Transcript

Let's pray and we'll begin.

Lord, thank You for another morning. Thank You that we can live another day to serve You. Thank You for giving us new life in Christ. Thank You for the cleansing of sin and the presence of Your Holy Spirit to evermore guide us in the paths of righteousness. Our Father, may Your name be glorified in our lives this day. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The next reading assignment is Matthew 26:57-75, which is the remainder of the chapter. The main idea here is the Jewish trial. There is also going to be a Roman trial, but Jesus is first taken to Caiaphas' home, where He is tried before the Jewish tribunal. The central truth I want to highlight for us is this: Jesus testified of the truth. This really stands out against the background of the Jewish court which sought false testimony against Jesus. This is also set in stark contrast to Simon Peter, who refused to speak the truth and lied about his relationship to Jesus. Jesus shines brightly here as the only man of truth and righteousness. He is the only man who speaks the truth and suffers gravely for it. And this He did for our atonement. The key verse is found in verse 64 where Jesus responds to Caiaphas’ question about His identity, whether He is the Christ, the Son of God. To this Jesus responds: “You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” That was Jesus’ claim to being the fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel 7:13, that He is truly the Son of Man who is the Son of God who comes from heaven. There are two parts to the section before us: there is, first, the Jewish trial, and then there is Peter's denial.

First, the Jewish trial. Verse 57 tells us, “Those who had seized Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together.” This is the Jewish court. They were all gathered at Caiaphas' house. They tried Jesus. Verse 58, “But Peter was following Him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in, and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.” And so Peter sort of follows where Jesus was headed, and he gets as far as the courtyard of the high priest. Then comes the scene of the court in verse 59: “Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death.” This is really a disgrace to the Jewish court system. They were trying to obtain false testimony to get a conviction to eliminate Jesus. Verse 60, “They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward, and said, ‘This man stated, “I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.”’” Jesus actually did say this. It’s recorded in John 2. “The high priest stood up and said to Him, ‘Do you not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?’ But Jesus kept silent.” He gave no answer, no defense, to these trumped-up charges. There's no need to defend yourself when people are making up things that have no bearing on reality. It's pure mockery of the court, and Jesus maintains silence. This is most intriguing, because in Isaiah 53:7 we are told that the Messiah will be like a lamb led to the slaughter and will not open His mouth. And sure enough, here is Jesus being falsely accused. He does not fight for His life. He's in this scene to give up His life for the redemption of His people, and thus He maintains silence. He breaks silence, however, when Caiaphas asks about His true identity. Verse 63 continues, “the high priest said to Him, ‘I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.’” At this juncture, Jesus breaks silence and answers the high priest because He will testify to the truth. He will affirm His true identity. He is indeed the Christ, the Son of God. He won’t speak to defend Himself, but He will testify to the truth. Verse 64, “Jesus said to him, ‘You have said it yourself.’” That's the same language He used with Judas Iscariot. It's an idiom of affirmation. He is saying that that which was stated was true indeed. Then He adds, “nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power (that's His ascension), and coming on the clouds of heaven (that's His second coming).” This is a quote straight out of Daniel 7:13, where Daniel sees the Eternal King coming down from heaven, but strangely He doesn't come in the form of God, but in the form of a son of man. This is where the language of the Son of Man comes from. Well, here's Jesus. He not only affirms that He is the Son of God, but claims to be the fulfillment of this prophecy. He will ascend to heaven to the right hand of God, and He will return again to be the eternal divine king who comes to earth to reign forever and ever. What's the response of the high priest? He tears his robes and declares, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy.” Well, the Jewish court wanted to condemn Jesus and they got their evidence to do this. This is most astonishing. God came to earth, and man called God an impostor and charged Him with a capital crime. This has to be the worst moment in all of history where the creature rejected its Creator for who He truly was. More than that, they want to kill Him. They want God dead and so they condemned Him to death. Verse 66, “‘what do you think?’ They answered, ‘He deserves death.’” Then they brutally mistreat Jesus. They spat in His face. Beat Him with their fists. And others slapped Him. He received all this brutal treatment for speaking the truth.

Now, set in contrast to this is Simon Peter, who would not speak the truth. He lied. And he tried everything he can to get out of a sticky situation. And so this brings us to the second part of Peter’s denials. Peter was there sitting outside the courtyard. Verse 69, “and a servant-girl came to him (this is a slave girl, a girl with no rights) and said, ‘You too were with Jesus the Galilean.’” Verse 70, “But he denied it before them all saying, ‘I do not know what you are talking about.’” Peter would not tell the truth even before a slave girl. Verse 71, “When he had gone out to the gateway, another servant-girl saw him and said to those who were there, ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ And again he denied it with an oath, ‘I do not know the man.’” Peter's denials are becoming even more vehement now, this time with an oath. Verse 73, “A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, ‘Surely you too are one of them; for even the way you talk gives you away.’” Peter had a Galilean accent. And this was Peter’s response in verse 74, “Then he began to curse and swear, ‘I do not know the man!’ And immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, ‘Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ And he went out and wept bitterly.” What a sad contrast to Jesus, who refused to save His own neck. But Peter lied over and over again with an oath, a curse, and a swear. Once the rooster crowed, Peter knew that this was the fulfillment of exactly what Jesus said. This must have been terribly shameful for Peter; he must have felt so small. So he went out and wept bitterly. He wept bitterly because he did not stand by Jesus in His trial. He was a coward who would not stick up for his friend. You know, it is human nature to run in flight. When we feel threatened, we will do anything and everything in our power to try to get away from the threat or whatever we fear. But Jesus is not like sinful humanity. He testified to the truth, even though it would lead to brutality and even execution. This is the precious person of the Lord Jesus Christ: sinless, virtuous, and righteous. There is no Savior like Him, and He gave up that precious life that we can be free. What an amazing Lord we serve!

There's only one thing to pray about in light of all of this. We should utterly thank the Lord. There is no Savior like Him. With that, let me close us in prayer.

Our Lord, indeed, there is none like You. There is no one who speaks the truth like You. There's no one who ever walked the face of the earth who was so utterly righteous like You. And You gave up that precious life for our redemption. Thank You for Your awesome sacrifice in our place. Your life is the most precious life, the most valuable life that the world has ever seen. Our Lord, we are Yours. You have purchased us with Your blood. We want to serve You and make Your name great this day. We pray that You would empower us by Your Holy Spirit, so that with Your truth in our minds we would heartily live for You in every possible way we can and with every ounce of energy You give. Thank You for being our great Savior. Thank You for saving us from our sins that we might lead a life of fruitfulness to the glory of God. To that end, we commit ourselves to You. Bless this day. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

And that is it for today. Lord bless you all. And we are done.