Title: Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ
Author: Andre Holtslag

6
“An Out-of-this-world Testimony”      Text – Matt 26:64  LD 19       OT Reading – Daniel 7:9-14

Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It appears that I am not alone in acknowledging a fascination with the goings on in courtrooms.  
Authors and film companies have made billions feeding off this human interest.  
Hardly a day goes by without the details of a current court case playing out before us in the newspaper, on the radio, or on the TV.  
Whether we are reading or watching, there is always something gripping about observing due process and the personalities and characters that are always involved.

Well, from a world history point of view, the passage that we have just read describes a part of the most significant trial that ever occurred.  
Beginning shortly after Jesus’ arrest, the trial, or more accurately trials, plural, became the hinge of history that brought about His crucifixion.  

Interestingly, the circumstances of Jesus’ trial before the Sanhedrin are hotly debated.  
From Jewish writings, the rules and regulations for how trials were to be conducted is fairly clear.  
When trials could be held, who could participate, the details of the right to silence, and what counted as a capital offence are fairly well understood.  
As always though, there are exceptions.  
And there can be no doubt that in many ways the trial of Jesus was an exception in every sense of the word.  
The nearness of the Passover feast, the politics of the time, the nature of Jesus’ claims about Himself, and sheer hatred of the Pharisees and Sadducees for Jesus all combine to make analysis of this trial against the background of the rules for trials somewhat difficult.  
Suffice it to say that this trial is unique in every sense of the word.

Now, our particular interest is in the testimony of Himself that Jesus gives in verse 64.  
In summarizing what Scripture says about the person and work of Jesus, the Apostles’ Creed says that, in heaven, Jesus “sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.  From there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.”  
And in the Lord’s Day that we read, we get a more fulsome explanation of the implications of Scripture’s teaching.  
And so, we want to see how it is that the Word of God directs us towards the consideration of these things.

Here in Matthew 26:64 then, we see that Jesus testifies concerning His future glory.  
And as he does this we see that His words are 
a careful testimony, a scriptural testimony, 
a questioning testimony, and a comforting testimony.

Firstly then, as Jesus testifies concerning His future glory, we read that He provides a careful testimony.

1.	Now, congregation, at this point in the trial, things are not going well for Caiaphas, the High Priest.  
a.	Jesus is before the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish tribunal that there is.  
i.	The Sanhedrin was made up of 70 members plus the High Priest.  
ii.	And these members were high priests (the current high priest, those who had been high priests, and members of the privileged families from which the high priests were taken), elders (tribal and family heads of the people and priesthood), scribes (biblical lawyers, we might say), and Pharisees and Sadducees.  

b.	And, as is always the case with political councils, there is politics.  
i.	Caiaphas himself was Sadducee.  
ii.	Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were Pharisees and members of the Sanhedrin.  
1.	Later in Luke, we are told that Joseph had not consented to the decision and action of the Sanhedrin.  

c.	And so, at verse 63, we need to see that, in the mind of Caiaphas, there is a danger of Jesus being released.  
i.	Yes, the Pharisees have agreed to a night meeting and trial, something forbidden by the Sanhedrin rules.  
ii.	Yes, they have agreed to try Jesus on the night before a feast, something forbidden by the Sanhedrin rules.  
iii.	Yes, they have agreed to meet at Caiaphas’ house when trials are supposed to be held at the temple courts.  
iv.	Yes, they have refused Jesus His own legal representation, something He is entitled to according to Sanhedrin law.  
v.	Yes, they even permit the High Priest to involve himself when he is not normally allowed to do so.  
vi.	But even the Pharisees will not allow Jesus to be condemned falsely!  

2.	And so, Caiaphas moves in for the kill.  "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God."  
a.	Now, here again, congregation, the law for trials is broken.  
i.	In regular trials, putting a defendant under oath means he must reply.  
ii.	But in capital trials, where a life is at stake, it is illegal to require this of the defendant.  He has the right to silence.  
iii.	But, who cares about the rules when the result is all that matters!

3.	And Jesus, knowing also that the result is more important than the rules, makes His careful testimony.  “Yes, it is as you say.”  
a.	Now, we should not understand His words as a ‘guilty plea.’  
i.	Jesus is not owning up to the thing that He is accused of.  
1.	At no time in His public ministry did He openly declare to the Jews that He was the Messiah.  
2.	At no time did He call Himself the Son of God.  
(a)	Both titles were wrapped up in all sorts of confusion at that time.  
(i)	Many people claimed to be Messiah’s.  
(ii)	Jesus had already demonstrated to the Jews that all God’s children are sons of God.  
b.	And so, Jesus reply suggests, “That’s your way of putting it,” or “Yes, but not in the way you mean,” or “I would not have put it that way, but since you do I cannot deny it.”

And to ensure complete clarity, Jesus adds His own scriptural testimony to His initial careful testimony.
Jesus says, “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

1.	I said a moment ago that Jesus was not entering a guilty plea.  
a.	But neither should we understand Jesus to be trying to weasel out of this trial by playing around with words.  
i.	Claiming to be the Messiah was not blasphemy.  
ii.	Claiming to be a Son of God was not blasphemy.  
iii.	Jesus does not even use God’s name, but avoids blasphemy by calling God ‘the Mighty One.”  

b.	But putting all this together; claiming to be Messiah, Son of God, Son of Man, the one who would sit at God’s right hand, and the one who would come on the clouds of heaven, leaves no room for doubt at all about who Jesus claims to be!

c.	And it does this, because Jesus testimony concerning Himself appeals directly to Scripture.  
i.	In Psalm 2 already, we are told that the kings of earth take their stand against God’s Anointed One, or against His Messiah.  
1.	God, who is enthroned in heaven, laughs at these kings and terrifies them with His anger, because He has installed His king in heaven.  
2.	They are commanded to worship the Son, to whom belong the nations and who rules over them.  

ii.	In Psalm 110, the Psalmist uses words that are referred to a number of times in the New Testament as testifying to the rule of Jesus in heaven.  
iii.	There it says, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet … The Lord will rule … The Lord will crush kings on the day of His wrath.  He will judge nations.”  
1.	Jesus, Himself, just a few days ago, had referred to this Psalm in one of His discussions with the Pharisees.  

iv.	And then in Daniel, the passage we read earlier, the prophet speaks of the son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven ... He was given authority, glory, and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped Him.”  

d.	Thus, in the testimony of Jesus, He says, I am the one whom the Scriptures speak of.  I am the one who will soon rule in heaven as the head of the church!  I am the one, through whom the Father will rule all things!  I am the one who will come to judge the living and the dead!

2.	Now, we need to pause here and see again that Jesus’ trial is all about a predetermined outcome, not the law.  
a.	To be guilty of blasphemy, the law prescribed that the name of God must be used, and Jesus, still, has not done this.  
b.	The law explicitly forbids the High Priest from tearing His clothes, but this does not keep Caiaphas from adding to the drama of the moment by doing exactly that.  
c.	At the very most, Jesus’ claim ought to have brought about a pause in proceedings to see whether or not what He said and what the Scriptures said could be true.

And this is so because the words of Jesus were a careful and scriptural testimony.  But further to this they were, themselves, a questioning testimony.

1.	The testimony that Jesus makes about Himself is, itself, a questioning testimony because it demands a response of agreement or rejection.  
a.	While Jesus does not utter blasphemy according to the strict provisions of the law, the gathered Sanhedrin seem quite convinced that what He has said is blasphemous.  
i.	Jesus stands before them having been arrested a short while ago.  
ii.	He is bound.  He is bleeding.  He has been beaten already.  
iii.	He is nothing to look at.  He does not look like Messiah, Son of God, and Son of man.  

b.	And yet, Psalm 110 says, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”  
i.	Thus, by alluding to Psalm 110, Jesus reminds Caiaphas that the Messiah will be the one and only priest.  
ii.	By alluding to Psalm 2 and Daniel 7, Jesus reminds Caiaphas that the Messiah will be the Judge of all the earth.  
1.	Jesus says, “Don’t look at what you see standing here before you now.  
2.	Don’t look at my torn and disfigured body.  
3.	Don’t look at my scraps of clothing.  
4.	Don’t judge me according to what your eyes now see.”  

iii.	If I may paraphrase, what Jesus says is, “Caiaphas, as priest and judge I will judge you as a priest and judge!  All that you are and that you represent is soon to come to an end.  I will be the one and only exalted King of heaven.  What do you have to say to that?”  
iv.	Borrowing words that Jesus recently spoke to the Pharisees, in essence, Jesus says,   “What do you think about the Christ?”

2.	Well, what they believed about the Christ is revealed in their actions.  
a.	 “ “He has spoken blasphemy!  Why do we need any more witnesses?  Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.  What do you think?”  “He is worthy of death,” they answered.  Then they spat in His face and struck Him with their fists.””  
i.	They refuse to believe that this man who stood before them could be who He claimed to be.  
b.	And in this, they are not very different from the many millions of careless people who exist today.  
i.	The same questioning testimony of Christ is made today.  
1.	We make it hear again tonight.  
ii.	But they want nothing to do with it.  
1.	Hearing it they refuse to believe.  
2.	Hearing it, they refuse to make a response of faith in Jesus.  
3.	Hearing it, they refuse to live according to the consequences of it.  
(a)	Jesus will not be their Lord and Saviour.  
(b)	Their lives will not belong to Him.  
4.	May it be that this does not describe any of you.

3.	For there is also the response of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.  
a.	As I mentioned before, they disagreed with the council’s decision and actions.  
i.	They saw this trial for what it was, a sham.  
ii.	They saw through the hatred and vitriol of those gathered there to kill Jesus, one way or the other.  
1.	Now, Scripture does not explicitly state that they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but their actions appear to show that they were on the pathway to faith.  
(a)	Joseph was the one who requested Jesus’ body from Pilate.  
(b)	He and Nicodemus together were the ones who prepared His body for burial.  
(c)	It seems likely that they became part of the early church described in Acts.  

4.	Brothers and Sisters, young people, and boys and girls.  There are only two ways to answer Jesus’ implicit question.  You either reject His claim to be the Messiah, or you believe His claims and worship Him as the Messiah.  
a.	Jesus said to all those gathered there, “In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”  
i.	And in saying this, Jesus spoke, firstly, to all those gathered there in that room.  
ii.	He gave them His word that one day they would see Him as the exalted, ruling, Judge.  
1.	What a frightening and terrifying day of judgment that will be.  
2.	Then, Caiaphas, and all the others will stand before Jesus.  
3.	And they will be joined by everyone else who has rejected the testimony of Jesus.
(a)	And it will be too late for them to acknowledge that He is who He claimed to be.  
(b)	By their own doing, they will be worthy of death.

However, if you are one of those who believe His claims, then His words are not just careful, scriptural, and questioning.  For you, the words of Jesus are also a comforting testimony.

1.	For Jesus now lives and reigns in heaven.  
a.	He is no longer the torn and battered Messiah who stood before Caiaphas!  
i.	No, He is the risen and ascended King of the church!  
1.	He is presently nurturing and watching over you as one of His children.  
(a)	God “has placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church.”  
(b)	He gives “some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”  
(c)	As the Good Shepherd, He promises that He will not let anyone snatch you from His hand.  
(d)	As the Lord of heaven, He causes all things to work together for the good of your salvation. 

2.	And a day is coming when you too will see Jesus.  
a.	And because He, though innocent, was declared worthy of death, you, though guilty, will be declared worthy of life.  
b.	He will not stand before you only as your Judge.  
i.	No, He will stand before you as your Lord and Saviour!  
c.	And He will say to you, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”  Amen.