The Unjust Trials of Our Lord Jesus (3) - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led Him into their council, saying, "If You are the Christ, tell us" "Are You then the Son of God?" So He said to them, "You rightly say that I am." And they said, "What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth."
Luke 22:66, 70-71

The Unjust Trials of Our Lord Jesus (3)
Through the night all the Jewish religious leaders had illegally been carrying on a trial against Jesus, God's Son, with venomous hatred. Their long-intended object had been to bring about His death (Jn. 11:47-53). But a reason would have to be presented to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, to justify their demand. He must be persuaded to order Jesus' execution, for the right to impose capital punishment had been taken from the Sanhedrin.

Now at daybreak they were ready to take legal measures against Jesus. They had compelled Him to speak, and He had responded to the High Priest's adjuration. It was not for any wrongdoing on His part, for He had done no wrong, but solely for His testimony that He was the Son of God that they were now condemning Him.

Luke is the only Gospel that points out the horrendous way in which these men, Israel's topmost religious authorities, had been treating Jesus even before they formally condemned Him to die. To think of men whom everyone respected as the spiritual leaders of God's chosen people, spitting in the face of their prisoner, God's beloved Son, blindfolding Him, mocking Him, beating Him, and saying many other things blasphemously against Him! The Scriptures unite in bearing testimony to how patiently He bore all they said and did against Him, "who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously" (1 Pet. 2:23). May we bow before Him in worshiping adoration!

Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.