The Civil Trial in the Life of Christ
Picture the scene, if you will, of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, having been arrested by a horde of Temple police and Roman soldiers, with His disciples fleeing for their lives, one leaving his clothing behind, having been denied by Peter, and facing a kangaroo court such as had never been seen before in the history of the world. In an illegal situation, Caiaphas, the high-priest, and the Sanhedrin sat in judgment of God. Could there be a more ironic, twisted situation, for the people of God to be trying to judge The Son of God? And the charge for which He was condemned, was calling Himself who He was: the Messiah, the Son of God. The words of Jesus had to have rung in the ears of those present for the rest of their lives, and certainly when they died and faced the truth. When asked if He was the Christ, Jesus responded, “You have said it yourself. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”1 Those present, including the Sanhedrin, then spit on the King and beat Him.2 What was to follow was the most horrible miscarriage of justice on the face of the earth, something for which we should all be ashamed, the civil trial of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Since the Sanhedrin were not able to carry out a death penalty, even when their law called for such, since they were under Roman law which forbade them to do so, they had to take Jesus before the Roman governor, Pilate, to attempt to put Christ to death.3 They approached this governor with no legal Roman charges, but with three trumped up false charges. These claims were only made after they attempted to have Pilate render a judgment with no official charges! They claimed that Jesus was trying to pervert the nation, was against the payment to
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NET Bible, (www.netbible.com: Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C, 2001), (sn 14 p. 1785: “The...