The Place of Power

There is no direct teaching from Jesus, as we have seen up to this point, but there are some things happening that will communicate something about ourselves.

Let’s dive in...

Luke 22:66–71 NLT

At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council, and they said, “Tell us, are you the Messiah?” But he replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.” They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?” And he replied, “You say that I am.” “Why do we need other witnesses?” they said. “We ourselves heard him say it.”

Just before this, we are told that Jesus was blindfolded, and the temple guards would strike him and then demand he prophesy who hit him.

They are LIKE a CAT playing with its prey.

Other gospel writers include a mini trial AT NIGHT, but Luke skips that.

So a council is assembled: ELDERS, PRIESTS, TEACHERS

This LANGUAGE is not ACCIDENTAL.

ELDERS: Original leaders of Israel

PRIESTS: Religious leaders

TEACHERS: Only come after scripture is completed

Messiah: Are you the Christos?

He has already said this back in chapter 4:

REMEMBER HIS PURPOSE

“And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

When he was done saying this he predicted he would be rejected and that the people were faithless, and they tried to kill him right then.

HE HAS ALREADY SAID HE IS the ANOINTED ONE.

*****BUT HE REPLIED...

Jesus’ response is very targeted.

He joins two things from the Hebrew Bible.

Jeremiah 37-38 (Jeremiah is arrested, tortured a bit, cast into a cistern, and rescued by an Ethiopian servant to a king. He is called for a second time to Zedekiah (Yah is my righteousness) to answer a question. But…Zedekiah is a VASSEL ruler of Jerusalem on BEHALF of Nebuchadnezzar of BABYLON)

Zedekiah demands Jeremiah tell him the truth about Jerusalem’s fate and Jeremiah answers, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? and if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.”

It is a situational response, because the ELDERS, PRIESTS, and TEACHERS will know exactly what Jesus is saying. They are VASSELS to ROME. Jerusalem will fall, they are unfaithful and disloyal to YAHWEH.

Daniel 7 (A very well known chapter that is highly studied for prophesy and end-times information. We will skip that.)

There is a section that says,

Daniel 7:13-14 ““I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

So, what Jesus is saying is that he is the Son of Man, he has claimed this title many times.

What is the point of this:

The court of ELDERS, PRIESTS, and TEACHERS BELIEVE THEY represent the COURT of the LORD

But Jesus says, “Hey, I am going to be presented in the Court of the LORD in HEAVEN (a court that supersedes this one) and the Ancient of Days will accept me and give me authority over EVERYTHING.

We need to understand this in order to understand their next question...

*****They all shouted...

The ELDERS, PRIESTS, and TEACHERS all understand what Jesus is saying.

He is making a claim that he is not just the Son of Man, but he is the Son of God, THE ANOINTED ONE. The King of Israel.

***** And He replied...

You say that I AM.

He does not claim it.

He does not deny it.

He will not be presented before the Ancient of Days until He DRINKS THE CUP, goes to the cross, and can be presented to God the Father where God will give him dominion and glory and a kingdom.

All of those parables that talk about rulers, sons of rulers, vineyard owners, and servants to the land owner are all starting to make sense now.

***** Why do we need other witnesses...

They agree that Jesus has not denied this claim, which means, in ancient courts, that he accepts their charge.

THE INSTITUTED LEADERSHIP OF ISRAEL REJECTS the MESSIAH.

How about the other Places of Power...

Luke 23:1–25 ESV

Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.” But they were urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.” When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other. Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. I will therefore punish and release him.” But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”— a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.

Pilate: Judea, Jerusalem REPRESENT

****** When Pilate heard this...

Herod: Galilee (Israel, northern kingdom) REPRESENT

****** Pilate then called together the chief priests...

Pilate: ADDS the PEOPLE, the NATIONS

NOTE: The Roman Ruler is judging justly.

***** But they cried out together...

NOTE: The priests, elders, teachers, scribes, AND PEOPLE are all unified.

He has done no EVIL.

Here is the key...

And their voices prevailed

There is nothing more relevant for today than this statement.

They would prefer a murderer go free than for an innocent man to be put to death.

And they want to PUT HIM TO DEATH by their OWN HAND.

Whose voice prevails in your life?

If you want to do an interesting study, search out the Hebrew Bible for the word listen WITHIN 5 WORDS of voice.

You will find more than 240 instances.

The first one occurs in Genesis 3 (guess as to what it was)

An interesting one occurs in Exodus 23: 20-24 ““Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.”

Deut 9:23 “And when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God and did not believe him or obey his voice.”

Joshua 24:24 “And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.””

Judges 2:20 “So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice,”

1 samuel 8:7 “And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.”

1 Kings 20:36 “Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall strike you down.” And as soon as he had departed from him, a lion met him and struck him down.”

psalm 81:11 ““But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.”

Proverbs 5:13 “I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.”

jeremiah 11:7 “For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.”

Daniel 9:10-11 “All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him.”

Zechariah 6:15 ““And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the Lord. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.””

********

Again, I will ask, whose VOICE prevails in your life?

We must submit our desires to the voice of the LORD.

Because our desires are, often, not in line with His instruction.

We have so many voices:

Crowds

Media

Internet

Past (mothers, fathers, brother, sisters)

Failures

Successes (breed arrogance)

Trauma

Whose voice will prevail?

I am not asking you to silence the other voices, rather SUBJECT THEM to God’s instruction.

Subjection of our voices is REALLY HARD!

Because we want to be in the crowd.

We want to be in safety.

We believe the PLACE OF POWER IS IN THE PEOPLE WHO AGREE WITH US.

Peter, last week, folded because he was in a crowd of others who accused him of being with Jesus.

But he was not alone. Jesus was in eyeshot of Peter.

We REFUSE the voice of God so often.

We learn to SILENCE God.

Block OUT the voice.

We desire anyone but the anointed one.

And that makes us just like the rest of the world.

TURNS OUT…the PLACE OF POWER is

.....THE CROSS.....

Jesus shared his voice with God the Father.

But he subjected his voice to God’s.

And that is where real power and authority comes.

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