2026.08.30 Standing in the Trials

John 12-14, 19-24;
Matthew 26:59-68

Every believer, every one of us, will faces times when God’s holy and perfect will confronts our desires and expectations. How many times have we prayed for God to move, but often it is our will, our desires on how we imagine He should move. We pray for God’s guidance, but we quietly hope He guides us in the direction we already prefer OR we are not willing to do follow His will in what He has shown for us in His Word.

John 18 shows us a Savior who stands faithfully in the face of injustice, rejection, and misunderstanding and it shows us a people who prayed for centuries for the Messiah yet resisted Him when He came.

As we prepare our hearts for what God desires to do in us, this passage calls us to examine where our expectations may be resisting His work. Revival in the heart begins with surrender and surrender begins with seeing Jesus clearly in His trials.

The Innocent Christ is bound, struck, and interrogated not because He is guilty, but because humanity cannot tolerate the Light that exposes its darkness.

I. The Injustice vs. the Innocent (John 18:12-14, 19-24) 

¹² Then the detachment of troops and the captain and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him. ¹³ And they led Him away to Annas first, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was high priest that year. ¹⁴ Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.

¹⁹ The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and His doctrine. ²⁰ Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing. ²¹ Why do you ask Me? Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said.” ²² And when He had said these things, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Do You answer the high priest like that?” ²³ Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?” ²⁴ Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Last week, on the cover the bulletin, there was a scene from the film the Gospel of John, showing accurately Jesus’s arrest and being bound to and from Annas’s house, even though He offered no resistance. Jesus had eluded the officials before so they took no chances, but still, John records he was bound and stayed bound. The One who could have undone the universe with a word allowed Himself to be tied like a criminal.

Annas, father-in-law to Caiaphas, was the true power behind the high priest office. He was appointed as high priest by Rome in 6 AD, which would have been about the same time that young 12 year old Jesus had stayed three days and two nights at the Temple.

The house of Annas was infamous for its greed and violence. Even though Caiaphas held the official title, Annas still held the influence. John even refers to Annas as the high priest (John 18:19, 22), and Luke 3:2 and Acts 4:6 confirm his ongoing authority.

This was not a legal hearing, Jewish laws at that time prevented court’s and proceedings for the Sanhedrin to be conducted at night. But it was not a legal hearing not only because of its timing but its predetermined outcome, disguised as a justified trial.

While still bound, the first of many blows Jesus was to receive. In my mind, I wonder if Satan was the most surprised that the Son of God allowed Himself to be tied up. Jesus could stop winds, storms, and sicknesses. Christ could stop Satan and sins biggest prize of all by raising the dead. Could mere ropes shackle the One who unshackled people from sin, sickness and death? Growing more bold, Satan motivated a guard to strike Jesus across the mouth. Jesus who taught His disciples to turn the other cheek did not resist but only questioned to show the injustice of being struck without a cause.

GracePointe #1: Jesus, the only innocent One, was condemned by an illegal court beginning with a corrupt ruler so that the guilty could stand acquitted before the throne of God. Because He stood faithful in His trial, we can stand  FORGIVEN .

II. The Irony of Israel’s Prayers and Rejection

I love the way John interweaves Peter’s failures and Christ’s trials in chapter 18. Christ stood in truth and was even struck for speaking truth. When Jesus was sent to Caiaphas, the other gospels show that false witnesses not only contradicted the Truth Incarnate, they could not even agree with themselves.

John doesn’t tell us this, but the synoptics tell us, (Do you know that Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the first three gospels, are called the synoptics?) they tell us when He brought before the council, they spit on Him, they blindfolded, beat and mocked Him. Caiaphas mockingly and ceremonially tears his robes in insincere, staged and pretentious shock, crying out that the Holiest one of all has committed blasphemy and deserves of death.

(Turn to Matthew 26 for the most inclusive part) 

⁵⁹ Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, ⁶⁰ but found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward ⁶¹ and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’ ”  ⁶² And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” ⁶³ But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”

At this point, the gospel of Mark records, “I AM”

⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! ⁶⁶ What do you think?” They answered and said, “He is deserving of death.” ⁶⁷ Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, ⁶⁸ saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?”

 

Let’s stop there. Jesus has declared He is the Son of God. He responds with I AM, according to Mark. And then Jesus declared He was the Son of Man, sitting at the Right Hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of Heaven.

Let me just tell you, this phrase comes exactly from Daniel 7:13.

In the first part of Daniel 7, there is a vision of Four beasts to come, Babylon (about 605 through 539 BC, Medo-Persia (about 539 through 332), Greece (Alexander the Great, and the four horns culminating with Antiochus) and then Rome, which came to power over Judea in 63 BC).

When Jesus said He was the “Son of Man coming with the clouds,” He was claiming more than a human title. In Daniel 7, the One coming on the clouds is a heavenly, divine figure who receives everlasting dominion from the Ancient of Days.

We now now this is God the Father with God the Son.

In Jesus’s day, only God rides the clouds, only God judges the nations, BUT NOW God Himself shares His throne.

When Jesus applied that passage to Himself, He was claiming the authority, identity, and the very essence of both the Son of God and the divine Son of Man.

This wasn’t a vague messianic claim. It was a direct assertion of divine status. That is why the high priest tore his robes: Jesus was declaring Himself to be the heavenly Judge who would one day judge them. Let’s finish Matthew 26

⁶⁷ Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, ⁶⁸ saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?”

Luke records that Jesus was later sent to Herod, the one responsible for the death of John the Baptist. Herod wanted a miracle show, but Jesus refused to speak to Herod at all.

Israel prayed for centuries for the Messiah; and when He came, they rejected Him because He did not fit their expectations.

This is the deep irony of the passage. God’s ways are not our ways. It is ironic that the same nation which had prayed for the coming of the Messiah would reject Him when He came.

Aren’t we the same? We pray for God’s will, but when it comes, we reject it.

Christ returned to His Original glory, as the Son of God AND the Son of Man. We now have been given access straight to the very throne of God because of the ascension of the Son of Man.

The One Israel rejected is now the One who grants us access to the throne of God. 

The One they bound now who reigns. 

The One they struck now intercedes for us. 

The One they condemned now justifies us.

Israel prayed for the Messiah; and rejected the Christ.

Let us not do the same 

GracePointe #2: Israel had prayed for a Messiah to come, but rejected Him when He came. The One who was bound now   REIGNS   The One they struck now intercedes for us. The One they condemned now justifies the guilty who believe. The rejected Messiah accepts us and provides us the way to God’s throne.

Let us pray

 “Dear God, help me to stand in the trials of life. Strengthen me to face down whatever comes my way. Remind me that nothing will happen to me today that You and I cannot both handle together. Thank You for standing with me. Amen.”