And they led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. Some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another not made with hands. Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But he remained silent and made no answer. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Christ? The son of the blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And you will see the son of man seated on the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the high priest tore his garments and said, what further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy, what is your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death. And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, prophesy. And the guards received him with blows. Read that far in God's word. In this passage, we've reached actually a climax in the book of Mark, namely that Jesus was presented as overpowered and unable to save himself from the verdict and from the mistreatment, and yet on another level, Jesus remained the king. who reigned supreme over even his own trial proceedings. So our main sermon lesson is recorded for you in the bulletin outline. While officials dishonored and condemned him, our king provided faithful testimony about who he really is. Overall, we have changed venues now, if you're tracking from last time with Gethsemane and the events there and his arrest, and now his arrival to a different scene, the trial location with the high priest. At the new location now tonight, there were established two separate activity areas that we'll see tonight and then, Lord willing, next time. with a spotlight of the story seeming to draw our attention back and forth inside and then out. So first inside, inside probably the high priest's house, carried the main plot of the authoritative gathering of the officials in the main hall in the middle of the night in order that Jesus would come under trial. The question is, under this pressure, would Jesus fail? Meanwhile, Outside carried the subplot consisting of the unofficial gathering of guards around a warming fire in order that Peter would come under his own sort of questioning by unofficial servants. Under the lower pressure, literally the lower light, would Peter run away again? How does the Lord call us then, we could ask, to testify faithfully under the pressure of our own circumstances. So tonight we'll see three points. First, that the temple, not made with hands, was put on trial, rigged with the intent to find evidence to put him to death, verses 53 to 59. Secondly, we'll find from verses 60 to 61 that Christ, who we could call the Son of the Blessed, was questioned and pressured to testify. And thirdly, in verses 62 to 65, that the Son of Man, seated and coming with the clouds of heaven was condemned in their court, insulted, mocked, spat on, and struck with blows. We start with verse 53. where the arresting group has completed their role by delivering Jesus over to the authorities who had ordered his arrest, had gone to Gethsemane, gathered their prisoner, and brought him back. Use of the full phrase here in verse 53, chief priests and elders and scribes shows the official nature of the occasion and its solemnity. This was not just some gathering of whoever was intensely interested. This was an official gathering, albeit somewhat illegal for it shouldn't happen in the middle of the night, All of the parties were there in order to take official action. In addition, it shows that Jesus was alone. Having had all of his disciples flee in the middle of the night, in contrast to these authorities who had themselves assembled together, quite a group in the middle of the night, the lone Jesus with the great crowd of authorities. The contrasts build on one another in this incredible literature. Verse 54, Peter followed. At a distance, note, and we're told. Why at a distance? Well, it already begins to show what we'll find in the next passage, and as you know quite well, Peter's unwillingness to be publicly identified with this Jesus. And yet, Peter is showing some attempts after he had run away. He came right into the courtyard of the high priest, we're told here in verse 54, where there was a fire, and as you know, fires cast light. Was there enough light that someone could see Peter's face and recognize him as the fellow who just moments ago in Gethsemane, had drawn his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant, no less? Are you with him? Could be the question, but enough on that for tonight. We're just giving this hint. Back and forth from Jesus to Peter, the camera pans. We pause to look at Peter for tonight. Mark shifts again in verse 55 to Jesus. But I want you to notice the shifting. Verse 49, Jesus spoke. Verse 50, Peter and the other disciples fled. Verse 53, Jesus arrives at the high priest. Verse 54, we're back to the camera on Peter. the courtyard of the guards, and then in verse 55, the scene shifts back to Jesus and the council. We're supposed to contrast Jesus with Peter, so hang on to that thought. Here in verse 55, the intent of the council is quite exposed. Notice this. Quote, they were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. Do you realize what this reveals about this council? The council is unmasked here as searching for an accusation. They did not previously have adequate reason to assemble for a trial. They desired to put Jesus to death and therefore assembled themselves and sought such testimony. Problem is, though they tried, they couldn't find any such testimony, a valid reason to put him to death. So in verses 57 and 58, Mark's quite clear that even their testimony concerning the teaching of Jesus about the temple could not be established as true and confirmed testimony, which only required two witnesses to say the same thing. Here, let's read it, verse 57 to 59. And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, verse 58, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another not made with hands, verse 59, Yet even about this, their testimony did not agree. You see, because Mark correctly labels it as false testimony, that they were all breaking the ninth commandment by bearing false witness, but even within the context of this nighttime trial, the false witnessing progressed the case against Jesus. How's that? Well, because any statement about the temple caused this council to react and become intentionally interested. What did you say about our temple? And whatever teaching Jesus had given about the temple prompted the high priest to then demand that Jesus himself give an answer to this testimony. What was it about the temple, sir? And if Jesus had in fact made any claim about rebuilding the temple, well, that was specifically a claim appropriate only to being the Christ. It was thought that the Christ himself would come and rebuild the broken temple. And so the high priest would want Jesus himself to now answer whether he had made such a statement about the temple and therefore had claimed to be the Christ. So that brings us to our second point. the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, was questioned and pressured to testify, we see verse 60, when the high priest stood up and took center stage, it signaled that the council had reached its moment to decide. At once, the high priest caused this sort of transition from what had been happening, a series of unconvincing allegations from a variety of persons, now advancing to the intense moment when the high priest himself confronted Jesus with a direct line of questioning. The first question did not introduce a new subject, however, but rather pressured Jesus to speak, to respond to what had already been alleged by a various series of individual false witnesses solo in the sense that no two had agreed. And since they could not secure two agreeing witnesses, the new attempt now of the high priest was to get Jesus himself to make a fresh statement now on record that night, which they could then use to clinch the case against Jesus. So in verse 61, we see what happened. Jesus remained silent and made no answer. Now it was clear that Jesus had not replied either to any of the previous allegations so far, but now that the high priest was standing and questioning Jesus, would Jesus now testify under pressure? the continued silence of Jesus, even now, even when being directly asked by the high priest in the pressure of the convened council in the night, must have seemed to the council members like we would use the phrase contempt of court, which is basically disrespect or refusal to cooperate with the authorities of the court during a trial in their court. But it isn't true. Jesus had a right and a reason to remain silent on each single unsubstantiated accusation. In fact, the silence is impressive. Jesus did not crumble under even this pressure of even this intense scene and moment. As much respect as he had for the high court under the Lord, He did not answer these questions and was right not to do so. In fact, it was a fulfillment of prophecy. If there's one chapter you're familiar with in Isaiah, it's Isaiah 53. Remember verse seven, which had predicted this courageous act of Jesus to not say anything? Quote, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter and like a sheep that is before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth, Isaiah 53, seven. He even fulfilled prophecy by not saying anything. despite being under intense pressure to do so. And then, in verse 61, since Jesus remained silent, can you imagine the scene for a moment? The high priest has put this question to him, and there's no reply. Is anyone else gonna say anything in the room? So silence continues. Jesus is certainly not going to say anything. Ball goes back into the court, if you will, of the high priest, right? And it's his next move. And he seems to have two choices. He's obliged to either end the trial then, or to take yet more initiative against Jesus. And so the high priest chose to take yet more initiative against Jesus. The high priest intervened in that silent moment, however long it was, with yet another question aimed at Jesus, this time, rather than the question being framed by one of those false witnesses, answer them, answer them. This time, a fresh question came from the high priest himself, which drove to the heart of the reason that Jesus had been brought before the high priest that night. Seeing Jesus in this helpless and seemingly pitiful condition, the high priest seemed to become incredulous that a man seemingly so unable to speak, though he is a rabbi, would have made any previous grandiose claims about he himself being able to rebuild the temple? The high priest asked the question. It seemed sarcastically as if this current behavior of Jesus to just sit there silently without words under questioning was itself seeming to prove he has no claim to be a special person at all and certainly not the Christ. who would be capable of rebuilding the temple and much more. And so in verse 61b, you could read it this way. Again, the high priest questioned him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? This question of the high priest was well-framed actually in order to draw into the open what has up until this point in the trial been a matter of indirect implications. This was a loaded question. This was a salient and defining question. And up until now, Jesus had been silent. It was the centerpiece of the trial. If you look at it, it's the centerpiece of the ministry of Jesus Christ. It's the centerpiece of the history of God's redemption with his people. Is this man Jesus the Christ? You have to admit that's one of the most important questions in all of history. So the high priest's question included this interesting follow-up, the term blessed, the blessed, and the phrase son of the blessed, which is clearly a replacement for the phrase the son of God. Don't you more often hear the Christ, the son of God? So he changes the word God to the word the blessed. Why would he do that? I think you remember why he would do that. The replacement reflected the high priest's personal carefulness himself to avoid at all times, but especially in this convened court in which they're trying to trap someone else to say out loud the name of God, that someone could construe that as him then pronouncing blasphemy himself. So even the pronouncement of the name God itself was left out of the high priest's questions so that he could not be susceptible to an accusation. He says, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? So we turn to our third point in verse 62. We get to verse 62 and we find that Jesus now expressed the very climax of the book of Mark. We need him to say it. And while Jesus was called upon to testify to the highest authority figure in Israel, and he did so respectfully, Jesus now, without hesitation, ended his silence without any doubt, without any equivocation at all, without any lack of clarity about what could be meant, Jesus told what we would say, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and simply said, with that Old Testament, Exodus chapter three, Moses and the burning bush overtone, I am. I am. Are you the Christ? I am. That ever so clearly communicates that Jesus is the Christ. He says so. Mark writes so. We know so. The time for concealment was over, though that had been a theme in the book of Mark. It's now publicly verifiable. that Jesus had declared and confirmed openly, yes, he is the Christ. But furthermore, in sudden contrast to his previous silence, Jesus here now is eager to explain his status and even his mission. Now consider the whole statement of our king who didn't crumble, who didn't back down and ended his silence with quite a statement. Verse 62, and Jesus said, I am and you will see the son of man seated on the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Now it's significant that though the high priest had posed the question with the term, the Christ, Jesus replied, I am, but then proceeded with further explanation of a different phrase other than the phrase, the Christ. He chose instead to say the phrase, the Son of Man. Now, given how most Jews thought about the term the Christ, namely an earthly military commander, it was wise for Jesus to replace the word the Christ with the phrase the Son of Man in order for the message of Jesus to be abundantly clear in contrast to misunderstandings regarding his mission and how his own reign as king would be conducted. The truth about Jesus was on a whole different level altogether from what the high priest had implied by his question. That the triumph of Jesus will be at the right hand of God in heaven. But yet first, Jesus must be rejected that night as he has repeatedly predicted. Verse 63, the reaction of the high priest reflects his own understanding. that he should express grief for having heard God dishonored and blasphemy right in front of the council. And so the high priest began, what's the tradition for them, to tear his garments and say, what further witnesses do we need? It doesn't matter anymore that you don't have two witnesses that agree. We've got the witness himself. saying blasphemous things. So in verse 64, the high priest verbally declared that it was blasphemy, which it wasn't, because Jesus actually is God, and the Son of God, and the Son of the Blessed, and the Son of Man. But he declared that it was blasphemy, officially, according to the court, and the high priest then asked the court for their support, for their decision, and all the officials agreed with the high priest, verse 64, so together they condemned the Son of Man. They condemned the Son of God, the Son of the Blessed. They condemned the second person of the Trinity, guilty based on his own words when his words were true. Their instant unanimous verdict was that his statement was deserving of death, verse 64. Verse 65, violence spontaneously erupted against Jesus, right then and there. Some spat on him. Is there a more degrading thing that can be done? It's universal around the world, down through all history. Spat on him, didn't even need to be explained. And some covered the face of Jesus and began to hit him through the covering. And while they were aggressively hitting him with his face covered, they even mocked his own self-identification as the Messiah or as the Christ by asking him to prove it by prophesying to them right then through the face covering. Penalty for blasphemy, you might remember, is being stoned to death in Israel. And certainly that's what they wished to do and were warming up to. But in God's providence, you might remember the Jews lack the authority physically to put a person to death in those days because they're under the occupation of the Roman Empire. So they must now find a way to have the execution of Jesus carried out by the method of Roman law, not the method of Jewish scriptures. It wouldn't be stoning to death. It'd be whatever the Romans do. And in Roman law court, the verdict of being guilty of religious blasphemy, would not be sufficient to be a capital offense, and so therefore not sufficient for Jesus to be executed by the Roman Empire either. However, the acknowledgement that Jesus did own the title of the Christ, aha, now that would be made into sounding like political treason against Rome. What have we seen tonight? While officials dishonored and condemned him, our king provided faithful testimony about who he really is. The temple, not made with hands, was put on trial, rigged with the intent to find evidence from the death. Secondly, Christ, the son of the blessed, was questioned and pressured to testify. At first he was silent, and then he spoke, and did he ever speak? And third, the son of man, seated and coming with the clouds of heaven, was condemned in their court, insulted, mocked, spat upon, and struck with blows, and as you know, that's not even the whole story. It's just as far as we go tonight. I have three concluding applications for us to consider personally. Number one, be careful of temptation. I remind you of Peter. his role in the story, the camera panned back and forth, remember? Consider how Peter had already previously failed Jesus in Gethsemane. How was he failing Jesus? Well, Peter, along with others, fell asleep instead of staying awake to watch and pray as Jesus specifically instructed them to do. He failed in a time of temptation, recently. Then, Peter, as we know from the Gospel of John, it was Peter, not just whoever, but it was Peter who took his sword and acted rashly and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest. That's a second failure, if you're counting. Third, Peter ran away. From verse 50, we know that he ran away. That's number three, if you're counting. And so there's no wisdom in Peter's later decision to follow Jesus, even if it's at a distance. Peter should have remembered his own weakness and not ventured into yet another situation for which he was unprepared. Peter actually put himself into a situation of incredible temptation that led to, as we'll study next time, I'm not revealing anything, you've already known this, right? The greater sin of denying Jesus three times over. Our Lord Jesus himself had taught Peter and taught all of us, lead us not into temptation is how we are to pray. We take temptation too flippantly. We act like Peter. We failed in exactly that spot before. What are we doing in that spot? Why is it that we who stumble repeatedly put ourselves into the same temptation so that we stumble again? The closing or the takeaway application is be careful of temptation. Secondly, out of three, be ready to endure much from false witnesses. That night, people spoke against our King Jesus. They came into the middle of the night, these witnesses, to give false testimony to the gathered council. And since we're followers of Jesus, the same thing could be expected to happen to any one of us. We must continue to follow Jesus and our enduring of false witnesses speaking against him. And all of this isn't new. Think all the way back to King Solomon, who wrote Proverbs 18, eight, the words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels. They go down to the inner parts of the body. And King David, his son, echoed him. Psalm 120, verse two, deliver me, O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue. It's part of what our king, Jesus, endured for us, and we must not be surprised as followers of him when we are misrepresented in this world. We must not expect to escape this when our king did not escape this. We're called to bear it patiently as our precious Jesus did. Consider the words of Jesus in Luke 6.26, woe to you when all people speak well of you. For so their fathers did to the false prophets. Luke 6.26, actually it's a sad sort of Christian life if no one ever speaks bad about us. Jesus taught us with both his words and with his example, and he gives us grace in order to stay ready to endure much from false witnesses. Third and last, rejoice in the testimony of Jesus about himself. Oh, do we rejoice. Remember I said we need him to say it. We want him to say it. Are you the Christ? I am. I am the Christ. And after the high priest asked him, Jesus at once gave that emphatic, strong testimony, a whole nother sermon about how it ties into Moses and the burning bush. I am that I am has said this. He's claiming to be the great I am, the Lord God. These words of Christ belong to us. Take it with you in your heart. It's there in your Bible. You could read it every day if you want. Take this precious testimony of Jesus with you. It's for your encouragement, it's for our edification. One fine day, he said, in our verses, we will all see this same Jesus as the Son of Man, seated and yet coming with the clouds of heaven. Jesus is the one before whom we will all stand, and by his grace, through his death and resurrection, our sins will be removed when we stand before him. and therefore we will be welcomed by him with love and affection. He now lives in order to pray for us, to intercede for us when it's our turn to testify about him. And one day he will return in that power and that great glory in order to gather us as his people. And until then we rejoice in this memorable testimony. of Jesus about himself. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we continue to fall deeper in love with