959. The Trial and Arrest of Jesus

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today on The Daily Platform, Dr. Steve Pettit, longtime evangelist and now president of Bob Jones University, will preach a four-part series on Passion Week, the week leading up to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Today, Steve will lead us in a study of the trial of Jesus before Caiaphas. I'm going to ask you to go back to the passage from the book of Mark, chapter 14. Thus far this week we have been looking into Mark's gospel account of the events surrounding the final hours before the death of Jesus on the cross. We've called this the Passion because it is referring to the events that surround Jesus' suffering as God's servant. So thus far we've looked at Christ's prediction in the Last Supper where he said that one would betray me, the rest would deny me. Peter would deny me three times and then he predicted that he would die and rise from the dead. We also saw yesterday Christ's prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. And in both of the messages thus far we have seen the faithfulness of Jesus contrasted with the unfaithfulness of his own disciples.

And really the trajectory of Mark's story is towards a point of brokenness. And that is this, that Jesus would be broken on the cross and the disciples needed to be broken over their own selves. This morning we come to Jesus' trial before the religious leaders. Jesus had prophesied concerning the betrayal of Jesus by Judas and that prophecy was fulfilled. We're skipping over the story because of time, but you know the story that Judas with 200 soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas kissed Jesus on the cheek identifying him as Jesus himself and so they arrested him. And at that same time, the Scripture was also fulfilled for the disciples fled the scene in fear, never to be heard of again in Mark's Gospel. So they take Jesus from the Garden of Gethsemane and they go back to the city of Jerusalem. And on the southwest side of the city of Jerusalem is the home of the high priest named Caiaphas. Today there is a church that is built over the original site.

The name of the church is called Calicantu, which means the crowing of the rooster. This morning as we look at Mark's writing style and we've tried to follow that along, we're seeing today like we did on Monday, another sandwich style. So he has three parts, the piece of bread on the top, the piece of bread on the bottom and the middle is the meat and so we have a first and third part that are connected. And then we have the middle part which is really the message that Mark is trying to communicate. What I think is very important this morning for us to realize is that the key figures in the story this morning are not so much the Jewish leaders, but it's actually a story between Peter and Jesus. Because the story starts and finishes with Peter, but the main message is in the middle about Jesus. And in this passage we have two firsts in Mark's Gospel. For the first time, Jesus openly confesses his true identity.

Up until now, he had never fully confessed who he really was. But secondly, for the first time, Jesus is openly denied by one of his own disciples. And what do we see today? We see the terrible gap between Peter and Jesus.

One is faithful and true and the other is not. So let's begin this morning with Peter in the courtyard. We read in verse 53, and they led Jesus away to the high priest and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. And Peter followed him afar off even into the palace of the high priest and he sat with his servants and he warmed himself by the fire. Jesus is brought in the darkness of night, it was probably after midnight, maybe two or three o'clock in the morning.

And they bring him to the home, the villa of the high priest Caiaphas. And there is a symbol, the Jewish leaders, the Sanhedrin. And I want to begin by saying that this meeting was clearly an unlawful meeting. For example, religious courts could only be held during the day.

This is at night. It could only be held in a chamber north of the temple. This is south of the temple. According to Jewish law, if it is a capital offense, a guilty verdict could not take place without a second day. They had to be two days. Also, court could not be held on the eve of the Sabbath and this was the exact time of this trial. Nor could it be held during a religious festival and we know this was the time of Passover.

Witnesses were warned against hearsay or rumor. And if somebody committed blasphemy, it could only be sustained if the accused individual curses God. Is it not interesting that the one that cursed God was actually Peter and Jesus testified to the reality of who He was. Every detail about the trial of Jesus was a violation of Jewish law and the irony of this trial is that the guilty ones, the Jewish leaders, were seeking to condemn the innocent one. And I think what is important to notice in this section is that the focus is on Peter.

Why is that? Why is the focus put on Peter? Why did Mark do this? Well, when Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane, all of his disciples ran away in fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy. However, Jesus' prediction of Peter's denial had not yet been fulfilled.

If Jesus is a true prophet, if His words are true, then this prophecy has to be fulfilled. So as Peter enters into the outside courtyard of the high priest, we know his denial is coming. So let's watch Peter more carefully.

And what do we see? Well, we notice that there is a change in his body language. Do you remember when Peter said, I will never deny you?

I will never, I will die for you. Do you remember that body language? Do you remember when the man had his ear cut off? When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane being arrested and Peter whips out a sword and he goes to whack off the guy's head and he misses his head and he cuts off his earlobe, that's the attitude he had. But what do we see here?

A change in his body language. Instead of being close to Jesus, he keeps his distance. He goes, sits by the fire and he warms up to the temple guards, the very same guards who will soon abuse Jesus. And what do we see? We see this distance is telegraphing a message that soon he will deny the Lord. All of us here, all of us here are not beyond denying Jesus.

And that leads to now the middle section. Jesus' self-revelation. Where we see the real meat of what Mark is trying to show us. As the trial begins, we realize that the religious leaders have no case against Jesus.

Instead, they're trying to find something that they can charge against him. Look at verse 55, and the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death and found none. It is clear the Jewish leaders are not seeking justice but they are wanting his blood. And beginning in verse 56, Mark brings us now to the heart of the message.

Here's what he's trying to show us. Up until now, the theme of witnessing or testimony has never been mentioned. But now within the next nine verses, the word witness is used seven times. And Mark is setting forth the false witness of the religious leaders contrasted with the true witness of Jesus.

Jesus is the truth. Notice the false witness. Verse 56, for many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. The religious leaders paraded many false witnesses before their kangaroo court. No two witnesses could agree.

The case should have been thrown out immediately. But then comes another set of false witnesses. Look at verse 57, and 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 their testimony did not agree. Their claim was that Jesus said something that he actually never said. Jesus never said that he would, he would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.

But here is the irony that what they said, he said, he didn't say, but what they said is actually the truth. Mark's readers, those who are reading the book of Mark, those who are in Rome to whom Mark wrote this gospel, all know that, that Jesus came to establish a new temple, not made by human hands, but constructed upon the cornerstone that the builders rejected, built on Jesus who died and he rose from the dead three days later. But Jesus didn't answer or respond. So Caiaphas asked Jesus a question. Are you not going to answer these charges? Are you not going to defend yourself? And verse 61 says, but he remained silent and he made no answer.

Think with me a moment. Why did Jesus say nothing? Why was he quiet? The reason is because Jesus' silence was strategic. You see, the whole of the book of Mark is bringing us to this very moment because the venue of this trial, and in this trial, Jesus is revealing something about himself. Jesus is identifying himself as the suffering servant revealed in the book of Isaiah. His actions are the fulfillment of God's prophecies.

Listen to Isaiah 53, seven. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brawled as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb. So he opens not his mouth. Until now, Jesus has not revealed his true identity, but his silence is now broken.

And here we see the true witness. The high priest rises to his feet. He presses Jesus with a question. In the original Greek, the wording is put in a form of an emphatic statement. He says, Caiaphas says to Jesus, you are the Christ, the son of the blessed one. By the way, why did he say blessed one?

Because Jews were afraid to say the name of God, lest they take God's name in vain and it was their way of getting around it. You are the Messiah. You are the son of God. And what did Jesus say? What was his answer?

He said, I am. This is the first time in the book of Mark that Jesus Christ identifies himself as the true son of God and the Messiah. And how ironic is it that the two most complete confessions of who Jesus truly is comes from two individuals who are responsible for his death. The high priest here in chapter 14 and the centurion who stood at the foot of the cross when Jesus died and said, truly thou art the son of God. Up until the high priest's question, Jesus had intentionally kept all claims of his divine sonship silent. So why?

Why until now? Because if you read the book of Mark clearly, you will discover that something was missing in the understanding of the identity of his person. You see the disciples, the disciples believed that Jesus was the son of God.

Okay, they got that. But there was something that was missing in their thinking because their viewpoint of the Messiah was, there was a misperception. And the missing element that was necessary for his true identity was that he had to suffer. Jesus could not, could only divulge his true identity in the light of suffering. And this is why Jesus kept it secret until now. You not only need to see Jesus as the son of God, but you need to see him as the suffering servant of God. So Jesus acknowledges that he is the Messiah. He is the son of God, but he doesn't stop there.

Because he makes a full disclosure of another title that blew the Jewish leaders away. Listen to what he said in verse 62. And Jesus said, you shall see the son of man seated at the right hand of the power and coming with the clouds of heaven. Jesus is now saying, I'm Messiah, son of God, and I am the son of man. Why son of man? Well if you go back and read Mark throughout the book of Mark, Jesus' main title that he used of himself was the son of man. And primarily, it was used at that point to identify Jesus with mankind.

Until now. Because the son of man in the Old Testament is found in Daniel chapter seven and verse 13. And it is about the coming of the Messiah to bring judgment upon the earth. And essentially, here's what Jesus was proclaiming to the Jewish leaders. He said, though you are trying to judge me, one day I am going to come back and judge you.

He is God's son, he is the Messiah, and he is the judge of the earth. So how did the Jewish leaders respond to Jesus' self-revelation? Look at what it says in verse 63. Then the high priest ran his clothes and said, what need we any further witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy, what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death. The high priest achieved his goal.

Jesus committed blasphemy on the basis of his confession. But the irony does not stop. The Jewish leaders explode with hatred and rage against Jesus. And how do they respond? They can't sit there and be ambivalent about it.

They can't sit there and be apathetic about it. They begin to spit on him. They cover his head. They strike him with blows and demand that he prophesy. And the idea there is Jesus telling, tell us where this next blow is coming from and then they punch him in the face. But the irony is that Jesus had already prophesied that what they were doing to him would actually happen. Where did he prophesy that? Mark chapter 10, verse 33, he said, behold to the disciples, we go up to Jerusalem and the son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priest.

Listen to this. And unto the scribes and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles and they shall mock him and shall scourge him and shall spit upon him and shall kill him. And the third day he shall rise again. So, what's Mark trying to tell us? What's his point? What, what's the mead of this message? The mead of this message is that Jesus Christ is God's faithful witness. What he says is true. And the whole point of the book of Mark is that we would believe that. I'm going to ask you this question. Do you believe?

I mean, really? I think one of the things I, I appreciate Bob Jones because of all that we're able to teach you and I, I appreciate a biblical worldview, but in the midst of this, you could actually almost lose your faith because it's all up here and folks, it's not about what's here. It's about what's here.

Do you really believe the testimony of Jesus Christ? This is Mark's message to us. But now we have to transition to the third part. And in verse 65, it's a transitional statement. It says the servants did strike Jesus with the palm of their hands. Who are these? These are the temple guards. We must not forget that these are the same guards who warm themselves by the fire with Peter.

And these are now the ones who are beating Jesus. And Mark is connecting now Jesus to Peter. And here we see the third part and that is Peter's denial. Peter goes, Mark returns back to Peter. Peter has tried to remain inconspicuous if you could say it this way, he was trying to fly, fly under the radar.

He didn't really want to be noticed, but do you know what Mark does? He now makes Peter the center of attention because what did Jesus prophesied? Peter would deny him how many times say it, how many times?

Three times. That is not yet to be fulfilled and that's what is about to take place. We see the first denial beginning in verse 66 and as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of the high priest. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked up upon him and said, and thou also was with Jesus of Nazareth, but he denied saying I know not, neither understand I what thou sayest. Peter's denial begins ironically. Peter who was so bold in his claims that he would never deny Jesus is easily brought down by a slave girl. The girl looks closely at Peter and states that he was with Jesus of Nazareth.

This meant that he was a Galilean. And at this point, Peter doesn't deny Jesus, he simply denies that he doesn't know what she's talking about. But God still considered it a denial because he knows the heart. Then we come to the second denial. It says he went out into the porch and the cock crew, the rooster crowed. Peter goes out to actually the gateway to avoid the scrutiny of the woman, but he can't escape her. The Bible says, and the maid saw him again and began to say to them that stood by, this is one of them and he denied it again. She shares her impressions with the bystanders, which would have been the temple guards, the ones he warmed up to. And for the second time, he denies being associated with Jesus's disciples. And then we come to the third denial. The scripture reads, and a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, surely thou art one of them.

For thou art a Galilean and thy speech agreeeth thereto. You see now the temple guards recalled Peter. He sat with them. He talked with them. And his accent is different. He's from the north and there in the south.

You can tell somebody by their accent and where they grew up. And listen to Peter's response. They said, you're definitely one of the disciples. Verse 71, but he began to curse and to swear saying, I know not this man of whom you speak. Peter calls down a curse upon himself. He swears by an oath to the truthfulness of what he is about to say.

I'm telling the truth. He denies Jesus and there, and he denies what Jesus had prophesied. And then what happens? Notice what the Bible says, and the second time the rooster crowed. Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him.

Before the cock crowed twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he felt their own, he wept. The truth of Jesus's words woke Peter up, woke him up to his own deceit. And immediately Peter is broken. He collapses and he begins to weep.

So what happens? For the last three days I've talked about the disciples and the end result of the disciples is that they're not really doing that well. What happens to Peter? Do you know that Peter is not mentioned again in the book of Mark ever again? Mark doesn't tell us.

We never hear of Peter. And Mark finishes his gospel without finishing the story. Would you turn to chapter 16 if you will, and I'd like to finish with this this morning.

Because I want you to see something to me is extremely interesting. In chapter 16 we have the resurrection of Jesus. It's a very interesting passage. I'm not here to argue the ending of the book of Mark. Any of you who have studied the book of Mark know that there is a disagreement between where Mark ends. Does it end in verse 8 or does it end in verse 20? So I'm not going to argue it this morning but I'm going to give you an idea of why it could have ended in verse 8. Because at the end of verse 8 it doesn't make any sense.

Because in chapter 16 here's basically what happens. Three women come to the tomb. They find that Jesus is not there and there are angels that are there. And the angels say to these women in verse 6, be not affrighted you seek Jesus of Nazareth which was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid Him. But go your way. Tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee.

There you shall see Him as He said unto you. And they went out quickly and they fled from the sepulcher for they trembled and were amazed. Neither said they anything to any man for they were afraid.

Boom! That's it. The last four words, for they were afraid. And the story ends. And a lot of people struggle with that because you don't get the end. But wait a minute, wait a minute. Have you ever watched a movie and the movie ends and you don't find out what happens? And you go, what? This is not fair.

What happened? And I personally believe that's how the book of Mark ended. Because folks, what is the book of Mark all about? It's about believing God's promises.

And what had God, what had Jesus promised? What did He say is going to happen? When Jesus was in the upper room, He said to His disciples, you shall be offended because of me this night.

For it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. Question, did that happen? Yes or no? Did it happen?

Yes or no? Yes, it happened. Then He said, but after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee. He said, but after that I am risen. Question, had He risen from the dead? Yes or no?

Yes. So everything Jesus said would happen is going to happen. And He ends the book of Mark without us knowing what's going to happen in the reading, but we know what happens. Because actually the book of Mark is basically Peter's memoirs. Because what did Jesus say? He said two times to Peter, I'm going to essentially meet you in Galilee. He said, I will go before you into Galilee. And what do we know?

We know the rest of the story. The rest of the story is the disciples did go to Galilee and there they did meet Jesus in His resurrected body and there Jesus restored them. And there the very ones that denied Him who were unfaithful suddenly became faithful, not in their strength, not in their power, but in the risen and the resurrected Jesus. And the whole idea of this trial is this, Jesus was put on trial to show His faithfulness that He is who He says He is and that you can believe and trust His Word. You that are seniors who are graduating in a few days, are you going to trust His Word?

Well even if you fail, you can. Because though we are unfaithful, He always remains true to what He says He's going to do. Tomorrow morning, we will come to the most important event in Jesus' life. That He came to die on a cross because the most important word for us is that He was slain for our sins so you and I can be forgiven and so you and I can go to Heaven.

Praise God for the faithfulness of Jesus and His promises. Father, we thank you that your Word is true. We can believe you. We can trust you.

What you have said will happen, happened. And even to this one Peter who even denied you, you were faithful in what you predicted and you were also faithful in that you would meet Peter in Galilee and restore him back. Lord, we thank you. We praise you for your promises.

In Jesus' name, amen. You've been listening to a sermon preached by Dr. Steve Pettit from Bob Jones University from the Gospel of Mark, which is part of the study called Passion Week. I'm Steve Pettit, President of Bob Jones University, and I invite you to join us at our beautiful campus in Greenville, South Carolina, to see how you can be prepared academically and spiritually to serve the Lord through one of our more than 100 undergraduate and graduate programs. For more information about Bob Jones University, visit www.bju.edu or call 800-252-6363. Thanks again for listening. Join us again tomorrow as we study God's Word together on The Daily Platform.