CSI: Jerusalem: The Trial of the Centuries
[powerpress] Without a doubt, the execution of Jesus of Nazareth was one of the greatest crimes in human history. It was primarily so, not only because He was an innocent man, but because it is reported that He professed to be God incarnate who came to save the world. According to gospel accounts, this was the accusation against Jesus, the reason for which He was tried, crucified, and died, that He might bring life to the world.
In this message, we will dissect the court case to which Jesus found himself subject after His arrest, attempting to answer the questions, "Did Jesus really claim to be God?" and, if it is found that one has erroneously rejected Jesus, "Can a person change their mind?"
Did Jesus Really Claim to be God?
Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome. The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’ ” Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” “He is worthy of death,” they answered. Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists. Others slapped him and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?” (Matthew 26:57-68 NIV)
The Bible tells us that Jesus was the only sinless, faultless, guiltless, and perfect human being who ever existed. He is our flawless example of life as it is meant to be lived, full of relationship with the Heavenly Father, purpose, love, forgiveness, and graciousness. Yet He was more than just a man. He, simultaneously, without any subtraction to His humanity, was fully divine. Jesus did, in fact, claim to be God.
We must understand what Jesus was saying during His questioning within the historic context of His trial. The Sanhedrin jurors would have been intimately aquainted with and built their hope upon the prophetic writings of Daniel, the Jewish official in Babylon (modern-day Iraq) during the Diaspora's exile there.
“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13, 14 NIV)
In the Gospel of Matthew, the name "Son of Man" was Jesus' most often utilized self-reference, placing an emphasis on Jesus' self-aware connection to this "one like a son of man" spoken of by Daniel. What the Sanhedrin heard was that Jesus was claiming that He would:
1) come on the clouds of heaven,
2) be given authority, glory and sovereign power,
3) be worshiped by all nations and peoples of every language, and
4) have an everlasting, unending rule that would neither pass away, nor be destroyed. It would be eternal.
All of these things are coming to pass in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Within the Jewish context, these were qualities only applicable to the divine - to God Himself. As a rabbi (teacher), Jesus knew what He was doing and was clearly saying to His hearers that He is the eternal God. This is why His responses were decried as blasphemy worthy of death.
Did the historic church believe that Jesus was God?
Yes. One of the well-known early hymns of the church was included in the Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippian church, which stated, within a generation of Jesus' crucifixion, the doctrine of His divinity.
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11 NIV)
This teaching was ratified, not discovered or created, by the church fathers with the Nicene Creed in its original form in 325 AD with the first Council of Nicea:
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Again, what was Jesus' crime?
Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him. As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews. Two rebels were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” In the same way the rebels who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him. (Matthew 27:27-44 NIV)
When the people of that context spoke of the King of the Jews, this was a Messianic claim referring to the fulfillment of the prophecies regarding King David's line. God was Israel's original king, and the people rejected Him to have an earthly ruler like the other nations (I Samuel 8). What followed was a string of many generations of flawed and imperfect rulers attempting to lead God's people. The Messiah was the promise of the return of the perfect, divine King who would rule not only Israel, but all of humanity, perfectly in His love and justice (Isaiah 9:1-7).
Transforming Truth: Why this matters is because, if Jesus is the God who He said that He is, we are obligated to turn from what He calls sin, to obey His commands today.
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Can a Man Change His Mind?
There will always be those who respond wisely and foolishly to God. Because of God's mercy, there are moments like these for a change of heart:
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. ” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:39-43 NIV)
After initially starting with skepticism, pride, and insults, the man on the cross changed His mind about Jesus. Because Jesus is good, He allowed the man to come to repentance, have a change of mind, and welcomed the sinner into His forgiveness and Kingdom. He extends the same to you, your family, co-workers, and friends today.
If we do not submit in humble recognition of who Jesus said He is, the other option is to have things shake up our lives, to break us of our pride.
From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land. About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ). When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people. When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons. (Matthew 27:45-56 NIV)
What present life-shaking circumstances, whether the birth of a child, being in a new city or school, the pain of a failed relationship, lost job, or traumatic experience, is Jesus using to bring you back to the cross today? You have to see it all as His mercy to bring you back to dependency upon Him.
Isn't it better for people to just believe in something?
“A lie that is half-truth is the darkest of all lies.” ― Alfred Tennyson
Once more Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come.” This made the Jews ask, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’ ?” But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” “Who are you?” they asked. “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning,” Jesus replied. (John 8:21-25 NIV)
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” (John 8:42-47 NIV)
There is no other place in this world where people think that they can define reality for themselves. Yet, people have the audacity to attempt this when it comes to metaphysics or the supernatural. You can do this in no other place in life, but one has to submit to the harsh realities of a fallen world. It is our last ditch effort to maintain some measure of control in our lives when it seems that everything else is spinning out of control. We've been violated, oppressed, abused, exploited, taken advantage of on the job and in our relationships. It is because of the wickedness of man; yet, we still want autonomy. The good news is, as we submit to the reality of Jesus' identity and resurrection, we also are privy to the benefits of the reality of His life.
The essence of other religions is advice; Christianity is essentially news. Other religions say, “This is what you have to do in order to connect to God forever; this is how you have to live in order to earn your way to God.” But the gospel says, “This is what has been done in history. This is how Jesus lived and died to earn the way to God for you.” Christianity is completely different. It’s joyful news. -Tim Keller in King's Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus
Because it is good news, let's meet Jesus through repentance and faith at the cross today.
Second City Church- CSI Jerusalem Sermon Series 2014