The Judge on Trial

There is a certain irony to this entire situation.

Jesus has been given the authority to judge by the Father. John 5:22-23 “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

He came into the world not for the express purpose of judgment but that is the natural consequence of rejecting His message.

In the future Jesus will act as judge over believers and unbelievers.

At the Bema Seat of Christ, He will judge believers’ deeds after salvation to determine reward or loss of reward

2 Cor. 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

This judgment has nothing to do with salvation, as believers’ eternal destiny is secure in Jesus. Rather, believers will receive rewards according to how faithfully they served Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:12–15 Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Jesus will also judge unbelievers

At the conclusion of the millennial reign of Christ, unbelievers of all time will be raised and judged. Their resurrection is the resurrection of judgment spoken of by the Lord in John 5:29. Their judgment will take place before a Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11–15).

Those judged are simply called “the dead”—unbelievers (in contrast to “the dead in Christ,” which refers to believers).

This judgment will not separate believers from unbelievers, for all who will experience it will have made the choice during their lifetimes to reject God.

The Book of Life that will be opened at the Great White Throne judgment will not contain the name of anyone who will be in that judgment.

The books of works that will also be opened will prove that all who are being judged deserve eternal condemnation. It is not that all their works were evil, but all were dead works, done by spiritually dead people. It is as if the Judge will say, “I will show you by the record of your own deeds that you deserve condemnation.” So everyone who will appear in this judgment will be cast into the lake of fire forever.

Jesus will also be the judge of what Scripture calls the Sheep and Goat Nations.

Matthew 25:31-32 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

Considering its placement after Jesus’ second coming, the Sheep and Goat Judgment will most likely determine the earthly fate of those who are alive at the time of Christ’s return (Matthew 25:1–30).

During this judgment, Jesus will separate the “sheep” from the “goats.” The sheep are believers who gave evidence to their faith by helping the Jewish people during the tribulation; the goats are unbelievers who portrayed their unbelief by failing to help Jews during the tribulation (Matthew 25:33–36, 41–43).

Those who rejected Christ and took the side of the beast during the tribulation “will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).

Jesus could not be controlled

He was arrested when and where He chose and their so called trial was a shame not only in a human sense, but if they really knew who they were judging they would have run in terror when they realize the arrogance of putting the God of the universe on trial.

Their spiritual blindness was put on display when at the arrest of Jesus they are forced to their needs at the word of Jesus.

Nevertheless they still place Jesus in bonds. (v. 12, 24)

The display of His power at the garden and every other miracle He ever performed shows that He bound only because He has allowed Himself to be bound.

In his Chronicles of Narnia – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis includes a conversation between his characters, Mr. Beaver, and the children who’ve recently stumbled into Narnia.  The “Christ representing” lion, Aslan, is the topic of discussion and Mr. Beaver is attempting to describe him:

Mr. Beaver said, “Aslan is a lion- the Lion, the great Lion.” “Ooh” said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion”… “Safe?” said Mr Beaver …”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you…  He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.”

Jesus could not be deceived

While we do not know everything about legal preceeding in ancient Israel this informal questioning of Jesus at the High Priests home was unusual.

Whether or not this unusual night time questioning was legal is something to consider, but in my mind what is of more importance regarding Jesus trial was that the verdict was determined before the charges were even laid against Him.

John 11:49-53 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.

Rather than bringing charges against the Lord and producing evidence to substantiate them as in any legal proceeding, Annas questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching. This blatant attempt to get the Lord to incriminate Himself was illegal. Just as the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution does today, Jewish law protected the accused from being forced to testify against himself. It was Annas’s responsibility to inform Jesus of the charges against Him. Instead, he asked vague, general questions, hoping to uncover a crime to justify the death sentence that had already been decided on.

Jesus clearly saw through their facade

Why do you question me?

Everything I said is a matter of public record.

As the people who listened what I said. - This may have been Jesus’ way of pointing out that they hadn’t brought any witnesses against Him.

Jesus could not be provoked

At Jesus’ response one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus on the face proclaiming “Is that how you talk to the High Priest?”

Obviously that officer had no idea what he had just done.

Paul in a similar circumstance lost his temper and had to apologize. Acts 23:2-5 The high priest Ananias commanded those standing beside him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?” But the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?” And Paul said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.’ ”

Jesus kept His cool.

There is an obvious lesson here for us in controlling our tempers. However, that is not the main theme of this text.

Application

Jesus the judge - our response: reverence and honor

Jesus is all powerful - our response: humility and trust

Jesus is all-knowing - our response: obedience

Jesus is sovereign - our response: submission