and even God’s own Son. We cannot understand how he managed to completely conceal his wicked rebellion from everyone but Christ. His hypocrisy was so complete and deceptive that even when Jesus predicted that one of the apostles would betray Him, Judas was not even suspected.¹⁵⁴⁴

Jesus Formally Condemned
by the Sanhedrin in the Royal Stoa
Matthew 27:1; Mark 15:1a; Luke 22:66-71
About 4:30 am Friday morning, the fifteenth of Nisan

Jesus formally condemned by the Sanhedrin in the Royal Stoa DIG: What is ironic about the Temple choir singing Psalm 93 on this particular day? How is the concern of the elders and priests in Luke 22:67-70 different from the concern that they bring to Pilate in Luke 23:2? How many laws of the Great Sanhedrin were violated when Jesus was condemned in the Royal Stoa?

REFLECT: What is the most disturbing aspect of this illegal trial to you? Have you ever personally been unable to prevent an injustice? How does that make you feel? Have you ever had a group of people plot to do you harm? How did it make you feel?

The Great Sanhedrin (to see link click Lg – The Great Sanhedrin) had previously met in the Hall of Polished Stones, which was located in the southwestern corner of the Temple. But in 30 AD their location changed to the eastern end of the Royal Stoa. The place where the Sanhedrin met was adjacent to where the ancient serpent had, some three-and-a-half years before, attempted to murder the Holy One by tempting Him to jump from its height (see Bj – Jesus is Tempted in the Wilderness). The dizzying vantage point from the southeast corner of the Temple Mount was said by Josephus to drop some 450 feet to the valley below. And according to early tradition, James, the brother of Yeshua and the head of the Yerushalayim congregation, would later be martyred by being thrown from there because he would not renounce his faith. It was an ominous place.

Singing at the Temple: From the Talmund Tractate thamid we know exactly which Psalm would have been sung on which day of the week in connection with the daily burnt offering in the Temple. It is stunning how closely each of the Psalms coincides with the singing of these daily readings. It was Pesach. On this day the Temple choir sang Psalm 93. It deals with ADONAI’s royal rule on His throne with majesty and strength. Messiah referred to this throne before the Sanhedrin in the Royal Stoa, when He said: the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of ha-G’vurah, the mighty God (Luke 22:69). The trial against the Prince of Life was simply a mockery in which the result had already been determined right from the start. Through this, the holiness of ADONAI was trampled on. How solemn it was as the choir sang at the daily burnt offering on this day:

ADONAI is King, robed in majesty. ADONAI is robed, girded with strength. The world is well established; it cannot be moved. Your throne was established long ago; You have existed forever. ADONAI, the sea is raising up, the sea is raising up its voice, the sea is raising up its crashing waves. More than the sound of rushing waters or the mighty breakers of the sea, ADONAI on high is mighty. Your instructions are very sure; holiness adorns Your house, ADONAI, for all time to come (Psalm 93 CJB).

Very early in the morning, probably around 4:30 am, all the Sadducees (at least a quorum of the Great Sanhedrin) and the Torah-teachers made their plans how to have the Son of God executed (Matthew 27:1; Mark 15:1a). Those plans violated rule 8 that held all could argue in favor of acquittal, but all could not argue in favor of conviction, and also rule 15 that said the verdict could not be announced at night, only in the daytime (see Lh – The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials).

No longer bound, Jesus was led inside before them and held, standing between the facing rows. His Father was being worshiped without ceasing in the Sanctuary. Many Jews who believed in Him walked on Solomon’s colonnade by the candlelight, the sun not yet risen.  Most likely some were wondering if Yeshua would come to the Temple that day to teach and heal. But to the Sanhedrin, standing in their midst, He was a dangerous creature that needed to be exterminated quickly and quietly to make the Land safe for Ha’Shem.

When Jesus saw the members of the Jewish Supreme Court file in, slowly and solemnly, glancing fleetingly at Him, and then edge into their seats, the Son of God straightened up and looked directly at them. When all had been seated Caiaphas made his entrance and began pressing the prisoner with the most important charge of blasphemy. If you are the Messiah, he said: tell us (Luke 22:66-67). Once again, this violated rule number 10, there was to be no allowance for the accused to testify against himself. The stated reason for Christ being put on trial was blasphemy; but the real reason was His refusal to follow the Oral Law (see Ei – The Oral Law). There were 21 rules of the Great Sanhedrin regarding trails and in their zeal to kill Jesus they broke every one of them on the fifteenth of Nisan.

Jesus answered: If I tell you, you will not believe me, and if I asked you, you would not answer. Talking to them was useless. But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God (Luke 22:68-69). The Son of Man was about to end His earthly ministry and suffer death, but He was about to enter into His glory (Luke 24:26; Acts 3:13). The present imagery combines Psalm 110:1 (right hand) and Dani’el 7:13 (Son of Man). He plainly told the Sanhedrin that He was the Son of God. Stephen saw the fulfillment of this prophecy in Acts 7:54.¹⁵²⁸

They all asked, “Are you then the Son of God?” He replied: You say that I AM. Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? We have heard it from his own lips” (Luke 22:70-71). Those actions violated rule 18 that said a unanimous decision for guilt showed innocence since it was impossible for 71 men to agree without plotting, and rule 19 which held the sentence could only be pronounced three days after the guilty verdict (see Lh – The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials).

Now they needed to vote, individually and formally, to certify the sentence. Ordinarily, Caiaphas said with some earnestness, it would be fitting to deliberate for another day, but one could not deliberate on the Sabbath, which would be upon them in a matter of hours. He reminded them that the prisoner was a chronic desecrator of the Sabbath, having been witnessed healing the sick, curing alleged blind people, and raising people from a stupor giving the appearance of death, all on the Sabbath. What a finer sense of justice than to kill the blasphemer just before the setting sun ushered in a particularly holy Sabbath?¹⁵²⁹

After about an hour of interrogation and debate they voted one by one. Rule 17 said voting for the death penalty had to be done by individual count beginning with the youngest so that the elders would not influence the young (see Lh –The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials). Joseph of Arimathea was not present, since we know he had not consented to their decision and action (Luke 23:50-51). Nicodemus was apparently absent, probably not having been invited because of previous sympathy with Jesus. All the rest voted for His death. We cannot be certain that the roll call began with the oldest members first, but the Sanhedrin had broken every other rule regarding trials. Why stop now? This wasn’t about justice, this was about getting rid of the thorn that had been in their sides for years. They couldn’t kill Him fast enough. Rules? What rules?

Then the written name of the accused, the charge, the finding of guilt and the sentence, along with the prisoner, would be taken to the Roman Procurator for conformation of the sentence. The Sadducees came out of the meeting room first onto the second floor of the Royal Stoa. Then came the Temple guards with Jesus in their midst. They had changed their clothes so that no one could identify them as men who worked in the Temple.

Judas stood inside the Royal Stoa and saw the excitement.  He was afraid to ask what the Sanhedrin had decided. But then again, he was afraid not to. The messengers ran off, and in minutes they were back again. The members of the Sanhedrin whispered among themselves and rudely brushed aside any questions of passing pilgrims. The betrayer stood beside one of the giant pillars in the shadows. Several times he started to ask about the verdict, but each time he lost his nerve. Finally, mustering up enough courage, he determined that he had to ask. He had to know. He wished he had remained at home in K’roit where life was uncomplicated. The little man wished with all his heart that he had not volunteered to become a talmid, for his mind worried ever since and there seemed to be no end to it.

He would just have to make Caiaphas somehow understand that he and the rest of the Sanhedrin were mistaken. Yeshua had committed no crime. He had done nothing wrong. He was as innocent of evil as the lamb they would sacrifice at the 9:00 am Chagigah offering. If he could just make the high priest understand this, Judas was sure that everything would be all right because Caiaphas was a just and honorable man, a lawgiver.

Becoming increasingly nervous, his skin felt uncomfortable. People began to notice his unusual movements. He looked wide-eyed and scary. He tugged at his chest, thighs and the back of his neck. Some looked at him with caution. Judas stared sullenly at the faces around him. Some of them seem to resemble the Master. He feared that he was losing his mind. The little man pressed his palms against his temples and ran through the crowd. He almost collided with a messenger, and paused, breathlessly, to ask what the Sanhedrin had decided. The messenger said he not time for such questions. Judas begged, saying he must know what had happened to the prophet from Galilee. “Oh, that one,” said the messenger. “He will be crucified on the tree this morning” (Acts 5:30, 10:39, 13:29; First Peter 2:24).¹⁵³⁰

The next step was to take Jesus to Pontius Pilate. The Procurator had little patience with the Jews and didn’t think they were loyal to Rome. During any of the three major festivals that he merely endured, he walked a fine line. If the Jews revolted, which they were inclined to do when they were emboldened by such large numbers, he would take the blame. But if he cracked down too hard, he could be recalled from Rome for disobeying emperor Tiberius’ decree that they be treated as a “sacred trust.”

Pilate had been procurator of Judea for three years. On the surface, his job was merely mediating between local disputes and keeping the peace, but that was easier said than done. The Jewish philosopher Philo would write that Pilate is “a man of inflexible, stubborn and cruel disposition,” and yet the Jews had already managed to outsmart him and at the same time damage his career.

Only two years previous, Caiaphas had had a test of strength with Pilate when he brought his army from Caesarea and moved it to winter quarters in Jerusalem. He took a bold step in subversion of the Jewish practices, by introducing into the city the busts of the emperor that were attached to the military standards. The Torah forbids the making of images. It was for this reason that the previous procurators, when they entered the city, used standards that had no such ornaments. Pilate was the first to bring the images into Jerusalem and set them up, doing it without the knowledge of the people, for he entered at night. But when the people discovered it, they went in a throng to Caesarea and for many days entreated him to take away the images. He refused to yield, since to do so would be an outrage to the emperor; however, since they did not cease entreating him, on the sixth day he secretly armed and placed his troops in position, while he himself came to the speaker’s stand. This had been constructed in the stadium, which provided concealment for the army that lay in wait. When the Jews began to pray for God’s help, at a pre-arranged signal he surrounded them with his soldiers and threatened to kill them if they did not put an end to their uproar and return to their own places. But they, casting themselves prostrate and baring their throats, declared that they would rather die than to violate the Torah. Pilate, astonished at the strength of their devotion to the laws, immediately removed the images from Jerusalem and brought them back to Caesarea.¹⁵³¹

Not only that, but Caiaphas also wrote a letter to emperor Tiberias detailing Pilate’s blunder. Tiberius was just livid. As the historian Philo wrote, “Immediately, without even waiting for the next day, he wrote to Pilate, criticizing and scolding him a thousand times for his new-fangled audacity.”

You would think he would have gotten the point, but things only got worse. He had the bright idea of building a new aqueduct to bring water to Jerusalem. Good idea, but he couldn’t get out of his own way. Even though he thought he was doing a good thing, he sabotaged his own effort by forcing the Temple treasury to pay for it. Understandably, the Jews were outraged about the use of “sacred funds,” and during the next festival, a small army of Jews rose up and demanded that he stop its construction. They cursed at Pilate in the streets of Jerusalem.

Adding to his reputation for cruelty, Pilate anticipated the protest and disguised hundreds of his soldiers in the clothes of Jewish pilgrims who hid their weapons in their clothes. When the crowd marched on the palace, the disguised soldiers surrounded the mob and attacked them. They beat and stabbed unarmed pilgrims. “There were a great number of them killed by this means,” the Jewish historian Josephus would later write, “and others of them ran away wounded. An end was put to the attempted overthrow of the sedition.”

The Jewish people viewed Pilate as a thug. And for good reason. Once again Josephus helps us to understand their feelings. They thought him, “spiteful and angry” and spoke of “his venality, his violence, his thefts, his assaults, his abusive behavior, his frequent executions of untried prisoners, and his endless savage cruelty.”

Yet Caiaphas was just as guilty.

The fact was that Pontius Pilate could not rule the Jewish people without the help of Joseph Caiaphas, the acting high priest and leader of the Jewish Supreme Court known as the Great Sanhedrin.

Caiaphas was a master politician and was fully aware that emperor Tiberius not only believed it important to uphold the Jewish traditions, but that he held the hotheaded Pilate on a very short leash. Yes, Pilate may have been in charge of Judea, but it was Caiaphas who oversaw the day-to-day running of Jerusalem, masking his own cruel agenda in religiosity and piety. Few Jews living in Jerusalem would have guessed that the same man who lead the rituals for the atonement for their sins, who appeared in the Temple courts during Passover and Yom Kipper wearing the most stunning ceremonial robes was a dear friend of Rome and of the immoral emperor Tiberius.

So the same man who stands in the presence of God and sees that sins are forgiven is also the high priest who does not object when Pilate loots the Temple funds. Caiaphas was also silent when Jews were massacred in the streets of Yerushalayim. He didn’t complain when Pilate forced him to return those jewel-covered ceremonial robes at the end of each festival. The procurator preferred to keep them in his custody as a reminder of who was in charge, returning them seven days prior to each festival so that they could be purified.

Prior to Joseph Caiaphas, the high priests were puppets of Rome, easily replaced for acts of disobedience. But Caiaphas, a Sadducee, had fashioned a simple yet brilliant formula for staying in power: stay out of Rome’s business.

Caiaphas helped Pilate keep his job, and in turn, Pilate helped to increase his power.

Both men understand their relationship of convenience. So while Caiaphas’ four predecessors served just one year as high priest before being removed, he had been in office twelve years – and showed no signs of slowing down. And with each passing year in power, the bond between Rome and the Temple grew stronger, even as the gap between the high priest and the working-class Jews grew even more spacious. What a pair.

It helped that Pilate and Caiaphas were more alike than they were different. Pilate was born into the wealthy equestrian class of Romans, and Caiaphas was born into a centuries-long line of wealthy Temple priests. Both men were middle-aged and married. Each likely enjoyed a glass of imported wine at the end of a long day. When Pilate left Caesarea and traveled down to Jerusalem, the two of them live a mere hundred yards apart in the well-to-do Upper City, in palaces staffed with slaves. And they both fancied themselves religious men, although they worshiped far different deities.

The last thing Pilate or Caiaphas needed was a renegade Rabbi to upset the careful balance of power – which was exactly why Caiaphas and the members of the Great Sanhedrin planned to arrest Jesus and convict Him by any means necessary.

The Pharisees had completed their second stage of interrogation and had reported back to the Great Sanhedrin. The vote had had been taken and Jesus had been found guilty. And sentenced to death. The next step is to send the criminal to Pontius Pilate to see if he would order Yeshua’s execution. This would be no small task.¹⁵³²

It was about 5:30 am and the Son of God was led out through “the Gate of Rejection” in the in order to be executed with Roman sanction outside the Holy City of David (Mark 15:1).1533  It was no accident that “the Gate of Rejection” was at the western wall to the back of the Most Holy Place. Isra’el rejected Christ, but His greatest pain would to take place later that same day during the last three hours on the cross. There, for the first and only time in all eternity, God the Father had to turn His back on the Second Person of the Trinity when Jesus became sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (Second Corinthians 5:21 NASB and First Peter 2:24).

Today, in the area of the former Gate of Rejection, is the Wailing Wall. It is the remnant of the outer supporting wall of the Temple. The first archway after the former Gate of Rejection is Wilson’s Arch.   Men pray there as well as in the open area towards the south, up to the barrier of the women’s section. Is it not ironic that it was exactly there, where about 2,000 years ago the Meshiach was thrown out of the Temple by the Jewish leadership, and where the Jewish people lament the lack of peace and the oppression of hostile nations of the world today?¹⁵³⁴

When visiting Jerusalem during Sukkot in October of 2023, just before the war broke out, I went into Wilson’s Arch and saw the thousands of volumes of the Oral Law (see Ei – The Oral Law) being studied as the Orthodox and Hasidic men were praying against the Wailing Wall inside Wilson’s Arch. To see this unique scene click here.

Back to the story, Caiaphas and his small group of Sadducees were clever men, and they knew their best chance in convincing Pilate to confirm the death penalty on the Nazarene lay in minimizing him as a religious factor. They had to make him appear to be a small, cheap religious fraud from Galilee. If Pilate guessed that this man had a huge following then all was lost, because the procurator would begin at once to play one set of Jews against another. If he could split the Jews he would soon have them at each other’s throats, and this, from the standpoint of the oppressor, would be ideal.

Thus, it worried Caiaphas to think that any schism in this matter might end up pitting the people against the Temple. In such a fight, more and more people would turn to the Lord because he could perform works of wonder and the priests could not. In time, the holy Temple would become like the pyramids of Egypt – a huge tomb. No, this had to be done!

They had to get Jesus out of the Temple Mount unnoticed. There were already about thirty thousand people on the outer court in anticipation of the Chagigah offering at 9:00 am, and if they realized that the Nazarene was being taken to Pilate’s headquarters then there could have been a riot. So they led the convict to the west end of the Royal Stoa, down the Tyropoean Valley behind the western wall of the Temple Mount to the Praetorium. To get there they would have pass by Herod Antipas’ Palace in the Upper City and people were still streaming to the Temple Mount for the celebration. What if He were recognized?

They took no chances. One of the Sadducees suggested that it would help if they brought along a crowd to shout against Jesus in the presence of Pilate. The little group of men were amazed at the simplicity of this idea. Whom could they get? Someone suggested to enlist the services of the Temple guards. Those who earned their living at the Temple should work for its preservation. It didn’t matter what they believed, or even if they believed that lie about Lazarus being raised from the dead – they would do as they were told.

Therefore is was decided to take along a large number of temple guard, who would change into their civilian clothes, and to have them shepherded by several Levites. On the march to Pilate’s headquarters on the outside of the western wall they would press closely around the prisoner so that his followers in Jerusalem could not get close to him, or even see who the prisoner was. Then, at the praetorium, the disguised Temple guard would take their cues from the priests who would lead the shouting from the entrance of the double arches.

They led the convict to Pilate’s headquarters in the middle of the road. At all times, the supposed blasphemer had many people ahead of him and on both sides and behind him. No one casually walking these roads in the gray of the morning could tell whether a prisoner was being led somewhere, or whether a group of worshipers were going around to Solomon’s Porch to enter the Temple Mount to celebrate the Chagigah offering later that morning.

With a head start directly out of the Robinson’s Arch (to the left), Caiaphas arrived at the praetorium first.  As earlier that morning, the high priest stood under the twin arches and sent a Gentile messenger in with the news that the Great Sanhedrin, in all its wisdom, had found guilty of blasphemy, one Jesus of Nazareth, who deceived the people by pretending to be king of the Jews. This man had been arrested, tried under the Torah, and condemned to death. If it pleased the procurator of his imperial majesty, Tiberius, the Great Sanhedrin asked that he, Pontius Pilate, endorse the sentence and see that it was executed this day before sunset, the coming of their Shabbat. The messenger disappeared across the courtyard pavement, up the cascading stone steps leading to the praetorium apartments, and into the presence of the procurator. It was read without comment and the messenger was told to ask the high priest to wait.

This was a rude opening move, but Caiaphas had expected it. He stood under the arches with other Sadducees and Pharisees and watched the despised Roman sentries pace their posts. He thought to himself that someday, with the help of ADONAI, the Holy City would be rid of all these defilers. The high priest sighed. If only Meshiach would come. He would drive them out! One of the Sadducees, standing outside the arches, said that the contingent was coming up the street with Jesus in tow. At almost the same moment, Pilate came out on the balcony with a staff of officers just behind him.¹⁵³⁵  It was just about 6:00 am.

The Rock Who Wept
Matthew 26:58, 69-75; Mark 14:54, 66-72;
Luke 22:54b-62; John 18:15-18 and 25-27
About 3:30 am Friday morning, the fifteenth of Nisan

The rock who wept DIG: Peter was brave enough to follow Yeshua right to the high priest’s house. What do you think Peter and John hoped to do? Why do you think Kefa disowns Jesus now? When did Peter realize what had happened? Why then? Why cry?

REFLECT: How does the story of Peter both humble and encourage you? When have you felt like Peter? When have you dealt with someone whose mind was so made up that the facts didn’t matter? How do you deal with that when it relates to your faith? What was the “rooster” in your life reminds you of failure and guilt? How did you make a comeback?

The night air was now very chilly. There was a wet wind out of the west and the guards shouldered their robes and built an open fire. They crouched around in the courtyard of Caiaphas and the glow of the coals painted their faces in brief, ruddy flicks. Then those who had arrested Jesus led Him away and took Him into the residence of Caiaphas the high priest. There all the Sadducees, Pharisees, and the Torah teachers came together (Mt 26:57; Mk 14:53; Lk 22:54a). While the trial was being held in an upper story of the high priest’s home, our attention now turns back to another important person also named Kayafa, of that fateful Passover early morning. Kefa (the same root word as Caiaphas), was still sitting outside in the courtyard.¹⁵²³

When Jesus was taken prisoner, Simon Peter and John followed Him at a distance right up to the courtyard gate (Matthew 26:58). They had followed behind the raiding party and the two of them had seen their Master disappear inside the gate. They argued if they should follow Him. Because the high priest knew John, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside at the gate. While Yeshua was at the house of Caiaphas, the young apostle knocked on the servant’s gate.

John spoke to a servant girl on duty there. She opened the gate a little way and, holding a lamp in her hand, looked at the face of Yochanan. She greeted him and he greeted her, and he was admitted without question because the high priest favorably knew John and his family. The young apostle wandered around the courtyard, trying to glean some useful information, and then he crouched by the fire with the others.

When John was certain that he was not suspect, he got up and spoke to the same girl servant and said that a friend of his was outside the gate. Yochanan said that he would vouch for his friend, and she brought Peter in (Lk 22:54b; Jn 18:15-16). She shaded her lamp and saw a barrel-chested man with wild dark hair and beard.

The first denial was simple: It was cold, so Simon Peter sat with the servants and the guards who were on duty in the courtyard warming himself by the fire. Somewhere, a rooster ruffled his feathers. The servant girl saw him seated there in the fire light. She gazed at him intently and said: This man was with that Nazarene. Kefa had tried to keep a low profile because he was so afraid. He wanted to know the fate of his Master, but he denied it before them all. Peter paused. He swallowed hard and glared at the girl in outrage. I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about: he roared, obviously hoping that any accusations would end right then and there (Mattityahu 26:69-70; Mark 14:54, 66-68; Luke 22:55-57; John 18:17-18).

The second denial was accompanied with an oath: As Simon Peter stood warming himself, the servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him once again and said, “This man was one of them.” But he denied it again, in the sense of an oath: I don’t know the man (Matthew 26:71-72; Mark 14:69-70a; Luke 22:58; John 18:25). But even an oath wasn’t enough to stop the accusations aimed at him.

Members of the Great Sanhedrin were arriving and they glanced briefly around as they walked across the courtyard. Some were old; some seemed young. Most seemed irritated from lack of sleep. They walked with dignity to the stairway of the high priest, their hands clutching both sides of their magnificent robes near the neck as befitting judges, and then they went up the stairway and inside.

Sanhedrin law number 4 said that there were to be no trials before the morning sacrifice, and some thought that Caiaphas would postpone the trial until after the 9:00 am Chagigah offering. Still, whether it was held now or later – no one was going to challenge the high priest because, in this matter, even the dreaded Pharisees were his allies. And if that was still many hours away, who was going to uphold Sanhedrin law and stand by the side of Jesus, crying, “Wait!” No one. The men around the fire heard a stir and they stood looking toward Caiaphas’ house. Temple guards were coming down the steps with lanterns and Yeshua was between them.

The third denial came with curses: After a little while, one of those standing there went up to Kefa and said: Surely you are one of them; you are a Galilean, your accent gives you away. The Galilean inability to properly pronounce the Hebrew gutturals showed that there were cultural differences between the local Judeans living in Jerusalem and those visiting from the north. These two Jewish groups were known to have differences, not only in some religious customs, but also in their dialects as well (Tractate Eruvin 53a). It was probably comparable to a Louisiana Jew, with his southern accent, visiting a Boston Jew, with his northeastern accent.¹⁵²⁴

Again, one of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, saying: Didn’t I see you with the Nazarene in the garden” (Yochanan 18:26)? Then Peter began to call down curses on himself if he was not telling the truth, and he swore to them: I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know the man (Mattityahu 26:73-74; Mark 14:70b-71; Luke 22:59-60a; Yochanan 18:27a)! The Jews had a practice of putting themselves under a curse (Acts 23:12-15). Rabbi Sha’ul called down a divine curse upon those who preached a different gospel. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse (Galatians 1:8-9). The same word for swear is the same word found in Hebrews 3:11 were God is said to swear, that is, to put Himself under an oath. Consequently, Peter declared himself to be under a divine curse if he wasn’t telling the truth. The words swear and curse are normally taken to mean a person is using profanity. But the Greek text here shows that Kefa was not guilty of that.¹⁵²⁵

Immediately, somewhere far off, a rooster stretched himself, shook his wings and crowed. The guards passed the little fire with their prisoner on their way to the Royal Stoa to be formally charged.  Jesus, in the center, turned and looked straight at Peter. The chief apostle stared stoically at the Suffering Servant in chains, and watched His back as He was led away.

Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times. And he went outside, covered his face with both hands, broke down, burst into tears, ran from the scene and wept bitterly (Matthew 26:75; Mark 14:72; Luke 22:60b-62; John 18:27b). Wept bitterly is in the imperfect, meaning he continued to weep and weep and weep. His weeping pointed not only to his grief, but also to his repentance. The next several days would be beyond difficult for Kefa . . . more like crushing. But his faith, and his leadership in the messianic movement would soon be restored (see Mn – Jesus Reinstates Peter).

The gathered members of the Sanhedrin filed out of the upper story of Caiaphas’ house. They were to meet in the Royal Stoa for a formal vote. Being roused from their sleep in the middle of the night, some felt they needed to go home first to get properly dressed. Then they would trudge up the hill in the moonlight to the Temple Mount. Then up to the second floor of the Royal Stoa.

We can all relate to Peter at some point in our lives. We have all had our moments of doubt and disappointment. So it is really encouraging to see Messiah’s mercy and love toward one of His wayward children. Would I have stood with Christ during His moment of great need? I would like to think so – we all would. But sometimes our fallen nature gets in the way of our good intentions and our halo slips. Yet, we should know that God’s great love for us remains constant even when we fail Him miserably. The real question is “where are we in our relationship with Yeshua?” His hand reaches out to us even to this day.¹⁵²⁶

Yochanan was also in the courtyard. When Kefa left to wallow in his remorse, John remained to find out what the Jewish Supreme Court would do. When word came that the miracle-working Rabbi was guilty of blasphemy, and that the judgment had been that he should die, the apostle whom Jesus loved waited long enough to get one more look at Him. Young John was close to tears as his friend was led down into the courtyard because He was bruised and dirty, with spit running down His face. Then John left. He needed wings on his young feet because there was much to do. He had to spread the tragic news among those who believed in Jesus and, sadly, he also had to run to Bethany to tell the news to Miryam, the Lord’s mother.¹⁵²⁷

Jesus Before the Sanhedrin
in the Upper Story of Caiaphas’ House
Matthew 26:57, 59-68; Mk 14:53, 55-65; Lk 22:54a, 63-65
About 2:30 am Friday morning, the fifteenth of Nisan

Jesus before the Sanhedrin DIG: Why was Jesus taken to the house of the high priest? What was the strategy of Caiaphas? Why two witnesses? What was unusual about Messiah’s defense of Himself? What does this say about His view of the proceedings? What is blasphemy? Why would the members of the Sanhedrin think Yeshua was guilty of this? Why don’t they press their case?

REFLECT: Saying nothing may allow wrongdoers to go unchallenged in their evil ways. Are you being falsely accused? If you discern that it’s futile to argue, or if your pride has been hurt, can you, like Christ, say nothing? Or, if you feel concern for the wrongdoers and want to see justice done, can you speak up?

There were, in essence, two trials, one by the Sanhedrin (to see link click Lg – The GreatSanhedrin) and the other by the Romans. Judas was not needed for the Jewish trial, only for the Roman one. The Jews had jurisdiction over the religious matters of the Jewish community and, as such, could impose a suitable punishment for any guilty party with one major exception – the death penalty. Although the Romans were generally known to respect the decisions of the conquered communities under their rule, they took control of any capital punishment crimes. Jewish capital punishment was carried out by means of stoning; while the Romans perfected death on the cross as their means of carrying out their ultimate sentence.

The most common modes of killing a condemned man in the Roman Empire were hanging, burning people alive, beheading, placing them inside a bag full of scorpions then drowning them, and crucifixion. As terrible as the first four might be, the last was considered the worst by far. So, even as crucifixion was practiced throughout the Roman Empire, even by a tetrarch such as Herod Antipas, it was a death so horrible that it was forbidden to execute a Roman citizen in such a manner.¹⁵¹⁸

Jacob had prophesied on his deathbed that the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet until He comes to whom [obedience] it belongs; and it is He whom the [Gentile nations] will obey (Genesis 49:10). So, it should come as no surprise to us that the Romans took control of the death penalty from Judah, the ability to rule as it were, from them about the same time that Jesus was born (see my commentary on Genesis Lg – The Scepter Will Not Depart from Judah Until He Comes to Whom It Belongs) – He whom the [Gentile nations] would obey.

From Annas’ residence, Yeshua was led next door the house of Caiaphas. The mock trial was held in the upper story of high priest’s house. There, all the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Torah teachers came together (Matthew 26:57; Mark 14:53; Luke 22:54a). There were 21 rules of the Great Sanhedrin regarding trails and in their zeal to kill Jesus they broke every one of them on the fifteenth of Nisan. It was still dark outside, breaking rule number 4 that said there were to be no trials before the morning sacrifice 9:00 am; and rule number 5 that said there were to be no secret trials, only public ones (see Lh –The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials).

The Sadducees and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put Him to death. But they did not find any. Though many false witnesses testified against Him their statements did not agree on essential details (Matthew 26:59-60a; Mark 14:55-56). The verbs are imperfect, showing that repeated attempts were made to bring testimony that would warrant conviction. So this broke Sanhedrin rule number 9 where there were to be two or three witnesses and their testimony had to agree in every detail for conviction; and rule number 7 that stated the defense would speak first, and only then would the accusation be made, (see Lh – The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials).

The Lamb of God stood silent. It must have seemed ironic, even to Him, to see that the Jews who actively plotted against His life numbered so few, and those Jews who believed that He was the Messiah numbered so many, yet the first group could not seem to prove a case against Him while the second didn’t lift a finger to save Him!

One by one, false witnesses came in to testify against Him. At last, however, two people (the number necessary to obtain a conviction under the Torah) came forward with a controversial claim. They stood before the Sanhedrin and brazenly lied about Jesus, spinning stories about things that He had supposedly said or done. According to them they heard this man say: I can tear down God’s Temple and build it again in three days (Mt 26:60b-61; Mk 14:57-58). So one of the false accusations against Him was that He was going to destroy the Temple (Mk 13:2; Lk 19:43-44; Jn 2:19-21). Obviously, their statements were taken out of context. Of course Yeshua made such a public statement. But He was making an allegory referring to His own death and resurrection on the third day (Jn 2:19). In addition, the integrity of the two witnesses (Deut 19:15) could be questioned, as they referred to Christ as this man, apparently a title of contempt when one wanted to avoid even the mention of a name.¹⁵¹⁹  Yet even then their testimony did not agree (Mk 14:59).

Even so, the statement is hardly blasphemy, and not a capital crime. The Pharisees, in their daily interpretations of the Torah, had been prone to far worse exaggerations. Each person in the room, with the exception of the high priest, seemed to forget that the specific charge against the prisoner was, in itself, unimportant. The primary concern was to validate that charge that would make him a criminal in the eyes of the Roman Procurator. They would have to make the case to Pilate that Jesus was a political threat to Rome. Since he claimed to be a king that would mean a new kingdom. In the absence of other evidence, that would have to do.

Caiaphas was caught. He could not prove the prisoner guilty of charge, and he could not ask the uncommitted judges to vote for conviction. It was quite possible that the majority of the judges hated the troublemaking Rabbi and feared the reaction the multitudes to Him. They wanted to convict Jesus, and they wanted him to suffer death for the turmoil that they believed He had caused the Temple. But first, they wanted to hear from His own lips that He was the Son of God.

With that formal charge, the high priest stood up before Messiah and His accusers and cross-examined Him. Caiaphas said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? The prisoner looked at him and said nothing. What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you” (Mt 26:62; Mk 14:60)? This broke rule number 10 where there was to be no allowance for the accused to testify against himself (see Lh – The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials). This was the action of an irritated and baffled man, trying to make up by bluster, what he lacked in evidence. Christ’s hands were bound behind His back and His feet were spread slightly apart. Some of the members of the Sanhedrin studied Him closely. But, in all sincerity, they couldn’t see what there was in Him that attracted so many people (Isaiah 53:2b). I am sure it was a surprise to everyone present that Yeshua remained silent and gave no answer (Matthew 26:63a; Mk 14:61a). The verb silent is in the imperfect tense, meaning He continually maintained His silence. This also fulfilled the words of Isaiah: He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7).

The high priest was still standing. So long as Jesus remained silent, the Great Sanhedrin had to acquit. In desperation, and almost pleading, the high priest shouted, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God” (Matthew 26:63b; Mark 14:61b). It was the one question that everybody in the room wanted answered. Indeed, it was the one question that all Jerusalem wanted answered. This was somewhat ironic, because the living God was standing in front of him! But under rule 12, charges could not originate with the judges, they could only investigate charges brought to them (see Lh – The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials).

But refusing to answer this question would be equivalent to a denial of His deity. Therefore, Yeshua answered the startled Sadducee: The words are you own (Matthew 26:64a CJB). The Lord always says the right things at the right time and here He called attention to the words of His accuser, not His. This was inadmissible because rule number 14 said that a person could not be condemned on the basis of his own words (see Lh – The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials). It was as if Jesus was really saying, “Caiaphas, whatever your concept of the Messiah is – I AM” (Mark 14:62a). And as such, He had a unique relationship with ADONAI as His Son (Psalm 2; Proverbs 30).

But, just to be sure there was no misunderstanding, the Lord added more detail: I tell you that one day you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Powerful One (or HaG’vurah, a common substitute for the actual name of God) and coming on the clouds of heaven (Mathew 26:64b; Mark 14:62b). To those educated rabbis and priests, the messianic phrase Son of Man would arouse a clear image of the appearance of the Messiah. In Psalm 110:1, the Meshiach is invited to sit at the place of honor. Dani’el spoke of his vision of the coming Christ on the clouds of heaven (Dani’el 7:13). Those standing in judgment of Yeshua knew those verses all too well. So, it was quite obvious that the maverick Rabbi from Nazareth was claiming to be much more than merely a good rabbi or even a prophet. No, He claimed to be the unique Messiah sent from the God of Isra’el.

What a relief Caiaphas must have felt! When all else had failed, the renegade Rabbi had condemned himself! He had, in effect, pleaded guilty, though perhaps not exactly as the high priest wished. There was no further need for pointless witnesses, even though rule 10 said there was to be no allowance for the accused to testify against himself, the words out of the prisoner’s own mouth: the words are you own, was enough. The entire body of the Great Sanhedrin was witness to the declaration that Jesus had said that he was sent by ADONAI to save Isra’el.

There seems to be some confusion today whether Jesus actually claimed to be God. But those in the Sanhedrin were not so confused. Messiah declared that He was in fact Yeshua ben David, the Son of God. This not only answered their question, but also gave them a perfect opportunity to take their case to the Roman authorities. If the claim of messiahship was explosive within the Jewish community, it was nuclear to the Roman leadership that always feared a political uprising.¹⁵²⁰

Then, upon hearing the truth of Christ’s response, the high priest tore his clothes. The tearing of clothes was an old sign of mourning or sorrow first mentioned in Genesis 37:29. Under the rules of the Sanhedrin, number 11 specifically said that the high priest was forbidden to tear his clothes (Leviticus 10:6 and 21:10). The reason for this was to maintain an atmosphere of objectivity while seeking justice. Such behavior was really inexcusable in such a legal hearing because a man’s life was at stake. Basically, the high priest just lost it.

Then Caiaphas rendered His official judgment and cried out in a voice so loud it seemed as if all of Isra’el could hear: He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy (Matthew 26:65; Mark 14:63-64a). This broke rule 16 that said in cases of capital punishment, the trial and the guilty verdict could not occur at the same time but had to be separated by at least twenty-four hours. In addition, rule 13 said the accusation of blasphemy was only valid if he pronounced the very name of God Himself (see Lh – The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials), which Jesus never did.

Continuing to seize the moment, Caiaphas said to the quorum present: What do you think? The clerks then began to call the roll, probably starting with the oldest members. Each in turn stood and said: He is worthy of death (Matthew 26:66; Mark 14:64b).

The Lamb of God said nothing. It was about 3:30 am and when Caiaphas announced that the seventy stood in recess until they could meet in the Royal Stoa in an hour so that the imposter could be formally condemned, the judges came down from their benches.

Some walked up to the Prince of Peace and spat in his face. Others, in the crowd around Him, clenched their fists and hit him. He said nothing, though some of the blows caused him to double over with pain. At this point, things took a turn for the worse. Because Caiahpas lost control, so did the Temple guard in his presence. What Jesus Christ suffered next were some of the greatest indignities under Jewish civil law. The Temple guards grew more frustrated because Yeshua would not answer the questions put to Him. It showed a lack of respect. So they asked a few questions of their own. Then some of the men who were guarding Jesus began mocking, and beating Him (Luke 22:63). This was the first mocking. This broke rule 21 that said a person condemned to death was not to be scourged or beaten beforehand (see Lh – The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials). When no answers were forthcoming they slapped Him and repeated their questions. They took turns standing before Him, and the stinging slaps spun His head to the left and then again to the right.

The men began to enjoy the game. They progressed from the slaps to heavy punches on the head and chest and stomach. When the Suffering Servant doubled up, they hit Him in the face and brought Him erect again. They stood close to Him spit in His face and saw their saliva cling to His cheeks.

Then someone in the group had a more amusing idea. He found a cloth and blindfolded Jesus. Then the Temple guards danced around Him and struck Him with their fists, while others slapped Him and demanded, “Prophesy to us, Messiah! Who hit You?” And they called Him cruel names. And obscene names. Then they beat Him again (Matthew 26:67-68; Mark 14:65; Luke 22:64-65). They all knew that the prisoner had been found guilty of speaking blasphemy was legitimate prey for their sadistic pleasures. So long as He was conscious at the time of execution no one would be reprimanded. Jesus was bloody and bruised. His face was swollen. So the guards got some water and used the blindfold to wipe His face. If He was going to the Temple, they didn’t want Him to incite the pity of the morning worshipers.

At the home of Caiaphas, the quorum of Sanhedrin members filed out and headed for the Temple compound. As they walked out of the courtyard, some, in their great robes and tapering hats, paused to look at the condemned man. Others did not. It was a busy house with messengers running in and out and notable people standing on the porch, but nevertheless it was a happy house. They were thrilled with what they had done.

The Sanhedrin had trapped the counterfeit Messiah, and not only that, they had managed to bait Him into admitting His own blasphemy. He had had the nerve to refer to Himself as the Meshiach in front of everyone! He had already been found guilty of blasphemy. Now all they had left to do was to sentence him by daylight and the job was done. Any member who had the slightest qualms about the possibility of the Nazarene being the Messiah only had to walk over to the corner of the courtyard and look at him. He was not Godlike. He was manlike, and currently, a poor specimen of man. His face was gnashed and raw and swollen so the purple welts marked his cheekbones, and both eyes were puffed. His hands shook in the shackles and he was bent over like an old man. The Anointed One? Not a chance.¹⁵²¹

Among those who stood waiting outside the home of Caiaphas was Judas. The betrayer had been paid for his work, but he wanted to know what had happened to the Master. He waited . . . and when Yeshua came out Judas looked and was sickened by what he saw. He was shocked and a wave of remorse engulfed him. He did not believe that Jesus was the Meshiach, but he knew from his own experience that this was the gentlest man in the world.

The military unit passed him with their prisoner in tow and Judas watched the Temple guards push Jesus and kick Him when He stumbled. The little man’s sorrow grew into horror and he told himself, over and over again, that he had not meant for this to happen. Perhaps Yeshua deserved punishment. Yes, perhaps banishment to Galilee or further. But not this.¹⁵²²

Annas Questions Jesus
John 18:12b-14 and 19-24
About 2:00 am Friday morning, the fifteenth of Nisan

Once the contingent got inside the walls of Yerushalayim, the tribune halted the march and asked the Temple guard if they needed further assistance. They said no. They would take control of the prisoner. Then those who had arrested Jesus led Him away and took Him into the home of Caiaphas the high priest. The Romans retreated back inside Fortress Antonia and wondered why they had been needed in the first place, and, indeed, why the Jews needed 500 of them.

The march started again and, fortunately, there were very few people milling about in the northwestern part of Yerushalayim at that time in the morning. The few who were, stopped to stare at the lanterns, the torches, the noisy line of march and the lone prisoner in the middle of it all. But there were no demonstrations for the Messiah. No cries for His release. In fact, no one, at least thus far, even seemed to recognize Him.

The priests and others congratulated themselves on taking the long way back. It had served their purpose. The Temple, at this moment, could be teeming with followers of the Nazarene, and had the prisoner been led bound through the Eastern Gate into the Court of the Gentiles they could have demonstrated, or possibly even fought the Temple guard. Then a riot would have started that would have ended only when Pilate sent in his soldiers.

Headed toward the palatial homes of Caiaphas and Annas, the Sadducees and Pharisees became jovial. The assignment was drawing to a close and they felt free to admit to one another that, for a time there in the olive garden, each had secretly worried. Each had heard reports of such wonders that this man had accomplished that there had been some trepidation. Who would have expected that he would turn out to be a most common Nazarene? If the members of the Sanhedrin had anything to be ashamed of, it was that they had seen fit to take such a large party with them to do the work. One man with a club could have set the companions of Jesus to flight and, as the Galilean did not believe in violence, he could have been bound and led away without a struggle.

The contingent arrived at the big double courtyard before the adjoining homes of Annas and Caiaphas. There were many happy words back and forth as the servants inside unlocked the gates. Ordinarily, they would have entered by the servant’s door, but this was too small for the victorious throng. They surged inside, pushing the victim before them. More lamps were lighted at once, because there was a distinguished company of religious elite on the premises who wanted to get a good look at this man. Members of the Great Sanhedrin, hurriedly summoned, came running out of the house of Caiaphas, holding their white robes off the flagstones as their feet raced across the court.

Some of the women of the household came out and stood in the shadows of the balcony to see the prisoner about whom their men had debated so often. Some of the captors ran off to tell Annas that the blasphemer was even now standing under guard in front of his house. Caiaphas came down the steps slowly. Now, with the end in sight, he had patience. His first interest was not in confronting the Nazarene, but in getting the reports of his men on how the arrest had been accomplished, what the attitude of the Romans might be, where were the band of his followers, and whether there had been any popular uprising against the will of the Jewish Supreme Court, the Great Sanhedrin (to see link click Lg – The Great Sanhedrin).

The high priest heard the reports. They were all good. The matter had been handled discreetly and the Holy City was not even aware of what happened. Caiaphas was elated. He had struck a good blow for God and for the Temple. A sore had festered on the body of Judea . . . and he, Caiaphas, had stopped the bleeding. He stroked his silky beard and ordered the phony Messiah to be taken next door to Hananyah, which was the Hebrew name of his father-in-law Annas.

This was a diplomatic move. Caiaphas could wait. It was proper to permit Annas a first look at the face of the prisoner and to conduct the first examination. Besides, Caiaphas knew what his father-in-law would do; he would order the prisoner returned at once to the acting high priest and the Great Sanhedrin for trial.¹⁵¹⁶

Then they bound Jesus and brought Him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year (John 18:12b-13). He was small, delicate, hair splitting, and precise. When Yeshua was eleven years old, Publius Sulpicius Quirinus, who was then beginning his second term as the Roman Procurator of all Syria, had appointed Annas high priest. Thus, Annas became rich, influential beyond the borders of his country. He was a brilliant schemer, and men in positions of power greater than his feared him.

The house of Annas was next door to Caiaphas’ in the Essene quarter. It was built on the slope of the hill, and beneath the main living quarters it had a lower story with a porch in front. He did not want the prisoner inside of his house, so he came out on the porch and ordered the Nazarene brought to him. He was the high priest from 7 to 14 AD. From the Jewish perspective, the high priest held his office for life. But Valerius Gratus, the Roman Procurator of Judea under Emperor Tiberius, deposed Annas and substituted Ismael son of Fabi, then Eleazar son of Arianus, then Simon son of Camith, and lastly, Joseph Caiaphas.

Even though the Procurator removed Annas from office, he had kept the Temple business as a private industry, and no one bought a lamb, a dove, or even an ox as a sacrifice without paying him. Therefore, Annas maintained control behind the scenes as high priest through his son-in-law Caiaphas. But from the Roman perspective Caiaphas was the high priest. There were 21 rules of the Great Sanhedrin regarding trails and in their zeal to kill Jesus they broke every one of them on the fifteenth of Nisan. Because they brought Yeshua to the home of Annas in the middle of the night they broke rule number 6 that said Sanhedrin trials could only be conducted in the hall of judgment at the Temple compound (see Lh – The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials).

Meanwhile Annas, the aging regal leader of the Sadducees, questioned the maverick Rabbi about His talmidim and His teaching (John 18:19). The religious authorities were finally getting close to achieving their goal of getting rid of this troublemaker from Galilee. But because there were to be no steps of criminal proceedings after sunset, this broke rule number 2 (see Lh – The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials). The guards pushed and dragged the Anointed One to Annas not because they despised the prisoner, but because they wanted to show some zeal in front of Annas, the real power behind the scenes. When Jesus did not hurry, they kicked him.

The old man sat and studied the young convict. No one knows for sure what thoughts crossed his mind, or what questions passed his lips. He sat and he looked and he may have wondered, idly, what motivated a young nobody into posing as the Savior of the world. This man did not appear to be a lunatic. The reports that had been coming in for over a year tended to show just the opposite. The Nazarene seemed to be intelligent; it was said that He was well versed in the Torah, although no one knew what rabbinical school he had followed. He was a sturdy carpenter; and was not given to extravagance or vice. Then why?

Annas looked for a long time. He would not try this man. Let Caiaphas do it. The laws of the Sanhedrin said that not less than twenty-three members of the Great Sanhedrin could try a capital case, and the old man was certain that, by this time, his son-in-law had awakened and summoned the other members. Still, it was interesting to inquire why a man would want to pose as the Messiah, since he must have know that sooner or later He would be challenged by the Temple. In fact, the ratio of the chances of being challenged by the Temple was in direct proportion to the success of the so-called Meshiach. And this one was highly successful. But even at that, He might have escaped challenge and the charge of blasphemy if He had not kicked over the tables of Annas’ moneychangers and condemned Annas’ animal market (see Bs – Jesus’ First Cleansing of the Temple at Passover).¹⁵¹⁷

In his mid fifties, Annas’ entire life had revolved around obtaining wealth and power. He probably asked the renegade Rabbi why he didn’t believe in the Oral Law (see Ei – The Oral Law). Who were his followers? How many? He was accustomed to for men such as Yeshua to grovel before him and plead for mercy. But Jesus didn’t do that. Instead, He looked steadily at this worldly leader and replied: I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues or at the Temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. Why question Me? Under the rules of the Sanhedrin regarding trials, Yeshua knew – and so did Annas – that it was against their rules to solicit the testimony of anyone except witnesses and corroborators. Besides, under their rules, no prisoner had to undergo preliminary examination. Ask those who heard Me. Surely they know what I said (Yochanan 18:20-21).

But when Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby struck Him in the face (John 18:22), which broke rule number 20 that said judges were to be kind and humane (see Lh – The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials). “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded. The Holy One shook his head to clear the effects of the blow: If I said something wrong, Jesus replied, testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike Me? Then Annas stood up and sent Jesus, still bound, back to his son-in-law the high priest (John 18:23-24). Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be good if one man died for the people (Yochanan 18:14). The end had begun.

The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials

(1) there was to be no arrest that was affected by a bribe,

(2) there were to be no steps of criminal proceedings after sunset,

(3) members of Sanhedrin were not allowed to participate in the arrest,

(4) there were to be no trials before the morning sacrifice,

(5) there were to be no secret trials, only public ones,

(6) Sanhedrin trials could only be conducted in the hall of judgment at the Temple,

(7) the defense would speak first, and then the accusation would be made,

(8) all could argue in favor of acquittal, but all could not argue for a conviction,

(9) there were to be two or three witnesses and their testimony had to agree in every detail for conviction,

(10) there was to be no allowance for the accused to testify against himself,

(11) the High Priest was forbidden to tear his clothes,

(12) charges could not originate with the judges, they could only investigate charges,

(13) the accusation of blasphemy was only valid if he pronounced the name of God himself,

(14) a person could not be condemned on the basis of his own words,

(15) the verdict could not be announced at night, only in the daytime,

(16) in cases of capital punishment, the trial and the guilty verdict could not occur at the same time but had to be separated by at least twenty-four hours,

(17) voting for the death penalty had to be done by individual count beginning with the youngest so that the elders would not influence the young,

(18) a unanimous decision for guilt showed innocence since it was impossible for 71 men to agree without plotting,

(19) the sentence could only be pronounced three days after the guilty verdict,

(20) judges were to be kind and humane,

(21) a person condemned to death was not to be scourged or beaten beforehand (Tractate Sanhedrin). Thus, in spite of His oppression and affliction, Jesus did not fight it; rather, He gave Himself willingly to it.¹⁵¹⁵

The Great Sanhedrin

A group of seventy elders was originally ordained by ADONAI in the wilderness to assist Moshe in leading the nation (see the commentary on Numbers Bt – ADONAI’s Response: Spiritual leadership). A few centuries before the time of Messiah, it had become was the supreme court of Palestine, in addition to being the legislative body. It was comprised of Pharisees, Torah-teachers and Sadducees – the finest minds in Palestine. The people called it the Great Sanhedrin, but the average resident of Tziyon never saw it in deliberation.

There were two types of Sanhedrins, what were known as the Lesser Sanhedrins and, of course, the Great Sanhedrin. The Lesser Sanhedrins, with 23 members, could be found in all the larger Jewish cities and were distinct from the Great Sanhedrin with 71 members. There was a Lesser Sanhedrin in Jerusalem that stood on the Ophel Ridge at the southern entrance to the Temple Mount. In Tosefta II, 6 on the Talmudic tractate Sanhedrin it talks about how Rabbi Gamaliel, together with the elders, used to sit “on the steps of the Temple Mount.” And in the Tractate Sanhedrin 88a, it reads expressly that there was a court of 23 “at the entrance to the Temple Mount.”¹⁵⁰⁷

In the Gospels, the Great Sanhedrin is referred to in different ways: the chief priests, and elders, and all the council (Matthew 26:59 KJV); the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin (Mark 15:1 NIV); the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council (John 11:47 NASB); and was made up of seventy-one [judges] members. The high priest acted like the president (Matthew 26:57; Acts 5:17, 24:1). Sometimes the number of its members was reduced by deaths, but it was in best balance when the court was full. Although the rabbis said their governing body traced back to Moses and his seventy elders (Deut 27:1), the actual seeds of the Great Sanhedrin in the time of Jesus were planted in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. By the time Christ was born the Great Sanhedrin acted as the Jewish supreme court, taking appeals from cases decided by Lesser Sanhedrins (Mark 14:55).

Politically the Sanhedrin maintained a balance between the Sadducees, believers in the five books of Moses, and the Pharisees, believers in the Oral Law (to see link click Ei – The Oral Law). As the supporters of the Oral Law, the Pharisees were louder and more voluble and their public behavior was seen as more holy than that of the Sadducees. Judaism was doomed, they shouted, unless the Oral Law became the law for all of Judah. The Pharisees actually elevated it a little higher than the written Law. The rabbis taught, “He who studies the Torah does a good thing; but he who studies the Oral Law does an even better thing.”

In spite of the political balance, the Pharisees were in some respects the strong men of the Sanhedrin when Caiaphas was high priest. He was a Sadducee, and he drew his power from another Sadducee, Annas. But the voices most often heard in the high court were doubtless the Pharisees, whose perpetual attitude was one of outraged piety. They had no more votes than the Sadducees – perhaps a few less because a Sadducee from the tribe of Levi was always the high priest – but the Pharisees had the ears of the people with their predictions of doom and punishment. Membership was for life. Some, in old age, withdrew to retirement. However, almost all died in office. So far as we know, only two classes of men were theoretically excluded from membership: bastards and converts to Judaism.¹⁵⁰⁸

Their meetings were irregular, depending upon the amount of business that required the attention of the court. From 30 AD on the Great Sanhedrin met in a room, with its half-moon seating arrangement, on the east end of the Royal Stoa.

Previously, its meetings had taken place in the Hall of Polished Stones on the southwest side of the Temple. The Talmud reports the Sanhedrin moved into the [Royal Stoa] some forty years before the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. On the night of Jesus’ trial, however, they met first in the [palace] of Caiaphas the high priest (Luke 22:54a).¹⁵⁰⁹

From the beginning of the Maccabean Revolt (167 BC), the power of the high priest increased (First Maccabees 12:6). However, Herod the Great weakened the Great Sanhedrin considerably, and on his deathbed he ordered that some members of the Sanhedrin be killed on the day he died to ensure that tears would be shed at his passing. But the Roman procurators (AD 6-41), who had mastered the art of ruling subjected people, enhanced the prestige of the Great Sanhedrin and gave it greater power (Josephus Antiquities 20.200.251). They permitted the Sanhedrin to have supreme authority in religious matters and a fair amount of power in civil affairs.

The Great Sanhedrin was permitted by Rome to make and enforce laws that had to do with Palestine’s internal affairs; in external affairs Caesar made the rules. The Sanhedrin could, in local jurisprudence, pass the death sentence on Jews, or even on Gentiles who were not citizens of Rome, but such a sentence had to be reviewed by the Roman Procurator and confirmed. To assure her ultimate control of the Jews in Palestine, the Romans would periodically replace the high priest at their pleasure. The Jews however, still viewed the hereditary descendant of Aaron as the only legitimate high priest no matter what the Romans said. In the Gospels, the Romans had appointed Caiaphas, but the Jews viewed his father-in-law Annas as the legitimate high priest and the real power behind the scenes.¹⁵¹⁰

At least in theory, the Great Sanhedrin’s sphere of authority extended over the spiritual, political and legal affairs of all Jews. If the members of a local court disagreed on a point of the Torah, the matter was referred to the Jerusalem court that sat at the gate of the Temple Mount. If the dispute could not be resolved, it went to the court that sat at the gate of the Temple Court. If a resolution was still not found, the Sanhedrin heard the dispute. Thereafter, on pain of death, local judges were to follow the ruling.¹⁵¹¹

Many of the rules governing the Sanhedrin in sessions were not put in writing until centuries later, but it is probably fair to say that the court sat in a semicircle so that the members could look upon one another. They sat in three graduated rows, with the high priest in the center and older members flanking him according to seniority.

Two clerks sat in front, facing the court. One was stationed on the left; one on the right. In criminal cases, when all the testimony was in, the clerks called the names of the members starting with the youngest members so that, if they differed with the elders, they would not be embarrassed. One of the clerks collected all the votes for acquittal; the other tallied all those who favored conviction. The Great Sanhedrin could sit in judgment with as few as twenty-three members present.¹⁵¹²

The court sat from the morning sacrifice at 9 am until the afternoon sacrifice at 3 pm. The rabbis teach that the lamb was slaughtered at 2:30 pm and its pieces laid on the bronze altar at 3:00 pm.¹⁵¹³ Most trials were noisy and confrontational. The judges sat on their crescent benches, and across the chamber, the plaintiffs and defendants sat on their benches. As each piece of evidence was presented, the Sanhedrin fell on it and argued pro and con across the benches. All sentences in criminal cases were severe. There were no prisons or no asylums. Banishment was a minor sentence. The Sanhedrin had its own rules (see Lh – The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials). The most important of these, so far as Jesus was concerned, was “a tribe, a false prophet or a high priest are not judged unless all seventy-one are present.” If the Savior were to be arrested and tried, it would have to be as a false prophet.

Each death sentence was passed on, before execution, to the Roman procurator. He usually affirmed it without question. If he felt so disposed, or if someone had pleaded the case with him privately, the procurator might summon the accused and accusers and hear the case before his own judicial chair. But, if he reversed the verdict, the condemned was acquitted and the Great Sanhedrin was powerless. If he confirmed it, the governor often forced the prisoner to undergo the Roman form of execution: crucifixion.¹⁵¹⁴

The Religious Trial

The religious trial took place in several places and stages. It started at the personal residence of the high priest Caiaphas, moved next door to his father-in-law Annas, came back to Caiaphas’ house and finally moved to the meeting place of the Great Sanhedrin in the corner of the Royal Stoa in the Temple Compound. The reason Yeshua was put on trial by the Jewish leadership was because of His violation of the Oral Law (to see link click Ei – The Oral Law), never the Torah. In the process of convicting Jesus, the Great Sanhedrin violated every one of their self-imposed rules. This Passover was the biggest week of the year for Joseph Caiaphas. He had an extraordinary number of obligations and administrative tasks to tend to if the celebration of Pesach was to come off smoothly. Rome was always watching him closely through the eyes of Pontius Pilate, and a riot would not sit well with Caesar Tiberius. Nothing mattered more than silencing the troublemaking Rabbi.¹⁵⁰⁶

Jesus Betrayed, Arrested and Deserted
Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52;
Luke 22:47-53; John 18:2-12a
About 1:30 am Friday morning, the fifteenth of Nisan

Jesus betrayed, arrested and deserted DIG: What kind of Messiah was the large, armed contingent expecting to arrest? Was the fighting apostle’s essentially the same as the Roman soldiers? Why or why not? What is the irony in Judas’ betrayal? In Peter’s use of his large knife? How must the servant – first attacked and then healed – feel about what was happening? What does Jesus’ response to Judas, the mob, and the talmid show about the type of Messiah He is? How do you account for the reaction of the talmidim in Mark 14:47 and 50-51? What is the cup that Christ must drink? Who’s afraid of whom here? Why?

REFLECT: Knowing yourself, how do you think you would have reacted if you had been with Yeshua in this scene? When have you felt you had a better way to deal with things than the Lord? What issue of obedience is challenging you right now? How does your view of what a messiah should be correspond to the view of Christ in this passage? What impresses you the most about this passage?

Now Judas, who betrayed Jesus, knew the place, because the Great Rabbi had often met there with His talmidim (John 18:2). The three got to their feet quickly. James and John ran across the road to warn the others. Peter, as was fitting, remained at the side of his Master. These things had barely been done when the garden of Gethsemane became filled with light and sound and men moving among small trees and shrubs and flowers. The eight who had been sleeping in the cave and young Mark could have fled to the Bethany road, only a hundred yards to the north, but they were in a daze. And so, instead of running away, they walked over to the Garden, not so much to see what the raiders would do to Yeshua, but rather to see what Jesus would do to the raiders.

The scene was chaotic. Just as He was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, came to the grove leading a large crowd armed with swords, clubs, torches and lanterns (Matthew 26:47; Mark 14:43a; Luke 22:47a). In an interesting side note from the Talmud, it is written that the House of Annas (the high priest behind the scenes) was so corrupt because its members were known “to beat people with clubs” (Tractate Pesachim 57a).¹⁴⁹⁸ With Judas was a cohort of 500 Roman soldiers, and some Temple guards provided by the high priest and the Pharisees who were members of the Great Sanhedrin (Mark 14:43b; John 18:3 CJB). There were 21 rules of the Great Sanhedrin regarding trials and in their zeal to kill Jesus they broke every one of them on the fifteenth of Nisan. They were desperate. And for such a cause they believed that the end would sanctify any means. Because members of the Sanhedrin were included in the cohort that arrested Yeshua they broke rule number 3 that said that members of the Great Sanhedrin were not allowed to participate in the arrest (to see link click Lh – The Laws of the Great Sanhedrin Regarding Trials).

The face and figure of Jesus were well lighted by the torches. Peter stood by, trembling. The remaining talmidim came up and it seemed to them, even though the Garden was full of men, no one was in a hurry to approach Messiah. Men were stumbling about, and calling to one another, and members of the Temple guard could be seen among them. But there was a reluctance to be first to step into the little clearing where the Living Word stood. Knowing all that was going to happen to Him, Jesus went out and looked specifically at the representatives of the Great Sanhedrin and asked them: Who is it you want? “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. I AM He: Jesus said. And Yochanan noted that Judas the traitor was standing with them, which indicated which side he was on (John 18:4-5).

When Yeshua said: I AM He, they drew back and fell to the ground (John 18:6). Then five hundred hardened Roman soldiers flew backwards and fell to the ground merely by His spoken word. The enemies of God fell back before the presence of the Almighty, foreshadowing their posture at the end of time (Isaiah 45:23; Romans 14:11; Phil 2:10-11; Revelation 3:9). Quite frankly, I don’t see how they mustered up enough courage to continue with the arrest! This was judgment, not a blessing. In the presence of God, believers always fall forward and bow down to worship Him.

Again He asked them: Who is it you want? The Temple guard now joined in and shouted the reply: Jesus of Nazareth! After their voices had died down, Jesus repeated His declaration of identity saying: I told you that I AM He. Their business was with Him, not them. Then He pointed behind Him to His apostles. If you are looking for Me, then let these men go. Jesus said I AM three times (see Exodus At – I AM Has Sent Me to You). As the Good Shepherd, Messiah laid down His life for His sheep. His protection of His talmidim was a perfect illustration of His substitutionary payment for sin. He died not only for them . . . but instead of them. As the Chief Shepherd, He did not lose any of His sheep. This happened so that the words He had spoken in John 6:39 would be fulfilled: I have not lost one of those you gave Me (John 18:7-9).

Now the raiders began to take courage. They stepped forward and, as they crowded around, not yet daring to touch the Nazarene, it was time for Judas, already possessed by the devil, to betray his Friend. The traitor had arranged a signal with them, “The one I kiss is the man; arrest Him and lead Him away under guard” (Matthew 26:48; Mark 14:44). Kissing a rabbi was the means by which a disciple committed himself to him for discipleship. It was a way of showing respect (Tractate Rosh Hashanah 2:7). Although the full moon of Passover would have made the sky brighter, they would still need exact identification of this person in the middle of the night.¹⁴⁹⁹ There was no time to lose.

At last Judas walked into the little open space. His eyes opened with happy surprise and his mouth formed a smile. He opened his arms wide and hurried to the Master. Going at once to Jesus, the apostate apostle said, “Greetings Rabbi!” and unabashedly kissed Him (Matthew 26:49; Mark 14:45; Luke 22:47b). The verb kissed is kataphileo, not the simple verb. It has a prefixed preposition that lends intensity to the already existing meaning of the verb. Thus, it was a passionate, affectionate kiss the traitor gave Him. And Jesus asked him: Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss (Luke 22:48)? It is a bitter irony that Judas’ final contact with Yeshua was a kiss. It was the kiss of death – not for Messiah, but for Judas. The one doomed to destruction (John 17:12) must still hear the words of Yeshua ringing in his ears, and will, for all eternity: Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss . . . Friend, do what you came for.¹⁵⁰⁰

At first glance, what seems to be a great tragedy is actually the fulfillment of the Father’s plan for eternal redemption (see my commentary on Exodus Bz – Redemption). However, Judas was not merely an unwilling pawn, but had the free will to choose what decisions he made. Thus, he is held accountable for his actions. When God’s sovereignty and our free will collide, it’s called antimony – two things that seem contradictory but both are true (like the Trinity). Sometimes situations like this are hard for us to comprehend. Therefore, we find comfort in the confession of our forefather Abraham when he said that the Judge of all the earth will do what is just (Genesis 18:25 CJB).

When the soldiers saw that Jesus was giving Himself up voluntarily without any show of resistance, then they stepped forward and seized Yeshua. When Christ’s followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we fight with our knives” (Luke 22:49)? But suddenly before the question had hardly been spoken, Simon Peter stepped in front of Jesus without a word and pulled out his large knife (Greek: machairan) and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear (Matthew 26:50-51; Mark 14:46-47; Luke 22:50). Kefa wasn’t trying to kill the high priests’ servant. He did exactly what he intended to do, for according to the Oral Law (see Ei – The Oral Law), to lose an ear not only shamed the servant, but also disqualified him for service in the Temple. The basis for cutting off the ear was known by all those Jews present, having been derived from the Torah, which declares that no man with a physical defect can work among the Temple priests (see the commentary on Leviticus Dp – Priests with Defects). According to the Septuagint, a man with such a defect could not come near the purification offering (see Leviticus Al – The Purification Offering: Purified by the Blood).

Kefa was actually not doing anything particularly new. There were several other similar incidents in history. In 40 BC, for example, Antigonus, a Persian candidate for high priest, had the ear of his uncle, Hyrcanus II, cut off to shame him and disqualify him for the office. During the reign of Herod the Great, this happened more than once, and Josephus mentions it in his history of the first century. The Oral Law gives details of the practice, saying it was actually the earlobe that was cut off.

The high priest had sent his servant, whose name was Malchus. The family of Caiaphas and the family of the apostle John knew each other, that’s why John knew the name of this servant. But the Great Physician answered: No more of this! And He touched the man’s ear and healed him, no doubt saving Peter’s life. Luke alone notes this. But the healing went unnoticed in any public sense. Then Jesus commanded Simon Peter: Put your knife away. And even though the Greek word machairan means a large knife with a single edge, the common phrase: for all who live by the sword will die by the sword is more common than for all who draw the large knife will die by the large knife! His Kingdom would not come by the force of man because the knife is no substitute for faith. Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me (Mattityahu 26:52; Luke 22:51; John 18:10-11)? Nothing would come between Him and His destiny . . . the cross.

Then the Romans decided that this emotional scene had gone far enough. The detachment of soldiers with its tribune and the Jewish Temple guard arrested Yeshua (John 18:12a). The proper manner, taught by the academy of soldiery in Rome, was to take the victim by the right wrist, twist the arm behind him so that his knuckles touched between his shoulder blades and, at the same time, jam the heel down on his right instep. This was the beginning of the pain Jesus would feel this day.

Some of the Temple guards, not wanting to be shamed in the presence of Gentiles, grabbed the other arm and put it behind the Lord’s back and brought out rope and tied His hands. A long noose was placed about His neck. He was patient with His captors. Now that Jesus was bound, the Sadducees began to take courage and issue orders.

As if speaking to the other apostles, Christ noted how foolish it would be to try and defend His Kingdom with physical force. Jesus said: Do you think I cannot call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of heaven’s angels (Matthew 26:53)? Angels are available to help God’s people in time of need (Psalm 91:11), and are seen in military terms in the phrase in the TaNaKh: all the armies of heaven (First Kings 22:19 NLT). This is especially true with the angelic armies led by Michael in Dani’el 10:13, 20-21, 12:1 and Revelation 12:7. While legions here might be a figurative term for vast numbers (a full Roman legion was composed of 5,000 soldiers) the choice of such a military term in connection with defense against this armed mob is surely deliberate.¹⁵⁰¹ So, Peter’s demonstration of self-willed bravery, however well intentioned, was therefore unnecessary and absurd. The Lord’s battles are won in His power alone, and any human efforts on His behalf that are not made in submission to His divine will and strength are presumptuous and futile.¹⁵⁰²

But how would the TaNaKh be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way (Matthew 26:54)? For Peter to violently oppose Yeshua’s arrest was also to oppose the fulfillment of God’s promised plan of redemption. He reminded Kefa that according to the TaNaKh . . . it must happen in this way. On several other occasions He had told the Twelve that it was necessary for Him to suffer and die, and be raised from the dead.

As David had predicted, a close and trusted friend would betray the Messiah (Psalms 41:9, 55:12-14). Isaiah foretold that He would be despised and rejected by men, a man of pains, well acquainted with illnesses . . . stricken and afflicted by God . . . pierced for our transgressions . . . crushed for our sins . . . the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we are healed of our sins. He would be oppressed, afflicted and slaughtered like a lamb that does not cry out. Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer and make His life an offering for sin. And after He has suffered, He will see the light of life (Isaiah 53:3b, 4b, 5 CJB).

At this point, Yeshua turned to the mob and challenged them with a convicting question. In that hour Jesus said to the crowd: Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs to capture Me? He and His followers were not seeking a violent overthrow of the Romans, or anyone else for that matter. With a little scorn in His voice, He continued: Every day I was with you teaching in the Temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on Me. They said nothing. Some looked away. But then, Jesus said softly: All of this has taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled. The treachery of Judas and the secrecy of the arrest were both fulfillments of prophecy. This is your hour – when darkness reigns (Matthew 26:55-56a; Mark 14:48-49; Luke 22:52-53). Even the minute details of Messiah’s betrayal came true.

Then all the talmidim deserted Him and fled (Matthew 26:56b). Messiah had predicted this earlier that evening when He said: This very night you will all fall away on account of Me, for it is written in the TaNaKh itself: I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered (Mattityahu 26:31; Mark 14:27; Luke 22:31-32; Zechariah 13:7). They did turn away from Jesus. Peter even denied Christ three times, and sealed it with a curse. How did that differ from Judas’ betrayal?

For one thing, there was a difference in motivation. The apostles fled out of fear and in the pressure of the moment; Judas’ betrayal was a calculated act of treachery. The talmidim failed in the face of a great trial; Judas’ act of treason was something he pursued, the response of a greedy heart. The Eleven later turned from their sins and humbly accepted Christ’s forgiveness; Judas was resolute in unbelief and hatred. He even confirmed it with an act of suicide. The apostles’ denial was a lapse of normal faithful behavior; Judas’ sin manifested an utterly depraved soul.

The mark of a true disciple is not that we never sin, but that when we do sin we inevitably return to Jesus Christ to receive forgiveness and cleansing. Unlike the false disciple, the true disciple will never turn away completely. We may occasionally return to our fishing nets, but in the final analysis we are drawn again to the Master.

Judas epitomizes a false disciple. Note carefully the characteristics of his hypocrisy:

First, Judas loved temporal gain more than eternal riches. He wanted glory, success and earthly treasures. He had his heart set on a high position in Jesus’ earthly Kingdom. When that didn’t seem like it was going to happen, Judas thought that he’d help the process along by forcing the Master’s hand. After all, if He was really the Messiah, surely He’d drive the dreaded Romans out of Isra’el, wouldn’t He? It’s typical of false disciples that they get on board with Christ to get what they want, but when instead of delivering He makes demands on them, they turn away. These people reveal that they never had genuine faith to begin with (First John 2:19). They follow the Lord for a while, but eventually they sell out for selfish desire, money, prestige or power.

Second, Judas was deceitful. His show of faith was only a masquerade. False disciples are masters of subtle deception, adept at fooling others. They pretend to love Christ, but their kisses are the kisses of betrayal.

Third, Judas and all false disciples are in it for what they can get out of it. They are satisfied with a salved conscience, peace of mind, a good reputation, or spiritual self-satisfaction. Some of them profess Yeshua because it’s good for business, or because they think by trusting He will bring health, wealth or prosperity. But, like Esau who sold his birthright for a pot of stew, they will sell the Savior. Like Judas, false disciples love the world and the darkness. Their half-hearted faith inevitably turns to hard-hearted unbelief.¹⁵⁰³

Yeshua was about to fulfill all the requirements associated with the mission of the suffering Messiah, Meshiach ben Joseph (see Mv – The Jewish Concept of Two Messiah’s). Now He was alone, deserted by His talmidim, and yet prepared to complete the final chapter of His earthly ministry for the salvation of Isra’el and the Gentile nations.¹⁵⁰⁴

The tribune wanted to know whether the prisoner was to be taken to the Temple for trial, and conflicting shouts echoed through the grove. The ranking Sadducees and Pharisees consulted and said no, the prisoner was to be taken to the home of the high priest. They said it would be preferable not to return by going through the Temple compound. It was holy ground and Caiaphas didn’t want it desecrated by this blasphemer, and besides, with all the pilgrims after the Temple gates opened at midnight it would be too dangerous. A riot might ensue if they saw the Nazarene under Roman guard with His hands tied behind His back.

The Romans studied the prisoner. They could see nothing but a mild, inoffensive man. He stood quietly, and now His head was lowered, so that His beard touched His chest. Some of the Temple guard asked the troublemaking Rabbi questions – mostly about His alleged divinity – but His head remained bowed. The Gentiles, looking around, were certain that some of the friends of the prisoner were more sinister than this subdued weakling.

Someone prodded Jesus, and the march began. The mob was in front of Him and flanking Him and behind Him. The priests were pleased that the whole matter had been done with such quiet dispatch. Yeshua had muttered no spell, had conjured up no fire or brimstone to destroy them all. This, of course, proved that he was no more a Messiah than they. If he were the Messiah, then he had the power to destroy them. If he did not use the power then he did not have it, and if he did not have it then he was just another imposter under arrest.

Time had caught up with him, they thought. If he had only remained in Galilee with his pronouncements of love, he could have become rich. But no, he pressed his luck. He had to storm Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was known to kill real prophets. What chance did the Nazarene magician have there?

Some of the guards at the rear of the line of march noticed that his small band of followers was not too far behind. The guards winked at each other and turned as if to pursue them. All took flight quickly, and disappeared into the darkness so fast that the Romans laughed and made jokes about their speed. A young man, (in this case Mark) wearing nothing but a linen garment (because he was suddenly awakened when the raiders invaded his father’s house looking for the Lord), was following Jesus. When the soldiers seized Him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind (Matthew 26:56b; Mark 14:50-52). Therefore Mark was an eyewitness to the arrest. It’s like the monogram of the artist in the dark corner of a picture. It was the way of literature in the ancient world.

The march took them from Gethsemane to the Bethany Road. There, they turned and marched up the big hill to the north of the City, down through the Tyropoeon Valley, then south through the Second Quarter to the Upper City, passing between Herod’s Palace and Pilot’s Palace, continuing south to the Essene Quarter. They took the long way around the Temple to avoid any detection. Jesus, His head still down, not answering any of the taunts, walked barefoot with His hands tied behind His back and the noose jerking slightly at His neck.¹⁵⁰⁵  They took Him to the house of the high priest, Joseph Caiaphas.

Rise! Let Us Go! Here Comes My Betrayer!
Matthew 26:45-46 and Mark 14:41-42
About 1:30 am Friday morning, the fifteenth of Nisan

The night air was still. In the garden of Gethsemane, the leaves of the trees hung quietly. The day before, all day long, there had been the sounds of the Passover pilgrims walking the Bethany road to the Temple. But now all was silent. If Yeshua had looked up from where He was praying, He would have seen the Golden Gate (or the Beautiful Gate), on the east side of Jerusalem. The moon was full and sat like a huge orange on the mountains of Moab and the Temple was hung like a silhouette. Even the brook flowing through Kidron, black and cold, moved quietly over its round stones on its way to the Valley of ben Hinnom.

Some Pharisees, the Jewish Temple guard and a cohort of 500 Roman soldiers left the huge courtyard adjoining the homes of both Caiaphas and Annas led by Judas. Ordinarily a cohort consisted of 500 men, or one-tenth of a 5,000 man Roman legion. They traveled the same route that Jesus and the apostles had traveled earlier to the Garden. They marched directly east to the Lower City, then north through the Valley Gate and hugged the base of the southern wall of the Temple Mount, past the pinnacle of the Temple, then along the eastern wall, past the Golden Gate.   Caiaphas would not tolerate the Roman soldiers entering the Huldah Gates into holy ground. Each man carried either a club or a sword, and some also had a torch or lantern that cut through the night. The mob left the walls of Tziyon and walked down the sheer steps leading to the Kidron Valley and up the other side.

These were certainly strange bedfellows. No one had ever seen Pharisees marching with Roman soldiers (John 18:3). The separate ones would have nothing to do with Gentile Romans, since they proclaimed religious purity above everything else. And there was no doubt that the legionnaires had never marched with the priestly Sadducees. Each of those groups had reason to distrust the other. They were, however, momentary allies and all three were led by Judas Iscariot, one of the criminal’s own followers.¹⁴⁹⁷

The cohort of Romans soldiers had been preparing as if to go to war, and Judas had been making arrangements with the high priest. They all agreed that the Rabbi from Galilee was a threat and they were willing, for this one time, to overlook their differences to act as one. There was a flurry of activity behind the scenes, but now all was ready. Everything had been thought out ahead of time.

It was a simple plan. Nobody there cared about the other apostles. They just wanted Jesus, the One who was causing all of them problems. The pack of soldiers marched down into the valley, and, when they reached near the bottom, Judas pulled aside the representatives of the Sanhedrin, the captain of the Temple guard and the Roman tribute. He had an idea. When they reached Gethsemane, he would identify the criminal with a kiss. The one I kiss is the man, said Judas, arrest Him and lead Him away (Matthew 26:48; Mark 14:44).

In the garden of Gethsemane, Messiah got to His feet. His face was once again peaceful and dignified. Then He returned the third time to Peter, James and John and said to them: Are you still sleeping and resting? Through the olive trees He could see the line of men with torches approaching from across the Kidron Valley. As they drew closer the Anointed One could hear the clank of metal shields and swords, and the murmur of many voices. Yeshua ha-Meshiach said to His slumbering talmidim: Look, the hour has come and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes My betrayer (Matthew 26:45-46; Mark 14:41b-42)! And then He went out to meet them. The cup descended, unforeseen by any eye but His. He took it willingly from His Father. Yeshua understood that with this cup He would finish what He was born to do. Alone. Therefore, in Gethsemane, the Son of God waited for a kiss from the lips of His betrayer.

The Rejection of King Messiah

This was Satan’s hour. Our Savior said to those who came to arrest Him in the Garden: This is your hour, and the power of darkness (Luke 22:53 KJV). On the day when sin entered the world, ADONAI announced that He would put enmity, or hatred, between Satan and the woman, between the Adversary’s seed and her Seed. The Destroyer of souls will strike the heel of Messiah at the cross (Isaiah 53:5). Now being bitten on the heel is very painful, but not fatal. The figurative language here is based upon the way snakes are killed in the Middle East. You step on its head and crush it. The picture being conveyed here is that the heel of the Messiah is coming down on the tempter’s head. But the Serpent, controlled by Satan, lunges upward and bites the heel of the Lord, causing pain, but not permanent loss of life. Meanwhile, the heel continues to come down crushing the head of the deceiver. The great promise in this verse has long been known as the protevangelium, or the first gospel, promising the ultimate coming and victory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

That enmity was unmistakable when the Holy One was born in the flesh, for we are told: The dragon stood in front of the woman (Isra’el) who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child, the Messiah, the moment it was born (Revelation 12:4b). This attempt to devour Christ was seen in the slaughter of babes of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16-18). The Adversary’s attempt to destroy Christ both before His proper time (the Passover), and by the wrong means (stoning in place of crucifixion) continued throughout the course of His life.¹⁴⁹⁵  Satan failed, however, because she gave birth to a son (Isaiah 66:7), a male child who was destined to rule all the nations of the world with an iron scepter as ADONAI (Psalm 2:8-9). And her child was snatched up, or ascended up to the LORD and to His throne (Revelation 12:5), where He presently sits at the right hand of God the Father interceding for His holy ones (Romans 8:34).

This spiritual battle of the ages was foreordained. Jesus is the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8 ESV). So His rejection was all a part of God’s plan. Up to this point ADONAI had foiled Satan’s scheming (to see link click Aw – Herod Gave Orders to Kill all the Boys in Bethlehem Two Years Old and Under). But now the Father hindered it no more. The hour had arrived when the Serpent would strike the Savior’s heel.

Perhaps nowhere in Scripture is there a more vivid demonstration of the sovereignty of God than Pontius Pilate’s treatment of Christ at the Praetorium that day. First, Pilate proclaimed His innocence no less than seven times (John 18:31a; Luke 23:4, 23:14 and 15; John 19:4; Luke 23:22 and John 19:6).

Second, Pilate wanted to release Jesus (Luke 23:20); I will let Him go (Luke 23:22); Pilate tried to set Jesus free (John 19:12); Pilate had decided to let Him go (Acts 3:13), all prove God’s sovereignty in the matter.

Third, Pilate was urged by his own wife not to sentence Him (Matthew 27:19).

Fourth, he actually tried to bring about Messiah’s acquittal when he told the Jews: Take Him yourselves and judge Him by your own law (John 18:31). He sent Him to Herod Antipas, only to have Christ returned to him (Luke 23:7); and he tried to persuade the Jews to have him convict Barabbas instead of Yeshua (John 18:39-40). Yet, in spite of all of this, Pilate ultimately sentenced the Lamb of God to be crucified!¹⁴⁹⁶

From the moment the Anointed One was born . . . the great dragon wanted to kill Him. And at the cross, the evil one’s plans were seemingly accomplished. But as Joseph said to his brothers: You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives (Gen 50:20).

The Garden of Gethsemane
Matthew 26:36-44; Mark 14:32-40; Luke 22:39-46; John 18:1
Midnight on Friday the fifteenth of Nisan

The Garden of Gethsemane DIG: Why did Jesus take Peter, James, and John with Him to pray? Why didn’t the talmidim share Yeshua’s sense of urgency? What did Messiah want most of all? Yet, how did He pray? What was unusual about His sweating? What did that mean? What were the other times that He prayed alone? What model for our prayers does Jesus provide here? What obstacles to prayer does Christ face?

REFLECT: What has been your Gethsemane? Where is the place where you have really wrestled with God? What was the issue? What determines for whom and what you pray? What do you mean when you pray, “Your will be done?” How will the Gethsemane story change the way you pray this week? How many friends do you have who will stand by you in times of trouble? What strikes you about Jesus’ prayer?

Then Jesus went out as usual with His talmidim across the stream that flows in winter through the Kidron Valley to a spot called Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives (Luke 22:39; John 18:1 CJB). As the party moved on, the apostles were fatigued to the bone. It had been a long day. They had been up by dawn at Bethany, where Jesus left His mother in the care of Mary and Martha. It was approaching midnight and the eyes of the Eleven were heavy and their feet were slow. Not only that, Yeshua had said so much that their brains ached with remembering. But they did not complain because they sensed that something was different. There was an urgency to the teaching of the Master.

They were two hundred yards from the little olive press and the Garden at the base of the valley that separates Yerushalayim from the Mount of Olives. For some time now, since they had crossed the brook, they had been bearing away from the City of David. At the base of Olivet, the wall and the Temple was a quarter mile to the west.

They turned off the little road near the juncture of the highway to Jericho. There, the apostles trudged along in the midst of the little olive trees. In the moonlight they found a small stone cave beside the Garden, full of the odor of old olive oil. Some of the apostles sat, while others leaned against the cave wall. It was a quiet resting place where not only the talmidim, but also possibly others at different times, may have visited the Master there. And as such, Judas knew about the resting place and there the traitor led the armed party when they found that Nazarene and His little band no longer occupied the Upper Room.

The walk was finished. There was an end to the preaching . . . an end to the miracles . . . and an end to the instruction of His talmidim. There was nothing that had not been said, or done, several times – some to the point of redundancy for the sake of emphasis. He had offered Himself as the Meshiach, and Isra’el had rejected Him. It was a legitimate offer. But since the Sanhedrin claimed He was demon possessed, only the path to the cross was open to Him. And, as He knew when He had told the Father that He would consent to be born and live as a man, and to die as a man, the moment of trial would be slow and terrifying. God the Father would not be able to save Him from a speck of pain, a shred of shame, or even shield Him from the horror of anticipating the unspeakable things that were to come.

He said to eight of them: Sit here while I go over there and pray (Matthew 26:36; Mark 14:32). Jesus, seen in all His humanity, needed His friends to watch with Him and support Him as He faced death. Then Christ took Peter, James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, along with Him. These three, in whom our Savior had a special trust, walked with Him out of the cave and across the little road of gray steps that stretched all the way from the Temple down to the Kidron and up to the top of the Mount of Olives. They crossed the steps and walked into the shadows of the little olive garden.

The three followed Him. The Son of Man stopped under the trees. In the pattern of foliage that blotted out part of the moonlight, they could see that He was deeply distressed and troubled (Matthew 26:37; Mark 14:33). His hands shook. His features seemed to be gray, tinged with blue. His mouth was slack. And His eyes were huge with a vision the others could not see. In those dark hours of the night of Pesach, the Suffering Servant came to that special place for prayer.

During Yeshua’s life on earth, He offered up prayers and petitions, crying aloud and shedding tears, to the One who had the power to deliver Him from death (Hebrews 5:7a CJB). What a picture. Jesus in pain. Messiah on the stage of fear. Christ is cloaked, not in sainthood, but humanity. The next time the fog finds you, you might do well to remember the Lord in the Garden. The next time your self-pity convinces you that no one cares, pay a visit to Gethsemane. And the next time you wonder if God really sees the pain that abounds in this world, listen to Him pleading among the twisted olive trees.¹⁴⁸⁷

Then He said to them: My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death (Matthew 26:38a; Mark 14:34a). Peter and James and John tried to help. They wanted to console. But the Messiah simply shook His head. He was beyond the help of mankind, precisely because His humanity was being emphasized more than His deity. As a man he was able to sustain the fullness of suffering. And, as a man, the Nazarene not only had the nervous structure of all other humans, plus the emotional capacity for great joy in addition to a great sensitivity, but as the Son of God, He understood what was to come shortly.¹⁴⁸⁸

Because of His tremendous trial, Jesus requested that His inner circle stay here and keep watch with Me (John 26:38b; Mark 14:34b). He reached. Oh, how He reached! But His stretching, hungering touch went unfulfilled. There was only one gift He desired – to see His friends stand by Him as He carried out His faithful purpose. Christ was fully God and fully man: God enough to save and man enough to feel the loneliness of His task. He left, seeking support from those whose lives were His joy. It was as if He were saying, “Who will bear the heaviness with Me?” On reaching the place, He said to them: Pray that you will not fall into temptation (Lk 22:40). He knew what these three, and the rest of His apostles would soon face the full weight of the Roman boot and the Great Sanhedrin. Separately, they were formidable. But together they would be deadly.

It was at that time that young Mark (about seventeen years old) ran into the Garden. He was panting and in his nightclothes. He went to the side of the road where the cave was and, with excitement, told the eight who had been sleeping that there had been a raid on his father’s house, and a great mob of men with torches and armed with clubs, led by Roman soldiers and Temple guards as well as some members of the Great Sanhedrin had searched the premises looking for the Master. They demanded to know where He had gone.

The Roman tribune and some of the members of the Sanhedrin questioned his father and then they had left. Some said they were going to the Temple. At this news, one of the eight hurried across the road to tell Jesus and, not finding Him, conveyed the news in whispers to Peter and the other two apostles who waited. No one, with the exception of the boy who brought the news, seemed alarmed. Apparently the talmidim thought that if the raid on Mark’s home had failed, then that was the end of it.

Their lack of concern was clearly seen by the fact that the eight in the cave and the three who reclined against the olive tree all fell asleep. Now and then, Yochanan awakened and listened to the loud and painful cries of Jesus, but in spite of his love for the Lord, and his natural compassion, the heavy lids of his eyes refused to obey his will and shut again. Thus in the little grove of olive trees there was the strange sound of the Son of Man crying out for mercy and, mingled with it, the sleepy noises of His apostles whose normal senses had been muzzled by fatigue. So humanly speaking, Christ was alone in the Garden.

Going a little farther, He fell repeatedly with His face to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him (Matthew 26:39a; Mark 14:35; Luke 22:41). The verbs fell and prayed are both imperfect, speaking of continuous action. This tells us that Jesus kept on falling to the ground and kept on praying. As He prayed, His anguish deepened and became almost unbearable. He stood. His agitation was pronounced. The hair, which normally hung smoothly to below His shoulders, was awry and some of it was plastered to the sweat on His forehead.

Abba, Father (that is: Dear Father!). His voice cracked in His native Aramaic tongue. And the universe came to attention. Heaven heard Him. His Father always heard Him. The Father likely cried, “Make ready for the great separation. In the morning You must bear the pain of nails and thorns; and yet that pain will seem small compared to all You’ll feel when I shall turn away from You. The pain that We must bear in this bleak separation will be unbearable. Endure, Son, till death releases Your human form. Cry out when all is paid in full and hurry home to Me.”

This word, Abba, is a term of endearment, like daddy. Rabbi Sha’ul would later use it in his letter to the church in Rome. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to bring you back again into fear; on the contrary, you received the Spirit who adopts us, and by whose power we cry out, Abba (Romans 8:15). This word is not used anywhere in Judaism. They viewed God in reverent fear. The curtain in the Temple had not been torn yet.

Father. Here Son. If it is possible, may this cup be taken from Me (Matthew 26:39b; Mark 14:36a; Luke 22:42a). The idiom of a cup is frequently used in Judaism for the tasting of a particular experience. What was the cup that Jesus didn’t want to drink of? Physical death? No. Dying a premature death? No. It was His coming separation from the Father and the Spirit, or spiritual death. He will say from the cross: My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me (Mattityahu 27:46)? God would not be there – only the black curtain – the separating burden. In the Garden of Eden the first Adam learned disobedience, but in the Garden of Gethsemane the last Adam learned obedience (First Corinthians 15:45).¹⁴⁸⁹

Despite all the anguish of body and soul, our Savior adds one more remarkable statement to His prayer . . . Yet not what I will, but what you will (Matthew 26:39c; Mark 14:36b; Luke 22:42b). Messiah’s love and commitment for mankind was revealed once again with those words. Even though in His humanity He would have gladly passed on the suffering ahead of Him, Jesus also knew that by His suffering, the world’s redemption (see my commentary on Exodus, to see link click Bz – Redemption) would be purchased. Consequently, He gladly submitted His prayer and attitude to theFather since He knew He had to fulfill His purpose for leaving heaven and coming to the earth.¹⁴⁹⁰

There are only six occasions in the Gospels in which Jesus withdraws to pray by Himself, and each incident involves the temptation not to carry out God’s mission for Him – a mission that would ultimately bring suffering, rejection, and death. These crises seem to increase in intensity and reach their climax in the agony of Gethsemane.¹⁴⁹¹

The first time He went away by Himself to pray was when our Savior was driven into the wilderness and tempted by the devil. There, the Holy Spirit was present with Him as He faced the ancient Serpent (see Bj – Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness).

Second, Jesus withdrew to pray prior to His second major preaching tour (see Cm – Jesus Traveled Throughout Galilee, Proclaiming the Good News). He knew that the Adversary would be actively opposing His mission and prayer would be needed.

Third, the Lord prayed alone after His first messianic miracle (see Cn – The Healing of a Jewish Leper). He knew that He would get the attention of the Sanhedrin because it was their responsibility to investigate any claim of messiahship. And so He did – as members of the Sanhedrin traveled all the way to Capernaum to hear Him preach. Jesus knew it was going to be a turning point in His earthly ministry because He not only healed a paralytic that day, but more importantly, He forgave His sins – claiming to be deity.

Fourth, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach went to a quiet place to pray before choosing His talmidim who would carry on His ministry after He was gone (see Cy – These are the Names of the Twelve Apostles). These were important decisions and He needed to be by Himself and pray about it.

Fifth, after feeding the five thousand, the people wanted to make Him king. Thus, the Rabbi from Galilee sent His talmidim back across the Lake to the Gennesaret, and dismissed the crowd before going up on a mountainside by Himself to pray (see Fo – Jesus Rejects the Idea of a Political Messiah). He delayed going to His apostles long enough to save them from another storm. By walking on the water, He displayed His deity.

And sixth, here, in the climax of the Suffering Servant praying alone, He was under so much stress that His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground foreshadowing the cross in the morning.

This was the height of spiritual warfare. As He prayed He rocked back and forth as though in deep physical pain. Then He looked up and, for a moment, fell silent. An angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him. And being in anguish, He prayed continuously and more earnestly. Suddenly the salty sweat, gleaming on His face and forehead, began to change color. It reddened and deepened in hue until, in His agony, He knew that it was blood. It clung to His face and moved slowly down to His chin. Some of it dropped off in clots and congealed in His beard. And His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground foreshadowing the cross that same morning (Luke 22:43-44a).

Medically, this is called hematidrosis. It occurs when fear is piled upon fear, when an agony of suffering is laid upon an older suffering until the highly sensitized person can no longer sustain the pain. At the moment, the patient ordinarily loses consciousness. When that does not happen, the subcutaneous capillaries sometimes dilate so broadly that, when they come into contact with the sweat glands the little capillaries burst. The blood is exuded with the perspiration and, usually, this occurs over the entire body. Luke later wrote: And His sweat became clots of blood, trickling down upon the ground (Luke 22:44b).¹⁴⁹²

In Gethsemane, the garden of the olive press, the fruit was crushed until its bloody oil flowed (Isaiah 53:5). One can only imagine the spiritual oppression Christ was under as Satan tried to prevent Him from going to the Cross. Jesus was one hundred percent God and one hundred percent man. So humanly, knowing what He was about to face, it should not be surprising that He was somewhat fearful. It would have been unnatural not to have that feeling; but understand this – our Lord was no wimp. He was overwhelmed with sorrow, deeply distressed and troubled, not terrified. The cross was not His biggest concern. He didn’t want to drink that cup because that meant being separated from the Trinity for the first and only time in His existence. He also was going to take upon Himself all the sins of every human being that ever existed. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross (First Peter 2:24a; also see Second Corinthians 5:21). The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit had been One for all time. He knew He had to die. That’s why He came – that was His purpose in His life. But for three hours, from noon until 3:00 pm, God the Father would, by necessity, turn His back on His beloved Son (see Lv – Jesus’ Second Three Hours on the Cross: The Wrath of God). God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with Him we might fully share in God’s righteousness (Second Corinthians 5:21).

Then Jesus rose from prayer and returned to His apostles. He looked down and His heart ached as He found the three sleeping again. From those whom the humanness of Christ needed support He heard nothing. Silence. They were asleep! Simon, He said to Peter: Are you asleep? Couldn’t you keep watch for one hour (Matthew 26:40; Mark 14:37; Luke 22:45)? He addressed Peter by his old name and chided him for his failure to watch for even one hour. How can you be sleeping? Jesus asked. Then He exhorted all three: Get up and watch (be alert to spiritual dangers) and pray (acknowledging dependence on God) so that you will not fall into temptation (Luke 22:46). He was dismayed at the sight of His defenders grunting apologies and struggling to get to their feet. His Father may have originally chosen the Twelve, but He had granted these three special honors – only Peter, James and John had been privileged to see His transfiguration on the mountain; only these three had been present when He had raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead. How could they now be sleeping?

It was obvious that they needed much prayer for the temptations they would soon face. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38). Of course it was about midnight and they had celebrated Pesach with a full Seder, not to mention the cups of wine. On the other hand, it was a crucial time in Christ’s life and, humanly, He desperately needed their support.

Having awakened His talmidim, He went away a second time and prayed the same thing (Mark 14:39): My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may Your will be done (Matthew 26:42). If Yeshua the Messiah and God the Father are One (John 10:30), how could their wills ever differ? They can differ because Christ, even though in the form of God . . . appearing as a human being and became obedient even to death (Philippians 2:6-8 CJB). As a human being Jesus was in every respect . . . tempted just as we are, the only difference being that He did not sin (Hebrews 4:15 CJB). Even though He was the Son, He learned obedience through His sufferings (Hebrews 5:8 CJB). It was as a human being, not as God, that he experienced the process of learning to conform His will to His Father’s will, since as God, who is omniscient, He did not need to “learn.”¹⁴⁹³

When he came back, He again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to Him. So He left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing (Matthew 26:43-44; Mark 14:40). Three times He prayed that the cup could be taken away so He wouldn’t have to drink it.

In Gethsemane, Messiah found Himself abandoned – not because His friends were gone, but they took humanity too casually. They had not really chosen to isolate Him in their unconcern. They loudly affirmed their love and allegiance when laughter was easy and their lives were not threatened. But now they sent Him through the Red Sea alone. They never wanted Him to be alone, but His need escaped them as they focused on themselves.

It’s the glory of Him who has been tempted in every way, just as we are (Hebrews 4:15) to have sampled the human nature of our lives. Here and there we stumble blind in grief through our Gethsemanes and find the ground already stained with His blood. In our Gethsemane there’s an unseen plaque on every twisted tree that says: Jesus was here.

He is still here, and we can bear our Good Fridays if we let the rest of our week call to mind the glorious solitude of Him who conquered loneliness. In life, in death, on every cross and every garden that comes before us, we are not alone. With our hand we can wipe the kiss of Judas from our lips and shout with confidence: Emmanuel! God with us – regardless.¹⁴⁹⁴

Jesus Prays for All Believers
John 17: 20-26
On the walk to Gethsemane, close to midnight,
the fifteenth of Nisan

Jesus prays for all believers DIG: If believers in Yeshua Messiah all have the same spiritual DNA why is there so much disunity in the Church today? But what is an even greater schism? What was the glory of Jesus? Why did God adopt you? Why are there only two families in the world? How does our adoption into the family of YHVH affect our eternal security? What are the three fundamental truths about the relationship between prayer and ministry?

REFLECT: Do you ever think of ADONAI feeling pleasure about having you as His child? How might this truth impact the way you feel? The way you live? If a loving human father wants his children to be secure in their relationship with him, how much more does our perfect heavenly Father want it? How can prayer affect our lives and the lives of those around us? How can I be more involved in the ministry of prayer?

And thirdly, Messiah prayed for all future believers. I pray not only for these eleven shlichim (emissaries), but also for those who will trust in Me because of their word (Yochanan 17:20 CJB). Here Jesus prayed for the untold millions down through the centuries who have come to trust in . . . believe in . . . have faith in . . . Him because of these apostles (twelve after the addition of Matthias in Acts 1:12-26). Do you see the words also for those? That’s where your name belongs. If you have believed in Yeshua Messiah, He prayed for you. Having prayed for Himself and the success of His mission (to see link click Ky – Father, The Hour Has Come), and interceded for the protection of His talmidim (see Kz – Your Word Is Truth), the Lord petitioned His Father for the generations of believers who would come to faith either directly or indirectly through the ministry of His shlichim (messengers). This included believing Jews in Tzion as well as believing Gentiles not of the Hebrew fold (John 10:16). Note the expression because of their word. It is no longer just “the Word of God,” or even “My Word.” By being adopted into the family of God, the apostles now possess the truth and can rightfully claim it as their own. The truth is ours, in that Hehas filled us with divine truth in the person of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh.¹⁴⁷⁹

The Lord first asked for unity among the body of believers: I pray that they may all be one. Just as You, Father, are in Me and I AM in You, I pray that they may be united in Us (for more on the doctrine of the “union in Christ” see Kt – I AM the True Vine). The history of the Christian Church offers all too much proof that this prayer was needed. Most Jewish people are at least confused, if not stumbled, by the various distinctions between various kinds of Christians that seem to divide more than unite. Eastern Orthodox versus Western, Roman Catholic versus Protestant, hundreds Protestant denominations, and thousands of one-church “denominations” with no structural affiliation. How many lives have been sacrificed over the centuries in wars between Christians? How often does the media report loveless accusations of one Christian group by another?

Jewish people look on this display of disunity with disgust or disdain, while the less hostile expression may provoke mild amusement; for the Jewish community functions rather differently. It has a built-in unity partly based, like that of the messianic community, on God’s having chosen them for Himself. But the Jewish unity is also based on a common history involving common social patterns, religious practices, persecution by outsiders (both Christian and non-Christian), and the biological element of descent from a common ancestor.

A common expression is the feeling among many Jews, “We’re all family to each other.” I asked a Jewish woman that I once worked with if she knew what tribe she was from (before I knew any better), and she replied, “I’m a M.O.T. – a member of the tribe! While there are Jewish denominations . . . three major ones and several minor . . . and even some friction between them, this does not prevent unified community action when basic issues are concerned, such as support for the survival of the nation of Isra’el or opposition to anti-Semitism. Only the Hasidic sects seem to produce the sort of discord between themselves that other Jews can regard as slightly ridiculous (but only rarely vicious). So Jews consider themselves largely immune from the kinds of divisions that seem endemic to the Christian Church, with such unpleasant consequences for both themselves and the rest of humanity.

It is no wonder, then, that Yeshua prayed as He did. While Scripture declares that there already exists a spiritual unity between believers in Messiah (Romans 12:4-8; First Corinthians 12:12-27), what we see is, to put it mildly, a very imperfect reflection of it. The modern ecumenical movement is a cross-denominational effort to create unity, although anxiety to achieve the goal can lead to generating an appearance of unity at the institutional level that glosses over the real differences in doctrine and practice as well as unhealed relationships between people. On the other hand, opposition to ecumenism is sometimes voiced by those who, in the name of doctrinal purity, refuse to work through the crises of resolving differences with their brothers and sisters in the Lord.

However serious the schisms are between the various Christian denominations, the greatest schism in the world is the one between the Jewish people and the Body of Christ. The Jews are God’s people, and so is the Church made up of both Jews and Gentiles: For He Himself is our peace, who had made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:14). It was never ADONAI’s intent that there be two separated peoples of God; for the Body of the Messiah is built on a Jewish foundation. It springs from a Jewish root. And conversely, non-messianic Judaism is a broken-off branch, although one with enough life to flourish if grafted in again to the living tree (Romans 11:17-26). However, messianic Judaism, by striving to keep a Jewish perspective hundred percent of the time and continuing to be messianic one hundred percent of the time, offers itself as one true means to help heal this schism.¹⁴⁸⁰

Finally, the healing of these splits is given an evangelistic purpose in Messiah’s prayer: May they be one in Us so that the unsaved world may believe that You (God the Father) sent Me (Jesus) (Yochanan 17:21 CJB). Christ was not praying for the unity of a single, worldwide, ecumenical church in which doctrinal heresy would be tolerated along with orthodoxy. No. Instead, He was praying for a unity of love, a unity of obedience to God and His Word, and a united commitment to His will. There are great differences between uniformity, union, and unity.¹⁴⁸¹

The Lord’s second request was for believers to enjoy eternity in heaven with their Savior: The glory that You have given to Me, I have given to them (John 17:22a CJB). What was the glory of Jesus? There are three ways in which He talked about it. First, the cross was His glory. Messiah didn’t speak of being crucified; He spoke of being glorified. So first and foremost, a believer’s glory is the cross that must be borne. It is an honor to suffer for Christ. We must never think of our cross as our penalty; we must think of it as our glory. Second, Yeshua’s perfect obedience to the will of the Father was His glory. We find our glory, not in doing what we like, but in doing as God wills. So that they may be one – just as We are one – I united with them and You with Me, so that they may be completely one. Third, the Lord’s glory lay in the fact that, from His life, people recognized His special relationship with ADONAI. They saw that no one could live as He did unless He was uniquely near to YHVH. As with Christ, it is our glory when others see in us the reflection of God. And that the world would realize that You sent Me, and that You have loved them just as You have loved Me (Yochanan 17:22b-23 CJB).¹⁴⁸²

In love He predestined us to be adopted as His [children] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will (Ephesians 1:5; also see 2 Tim 1:8-9 and Psalm 139). We are adopted into God’s family at the moment of faith (see Bw – What God Does for Us at the Moment of Faith). Notice the last phrase, which I will italicize for emphasis: In love he predestined us for adoption [as His children] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will. An even more literal rendering would be, “in accordance with the good pleasure of His will.” The point is that ADONAI planned to adopt us as His children because this gave Him pleasure. It made Him happy, to use casual language. Think of that! YHVH chose to adopt you because the thought of this gave Him joy. So, here’s something upon which to reflect today. Ha’Shem adopted you, not only because He loves you, but also because the thought of having you as His child gives Him great pleasure.

There are only two families in the world. There is the family of YHVH and the family of Satan. There is no middle ground. Adoption expresses the grace of God and excludes works. When parents adopt a child, they don’t look at the good works of the child. They adopt out of love. Adoption is an act of the parents, not of the child. Additionally, we are given full status with Jesus Christ, the natural Son of God, even though we are adopted. ADONAI is our perfect heavenly Father who can care for His own children. Everything that is true of Him is true of us, minus His deity. We are going to inherit what the Messiah inherits.

Our sonship or daughtership is our present tense possession. We are members of a new, eternal (see Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer), glorious family. As firstborn of the family, Yeshua is our Brother (Romans 8:29). What rights does ADONAI have? What does God own? Whatever He owns belongs to you because of your adoption. God is going to give us the universe because He owns it. We are going to rule and reign with Him forever (Second Timothy 2:12; Revelation 2:27).

Our eternal destiny is an answer to Christ’s prayer on our behalf, and we can be certain the Son’s requests from the Father will be faithfully answered. Father, I want those you have given Me to be with Me where I AM, so that they may see (Greek: theoreo) My glory, which You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world (John 17:24). In translating Yeshua’s Aramaic word: see into Greek, Yochanan could have chosen any of five Greek words, but he choose theoreo. This term typically describes spectators at a religious festival, who view with wonder, curiosity, or contemplation. The object of this seeing will be ADONAI’s glory in heaven, where the Sh’khinah will not be shrouded in human flesh (see my commentary on Revelation Fv –Nothing Impure Will Enter the New Jerusalem). In His presence there will be no more night, no darkness at all (Yochanan 1:5; First Yochanan 1:5).¹⁴⁸³

The Lord’s third request of the Father was for our mutual love – the same kind of love shared within the Trinity and demonstrated by the Father for the world in sending His Son: Righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I have known You, and these people have known that You sent Me. The significance of righteous here is that Jesus was praising the Father for His work of revelation (Matthew 11:25-26). The Father is righteous but the world had not known Him. Christ, however, made His Name known to the world by His impending death: And I will continue to make it known. And the Father made known His love for the Son by raising Him to glory (Yochanan 17:25-26). Messiah’s purpose in revealing the Father was that believers would continue to grow in that love (that the Father’s love for the Son may be in them) and to enjoy the personal presence of Yeshua in their lives (that I Myself may be in them).¹⁴⁸⁴

Jesus prayer for Himself, His apostles and future generations of believers highlight three fundamental truths about the relationship between prayer and ministry.

First, prayer helps us keep God’s glory as the first priority in every ministry. Yeshua began His prayer be acknowledging the primary purpose of His mission on earth. As the Son of God, He asked to be glorified – to be vindicated in the sight of all humanity as the embodiment of divine truth – not for His own sake, but that He might reflect this glory back to the Father. When we go to the Father through the Son, asking for anything to be accomplished, we are wise to acknowledge the glory of ADONAI as the primary goal in every human endeavor, whether directly associated with ministry or not.

Second, prayer helps us remember that any ministry will succeed only because of His power, not ours. Messiah acknowledged that people came to Him because they belonged to God. The Father drew them; Jesus kept them (John 6:37, 39, 65, 12:32, 17:2, 6, 9, 24); and the Ruach ha-Kodesh enlightened them. Of course it’s pointless to ask whether the Father or the Son was responsible for the success because they are the same in essence. They are two Persons and one God. However, the Son’s prayer is our example. When we pray, let us subordinate our desires to the greater design of YHVH. After all, we are a part of His redemptive plan, not the other way around!

Third, prayer causes us to look to God for success rather than to the world. The Lord acknowledged in His prayer that the desires of the world oppose those of the Father (John 17:6, 9, 11, 14). Our Savior prayed, in effect, “Lord, unify them, preserve them, set them apart, and work through them.” He did not say, “Lord, may the world assist in accomplishing Your plan.” The world is not a friend to grace; as a result, we should expect resistance in proclaiming the Good News. Prayer helps us remember whom to thank for success, even when the world appears to cooperate.¹⁴⁸⁵

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are an answer to His long-ago prayer. You are one of those who have believed because of the faithfulness of others. There is an unbroken chain of witnesses from that Upper Room to your heart and mind, just as He expected in prayer. The faith is in your hands, in your life. Ironically, you keep it by giving it away. If you hold it privately and secretly, you haven’t kept it. Pray for the people in your life, and then tell them about Jesus.

Father, Your Son showed us how to pray. He prayed in the morning, He prayed in the evening, He prayed alone, and He prayed with others. In hours of distress He retreated into times of prayer. In hours of joy He lifted His heart to You. Help us to pray in this way and to make prayer a priority in our daily lives.¹⁴⁸⁶

Your Word Is Truth
John 17: 6-19
On the walk to Gethsemane, close to midnight,
the fifteenth of Nisan

Your word is truth DIG: What significance does the name of God play in Christ’s prayer? How is Yeshua glorified in His apostles? What does Yeshua desire for His talmidim? Jesus had protected His talmidim with the exception of Judas. Why wasn’t he protected? What gift did the Lord give the Eleven? Why were they in danger? Who hated them? Why? What does sanctified mean? What does it not mean? How can it be misused? How and why are we separated for holiness? What is the result? What spiritual battle is described in Jesus’ prayer? How are the apostles equipped for this spiritual battle?

REFLECT: What are some of the daily pressures you face? How does Christ’s prayer encourage you to face those pressures? What interferes with your prayer life? How can we overcome feelings of discouragement when our prayers seem to go unanswered?

Secondly, the Lord prayed for His apostles that were with Him at that time: I have made Your name known to the people You gave me out of the world (John 17:6a CJB). At that time one’s name represented one’s character and attributes. To reveal the name of God is to display His essential nature to mankind. Again, later, Jesus says that He has made the Father’s name known (John 17:26), and twice in between the Lord refers to the talmidim as kept in the Father’s name (John 17: 11-12). So clearly the name is an important concept for the understanding of this prayer.¹⁴⁷²

The point here is that the revelation was not made indiscriminately. It was made to those who the Father gave to the Son out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your TaNaKh. Jesus praised His apostles for responding to the message of ADONAI in Messiah. The Eleven were not perfect, but they had the right commitment. Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You. For I gave them the words You gave me and they accepted them. Their faith in Yeshua was a trust in His union with the Father. They have really come to know that I came from You, and they have come to believe that You sent Me (John 17:6b-8). This faith in Him was demonstrated in their obedience to His words because they believed in His divine mission.

Yochanan request begins with the phrase: I pray for them . . . and then abruptly shifts to a parenthetical digression before resuming in verse 11 with keep them by the power of Your name. This parenthetical aside specifies whom Chief Shepherd intends YHVH to keep. The verb translated keep is a term that describes the primary duty of a shepherd; it means to guard or protect. I AM not praying for the world, but for those You have given Me – the context here is the eleven apostles (John 17:9). The idea is to keep them separated from the dangers of the world, even as He was sending them out like lambs among wolves. They would need to trust Him for protection (Luke 10:3 CJB).

For they are Yours. All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine. And glory has come to Me through them (Yochanan 17:10). It is worth noting that Yeshua now returns to the thought of glory that we saw earlier in this chapter (to see link click Ky –Father, The Hour Has Come). But now the Good Shepherd says that He has been glorified in His talmidim. This is very similar to Messiah’s attitude to the glory seen in the cross. Outwardly the little group was not very distinguished. Jewish society saw nothing extraordinary about them. They were not well respected. Galileans at that! However, just as the world’s values were all wrong about the cross, so were the world’s values all wrong about the Eleven. In them the Son of YHVH, no less, would actually be glorified.

God is in the business of changing the face of the world. To be very clear, this is His job and not ours. Our goal is not to make our faces radiant. Not even Yeshua did that. Mattityahu said, “Jesus appearance changed” not “Jesus changed His appearance.” Moshe didn’t even know his face was shining (Ex 34:29). Our goal is not to conjure up some fake, frozen expression. Our goal is simply to stand before God with a prepared and willing heart and then let God do His work. And He does. He wipes away the tears. He mops away the perspiration. He softens our furrowed brows. He touches our cheeks. He changes our faces as we worship.¹⁴⁷³

Since the apostles would be in the world, Messiah prayed for their protection. The hatred against God that fell on Jesus would now fall on the Eleven and subsequently on followers of the Way (Acts 9:2 and 22:4). I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I AM coming to You. Holy Father, keep them by the power of Your name, the name You gave Me. Believers are to pattern their unity after the unity of the Father and the Son so that they may be one as We are one (Yochanan 17:11). The unity here seems to be one of will and purpose. By being protected from the world they would be unified in their desires to serve and glorify the Son.¹⁴⁷⁴

While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name You gave me. Yeshua lamented leaving His apostles in the world, but He also acknowledged that Ha’Shem’s plan was best for all. He had carefully and faithfully kept them from evil and preserved them to this point; now He placed them in the capable hands of the Father. Only Judas had surrendered to Satan. The betrayer had not been lost because he never truly believed (First John 2:19). None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so the TaNaKh would be fulfilled. Even people’s willingly free acts fit into ADONAI’s sovereign plan (Psalm 109:8). I AM coming to You now, but I say these things while I AM still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them (John 17:12-13). Much of the Lord’s teaching on this evening with His talmidim would have little meaning for them at the time. But once the Lord had risen and stood before them in the glory of His resurrection body, they would be filled with immeasurable hope and joy.¹⁴⁷⁵

Jesus’ gift to them was God’s word. The word of the Father cannot come from human reasoning. Only Christ gives it. But they were in danger because the satanic world system hated them. As believers share Yeshua Messiah everything in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of their eyes, and the pride of life (First Yochanan 2:16) loses its attractiveness. Here, the world hated the apostles for they were not a part of it any more than Yeshua was (John 17:14). Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their sinful deeds will be exposed (John 3:20).

Christ declared: My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that you protect them in the midst of the conflict between light and darkness from the evil one (Yochanan 17:15). Although the Lord would soon be taken out of the world (17:11), the Eleven were to remain in it. Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the blazing furnace (Dani’el 3:23); Dani’el in the lion’s den (Dani’el 6:1-23); and the believers in Caesar’s household (Phil 4:22), God intended for them to be witnesses to the truth in the midst of the world.

They are not of the world, even as I AM not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. The means of this sanctifying work is God’s truth, and the Word communicates the truth. As the gospel is heard, understood and believed, people’s hearts and minds are captured. This change in their thinking results in changes in their lives.¹⁴⁷⁶  As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified (John 17:16-19). To be sanctified means to be set apart, specifically for the holy uses and purposes of God. However, the word sanctify is archaic and removed from most people’s vocabulary today so I will use the phrase separated for holiness. This separateness is not a physical removal from other people or their concerns but a spiritual relocation into ADONAI’s sphere of being.¹⁴⁷⁷

Separated for holiness does not mean achieving a state of sinlessness. In addition, this separation isn’t brought about by a deep emotional experience that cannot be substituted from the teachings of the Word of God. It is the function of the Bible to interpret experience, not the function of experience to interpret the Bible. Every experience that is directed by ADONAI will be found to be in agreement with the Scriptures.

Separated for holiness can be misused. Charles Finney and John Wesley taught that perfection could be attained in this life. Perfectionism teaches either complete freedom from known sin or sometime actual sinlessness. A good book that refutes the “holiness movement” is Perfectionism, by Benjamin B. Warfield. (However, it probably would have been easier to know if these guys were really sinless by just asking their wives!) Perfectionism is impossible for two reasons. First, Yeshua said that the two greatest commandments are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). True perfection, true sinlessness would mean that you would be observing both of these every moment of every day. Which only Jesus achieved. Secondly, to be free of any known sin, or actually become sinless, you must re-define sin to maintain that state.

Separated for holiness does mean that you have already been set apart for the purposes of ADONAI. This is true of the weakest and the youngest believer in the Lord. This does not depend upon your spiritual maturity, your knowledge of the Bible, your practice of godliness, or your feelings. This is a divine work in which YHVH sets us apart to Himself. But the degree to which we can set apart is a result of our yieldedness to God. We work with Ha’Shem in fear and trembling. God desires to work through us so that He can be glorified. Who separates us for holiness? The Trinity separates us (First Thessalonians 4:3 and 5:23; Exodus 31:13): The Father (Jude 1); the Son (Ephesians 5:26; Hebrews 13:12); and the Spirit (Romans 15:16; First Peter 1:2).

How are we separated for holiness? We are separated by faith. It is the means by which we are separated and appointed (Acts 26:18). Our separation for holiness has its basis in the blood of Messiah because His blood is that which cleanses our sins (Hebrews 10:10 and 13:12). The phrase in Jesus Christ gives us the sphere of our separation. We are set apart because of our “union with Messiah” (for more details on our “union with Christ” see Kt – I AM the True Vine). The cross is the place where our separation for holiness was made possible through the death of our Savior. The cross prevents you from ever going back into that from which you have been set apart by ADONAI. The Word of God is the channel through which our separation comes. Without the spiritual facts, there would be nothing upon which we could base our faith (John 17:17; Eph 5:25-26). Finally, it is by the truth that the Ruach carries out His ministry (John 16:13).

Why are we separated for holiness? We are called to live a life worthy of the calling [we] have received, worthy of the Gospel of Christ (Second Corinthians 4:2; Ephesians 4:1 and 17; Philippians 1:27; Colossians 1:10; First Thessalonians 2:12; First Timothy 6:12; Second Timothy 4:7; First John 2:6).

What is the difference between being justified and being separated for holiness? Justification is a one-time act, accomplished by ADONAI (see Bw – What God Does for Us at the Moment of Faith). It is always spoken of in the past tense because we already belong to God, paid for by the blood of Christ. However, sanctification, or being separated for holiness is a process that takes a whole lifetime. It is the work of God in which you cooperate (Romans 12:1-2; First Corinthians 10:13; Hebrews 12:3-4; First Peter 5:8-9); and is a process Ephesians 4:11-16), trusting in God, apart from whom we can do nothing (John 15:5; Ephesians 3:16; Colossians 1:11; Hebrews 2:18 and 4:14). He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).

But even Rabbi Sha’ul, as a mature believer, struggled with sin until the end of his life: For we know that the Torah is of the Spirit; but as for me, I am bound to the old nature, sold to sin as a slave. I don’t understand my own behavior – I don’t do what I want to do; instead, I do the very thing I hate! Now if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am agreeing that the Torah is good. But now it is no longer “the real me” doing it, but the sin housed inside me. For I know that there is nothing good housed inside me – that is, inside my old nature. I can want what is good, but I can’t do it! For I don’t do the good I want; instead, the evil I don’t want is what I do! But if I am doing what “the real me” doesn’t want, it is no longer “the real me” doing it but the sin housed inside me. So I find it to be the rule, a kind of perverse “torah,” which is operating in my various parts. What a miserable creature I am! Who will rescue me from this body bound for death? Thanks be to God, [He will rescue me] through Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord (Romans 7:14-25 CJB).

What is the result of being separated for holiness? And we all, who in contrast to Moshe, with unveiled faces continually contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed (to change the inward reality into something new), into His image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (Second Corinthians 3:18). Therefore, the inward result is peace (Isaiah 32:17); the outward result is fruit (Second Corinthians 9:8; Second Peter 1:5-11); and the upward result is to honor ADONAI (Matthew 5:16).

Therefore, the apostles were set apart for holiness by Jesus Christ to go as His representatives, as His ambassadors, to reveal the Son, so that the Ruach Ha’Kodesh might continue to reveal the Father.

Why do Jesus and His angels rejoice over one repenting sinner? Can they see something we can’t? Do they know something we don’t? Absolutely. They know what heaven holds. They’ve seen the table, they’ve heard the music, and they can’t wait to see your face when you arrive. Better still, they can’t wait to see you.

When you arrive and enter the party, something wonderful will happen. A final transformation will occur. You will be just like Jesus. Drink deeply from the Word of God: We have not yet been shown what we will be in the future. But we know that when Christ comes again, we will be like Him (First Yochanan 3:2 NCV).

Of all the blessings of heaven, one of the greatest will be you! You will be God’s work of art. The angels will gasp. ADONAI’s work will be completed. At last, you will have His heart.

You will love with a perfect love.

You will worship with a radiant face.

You will hear each word God speaks.

Your heart will be pure, your words will be like jewels, your thoughts will be like treasures.

You will be just like Jesus. You will, at long last, have a heart like His. Envision the heart of Messiah and you’ll be envisioning your own. Guiltless. Fearless. Thrilled and joyous. Tirelessly worshiping. Flawlessly discerning. As the mountain stream is pristine and endless, so will be your heart. You will be like Him.

And if that were not enough, everyone else will be like Him as well . . .

Those who let YHVH change them populate Heaven. Arguments will cease for jealousy won’t exist. Suspicions won’t surface, for there will be no secrets. Every sin is gone. Every insecurity is forgotten. Every fear is past. Pure wheat. No weeds. Pure gold. No alloy. Pure love. No lust. Pure hope. No fear. No wonder the angels rejoice when one sinner repents; they know another work of art will soon grace the gallery of ADONAI. They know what heaven holds.¹⁴⁷⁸

Father, The Hour Has Come
John 17: 1-5
On the walk to Gethsemane, close to midnight,
the fifteenth of Nisan

Father, the hour has come DIG: Once Jesus was arrested, what was to be done next? If Messiah did not confess, who would have been the most important witness? Why? Why do you think Pilot cooperated and sent a cohort of troops? What advantages would Caiaphas gain if the Romans participated in the Lord’s arrest? For whom did Yeshua pray here? How does this prayer depict God the Son’s relationship with God the Father? What about this prayer impresses you the most? Why?

REFLECT: When you look at the state of world affairs, what does it mean to you that God gave Jesus the nations for His inheritance, and the ends of the earth for His possession? Since we are a gift, could Christ ever lose a gift from the Father? What can you learn from this passage about the purpose of prayer?

It was the calm before the storm. At midnight the great gates of the Temple would open and many of the early risers would bring offerings, and the poor would beg for alms and meet in the outer courts on this holy feast of Pesach.

But now Yerushalayim was still under the full moon and the only sounds that could be heard came from the northwest corner of the City. There, leaving the double archway of Fortress Antonia was a cohort of Roman soldiers, their heavy sandals making a rhythmic scouring sound on the paved stone. Ordinarily, a centurion would command such a legion as this, but Caiaphas, in his plea for assistance from the Romans, overstated his case and the one who led this detachment was the tribune himself – the ranking military man at Antonia.

Fortress Antonia was massive. It was built by Herod the Great for the defense of the Temple area and located at the northwestern corner of the Temple. Herod (to see link click Av – The Visit of the Magi) renamed the fortress in honor of his old army buddy, Mark Antony. It was roughly rectangular in form. The east and west length has been estimated at approximately 490 feet and the north, south figure was 260 feet. The L-shaped tower of Antonia rose to a height of 105 feet, standing on a rock 75 feet high itself. Prominent high towers projected at each of the corners. They were said to be 75 feet high, except for the southeast corner, which overlooked the Temple and was 100 feet high.

Antonia was used as barracks for the hated Roman garrison that kept watch over Isra’el. As a result, the Sanhedrin relocated their meeting place from the chamber of polished stones in corner of the Temple itself, to the southeastern corner of the Royal Stoa to get as far away from Antonia as they could. Indeed, the towers and the fortress, with its squares, buildings and porches, must have looked almost like a small town on its rocky height. Part of it lay within the walls of the Temple compound and for that reason the Jews hated it. To them it was like an exposed nerve in a large molar.¹⁴⁶⁹

The tribune understood the legalities of the situation. He was not to meddle in the arrest because blasphemy against the Jewish deity was not a crime against Rome; so there was no statute under the rule of the Empire on which this rebel could be tried. This was a Jewish problem. The Romans were dealing with a provincial troublemaker who, somehow or other, had hurt the prestige and practices of the Jewish religious leaders. All the tribune had to do was to assist the Temple guard in executing the orders of the high priest. However, the Romans would be fully authorized to beat any Jew who resisted to death.

Lanterns were carried before and behind the column of soldiers, and the tribune walked along the flanks of his men, making certain that they had the proper bearing. He marched them west along the roads and turned left at the small crossroads gate outside of which was the small hill that the Jews called Golgotha, which is to say, the skull.

They moved south along the hill to the right of the Tyropoeon Valley and down between Pontius Pilate’s headquarters and the palace of Herod Antipas. The men kept a smart pace, the swinging lanterns causing their bare legs to dance in black on the pavement. Their orders were to report to the residence of the high priest so Judas could lead them to the culprit.

Caiaphas and the Jewish Temple guard had been waiting in the huge courtyard adjoining the lavish homes of both Caiaphas and Annas. When the daughter of Annas married Caiaphas she had suggested that their home be built next to that of her father, and that the two be made one with a common entrance. The Temple guard had waited so long for the Roman soldiers to arrive that, in impatience, Caiaphas had sent a messenger to Fort Antonia. On the way the courier had seen the soldiers and hurried back to inform the high priest. At the news, Caiaphas forgot his irritation with the laggard behavior of the Romans and once more questioned Judas for probable flaws in his story. The high priest knew that if Jesus was not found on this night, the Romans would mock him and news of the failure would spread all over Judea from Fortress Antonia by morning. He had to find the Nazarene, and he had to take Him into custody this very night.

Caiaphas summoned Judas once again to hear his plan. Changing his mind, Judas said that he doubted Yeshua and His band would go as far as Bethany tonight because of the late hour. Now that he had time to think about it, Judas said, there were two places Jesus might go if He were not in the Upper Room. The first would be the Temple, whose massive gates were opened after midnight. And the other was an olive press at the foot of the Mount of Olives. It worried Caiaphas that Judas kept changing his story. Who was playing whom?

The Temple guards had also been waiting for some time and had been given their orders. They had only to wait for the Romans, who would lend authority to the proceedings.

Annas never came out on his porch that night to ask about the Temple guard who stood murmuring and swinging their clubs in boredom. It was not necessary for him to come out. In his wisdom Annas had probably suggested soliciting the help of Pilate. As the one-time head of the Great Sanhedrin, there was little going on in Jerusalem that he did not know about, and even less that a dutiful son-in-law would not bring to his attention.

Annas knew that the Upper Room was only about two streets from his home, and a few of his servants could have easily taken the Nazarene at any time that evening. The extra precautions, like the use of Pilate and his soldiers, were because Annas wanted no scandal to remain after this night in the gossip of the Pharisees. He had told his son-in-law Caiaphas to follow the legalities of the matter down to the very jot and tittle. Let no one say they were out for revenge when they killed this charlatan.

Once the Nazarene was arrested, the next move would be to send the servants out at once to summon the Great Sanhedrin for an immediate session in the home of Caiaphas. The Sadducees believed it was legal to call the session even though their own self-governing laws said a man could not be tried for a crime in the dark. Perhaps the members of the Jewish Supreme Court could use the time before dawn in questioning this man about the Oral Law and how He had broken it. If so – since He posed as the Messiah – He might even be brash enough to expose His foolishness. If not, witnesses would be needed. Caiaphas knew this, and he expected Judas, because of his earlier protest, might need to be forced into compliance. In the event that witnesses could not be found, Caiaphas had arranged for the testimony of a few Temple guards who had heard Jesus blaspheme.

It would be interesting to know more about the meeting between Caiaphas and Pilate at the twin gates of the praetorium (see Kk – The Third Cup of Redemption). However, there is no record of it. But what is known is that Roman soldiers were sent to Caiaphas to support the raiding party. Pilate had charge of all the Romans in Palestine – and he disliked the Jews. Consequently, it is reasonable to believe that he would not send Roman soldiers to assist Caiaphas in a Jewish religious problem unless he could use it to his advantage down the road.

Pilate understood Jewish law as well as he understood the laws of the Empire. He must have known that the penalty for blasphemy was death, and he knew that the sentence could not be carried out unless, and until, he confirmed it. He also knew that Yeshua had become a chronic and growing problem to the Sadducees. And this must have pleased him very much.

The Roman governor had no interest in Jesus; no more, let us say, than he would have had if a scorpion lodged in the high priest’s pants. He was on the side of the scorpion until it had finished its work; after that, Pontius Pilate would grind it under his heel. If, for example, the Jews arrested and condemned Christ, the governor would be happy, in his judicial capacity, to set the man free if it would confound Annas and his son-in-law Caiaphas.

One thing was certain. Pilate would not have sent his soldiers to assist in the arrest if Caiaphas had been foolish enough to send a low-level deputy to ask for them. The tactful thing, the high priest knew, was a personal audience. This was distasteful to Caiaphas, but in going he would gain two advantages. First, he would enlist the Romans in the arrest, and, thus, in the eyes of the multitudes that followed Messiah, make it appear to be a Roman matter rather than a plot by the Sadducees. And secondly, by enlisting Roman aid now, the high priest hoped to influence Pontius Pilate to agree with the death sentence that was sure to follow. Rome could hardly participate in the arrest and then concede that a cohort of five hundred Roman soldiers had hauled an innocent man in before the governor.¹⁴⁷⁰

First, the Living Word prayed for Himself (Yochanan 17:1-5): After Jesus told His apostles these things (Chapters 14-16), He looked toward heaven and prayed. In Chapter 17 the veil is drawn back and we are admitted with our great High Priest into the Most Holy Place. It is perhaps, the most remarkable portion of the most remarkable book in the world. Father, He said loudly, the hour has come. Messiah could approach God in prayer because of their Father-Son relationship. The hour had been appointed before the beginning of time; it was the destiny to which Yeshua had been born (Dan 7:13-14). But, Christ didn’t focus on the suffering He was about to endure. Instead, He called attention to God’s plan and the glory the Father would receive. He prayed: Glorify Your Son (by raising Him from the dead), that Your Son may glorify You (Jn 17:1).

Yeshua’s words: For You granted Him authority over all people, indicate that Christ’s prayer request was in accordance with the Father’s plan. The Father has ordained the rule of the Son over the earth. Psalm 2:7-8 declares: I will proclaim the LORD’s decree: He said to Me, “You are My Son. Today I have become Your Father. Ask Me, and I will make the nations Your inheritance, the ends of the earth Your possession.” Messiah was granted that authority so that He might give eternal life to all those who believe in Him (John 17:2). Believers are a gift from the Father to the Son: And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of all those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day (Yochanan 6:39). This is a very strong eternal security passage (see Ms – The Eternal Security of the Believer).

Now this is eternal life: that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent (John 17:3). Jesus defined eternal life as having a relationship with ADONAI and His Son, the Messiah, Jesus. The word know (ginosko) comes from a Greek term meaning to understand rather than merely to perceive or recognize. The term implies an exchange of ideas and values with complete familiarity. Here the word know is used here exactly as it is used in Jeremiah 31:33, in the passage promising Isra’el a New Covenant: And no longer will each one teach his neighbor and his brother, “Know ADONAI,” for they will all know Me (see my commentary on Jeremiah Eo – The Days are Coming, declares the LORD, When I Will Make a New Covenant with the People of Isra’el). Eternal life is not only a long life, but also an abundant life. Christ said: The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (Yochanan 10:10). And we can only enjoy this eternal life when we fulfill our created purpose: to glorify ADONAI and to enjoy Him fully.

Messiah reflected the truth of His identity, recalling how He had come from glory to reflect the glory of the Father on earth. Having completed His task, He looked forward to His return to glory. I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do (John 17:4). That is to say, however, that Messiah rid Himself of His humanity; rather, He returned to heaven in a glorified, resurrected body – the very kind believers will receive when we are resurrected when the Lord returns.

These words reflect a deep longing for heaven. We too easily forget that while Yeshua became a man and placed Himself in the world through a miraculous birth, He is not of this world. We tend to see everything from an earthly perspective, so we recall His earthly life, appreciate His greatness as a man, and imagine what a joyful experience it must have been to work, live and minister with Him. But think of what He left behind when He left heaven to enter the world in Bethlehem and to depart the world less than ten miles away in Tziyon – to be born under such humbling circumstances and to suffer such a humiliating death.¹⁴⁷¹  And now, Father, glorify Me in your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began (Yochanan 17:5).

The High Priestly Prayer
John 17: 1-26
On the walk to Gethsemane, close to midnight,
the fifteenth of Nisan

Somewhere between the Upper Room where they had celebrated the Passover and the garden of Gethsemane where He was later arrested, Yeshua’s intercessory prayer concluded His teaching ministry to His apostles. His priestly ministry, however, had not yet ended and Jesus moved steadily toward its completion in the atmosphere of prayer. It might have been at the highest point of the Temple Mount, as they paused for a few moments to survey its beauty lit up by the radiance of the Pesach moon; or in the heights of the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem, or perhaps even at the gate of the Garden itself.

This is the longest prayer in the Bible, although you could read it in three minutes. I think that’s a good indication of the length of public prayers. If you can’t pray what you need to pray in three minutes, then you’ve got too much to say!¹⁴⁶⁸

This prayer was given in the shadow of the cross. All eleven talmidim were present and the Lord uttered a prayer that can perhaps best be described as the prayer of the great High Priest. After declaring: In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33), I imagine Yeshua allowed a long silence to seal the moment. As His warnings and promises began to sink in, I can only imagine the apostles feeling of helplessness as they looked up at the full moon in the sky. How vulnerable they must have felt, knowing they would soon be without their Master, who had led them and protected them for the past three years! It was hard to believe that the time had passed so quickly. It seemed as if they could hardly remember the time before He entered their lives, summoned them to follow, and gave them purpose.

Jesus prayed for three things in this great high priestly prayer. First, He prayed for Himself and the success of His mission (John 17:1-5). Secondly, the Lord prayed for the protection of His apostles as they fulfilled their purpose after His departure (John 17:6-19). And thirdly, Christ prayed for the generations of believers who would follow Him as a result of the ministry of His talmidim (John 17:20-26).

Your Sorrow Will Turn To Joy
John 16: 15-33
On the walk to Gethsemane
sometime between 11:00 pm and midnight,
the fifteenth of Nisan

Your sorrow will turn to joy DIG: What tones of voice do you hear in verses 17-18? If you were there, would Jesus’ answer encourage you, or confuse you more? What event is Christ referring to in verses 20-22? In what ways does the world’s joy (verse 20) contrast with the joy the apostles will experience (verse 22)? How is this similar to what Jesus said about dying (John 12:24)? About shalom (Yochanan 14:27)? What characterizes the relationship we can have with the Father because of the Lord (verses 23-27)? Do you think the Eleven really grasp what Messiah says in verse 28? Why? Why might the talmidim be both alarmed and relieved (verses 29-33)?

REFLECT: Both Yeshua and the world offer a form of shalom (John 14:27; 16:33); joy (John 15:11, 16:22-24) and love (John 13:34-35, 15:9-19). How have you experienced each type? What is different between them? How do you deal with change? Moves? Job transfers? Transitions from one stage in your life to another? How has pain helped you to grow? From your experience, how could you comfort someone going through change? What contributes to lack of joy, failing love, and unstable shalom?

Christ’s last occasion for teaching His talmidim was drawing to a close. These final moments of tranquility among friends would soon give way to anguish in Gethsemane, injustice during two trials, cruel ridicule, brutal scourging, and finally suffering and death through crucifixion. Yet, despite His own desire for comfort and encouragement, the Lord comforted and encouraged His followers. A selfless Servant to the end, Messiah offered three promises to keep His apostles going as the looming shadow of the cross darkened their days. These promises can be reduced to three words that are no less helpful to us today: Joy (John 16:19-24), Love (John 16:25-28) and Peace (John 16:31-33).

Jesus offered His apostles a negative prediction followed by a positive promise. He went on to say: In a little while you will see Me no more, which predicts His imminent death on the cross, while then after a little while you will see Me [again], promises His appearing through resurrection (John 16:16). This prediction – promise formula establishes a definable pattern for the remainder of His discussion with the Eleven:

A prediction and a promise – Resurrection (verse 16)
     The apostle’s reaction (verses 17-18)
          A prediction and a promise – Joy (verses 19-24)
          A prediction and a promise – Love (verses 25-28)
     The apostle’s reaction (verses 29-30)
A prediction and a promise – Shalom (verses 31-33)

At this, some of His apostles said to one another, “What does He mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see Me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” They kept asking, “What does He mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what He is saying” (Yochanan 16:17-18). Without the permanent dwelling of the Holy Spirit, the talmidim could only handle so much detail. So Messiah prepared them for the difficult hours ahead as best He could without revealing too much specific information and tried to keep it as basic as possible.¹⁴⁶⁵

Joy: Jesus saw that they wanted to ask Him about this, so He said to them: Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me” (John 16:19)? Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. Nonbelievers will rejoice at Yeshua’s death, just as they will rejoice at the death of the Two Witnesses (see my commentary on Revelation, to see link click Dm – The Resurrection of the Two Witnesses: The Third Sign of Jonah).

Jesus followed His prediction with a promise. You will grieve, but your sorrow will turn to joy. The Lord illustrated His promise with the poignant image of a woman suffering the intense pain of childbirth – not coincidentally, one of the curses of the fall. As her pain grows, the change from sorrow to joy approaches. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but then, in an instant, when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. The affliction of the curse produces a new life. So with you: Now is your time of sorrow, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. Their sorrow will turn to joy. In that day (after His resurrection) you will no longer ask Me anything (because they will be rejoicing). The apostles would be His ambassadors and they had the right to ask the Father for whatever they needed to accomplish His will. The words in My name are not a blank check to get whatever the talmidim wanted. Instead, those words tied the requests to the ministry of the Son in carrying out the Father’s will (John 16:20-23).

Until that point the apostles had not prayed in Jesus’ name. But now with His imminent death, resurrection and ascension, they would be able to ask and receive because the Ruach’s coming would enable them to enter into God’s new program of the Church Age (see my commentary on Hebrews Bp – The Dispensation of Grace). And their joy will be complete because ADONAI will be at work in them (Yochanan 16:24).¹⁴⁶⁶

Love: Then Yeshua predicted that the need for His teaching through figurative language would end soon. Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about My Father. The meaning of His words would become clear as events unfolded; He expected that His words would come to mind in critical moments and the apostles would know how to respond. In that day (after His resurrection) you will ask in My name. I AM not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God. Then Messiah promised that after His resurrection, He would be the permanent bridge between mankind and ADONAI. Through Him, in His name, believers would be able to approach the Father directly. Jesus then summarized His earthly ministry in one sentence: I came from the Father and entered the world; now I AM leaving the world and going back to the Father (John 16:25-28).

Then Jesus’ apostles said: Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that You know all things and that You do not even need to have anyone ask You questions. This makes us believe that You came from God (Yochanan 16:29-30). The talmidim has at last come to the point of simple, childlike faith (compare to Matthew 18:3). Nevertheless, Yeshua does not allow them to bask in it but at once calls their attention to its inconsistency.

Shalom: Although the apostles were sincere in their childlike faith, Yeshua knew their limitations better than they did. Do you now believe? Jesus replied (John 16:31). They did believe but it was not a complete faith or strong faith until after the resurrection and the coming of the Ruach ha-Kodesh at Shavu’ot (see my commentary on Acts Al – The Ruach ha-Kodesh Comes at Shavu’ot). At the moment you feel certain your faith is strong. But a time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered (Zechariah 13:7), each to your own home. In spite of their loyalty, faith and love, the talmidim soon failed miserably. Then Messiah’s prediction: You will leave Me all alone, was fulfilled by all of them deserting Him (Mattityahu 26:56), when He was arrested, and by Peter’s denial (Yochanan 18:17, 25-26).Yet the Father had not forsaken Him, “I AM not alone, for my Father is with Me” (John 8:29; Psalm 23:4, 73:25-26). He had said the hour was coming and indeed already there. At that moment, the mob gathered by Judas had already begun their march. Soon, they would surround Gethsemane.

I have told you these things (Chapters 14-16), to sustain you so that in Me you may have shalom. In this world you will have trouble. Despite the chaos of living in a hostile world, we may enjoy tranquility. Yet this too is conditional. We must choose it. The life of a believer in Christ is not the proverbial rose garden, except, perhaps, for the thorns. Nonetheless, Yeshua encourages us when He says: But take heart! We can choose shalom when we choose to believe that He has overcome the world (John 16:31-33).

By the end of His walk to the garden of Gethsemane, Christ had said, in effect, to His apostles, “I promise you, life in this world is going to be difficult. But I have overcome the world. Nevertheless, you can be more than conquerors through My power” (Romans 8:37). The Master showed them how to persevere with joy, triumph in love and live in shalom.

Do you have a joy that cannot be taken away? Do you have confidence in God’s love? Can you rest confidently in His wisdom and say to Him, “Lord, You know everything, so I’m not questioning You any longer?” When life comes crashing down, the qualities of joy, love and shalom are ADONAI’s gift to keep us going. But, like a full bank account, they do us no good if we fail to draw on them. These gifts require faith. Failing to trust in the promises of God leads to lack of joy, failing love, and unstable shalom.

Lack of joy: We lack joy when wickedness gains the upper hand and we worry it will become permanent. But what if we knew beforehand that each trial would become the means of receiving a great blessing? Suppose you lived in a world in which each lost job led to a better, higher-paying job; each illness led to increased health and a longer life; each financial setback eventually resulted in a higher salary. How would you handle each trial? With dread or a sense of anticipation? With sorrow or joy?

While the world I have just described above obviously does not exist – God has not promised to make us healthy and wealthy in this life – Ha’Shem has promised that He has overcome evil and we will receive far greater blessing than we can imagine in the life to come. Affliction here on this earth will give way to perfect health, limitless wealth, and eternal life in heaven. Here on earth, the blessing we gain from suffering is healing for our souls and increased spiritual health. The difference is faith.

Failing love: The kind of love Yeshua taught is selfless. We cannot obey His command to love one another if we are concerned primarily with our own needs and wants. When the Sadducees sought to trap Christ with a ridiculous theological question regarding marriage in heaven, He stunned them with His answer. Marriage will be obsolete after the resurrection (see Ja – Whose Wife Will She Be at the Resurrection?). In heaven, intimate, selfless, caring love will be shared among all who live there. Here on earth, however, we struggle to maintain that kind of love relationship with just one person! How many marriages are strained by people manipulating one another to get their needs met? They resort to manipulation, control, sulking, yelling, and blame, really anything that will work, to get what they want because they don’t trust their mate to care for them.

Let’s face it. We don’t love others because we don’t trust them to return our love. We live under the false idea that if we don’t take care of ourselves, no one will . . . not even God. Therefore, most of our energies go into taking care of ourselves rather than trusting the Lord as we give priority to the needs of others. It all comes back to trust. When we fail to trust ADONAI to take care of us, we fail to obey His most basic command: love one another (Yochanan 15:17).

Unstable shalom: Messiah contrasted His shalom with the world’s trouble (16:33). To have Yeshua’s shalom is to have a life of completeness and wholeness. This shalom with the Lord will most certainly result in estrangement and persecution from the world; however, this tribulation will ultimately give way to overwhelming blessing.

While we have this shalom as a by-product of the grace of ADONAI, our ability to experience inner shalom depends completely on our faith/trust/belief in His sovereign care and steadfast goodness. Jesus has promised trouble. But He has also promised that the victories of the world are short-lived. He has overcome the world; therefore, we may endure short-term suffering with the certainty that God will ultimately triumph. But, once again, that takes belief.¹⁴⁶⁷

The Wise and Foolish Builders
Matthew 7:24-27 and Luke 6:46-49

The wise and foolish builders DIG: How do the similarities and differences between the two house builders reflect the people who heard Jesus? What kind of commitment is Yeshua calling for here? What does the storm represent? What kind of righteousness is necessary to enter the kingdom of Heaven? What is the alternative? What is it based on? Where does it lead?

REFLECT: If we confess Christ as our Savior, do we make Him Lord? Why or why not? During the last storm that hit your life, what did you learn about your life’s foundation? What would you have to tear down in order to shore up that foundation? How do you need others to help you in the process? At this point in your life, is your pressing need to learn more or to practice what you have already learned?

In His sixteenth and last example of true righteousness, the Good Shepherd gave His listeners a choice. If they continued building on the Pharisaic interpretation of righteousness, it would be on a foundation of sand and would collapse. Or they could build on His interpretation of the righteousness of the Torah and build upon the solid rock of the Messiah and survive.

What seems at first glance to be a very simple story is in fact a powerful commentary on people who have heads full of knowledge, but hearts devoid of faith. It makes a distinction between those who obey and those who don’t. There are those who hear God and respond to His message, while others hear the same exact message and ignore it. His obvious lesson is that the difference between the two has eternal consequences.

To begin with, we need to understand the importance of the lordship of Messiah. The Bible demands that we acknowledge that He is Lord, and bow to His lordship. He is ever and always Lord, whether or not anyone acknowledges His lordship or surrenders to His authority. We don’t make Him Lord – He already is Lord! He is called Lord (Greek: kurios) no less than 474 times in the New Covenant. The book of Acts alone refers to Him 92 times as Lord, while calling Him Savior only twice. Unmistakably, then, in the early messianic community, the lordship of Messiah was the heart of its message. It is indisputable that the His lordship is part of the Good News to be believed for salvation. To be clear, the decision to trust Messiah as your Savior and to make Him your Lord are NOT two separate decisions, but one and the same.⁶⁰⁴

Again Jesus picks up the theme of the righteousness of pharisaic Judaism, a righteousness that is totally unacceptable to ADONAI and that will in no way qualify a person for His Kingdom. Earlier in His Sermon on the Mount, He had said: For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the Torah-teacher, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:20). In the Lord’s first illustration of this (to see link click Dx – Watch Out for False Prophets), we saw a contrast of true and false professions of faith. Here, in His second illustration, we see a contrast between obedient and disobedient hearers of the Word.

Those who reject His lordship or give mere lip service to His sovereignty are not saved. This does not mean that it is impossible for an unbeliever to say the words, “Jesus is Lord,” for obviously they can. But Yeshua Himself pointed out the paradox of those who called Him Lord but did not really believe it. Why do you call Me, “Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say (Lk 6:46)? Even the demons know and admit who He is (Mk 1:24, 3:11, 5:7; James 2:19). Words are not nearly so important as obedience. As for everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like (Mt 7:24a; Lk 6:47). A disciple not only hears the words of Jesus, but also is the one who acts on them and puts them into practice.

Yeshua had just told the listening crowd to turn the other cheek, to go the extra mile, to forgive enemies, and to sell their possessions to give to the poor (Matthew 5:39-44). But just getting the instructions wasn’t enough. The key is act on them. Jesus said that those who hear His words and act on them are like a wise man who built his house on the rock (Matthew 7:24b; Luke 6:48a). Building on the rock is equivalent to building ones life on the foundation of Christ (see Fx – On This Rock I Will Build My Church).

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house. These do not represent specific types of physical judgments but simply sum up the final judgment of Ha’Shem. The storm pictured here is the ultimate test that the house of every human life will face. Just as when ADONAI went through the land to strike down the Egyptians, He saw the blood on the top and sides of the doorframes and passed over that doorway, and would not permit the destroyer to touch the firstborn of Isra’el (Hebrews 11:28); so the same judgment that harmlessly passed over them will also pass over the house that has its foundation on the rock of Christ and His Word (Matthew 7:25; Luke 6:48). Those whose foundation is Messiah will be saved, but those who base their lives on anything less will be like building a house on sand and will be lost.

But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand (Matthew 7:26; Luke 6:49a). The sand is composed of human opinions, attitudes, and wills, which are always shifting and always unstable. To build on sand is to build on self-will, self-satisfaction, and self-righteousness. To build on sand is to be unteachable, to be always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth (Second Timothy 3:7).⁶⁰⁵

The moment the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete (Mt 7:27; Lk 6:49b). The judgment that came upon the firstborn of Egypt will come upon those who build their house on the sand. Their house will be utterly demolished, leaving its builder absolutely nothing. That is the destiny of those who build their lives on human ideas, human philosophies, and human religion. It is not that they have little left – they have nothing left. Their way is not inferior to God, but no way to God at all. It always leads to hell. Both of these builders had similarities:

First, they both heard the gospel.

Second, they both proceeded to build a house that represents their lives. Both builders had confidence that their houses would stand, but one’s confidence is in the Lord while the other man’s confidence is in himself.

Third, both builders built their homes in the same general location, evidenced by their apparently being hit by the same storm. In other words, the outward circumstances of their lives were essentially the same. One had no advantage over the other. They lived in the same town, heard the same message, went to the same Bible study, worshiped and fellowshipped together with the same friends.

Fourth, the implication is that they built the same kind of house. Outwardly their houses looked alike. From all appearances the foolish man lived in much the same way as the wise man. We might say they were both religious, moral, served in their place of worship, supported it financially, and were responsible citizens of the community. They seemed to believe in the same things and live in the same way.

But their one difference is profound. The man who built his house on the rock of Messiah was obedient, and the one who built his house on the sand of self-reliance was disobedient. One built his house on divine specifications, and the other built on his own self-righteousness. The Pharisees and the Torah-teachers had a complex and involved set of religious standards that they believed had great value before ADONAI. But they were shifting sand, composed entirely of opinions and speculations like the Oral Law (see Ei – The Oral Law). Those who followed the traditions of men, valued them over and above God’s Word.⁶⁰⁶

The shifting morals of our present world can be confusing. We may be tempted to let culture or the opinions of society be the foundation for the decisions we make. If so, our moral compass will become broken. But obeying the unwavering truth of God’s Word brings stability unavailable anywhere else. Therefore, the Lord said: Everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock (Matthew 7:24).

How can you tell if someone is deceived and building their house upon sand? How can we spot someone who is deceived and deceiving? Here is what to look for. Look for those who are only seeking feelings, blessings, experiences, healings, or angles. They are only interested in the byproducts of the faith . . . not in Yeshua. They are not consumed with the glory, the honor, the wonder, the beauty, and the magnificence of Messiah. They are not consumed with proclaiming Him, worshipping Him, obeying Him, loving Him, serving Him, confessing Him, or submitting to Him, or proclaiming Him. They are only interested in the byproducts of that which is attached to Him, they only want blessings, healings and experiences.

The Spirit Will Guide You Into All Truth
John 16: 5-15
On the walk to Gethsemane
sometime between 11:00 pm and midnight,
the fifteenth of Nisan

The Spirit will guide you into all truth DIG: What are the talmidim feeling now? What is their grief keeping them from understanding? How would you paraphrase the three goals of the Spirit’s work in John 16:8-11? What are the seven ministries of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh? Therefore, why is it good that Messiah goes away? If you were an apostle, how would you feel after hearing Yochanan 15:16?

REFLECT: Of the various ministries of the Spirit described here, which one have you come to appreciate recently? How so? How much are you willing to allow God to touch your life? Do you want Him to restore you fully to Himself, or are you satisfied with some minor improvements? Do you fear that if you let the Spirit do too much, you won’t end up happy or fulfilled? Can you trust that He only wants the best for you?

The Lord’s words must have sounded like a foreign language to the talmidim. After announcing His imminent departure from the earth (John 13:33; 14:1-6), He urged His apostles to obey His commands (Yochanan 14:12-15, 15:1-11), to love one another (John 15:12-17), and to beware of the hostility of the world (John 15:18-28). And while doing so He alluded to the coming of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh to guide us into all truth (Yochanan 14:16-17 and 26, 15:26). But these passing references could only have been mystifying. In the TaNaKh, the Holy Spirit was reserved for kings and prophets, and occasionally for common people when God wanted to accomplish something extraordinary. The thought that the Helper would indwell each believer was unthinkable – an unbelievable lavishness of which no one was worthy. The apostles’ heads must have been spinning.

Although the Eleven didn’t ask about the Spirit – they probably felt too preoccupied with the thought of Yeshua going away – the Great Rabbi returned to this promise in order to clarify the Ruach’s role in their lives . . . and the lives of believers throughout all time.¹⁴⁶⁰

But now a change was imminent. I AM going to Him who sent Me. This should have led the apostles to ask questions, but they didn’t. None of you asks Me, “Where are You going?” Their preoccupation with their own problems prevented their understanding the momentous significance of Christ’s imminent death, burial, resurrection and ascension. But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart (Jn 16:5-6). The Greek term translated sorrow means pain, which can be either physical or emotional. Pain filled the hearts of the talmidim, who felt like spiritual orphans. All they could think about was the pain of losing Him. But that pain in their hearts would not cease until the joy of resurrection Sunday would replace it.

Yeshua soothed their pain with a wonderful truth. In one sense Someone far superior would replace the Lord’s physical presence. But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I AM going away. Unless I go away, the comforting Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you (John 16:7). Whereas Messiah in the flesh could only be in one place at a time, the Ruach Ha’Kodesh can be everywhere at once. Limited access to God’s presence would give way to continual communion with Him. Teaching through physical means would begin to take place directly within the heart. Far from being abandoned, the talmidim would experience the presence of God as never before.¹⁴⁶¹

The Master explained that the ministry of the Holy Spirit would have two primary aspects: one to the world (verses 8-11) and one to believers (verses 13-15).

The Ruach ha-Kodesh’s ministry to the world: And when the Advocate comes, He will convict (Greek: elegcho) the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment (Yochanan 16:8). In a legal sense, the Holy Spirit will convict the world in the same way a judge or a prosecuting attorney presents evidence to bring a conviction. There are seven ministries of the Advocate:

1. Restraint of evil: The fact that there is still much good in the world, even though the whole world is under the control of the evil one (First John 5:19b), is because of the restraining work of the Spirit of Truth, both directly and indirectly through His guidance of the lives and actions of individual believers. When believers are taken out of this world at the Rapture (see my commentary on Revelation By – The Rapture of the Church), the world’s moral and spiritual state will rapidly decay to its lowest state since the days of Noah.

2. Conviction of sin: Concerning the Spirit of Truth, Yeshua said: And when the Advocate comes, He will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment (John 16:8). By various means – conscience, the Scriptures, the testimony of believing friends, the preaching of the Gospel in person, on the radio, on television, on the internet, on social media – the Holy Spirit convicts people that they are lost sinners, facing the judgment of God and in urgent need of a Savior.

3. Regeneration: When a person responds to the convicting of the Spirit, and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior, then the Ruach imparts a new spiritual life into that person, and he or she is born again (Yochanan 3:3). Not because of righteous things we have done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing or the rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).

4. Baptism into Messiah: For we were all baptized in, by, with (Greek: ‘ev pneumati) one Spirit so as to form one body – whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free – and we were all given the one Ruach to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many (First Corinthians 12:12-14). The Spirit of Truth, as He regenerates the new believer, simultaneously places him or her into the spiritual body of Christ (to see link click Bw – What God Does for Us at the Moment of Faith). This is symbolized by his or her immersion in water, and thus uniting him or her with a local messianic synagogue or church.

5. Indwelling of the believer: When a believer has received the Meshiach by faith (Eph 2:8-9), the Ruach Ha’Kodesh in some mystical way indwells his or her body at that moment. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at an unbelievably high price. Then, honor God with your bodies (First Corinthians 6:19-20).

6. Instruction: It was by the Spirit that the Scriptures were inspired (First Peter 2:21) when they were first written by the human authors. The unregenerate, or people who have not been saved, cannot truly understand or appreciate the Bible (First Corinthians 2:12-14), but the one who has been born again finds a new love for the Scriptures and it begins to open up to him or her in a new way. This is because of the insight given by the divine Teacher. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth (Jn 16:13). With the Advocate’s help we can find the safety of truth in a world of counterfeit messages.

7. Guidance and comfort: Primarily through the Scriptures, but also, as need be, through both external circumstances and inner conviction, the Holy Spirit will lead the believer in the ways of God’s will in all things. The Helper will not compel us, of course, we have free will and we can say “no” to YHVH and make it stick. However, the Advocate will guide us in the way of greatest blessing if we will only allow Him to do so. So I say, walk in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).¹⁴⁶²

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).

About sin, because they do not believe in Me (John 16:9). Sin refers to one’s inability or unwillingness to do as God commands, resulting in guilt before Him. Yeshua died to pay the penalty of sin for the whole world (Yochanan 3:16), but only those who believe in Him have appropriated His sacrifice and, therefore, stand guiltless before the Father. But those who reject the Ruach Ha’Kodesh (see Em – Whoever Blasphemes Against the Holy Spirit) remain in their sin and must answer for their choices.

And about righteousness, because I AM going to the Father, where you can see Me no longer (John 16:10). Righteousness refers to one’s legal standing before ADONAI as “not guilty.” In this context, Messiah relates the issue of righteousness to His going to the Father. All through His ministry, Yeshua claimed oneness with the Father, for which the Sanhedrin (see Lg – The Great Sanhedrin) accused Him of sin, deceit and blasphemy (Jn 5:18, 7:12, 9:16, 10:33). His going to the Father is the ultimate vindication of our Lord’s righteousness over that of the world. The Spirit will confront mankind with the righteousness of the Son.

And about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned (John 16:11). The Lord entered into battle with the evil one at the cross, and His resurrection proved Him to be the Victor. Accordingly, the cross stands as a divine judgment against the ancient Serpent so that it could be said: the prince of this world now stands condemned. Those who have rejected Messiah are united with the prince of this world, who is under judgment. By virtue of their union with Satan, they share in his judgment.¹⁴⁶³

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear (John 16:12). The Chief Shepherd recognized the limitations of time and the apostle’s ability to receive more truth. Their obsession with their own pain prevented their understanding more about their mission after Messiah’s ascension. Not only that, without the Ruach Ha’Kodesh, their minds could not comprehend the spiritual truths He wanted to teach. He would have much more to say after the birth of the Messianic community on Shavu’ot (Acts 2:1-47).

The Holy Spirit’s ministry to believers: One of the many distinctions between the world and His own (John 10:3-4, 13:1) is the way in which the Holy Spirit ministers. His ministry to the world convicts in order to bring about repentance; but His ministry to believers is to bring about obedience through change. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29a). The masculine personal pronoun is used for the Holy Spirit no less than eight times in verses 13-14. Also the Greek word for Spirit (Pneuma) is a neuter noun and, according to the rules of Greek grammar, should be accompanied by a neuter pronoun (i.e. it), but the writers of the New Covenant went against those rules in order to reveal the Spirit’s unique personality.

The Ruach achieves His mission of believer transformation by bringing divine truth to the minds of His own. Before the Bible was written, He revealed truth directly to the prophets of the TaNaKh, prophets and talmidim of the B’rit Chadashah era. But once the last apostle, Yochanan, completed the final written communication from ADONAI, the book of Revelation, mankind had received all the divine truth needed to live obediently. Now the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to call Scripture to mind, shed light on its meaning, couple it with experience, and apply it. But when He (Greek: ekeinos or that one meaning that male person), the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own initiative; He will speak only what He hears from the Father. This shows the interdependence of the three Persons of the Trinity. The Father would tell the Ruach what to teach the talmidim about the Son. And He will tell you what is yet to come (John 16:13). The New Covenant is the fulfillment of this teaching ministry of the Spirit.

How were the apostles to know when the Ruach Ha’Kodesh was bringing them new revelation? How were they to distinguish the thoughts of God from their own imaginations? According to Jesus, revelation from the Holy Spirit would always glorify the Son. As we saw in our study of John 13:31-32 (see Km – Three Times You Will Deny That You Know Me), the Greek word for glory (doxa) comes from the verb meaning to believe or to think. To be glorified is to be thought good of and vindicated in the eyes of all witnesses. Therefore, the concept of the glory in Christ’s vocabulary meant that the truth He had been teaching and the truth of His identity would be vindicated in the eyes of all humanity. The Holy Spirit (ekeinos) will glorify Me because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you (Yochanan 16:14).

Because Yeshua is the Memra (see Af – The Memra of God), the revelation of the Father, or as Rabbi Sha’ul expressed it: the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), all that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from Me what He will make known to you (John 16:15). The Spirit worked in the minds of the apostles so that they could perceive, understand and teach about the Savior.

Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit probably didn’t do much to calm the troubled minds of the eleven apostles. The gift of the Ruach would have been beyond their comprehension, not unlike us, only in reverse. We cannot imagine life without Him, so it’s easy for us to take His presence in our lives for granted. If we want to know what life would be like as believers left to exist on our own, all we need to do is observe the talmidim after Christ’s crucifixion and before Shavu’ot (Acts 2:1-47). They were dull of mind and weak of spirit, fearful, confused, doubting, despondent, and aimless. Thank God, He has not left us alone!¹⁴⁶⁴

If the World Persecuted Me, They Will Persecute You
John 15:18 to 16:4
On the walk to Gethsemane
sometime between 11:00 pm and midnight,
the fifteenth of Nisan

If the world persecuted Me, they will persecute you DIG: Since the emphasis in John 15:12-17 was on love, why does Yeshua now talk about hate? How is the relationship of the apostles to the world like that of Christ’s relationship to the world? What does Messiah mean here by the world? What lesson did the Lord teach by the phrase no slave is above his master? What lesson did Jesus teach by the phrase no slave is greater than his master in Yochanan 13:16? What is the lesson here? What do you see about the relationship between the Father, Messiah and the talmidim? How has the coming of the Shield of our Salvation highlighted the reality and wickedness of sin?

REFLECT: When have you found that speaking truth and showing love can lead to hostility from others? How do you explain that? If you were put on trial for being a believer, would there be enough evidence to convict? Have you ever been hated for your love for Jesus Christ? Did it strengthen your faith or weaken it?

When the Lord earlier had sent the Twelve on a special mission, He had warned them that they would be as sheep among the wolves (to see link click Fk – Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles). In sending them into the world on this occasion, Yeshua reminded them that they would experience the same hatred that He had experienced.

The relationship of believers to the world: If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first (Yochanan 15:18). The world’s hate for believers stems from its hate for the Messiah. Its hatred is mentioned seven times in these verses. Those apostles to whom Yeshua was speaking actually saw and experienced what He did. They were hated by people who didn’t want to give up their sin and live righteously (John 16:7-11).¹⁴⁵⁵  Jesus identified the enemy of God’s Kingdom as the world, which represents the fallen world system that operates according to the devil’s values and is subject to the curse of sin (see my commentary on Genesis Bg – Cursed is the Ground Because of You, Through Painful Toil You Will Eat of It). The world also represents the portion of humanity that lives by its own values and willingly serves its ends. Jesus came to redeem the world, but was rejected. His crucifixion formally declared the dividing line between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the great dragon. There are only two kinds of spiritual food: there’s angel’s food and devil’s food. And if you aren’t eating one . . . you’re eating the other.

If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. The world either loves or hates; there is no middle ground. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you (John 15:19). The world is tolerant as long as you agree with everything that is contrary to the Word of God. However, once you present the Gospel of Jesus Christ plainly, the world becomes extremely intolerant. Pseudo tolerance will give way to hatred and they will give full vent to their anger. The records of times past are proof that the cycle of hatred will come around again.

All of us know what it’s like to be in a house that’s not our own. Perhaps you’ve rented, spent time in a dorm room or army barrack. Maybe you’ve slept in your share of hotels or bunked in a few hostels. They have beds. They have tables. They may have food and they may be warm, but they are a far cry from being in your Father’s house (John 14:2).

Your Father’s house is where your Father is . . .

We don’t always feel welcome here on earth. We wonder if there is a place here for us. People can make us feel unwanted. Tragedy leaves us feeling like intruders. Strangers. Trespassers in a land not ours. We don’t always feel welcome here.

We shouldn’t. This isn’t our home. To feel unwelcome is not tragedy. Indeed it’s healthy. We are not at home here. The language we speak, it’s not ours. The body we wear, it isn’t us. And the world we live in, this isn’t home.¹⁴⁵⁶

The fruit of hatred is persecution. Yeshua told His talmidim that persecution would be their reward in the world. Remember what I told you, “A slave is not greater than his master.” If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of My name, for they do not know the One who sent Me (Yochanan 15:20-21). Messiah declared that the world’s hatred would be directed at believers under the guise of true devotion.

Before Jesus came to the earth, the hatred of the world had little opportunity to vent its anger directly against ADONAI. They killed His prophets, corrupted His Word, and turned His house into a den of robbers, but they couldn’t attack God Himself. But when God came in the flesh and the world attacked Him personally, there could be no more excuses for rejecting Him. If the Lord had not come and spoken to them, their sin would not have been so great; but since the Light had come, and those hard-hearted, blind enemies who so willfully rejected the Truth had no excuse (Yochanan 15:22).

The world does not hate the idea of God, per se. You can say you believe in God and the world will leave you alone. If you say you love Jesus Christ, however, you’re in trouble. It’s Messiah they hate. Yeshua says that whoever hates Me hates My Father as well. The truth of the preceding verse is further brought out and emphasized. If Jesus had not done among them the works no one else did, once again, their sin would not have been so great. But as it is, He did come, and they have seen, and yet they have hated both Him and the Father (John 15:23-24). Once again, they have no excuse.

But the nation of Isra’el unwittingly did this to fulfill what is written in their Torah: “They hated Me without reason” (Yochanan 15:25). The Torah spoken of is their Torah. It would be the Torah that they of all people should have obeyed. Torah usually applies to the five books of Moses, but sometimes it is used of the TaNaKh. That must have been the case here for the passage quoted is from Psalm 35:19 or 69:4. These passages speak of hatred that lacks any reasonable foundation. It was thus that they hated Jesus.

Christ reminded them again that they were not left alone to fulfill their responsibilities. When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father – the Spirit of Truth who goes out from the Father – He will testify about Me. The Holy Spirit will testify to the truth of Jesus Christ within the believers as well as through believers to their persecutors, and others who witness their persecution. The speaker in this verse is obviously God, and yet He says He has been sent both by the Father and by the Spirit. And you also must testify, for you have been with Me from the beginning (John 15:26-27).

When the human authors of the Bible wrote their books, they wrote in the style of the time, which did not include punctuation, breaks between words, or verses or chapters. These were added by later editors and translators and are not considered inerrant like the original text. Ordinarily, the locations of chapter breaks make good, logical sense. But the break between John 15 and 16 is unfortunate. John 16:1-4 belongs with Chapter 15. It was a dark and gloomy picture that Yeshua had painted for His talmidim. Glancing at each other, they must have sunk back into silence. Their hearts were sorrowful. And no wonder, for the Great Rabbi had told them in no uncertain terms that persecution lay just ahead; a storm that their ship was destined soon to enter.¹⁴⁵⁷

All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. All this refers to everything Yeshua just said about the believer’s relationship with the world, which is strained at best, hostile at other times, and can become deadly. They will put you out of the synagogue. In fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. Persecution and death had occurred in the case of Stephen (Acts 7:59), James (Acts 12:2), and other followers of the Way (Acts 9:1-4). They will do such things because they have not known the Father or Me (John 16:1-3). Messiah revealed this to His talmidim so they would not be shaken and then stumble in their spiritual walk. But like many of Christ’s lessons, they did not learn and all of them stumbled and fell nonetheless. Beginning with His arrest, they ran. During His crucifixion, most hid. Before His resurrection, all lost hope. After His resurrection, they doubted. Only after receiving the Ruach Ha’Kodesh did they act decisively and speak boldly.

The Lord’s statement in John 16:1-3 is followed here by a short parenthetical digression. I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. And then a concluding statement: I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you (John 16:4). These concluding words also transition the discussion away from His impending death, to the guiding of the Spirit after His ascension.

Messiah realized that His words would have little meaning at the time; the apostles still did not understand what was about to happen or why. But at the appropriate time, His words would come to mind and help them make sense of the suffering they faced. They would not have to wonder, “Are we struggling through persecution because of some failure on our part?” No, persecution was not only expected, but it is a normal consequence of living in hostile territory during the great conflict between good and evil, between Yeshua Messiah and the Enemy of souls, Satan. Therefore, believers all over the world should be on guard. We are headed for such a time again and we should not be surprised. Jesus warned us.¹⁴⁵⁸

Jesus knew that Caiaphas wanted no disturbance in the City of David that night. The Meshiach had multitudes of followers among the Jews in and out of Jerusalem, and up and down the Land from Dan to Beersheba. His public arrest would create an uproar that might lead to rioting – and rioting always meant that the Romans would be involved.

If possible, the arrest must be done quietly. Caiaphas knew this. Yeshua knew this. And now with the visit of the high priest to the praetorium, Pilate knew it. The procurator would furnish help for Caiaphas. But not for the sake of peace; it was his intention to add to the troubles of the Jews by triggering an event that was bound to split them into two groups.

After the arrest, Pilate knew he could then take this little case out of the realm of secrecy and throw it, like a clump of mud, into the public eye by merely pretending that he was so interested in seeing justice done that it would be necessary to bring the prisoner through the streets to him for a fair hearing. Each man, Jesus, Caiaphas and Pilate, had more reasons than were at first apparent for the things each one did on this day.

That night Judas had already traveled to the house of Caiaphas (John 13:30). He had been promised his paltry thirty pieces of silver and the high priest now expected the betrayer to act decisively. The Temple guard had been summoned and Pontius Pilate had assigned a tribune with five hundred men to accompany them. Caiaphas was taking no chances. The force would be overwhelming.

The high priest said that, as a dutiful son of Judah, Judas must be prepared to testify in the morning that the Nazarene had preached that He was the Messiah, the Son of God come to save the people of the world. So the niceties of proving blasphemy would be done through one of the Lord’s own followers. How perfect. How prophetic. But Judas trembled. Testify? No. No, he could not possibly testify. Never. Jesus had been his benefactor, his friend. Judas had agreed to lead them to Him, to point Him out for identification, but he would not stand up and accuse this man. Caiaphas could get someone else.

But the high priest pointed out that the arrest was one thing; proof of blasphemy under Jewish law was quite another. A follower who would stand up in court and point at Jesus and merely tell the truth, “I heard this man say that He is God and the Son of God,” would be sufficient. Judas shook his head stubbornly. Like a petty thief he knew his limitations, and all he asked for was thirty pieces of silver and freedom.

In the dim glow of the oil lamps Caiaphas smiled. Judas was one who would steal coins from a dead man’s eyes but would ignore the big jewel on the dead man’s finger. The high priest warned him to be ready. He would be needed later to lead the soldiers to the renegade Rabbi.¹⁴⁵⁹