Why Did Jesus Have to Die? The Truth About the Trial of Christ

((music playing)) What's going on, man? Hey, how you doing? I'm doing great. I'm doing great. We're in Mark 14 tonight. Yes. So, I'm going to throw it right to you. What are we doing uh in Mark 14? What is Mark 14 about? Yeah, there's a lot going on in Mark 14.

We have the last supper. Uh Peter denies knowing Jesus. And so, there's a lot going on. I encourage our listeners to go and read it all the way through. What I want to focus on what I believe is the center, the heart of Mark chapter 14. And in particular, this is about Jesus standing before the high priest Caiaphas and in front of the whole Sanhedrin, all the religious leaders so to speak, he is on trial in front of the Jewish leaders.

And so Mark 14, even though it's long, it ends up with this situation where Jesus is on trial and his fate is in their hands. and he has a lot to say about what it would mean for his fate to be in their hands. So, let's just start with this.

Jesus is going to be crucified. He's going to be found guilty, so to speak, and he'll be crucified. And what the religious leaders do is make that decision in Mark chapter 14. They will say, "He's worthy of death. No more. We don't need to hear anything more from him."

So, here's the first question. Why was he crucified? Why did they want to kill him? And so what we have to see here is this is throughout the Gospel of Mark, Jesus has been claiming that God's rule is coming to the earth through him. God's rule is coming to the earth through him.

And this was the the hope of the Jewish people. This wasn't really a new thing that Jesus was coming up with. This was the longawwaited hope of God coming to the earth in a fresh way, making wrong things right, removing sin and death from the earth and restoring the Garden of Eden.

Yeah. And all of this is not just what the Old Testament was talking about. It's how the Bible ends. The book of Revelation ends with a new heaven and a new earth where Eden is reborn. where heaven and earth come together as one and God and human beings rule in the earth together.

So Jesus is claiming that God is coming to rule in the earth to make wrong things right to remove sin and death to restore the go garden of Eden that the original plan for humans and creations is being fulfilled in and through him right and this was their hope all along.

One of the things that we have to understand is that yes, Adam and Eve sinned, but just because they sinned, that doesn't mean that God threw away the plan, right? He didn't abandon the plan. He didn't abandon the plan. He didn't say, "Oh, well, you know, the plan was that human beings um would live in the earth and I would live with them like I walked with Adam in the garden."

Um but Adam and Eve sinned and so that plan didn't work out. So, I'm just going to have to do something new, right? Not going to happen. The human vocation of ruling in the earth with God presently is what ultimately Jesus is announcing. Yes. And he's saying it's happening through him.

So he's claiming this thing. So if this is what the Jewish people wanted, including the religious leaders, this is what they were hoping for. Why' they get so mad at him? Right? This should be good news. In fact, Jesus is going around saying good news. And this is basically the good news he's saying.

He's saying God is coming to take over God's kingdom, his rule, his reign is at hand. Well, so why do they get so mad at him? Why does he have to be crucified for this? And so the short answer is this. Jesus is claiming that God's rule is coming and it's coming exclusively through him.

In other words, he's telling everyone, including the religious leaders, if this is your hope for God's rule, the only way to participate in it is by following me. That's right. And they thought that this was scandalous because in their mind, they're saying, "Wait a second. When God's rule comes to the earth, he's going to remove sin."

Yes. And Jesus is hanging out with sinners. Now, why would God come to fix the world? And when he does, he hang he hangs out with sinners. He's partying with tax collectors. He's hanging out with all of the wrong people. There's no way God's rule is coming to it to us through him if he's behaving in this way.

Yeah. They would have never they would have never uh approved of that. Never. No. And it made no sense in their mind that that God is going to restore creation and restore human beings by offering signs of hope and love and forgiveness. Yes. and they say there's just no way.

So in so in one respect the reason why they rejected Jesus was because they said there's no way God's rule is coming in this way, right? You wouldn't be hanging out with tax collectors and sinners, right? And then on top of it, and this is what we mentioned last week in chapter 13, the other reason why they wanted to kill Jesus, he spoke against the temple.

Yes, he did. He said, "This temple is under judgment." Yep. And it's coming down. And the temple is was the central part of their culture. Yes. It was center to everything. It's centered to everything. It was center to not only their societal needs. It was center to their physical needs, their provision.

It was a food bank essentially. It was not only that. It was the center of Israel's existence. The temple was the sign that God was with Israel, that he was their God, that he was present with them. And then the temple was the place where uh the people of God, the the children of Israel were actually supposed to out of that was supposed to be the blessing to all other nations. people this is in our backyard with us and Jesus comes along in the way you should have functioned in this temple and it's going to come down yeah that's really what he's saying to Caiaphas who's the high priest we'll read it in a minute he's saying you have mismanaged the temple yep and not only that there was there was promises in the old testament of another temple coming a greater temple and Jesus says that is my body.

Yep. That on the he declares that on the third day when he rises from the dead that will be the final and third temple and he will pour out the spirit on those people who believe in him and they will become the temple people. So Jesus is saying one, you religious leaders have mismanaged the temple.

Y and so it's coming down. And number two, the temple is redundant because the final temple is now here. And so the religious leaders say, "How dare you speak again? How dare you say that we are mismanaging this temple? And how dare you say it's going to be destroyed?

The temple is, like you said, the sign of God's covenant faithfulness with Israel." To say the temple's coming down is to say that God is not going to be with them in that way. And Jesus is saying, "But he will be with you through me." Through me. Yeah.

I'm going to be This is where it was all going all along. Well, and that's and that's the confusion a lot of times back in that day and in this day is sometimes we read the Bible and we go, "Jesus was starting some sort of new religion." We're like, "No, no, no.

He was fulfilling what had been there in Israel's story all along. This isn't anything new. This is a fulfillment." Yeah, we use that word all the time, but it's one of the most important words I think to use in interpreting the Bible. To fulfill, to fill it fully.

Jesus filled full the story of Israel. Yes. And he is the final temple and then the temple people come out of that which is every human being, Jew or Gentile. Yeah. Are invited in. And that's why he's eating with certain people and that's why he's dining with certain people is because he's saying something something is being fulfilled here.

But they looked at it and said, "What is this weird new sort of Jesus group, this Jesus revolution that's happening?" And Jesus is going, "This is the fulfillment of your story." Yeah. Yeah. Not a different story. This is your story. And they're struggling with it. Yeah. And the amazing thing is this is what they said they wanted.

Yeah. And now it's right here in front of them, which makes you wonder, did they really want it? Did they really want God to come in this fresh way to fix this world to remove sin and death if you reject the one who God sent? Right? And so this is basically what's going on.

He ultimately gets crucified because one, he's hanging out with the wrong people. And two, he is speaking against the temple. But I will say this. Um, one of the things that I think that you and I, the way we read the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, is that we say Jesus's confrontation with the temple is not just a um a theme, right?

It is central to reading Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. His confrontation with the temple is actually where the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were going all along. like this moment before Caiaphas, before the high priest, it was going to go here. This is where it was going.

Yes. There was going to be in a sense a showdown. Yes. Between the high priest and Jesus who will be called the high priest as well, the faithful high priest. So, in a sense, it's a conflict between two high priests and an old temple and a new temple.

And what Jesus is saying, there's not enough room in the world for two temples. That's right. Not enough room for both of us. God will dwell in one place and he's saying I am the embodiment of God and my people will be filled with the spirit and be the temple people as well.

And this is one of the reasons that Caiaphas does what all of the temple leaders would have done. Rip their clothes and demand that he be killed right now. Yeah. In fact, I mean, and this isn't the only time, right? Jesus does this a a number of times throughout the gospels.

If you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, he does this a number of times where he equates himself with Israel's God. Yeah. Yeah. And they go stone him. Yeah. Yeah. Because what? It's not a John 8. It's not a passing fleeting thing that Jesus just kind of throws it out there that like he's trying to prove he's God.

No, he's saying I am the fulfillment of all of these things. And they're saying there's no way. There's no way that you are the hope of our story. Yeah. No way. And so that's pride. Pride says we we we have hope that God's going to do this, but he can only do it one way.

God, you're only allowed to do this one way. And God's like, I can do it any way I want. Yeah. And this is how we're doing it. And Jesus is the the fulfillment of that. So let's talk about Caiaphas and his Yeah. Let's jump in here. So now we're going to look at this conversation between Jesus and Caiaphas as Jesus stands on trial.

And what we realize is that Jesus flips the script and he basically says, "I'm not on trial. You are all on trial." All right. So this is Mark 14 60-65. Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Are you not going to give an an give an answer?

What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you? They were talking about the temple, about his comments about the temple being destroyed. Verse 61, but Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again, the high priest asked him, "Are you the Messiah, the son of the blessed one?" "I am," Jesus said. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven."

The high priest tore his clothes. Why do we need any more witnesses? He asked. You've heard the testim, you've heard the blasphemy. What do you think? They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him. They blindfolded him. They struck him with their fists and said, "Prophesy."

And the guards took him and beat him. So Jesus is on trial and he's silent until he's asked the direct question. Are you the Messiah? In other words, are you the coming king? Are you the son of man? And Jesus finally opens his mouth for the first time and what he says turns the court upside down and into a frenzy.

And here's what he says. I am and you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming in the clouds of heaven. What does this mean? This coming on the clouds of heaven. This son of man because whatever it means it was the final nail in Jesus's coffin, so to speak.

They were furious. They were Jesus knew when he said these words, he was signing his own death certificate. He was. So what does this mean? Well, Jesus is quoting Daniel chapter 7. And in Daniel chapter 7 is where we see this son of man figure. This is an Old Testament prophet.

Daniel is prophesying about this coming son of man who will receive glory and honor and power. He will be the war world ruler. Yes. That will bring justice and peace and remove sin and death. Isn't that what again? Isn't that what they were waiting for? They were waiting for the new heavens and new earth and the son of man is going to be the one who does it.

Jesus goes right after it. So let's read Daniel 7 verses 13 and 14 and see how this all fits together with Jesus on trial. Verse 13, this is Daniel. 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.

So, what's going on here in Daniel? This is the vision of Israel's hope. The idea of God sending an anointed ruler who will rule not just over Israel but rule over every nation, even the pagan Gentiles will come to know and worship the one true God. This was Israel's hope.

This was Israel's calling all the way back with Abraham when he said when God said, "All the nations of the earth will be blessed through you." Yes, this is it. This is the son of man. Yeah, the son of man and he is going to be given dominion and authority and power and he will set everything right.

But here's the thing for as much as they put their hope in this verse. Jesus takes the verse 13 again. And there before me was one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. What a strange verse, but it's actually pretty easily understood. Here's how it works. this son of man coming on the clouds of heaven.

You really have to hold this thought in your mind. It basically refers to this that the son of man will become the world ruler. Yes. After suffering, after suffering at the hands of God's enemies, God would vindicate the son of man, giving him the throne over all of creation.

And then God would bring judgment on those who caused the suffering of the son of man. Yep. So what did I just say there? I'm talking about the son of man suffering, God vindicating him in his suffering by giving him a throne and then God judging those who caused the suffering.

Yep. So you have two two very educated Jews, Jesus and the high priest. both know the scriptures very very well. And what Jesus is ultimately saying is, I am the son of man. Caiaphas, you're causing my suffering. Yeah. What does that make you God's enemy? And what happens to God's enemy in Daniel?

They get judged. They get judged. So when Jesus says, "Yeah, this is this this is the fury that he has in his eyes when he rips his clothes." Yeah. And if you think about it, back to Mark 14, when Caiaphas asks Jesus, "Are you the Messiah? Are you the son of the blessed one?"

Jesus doesn't just say, "I am." He says, "I am." And you, he brings Caiaphas into the picture on Daniel. And he's saying to Daniel, he's saying to Kyifus, Kyifus, I am the son of man, but you're also in the story in Daniel. You're the one who's causing the suffering of the son of man, and God will vindicate me at the sufferings at your hands against me, and he'll bring judgment.

When Caiaphas hears this, his mind explodes. Blood rage. It's It's one thing for Jesus to say, "Yes, I'm the son of man." from Daniel. It's a whole another thing to say and you're God's enemy. Yeah. To be for for the high priest of Israel to be called the enemy of God.

Yeah. Is probably the worst offense any of the temple leaders could have ever heard. Yeah. Because they're like, "No, no, no. We're we're the sons of God." Yeah. Yeah. We we are the we are the ones who have been called by God to bring his people Israel into relationship with him and to be the light to the nations and to to be told by this Messiah figure that you are now God's enemy.

Which is interesting because in that passage right there you see in in um in Mark 14 in verse 62 Jesus says I am. And then he says, "And you will see the son of man," which just loosely means son of son of a human. Right? So what Jesus is doing there, he's actually connecting himself both to the divine by using that title I am.

Yeah. From when God spoke to Moses back in Exodus. Yeah. Moses said, "God, who who shall I tell them will send me?" And he says, "Tell them I am that I am." So Jesus is using two different titles here. I am and the son of man. So he's linking himself both to heaven and to the earth as a human.

Yeah. And then he and that is the picture of the Messiah. That's who they were they were believing for a human messiah. That's what they were looking for. So when Jesus said I am, he's linking himself to God. And then when he says son of a human, he says he's basically linking him himself to the human race.

And and then he says um and I'm the one coming on the clouds of heaven, which means judgment is here. Yeah, that's right. What do you mean judgment's here? You're the enemy of God. Yeah. And I'm coming to set these things right. And if you think about it, this was really important because Caiaphas is the high priest of the temple.

And like you said, the temple is the central symbol of God's covenant faithfulness and presence with Israel. Yes. And Jesus is saying the temple is coming down. Yeah. And so Caiaphas is like, "No, the work I do here helps to maintain the relationship. That's special. It's that's my role is special.

My my role is it is and it is special. It is vital." But Jesus is coming along and saying actually I'm going to be in charge now going forward. Yeah. So let let's let's look at this. Let's which which is the question the central question to the gospels is what's happening with the temple.

Yeah. And who's really in charge? That's Yes, that's exactly what it comes down. What's going to happen with the temple? What is happening with the temple? And who's the boss now? And Jesus is saying, actually, as the son of man, all authority, power, and dominion is being given to me.

That's never been said about Caiaphas, the high priest. He would never even have claimed that for himself. But Jesus is is is claiming, like you said, to be both God and human. God in the flesh. This is what son of man means. Yes. So what does it mean the phrase coming with the clouds of heaven?

It means that the son of man who will become a world ruler will suffer at the hands of God's enemies. After he suffers, God's God will vindicate the son of man by giving him a throne and then God will bring judgment on those who cause the suffering towards the son of man.

Now Caiaphas knows this is the story. These are two, like I said, very educated Jews in the Jewish scripture. So, here's how Caiaphas hears it, or this is how Jesus is saying it. Caiaphas, you're no longer in charge. I'm in charge. And Caiaphas, if I am the son of man and you're causing me to suffer, you must be God's enemy.

Or let me put it to you this way. Here's what he's really saying to Caiaphas. He's saying, "Kyphus, you think you're sending me to my grave, but you're actually sending me to my throne." Yes. Because the son of man must suffer before he claims the throne. So, Caiaphas thinks he's removing Jesus, but he's actually sending Jesus.

He's ultimately will send him to the father. As it says here in Daniel, he will be he will approach the ancient of days and be led into his presence. This is his ascension. in Jesus's ascension to the father after his death and resurrection and he is given authority, glory, and sovereign power and all the nations.

He's handed the He's handed the scepter of rule. Mhm. And so Caiaphas realizes that Jesus is saying to him, you're not sending me to the grave. You're sending me to my throne. Yep. And the judgment part that the enemies of God in in Daniel experience, Jesus says the judgment will be that the temple comes down.

Yes, you will lose your position. Here's what he's saying. He's saying, Kyifus, you need to start looking for another job. You're unemployed. You're now as of now, you're unemployed. I'm firing you from your position. You're unemployed. And the evidence that I fired you is that this temple will come down.

So here's the question which he which he uh which he prophesied in the old in the previous chapter in the in chapter 13 he said the temple's going to come down that would be the judgment so the question now Jeremy is this did the temple come down I mean it better have come down because either that or Jesus is a false false prophet so did the temple come down within a generation within the generation said this generation will not pass away until they see these signs that's right and that sign would be the temple coming And so the answer is yes.

The temple did come down in 70 AD right at the tail end of that generation. Everything Jesus prophesied about the temple coming down as a sign that he is now the world's true Lord. His body, his resurrected body is the true temple. And his people, his faithful people are the true temple people was brought to evidence when that temple came down.

Yes. And this was prophesied all the way back in Genesis 49:es 10 and 11. If you're taking notes, um Genesis 49:10-11 basically says when Shiloh comes, Shiloh is is a term for the Messiah, the the Christ, the the anointed one. Yeah. When he comes, to him will be the obedience of the nations.

The entire book of Romans is written in that view that Jesus is now ruling over the nations. So the first part of Romans chapter 1, the first five verses and the last five verses of Romans chapter 16 actually says, "And to him will be the obedience of the nations."

So Paul actually continues this language of Jesus ruling and having authority from the gospels into his book to the Romans. Having said all that, it's a fulfillment of the original prophecy, which is Genesis 49. When Shiloh comes, to him, he will be handed the scepter in the house of Jacob, and to him will be the obedience of the nations.

And Jesus fulfills this in front of Caiaphas's face. In his face, he's like, "You're about to send me to go grab the scepter and sit next to my father." So, it's on you. That's amazing. This is It's really an amazing prophecy. It is. It is. Because here's the thing.

How do we know if a prophet is true? What they prophesied came true. That's the only way to know if somebody's a true prophet in the Old Testament, New Testament. If somebody's a prophet, the only way to judge it is to say, did what they said actually come to fruition?

Did it actually happen? Yeah. And we see the evidence of it 40 years after Yeah. Christ's death and resurrection. Yeah. Almost to the year. Yeah. 40 years. Yeah. And it came down. And we see this now that Christ rules. And it became a fight. Let's just call it what it is.

It was a brawl. Oh yeah. The moment that Caiaphas ripped his robe and said, "Kill him." I mean, they blindfolded him. They started punching him. It was a fight. I mean, it was it was a gang up on Jesus. And and you can tell how how visceral, how physically angry they got to the point that all of Israel's story was leading up to this moment where they were going to be delivered from the from the hand of the Romans, but it was going to be this it was going to be this god-like figure who would come with a sword and and an army and a political figure who would come and reshape everything.

And Jesus is saying, "No, this is the way that it's happening. And the only way for you to participate in this is to follow me." Yeah. And Caiaphas is like, "No." Yeah. No. Yeah. And an utter rebellion to God's hand. And I think that this story right here, this moment, these five verses is just the stamp on who did Jesus believe he was and what did he believe he was doing when he came in the Gospels.

What did he believe about himself and what did Israel believe about him? Yeah. And you started to see all of it was it was the it was the low status people that were like, "This guy's different. Mhm. He's he he's he's doing things that we were hoping for.

Mhm. But the leaders didn't see it. Yeah. The leaders didn't see it. Yeah. Now that the new was here, they decided we actually don't want it even though we said that we do. So, what do we learn in this teaching? Well, what we learned is why was Jesus crucified?

Well, he was crucified for a couple of reasons. Um, of course, you know, he was crucified for our sins so we could be forgiven. But I'm talking more about why did the religious leaders crucify him? He he was crucified one because if God's rule was coming to the earth, they thought for sure it wouldn't be includes sinners um being saved first or or this Messiah figure, this Jesus hanging out with sinners.

And number two, if God's rule was coming, God would certainly tell us the great job we were doing working in the temple. He wouldn't be criticizing us. And he certainly wouldn't be saying that the temple is under judgment and is going to come down because we mismanaged it.

And so from there, what does the coming on the clouds of heaven mean that got Caiaphas so mad? It's because the son of man, the future anointed ruler of the world, would suffer at the hands of God's enemies, be vindicated, and then judgment would come on those enemies.

And Jesus is saying it's actually happening. And the evidence, the sign of it will be that the temple comes down in this generation. And it did. Yep. And so that's basically how Mark chapter 14 ends. And so next week, I'm really excited about next week because like you just mentioned here in chapter 14, they started punching and beating him.

Why? Yeah. If if Jesus died for our sins, and he did, why did he have to go through such brutality first? What does the beating and the mocking and the teasing, what does this all mean for us as Christians? How should we read it? That's what next week will be about.

So, I'm excited. Love it. Hey, thank you for bringing us through uh Mark 14. And I look forward, listen, if you're if you're listening to this right now, make sure you you come in next week. It's going to be really good. We're going to talk about Mark 15 and answer that question.

Why the brutality? Why the beatings? Why did Jesus go through that? So, appreciate you, man. Thank you. Awesome.