63 Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. 64 They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?” 65 And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him.
Jesus Before the Council
66 When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. And they led him away to their council, and they said, 67 “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, 68 and if I ask you, you will not answer. 69 But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.” 70 So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” And he said to them, “You say that I am.” 71 Then they said, “What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips.” Luke 22: 63-71 ESV
Luke 22: 63-71 Prophesy
Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking Him as they beat Him - We just left off in the previous post with Peter's angle in the courtyard, his denial and now gone in tears. Now we will see how fallen men react to God. They tried to choose autonomy in the garden, and ever after men have demanded that God show Himself. There is no God I use to say, to hope, and I hear the voices of many ringing throughout history, "if there's a god then show yourself". So God comes down to earth, adds to His deity, humanity, taking on human flesh, becoming one of us, and with no real reason to doubt that He is anything but God. How's that, you ask? They saw the miracles, the feeding of the 5,000, things that they could not explain or duplicate, and from this same man came forth words that corrected their theology and traditions. The same one Who healed the lame and blind said things that were difficult for them to accept, but here's their chance, Who else could He be but God and who do they hate more than God? They have killed messenger upon messenger, but here comes the Son of the Landowner, what do you think they will do, what would you or I do? If not for a change of heart, if not for restraint from heaven, you could not sit across from Jesus and not want to come across the table at the One Who exposes us for the frauds we are. If you have never experienced this sort of vitriol hatred, this clashing of spirits, then it is quite simple my friend, you don't look enough like Him. We were all made in God's image, but sin has shattered that, and God sends the remedy, the image restorer in Christ, but no one sees themselves as broken this way, we see ourselves as good, or at least not as bad as some, but here He is, the mirror that tells us we are lying. We don't get treated like Him because we don't talk and act like Him, we blend in with the world and offer no light of conviction. You say you would never do this to Jesus, it's just not in you, well, grow up, you cannot repent of what you don't realize, and every lash of the whip, every pounding of the nail, every drop of blood filled sweat, and the agony that you will never comprehend, the wrath of an infinite Holy Father, that has every bit to do with your sin and mine, so don't look away, don't pretend this isn't you, we killed the King of Glory. We killed Jesus because He gave His life at the Sovereign bequest of the Father to save the sinners who needed Him to die on their behalf. That's the gospel, not the power of some decision you made, the life and death of God the Son, I pray that God gives you the faith to believe in Him.
…9His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes. 10They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me. 11God has delivered me to unjust men; He has thrown me to the clutches of the wicked.… Job 16: 9-11
…6But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. 7All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads: 8“He trusts in the LORD, let the LORD deliver him; let the LORD rescue him, since He delights in him.”… Psalm 22: 6-8
V. 64 Prophesy, who is it that struck You - People took Him to be a prophet, He knew things that you could know no other way, saw Nathanael under the fig tree, looked into men's hearts and foretold what would happen in the future, but these men think themselves clever, demanding, mocking, "prophesy", but He is silent. Well, I guess that means they're right, God won't do what you say, won't become a circus side show act, bowing to the whims of evil men, so He can't be God if He won't obey you. If I were Him at this point I would fight, not because it's brave, but because it's the easier thing to do, if you fight they will hit you harder, this will go faster, it will be over, but He is in for the long haul. There is a whole hell of a lot more in front of Him, but He sees it, accepts it, and this is just the beginning.
21For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps: 22“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth.” 23When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.… 1 Peter 2: 21-23
…6We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. 8By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken for the transgression of My people.… Isaiah 53: 6-8
V.66 When day came - This is a legality. This will be the "legal" trial, making everything their doing just and okay, that's sarcasm for those of you who were born without that sense.
When it was day - The long night is over - two mock trials and three denials by a loyal disciple have passed. And now it was the break of day, daybreak being about 5-6 AM. Matthew has "Now when morning came" (Mt 27:1) and Mark has "Early in the morning." (Mk 15:1) Now the Sanhedrin meeting could be official and "legal." So here we see that the two illegal nighttime trials before Annas and then Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, were followed by the third mock trial during the day, because a guilty verdict in a case of capital punishment could only be rendered during daylight hours (which is a bit ironic given the many other rules of Jewish justice that the religious leaders had already broken! Clearly this was never about justice but a total perversion of justice!) - Precept Austin
V.67a If You are the Christ, tell us - Meaning, if you are Messiah, then just say so. They think they command God. They want the kingdom to come and Rome be thrown out, but they don't see the need for a Savior that dies for them. In their warped and twisted way they think they have outed Him as a fraud because He is going to go to the cross as is foretold of the Messiah in Isaiah. They just don't accept that, their Jesus is going to destroy Roman rule and recognize them as the spiritual giants they are, putting them in seats to rule and dominate, not repent and take up crosses of self denial.
39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
41 “I do not accept glory from human beings, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
45 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” John 5: 39-47
V. 67b If I tell you, you will not believe - He's right, they had all the signs, the OT, the miracles, the untainted life before them, and they can't see it, just like they did to the prophets of old, they killed God's and found their own. You are not saying what we want to hear or doing what we demand You do, and so You are obviously not the King. It is ridiculous.
But He said to them, "If I tell you, you will (absolutely) not believe - This if introduces a third class conditional statement which speaks of potential action. Is this not a variant of the unpardonable sin? They repeatedly refused to believe, so now they could not believe! Jesus had performed countless miracles for 3 years which were clear, indisputable evidence that He was in fact the long expected Messiah! And so Jesus uses the strongest negative in the Greek (ou me and again in Lk 22:68) to emphasize the fact that they absolutely would not believe. What Jesus is saying in so many words is that it was useless to discuss this point with them because they were not really open to the truth. They had already determined His fate and could "care less" about the truth! They were out for His blood, but little did they know that the Lamb's blood (Jn 1:29+, 1Pe 1:19+, Titus 2:14+) would propitiate (satisfy) the Father and open the doors to Kingdom of God for all who did believe He was the Messiah Who was also the Redeemer. - Precept Austin
…12Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ 14In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.… Matthew 13: 12-14
V.68 And if I ask you, you will not answer - Jesus demonstrated this with them before, and He has already answered in the past, even giving them the old Hebrew name for God, "I Am". They wanted to kill Him for this, but to turn it around on them, seeing all that He had done and what Scripture had said about the Messiah, taking all the evidence, like He asked Peter, Who do you say that I am?
Criswell comments ""You will by no means answer" is demonstrated in Lk 20:41-44, when Jesus challenges the authorities with a question about the sonship of the Messiah. They do not answer." - Precept Austin
…57Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?” 58“Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59At this, they picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple area.… John 8: 57-59
V. 69 But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God - Subtle, not really, but He doesn't have to be. He is not staying here, after He goes through this, finishes His mission as the Savior, the Pascal Lamb, the Passover, He is ascending to heaven and will be with the Father until the time of His return. In other words, "I am not going to kick out Rome for y'all now, I am going back home." This would agitate them on so many levels.
1A Psalm of David. The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” 2The LORD extends Your mighty scepter from Zion: “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”… Psalm 110: 1-2
V. 70 Are you the son of God then - They are inferring rightly from this, but only so they can accuse Him of blasphemy, which would be true if He wasn't the Son of God.
V. 70b You say that I am - Yep, that's right.
And they all said, "Are You the Son of God, then?" - They all is interesting which makes it sound like this was a chorus of questions. First they asked are you the Christ and now the Son of God (not "a" son but "the" [definite article] Son). By asking Jesus if He were the Son of God, they were in effect asking if He was equal with God.
Bob Utley - “and they all said” Notice the PLURAL. Those present spoke with one voice! We learn from Mark 14:55–59 that the false witnesses had failed in their accusations. At this point the Sanhedrin tried to get Jesus to incriminate Himself. This was illegal in Jewish Law. Jesus, in a round-about way, affirms that He is the Messiah (cf. Mark 14:62). He knew they would take this title in such a way as to accuse him before Rome. Moffat’s translation at this point is very helpful to catch the subtle connotation of this phrase. “That is your word, not mine, I would not put it like that, but since you have, I cannot deny it” (cf. Matt. 26:64).
Note that the NAS records Jesus reply as "Yes, I am." Most versions (ESV, NET, NLT, et al) have the more accurate literal rendering "You say that I am." Fruchtenbaum writes "This is an idiomatic expression which means “yes.” It is similar to our way of saying “You said it!”" The NIV has "You are right in saying I am." - Precept Austin
V71 We have heard it ourselves from His own lips - They took this as a confession to blasphemy, but if you are not equal to God yet say you are, wouldn't this just be a case of derangement, a mad person that just also happened upon the ability to walk on water. Maybe He performed the miracles because He didn't understand science and was crazy, which made it impossible for Him to realize it was impossible to do these things. Only God can do those things. Well, now they get to beat and kill the Landowner's Son, just like He said they would.
For we have heard (akouo) it ourselves from His own mouth - They finally have a true Witness for the Word Himself! They explain why they need no more testimony. In short they acknowledged that Jesus had just claimed to be the Son of God which was also a way of claiming to be God. This constituted clear evidence of blasphemy to them and they now felt like they had sufficient grounds to demand the death sentence from Pilate.
Wiersbe - Referring to the Jewish authorities, James Stalker wrote in The Trial and Death of Jesus Christ: “It may be said that they walked according to their light; but the light that was in them was darkness.” (Lk 11:35+) “None so blind as those that will not see,” wrote Matthew Henry, the noted Bible commentator. “While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light” (John 12:36, NKJV). "I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness. (Jn 12:46) (Borrow Be courageous Luke 14-24) - Precept Austin
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