Scripture:
[63] But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” [64] Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” [65] Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. [66] What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.” [67] Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, [68] saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?”
Observation:
v. 64 “..from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
In this single statement Jesus tells Caiaphas:
– What am about to say is imminent
– That he may be high priest, but he has no power to judge Jesus. Jesus is Lord of all and will be sitting soon at the right hand of God the Father.
– That He is will be coming back soon after that – the second coming of Christ.
v. 65 – The high priest was not at all an impartial judge – he knew that he wanted Jesus killed before the “trial” even started. He would never accept Jesus as Messiah, the Son of God.
Mockers – v. 67, 68
There were plenty of scoffers but as we all know.. it will not end well for them.
Application:
Let us never set our earthly desires before Jesus. Let us never let our ego get so big that we think we can make it without Him. Pride is a deadly sin. Only through His grace do we have anything at all, including the breath in our lungs. If we think we can do anything without Him we are trivializing what He has done for us. We are then no better than Caiaphas in thinking that we are fit to judge Him – we an do it without Him.
As we move forward in the last days, we know Jesus’ second coming is imminent. While some things may happen before He returns, it is not necessary that anything happen be fore He returns. We should always be ready. When He comes it will be sudden and it will be instantaneous.
Beware of the scoffers. While we may be able to help them, to convince them they are marching straight for an eternity apart from God, and really much worse, don’t for a second get swayed or caught in their mockery. How terrible would that be if we were caught somehow mocking the Lord, maybe to fit in with someone somewhere, when suddenly the Lord appeared to gather the saints?
Prayer:
Lord I love You. I owe everything to You. I can’t live life without You. I am thankful for Your continued grace and mercy day after day. Thank You for Your promise of spending eternity with You. In Your holy name I pray. Amen.