Let us turn in our Bibles again
to Mark chapter 14. Last time we looked at the verses
which speak of the Lord Jesus Christ the night in Gethsemane
in which he was arrested. And this morning we began with
verse 53, the words, and they led Jesus away. They led Jesus
away. We're going to look at several
things that happened between those words They led Jesus away,
that is, from Gethsemane to the words in chapter 15 and verse
20, the end of that verse, which tells us, and led him out to
crucify him. So we're looking at what took
place from the time that the Lord Jesus Christ was led away
after being arrested in Gethsemane to the time he was let out to
be crucified on Calvary's Hill. During this time, and of course
this was Friday evening, Friday night, and early Friday morning,
and during this time, he would appear before Annas, Cephas,
Pilate, Herod, and then back to Pilate. The apostles of our
Lord later in prayer described what took place here, and they
quoted from the Psalms, Psalm 2. For of a truth against thy
holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, Both Herod and Pontius
Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered
together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. We know that the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ was foreordained, was purposed and planned before
the world began. Before there ever was a center
in actuality, the Lord God had already purposed the way of salvation
through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, this morning
I want us to see, because all through the Old Testament, the
very first promise of His coming, that is of the Messiah, disobeyed God and sinned there
in the Garden of Eden. The first promise concerned the
seed of the woman. But then all through the Old
Testament, more and more was revealed about him. Not only
about his person, but also about his work. It was revealed in
types and shadows. It was revealed in prophecies
concerning him. And as we look at these verses
this morning that deal with his trial, we would call it a trial,
I want us to see three things that were prophesied or typified
in the Old Testament that take place. First of all, the Lord
Jesus charged with sin by the high priest. We see this in Mark
chapter 14. Now Mark does not record the
name of this high priest, but the other gospel narratives do.
His name was Caiaphas. And John wrote that he was first,
when he was led out of Gethsemane, he was first taken to Annas. Now Annas was a high priest before
Caiaphas. And then John tells us that Annas
sent him bound to Caiaphas. But the important point I want
to make is that Caiaphas was the high priest. Now this had
become a political appointee. But he still, and I think this
is important to see, he still was in the office of the high
priest. And I want you to keep your places
here in Mark, but turn with me, if you will, to John chapter
11 to make this point. Caiaphas was a wicked man. He was an evil man, but he was
the high priest. And here in John chapter 11,
and this is after the Lord raised Lazarus from the dead, Remember,
he had been in the tomb for four days when the Lord called him
back to life, gave him life. And beginning in verse 47, we
read, John chapter 11, Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees
a council, and said, What do we? For this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus along, all
will believe on him. And the Romans shall come and
take away both our place and nations. And one of them, named
Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, and notice he
is the high priest. He was a wicked man. He was an
evil man. They were determined to do away
with the Lord Jesus Christ. But John tells us that he, being
the high priest that same year, said in this council, You know
nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us Not of himself. Now here's a
wicked man, an evil man. There's no question about that.
He was in the office of the high priest. He was a high priest.
And he prophesied. He prophesied. He prophesied
that Jesus should not die for that nation alone. John says, being high priest
that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation
and not for that nation alone, but that also he should gather
together and warn the children of God that were scattered abroad. Then from that day forth they
took counsel together for to put him to death. You see, here's
an evil man. He wasn't a believer, he wasn't
a child of God, but he was in this office, a very important
office under the law. He was a high priest, and God
gave him the ability to prophesy. God the Holy Spirit enabled him
to prophesy this prophecy concerning the death of the Savior, the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh, how great a prophecy
it is. It is expedient, he said. It is expedient that he die. And not for this nation alone. Now, when we read of nations,
nations are made up of individuals. We live in a nation. There are
over 300 million people in this nation. He didn't die for a nation in
that sense. He died for those in the nation
of Israel. That's the first nation spoken
of here. He prophesied that Jesus should
die for that nation, that is the nation of Israel. God had
His elect among the nation of Israel. and not for that nation
only, because we know that he has his people scattered all
around the world from all the nations of the earth, the scriptures
tell us. that he should gather, and notice,
he should gather together in one the children of God that
were scattered abroad. They were already God's children
in the sense they had been chosen of God. Their names had been
written in the Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation
of the world. But this man prophesied of the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ and what his death would accomplish. And that would be the gathering
together of all of God's of his body, which is the church,
and we are members of his body, those of us who know him as our
Lord and Savior today. Back to our text in Mark. I wanted
to point out, I wanted to emphasize that this man, or an evil man,
was in the office of the high priest, and what he said in that
time was important. It was a prophecy. Now, if you
look back here in Mark chapter 14, in verse 55, we see that
he, the high priest, along with the chief priest, he wasn't the
only priest. There were other priests involved.
And the chief priest and all the council sought for witnesses
against Jesus to put him to death. You see, they'd already decided
the sentence. This is supposed to be a trial.
They've already decided the sentence. We're going to put him to death.
But we've got to find some witnesses to justify putting him to death. It was a trial, but the sentence
had already been decided. Now, we were told here that there
were many false witnesses, but they could not agree among themselves. This makes me think of the Tower
of Babel, when God confused the languages, and they couldn't
understand each other. And they brought in, no doubt,
many witnesses. You might say, well, why would
a person perjure himself and give a false witness? Because
they feared these men. They feared these priests. We
have the example in John chapter 9, when the Lord gave sight to
that man who was born blind. And when his parents, they knew
it was his son, their son rather, they knew he was born blind,
but when they were brought before the leaders of the synagogue,
they were afraid to testify. Why? Because they had already
agreed if anyone testified to the miracle of the Lord Jesus
Christ, it would be put out of the synagogue. They were afraid
of these leaders, these Jewish priests and leaders. them there. And if you were put
out of the synagogue, you were ostracized from society, no one
would have anything to do with you. That's the reason it was
easy for them to get men to come and lie and falsely accuse the
Lord Jesus Christ, but they could not get two to agree together. God, no doubt, was behind that,
as I said, as He confounded the languages at the Tower of Babel,
so He confounded their witnesses. One charge that they brought
against Him, one false charge they brought against the Lord,
if you notice in verse 58, some of them said, we heard Him
say, I will destroy this temple, that is made with hands, and
within three days I will build another made without hands."
Now they lied. They had never heard the Lord
Jesus Christ say that. They had heard the Lord Jesus
Christ say this, destroy this temple, and in three days I will
raise it up. But he was speaking about the
temple of his body. Remember, in John chapter 1,
the first verse, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. And then down further in the
chapter, verse 14, and the Word, that same Word, the Eternal God,
the Eternal Son, the Word was made flesh and wealthy tabernacle
among us. Destroy this temple, the temple
of his body. And the priest knew Now these
witnesses, maybe they didn't understand, but the priest knew
that the Lord Jesus Christ, he wasn't talking about that physical
temple there in Jerusalem, he was talking about the temple
of his body. You say, how do you know that
they knew? Because after they crucified
him, remember they went to Pilate? And they said, now this man said
he was going to rise from the grave. And some of his disciples
may come and steal his body away. And so give us a guard. Put a
guard around that pimple. And I loved the way Pilate said,
okay, make it as sure as you can. Make that tomb just as sure
as you can. But all the soldiers of Rome
and all the demons of hell could not keep the body of Jesus Christ
in that grave. On the third day, he said, destroy
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. And he did. Now in the end, here in this
trial, so called, in the end, the witness against him, they
could not agree. So if you notice in verse 61,
it was Caiaphas. It's a high priest. Verse 60, And the high priest
stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou
nothing? what is it which they witness
against thee? But he held his peace, and answered
nothing. Again, notice again, it's a high
priest who asked him, and said, Art thou tell us that they, that Caiaphas
adjured him. I adjure thee by the living God. Tell us plainly. Tell us as it
says here. Art thou the Christ, the Son
of the Blessed, the Son of God? And Jesus said, I am. I am. The high priest adjured him to
answer that question. And just as soon as our Lord
answered the question, verse 63, then the high priest rent
his clothes, his garment, and saith, What need we any further
witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy.
What think ye? And they all condemned him to
be guilty of death. It was the high priest, this
is the point I'm making. It was the high priest, in the
end, after all these witnesses witnessed against him, they couldn't
agree together, but in the end, it was the high priest who charged
him with the sin for which he was to be put to death. The sin
was blasphemy, according to the high priest, because he confessed
himself to be God. Now, this occurred to me this
past week. One of the greatest types in
the Old Testament was the type on the Great Day of Atonement.
The Great Day of Atonement, one time in the year. You read about
it in Leviticus chapter 16. And I suppose that under the
law, the first high priest, of course, was Aaron, that that
was the busiest day in the life of a high priest, the Day of
Atonement. He had more to do that day, and
the other priests could not help him. They could not help him
in the work he had to do. And you know it was on that day
that two goats were brought to the temple, to the tabernacle
in the beginning, and lots were cast upon those two goats, and
one was taken and called the Lord's goat, and the blood of
that goat was shed, and the blood of that goat was taken into the
Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the Mercy Seat, and before
the Mercy Seat to make an atonement. That's what it was for, to make
an atonement. But the work of the High Priest
That was that other animal, that other goat. That other goat,
of course, was called the scapegoat. You see, it took two animals
to type, to picture the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
once the blood of that one animal was shed, that animal couldn't
do anything It took these two animals to
picture the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Day of Atonement. The first work was to make an
atonement to cover the sins of the nation of Israel. But the
other part of the work was to carry the sins away, to take
them away. And so again, it was the high
priest when he came out, after having sprinkled the blood, on
the mercy seat, who came out, laid both of his hands on the
head of the scapegoat. In other words, he's putting
the sin, typically, upon the scapegoat. And the scapegoat
is led then away, never to be seen again. It was a high priest
who did that. And we see here it was a high
priest, ultimately, who charged the Lord Jesus Christ, the sin
for which they would put Him to death. Now, the Lord shed His blood as a
propitiation for the sins of His people. But we must also
recognize that He took our sins away. He carried them away. In fact, the psalmist said He
has far as the east is from the west. The high priest, he's the one
who, in the case of the Savior's trial, charged him with the sin. Now, the sins were laid upon
the head of that scapegoat, just as Isaiah tells us that the Lord
laid upon him the iniquity of us all. All of the sins of God's
children were laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn't turned
into sin. He wasn't even made a sinner. He was charged with the sins
of His people, but He in Himself was still the holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, Lord God that He always was when
He came into this world. He had to be. accepted. What that scapegoat did, typically,
the Lord Jesus Christ has done for all of his people, in reality,
he has taken our sins away. Search may be made for them,
but they will never be found. Your sins, you're one of his
children today. your sins have been so removed
in the sight of God that they can be found never again. Now, the second thing I want
to point out that took place in this trial, the Lord Jesus
submitted to the lowest form of shame and disgrace from both
the Jews and the Gentiles. Again, if you look here in Mark
chapter 14 and verse 65, this is still among the Jewish people. Verse 65 says, And some began
to spit on him. And then, if you will, in chapter
15, verse 19, And they smote him on the head with a reed,
and did spit upon him. This is the Romans. The Lord
Jesus submitted to the lowest form of shame and disgrace from
both the Jews and the Gentiles. They spit upon him. I think most
societies have always considered this is the greatest, the greatest
way of showing the utmost contempt for another person. his utter
worthlessness by spitting upon him. The Lord Jesus Christ experienced
this from both the Jews and the Gentiles. Now, this fulfilled
an Old Testament prophecy. I want us to look at this prophecy
back in Isaiah chapter 50. I hope you'll turn with me. Isaiah
chapter 50, and beginning with verse 5 through verse 7. The Lord hath opened mine ear,
and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back
to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the
hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord
God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded, therefore
have I set my face like a flame, and I know that I shall not be
ashamed." In this prophecy, the first thing we read is, The Lord
hath opened my ear. Now those of you who are familiar
with the Word of God, you realize that this is speaking of Him
as the servant. who was pictured by the Hebrew
servant. He was, he could go free, but
out of love for He hath opened mine ear." This
is speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man who came
into this world as a servant of Jehovah. The Lord hath opened
mine ear. And I was not rebellious. We
could preach a message on those words alone. I was not rebellious
when he was just a child under the authority of Mary and You young people here, you children,
us old people, we remember. We couldn't say that, could we?
That we were never rebellious against our parents. That they
told us to do something and we didn't want to do it, we didn't
do it. They told us not to do something, we wanted to do it,
we did it. The Lord Jesus Christ was never rebellious. He's that
perfect, sinless Son of God who came into this world to establish
a righteousness for His people. He was never rebellious. He was
not rebellious to marry those who were His so-called earthly
parents nor His heavenly Father. I delight when He came into this
world. He said, I delight to do Thy
will, O God. He was never rebellious. Whatever
God had determined for him to experience, he set his face like
a flame. He did not deviate from God's
will and God's purpose. I turned away, neither turned
away back. I gave my back to the smiters.
That's, of course, those Roman soldiers. They have that weapon
of cat-of-nine-tails, they called it, by which they beat prisoners,
opened up a person's back, the flesh, and my cheeks to them that plucked
off the hair. Now, most of the commentators
believe that what this refers to, and we see it in both places,
From the Jews and from the Gentiles, it is pointed out they buffeted
him with their hand. They hit him with their hands
like that. I hid not my face in shame and
spit it. Can you imagine that? That hymn
makes like the wonder of it all. that here is God's Son in flesh,
and men spit upon Him. That's man's, the natural man,
the wicked man. And all of us by nature are natural
and wicked, depraved. That's our thought, that's our
estimate of Him. But notice what He said, for
the Lord God will help me. Therefore, shall I not be confounded? And he wasn't. He wasn't confounded. Therefore, have I set my face
like a flea? And I know that I shall not be
ashamed. As I thought about that, I shall
not be ashamed, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. I thought,
have you ever, have you ever made something? I know we've
done a lot of things we are ashamed of. At least I have. But have
you ever made something? Something you men, maybe you
figured you could make a doghouse or something, and it might look
so bad when you got finished with it, you were ashamed of
it. Or you ladies maybe bake a cake
and for some reason it just doesn't turn out like it normally does
and you're almost ashamed to put it on the table. Have you
ever done something, made something that you were ashamed of? Lord
Jesus Christ, in this verse, declares that he would not be
ashamed of his work. The work which he came into this
world to do, he would do. He would accomplish. His sacrifice would accomplish
all that he intended for it to accomplish. He would save everyone
that the Father gave him to save. We have this wonderful word of
the Lord Jesus concerning his bride, his church, in the Song
of Songs. It was in Spurgeon's Morning
and Evening this past week, but the bridegroom says to his bride,
Thou art all fair, my love. There's no spying. Can you believe
that, that the Lord Jesus Christ says that about you this morning,
about me? If you're one of his children,
you see a lot of spots. If you're like me, you see a
lot of spots. When you look into the mirror
of God's Word and what God requires, His holiness, His righteousness,
and how many spots do we see, how many times have we failed,
but when the Lord Jesus Christ, because of His sacrifice, because
of His blood which removes the sins of His people, because of
His righteousness which justifies His people, when He looks at
one of His There's not a spot in you. That's
what the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ accomplishes. That's what
He accomplished by what He went through, being spit upon and
dying in the place of His people. Well, there's one last thing
I want to point out. The Lord Jesus was delivered
unto Pilate. If you notice here in chapter
15, Mark 15, verse 1. Straightway in the morning, the
chief priest held a consultation with the elders and scribes and
the whole council, and bound Jesus and carried him away and
delivered him to Pilate. Now, why did they deliver him
to Pilate? All the priests, we read that
in chapter 14, verse 64, all the priests had condemned him
to be guilty of death. Why didn't they execute him?
Why didn't they execute him? He was guilty of death, they
said. Why did they not put him to death? Well, we know in the
Gospel of John, we read this, And Pilate speaking to them,
they told Pilate, it's not lawful for us to put any man to death. And then later when Pilate said,
what shall I do with your king? The king of the Jews, what shall
I do with him? They responded, we have no king
but Caesar. We don't have a king. We don't
have a ruler any longer. We have no king but Caesar. When they said that, it reveals
unto us that this old prophecy back in Genesis chapter 49, if
you want to turn, was now fulfilled. This is a prophecy that God gave
through Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons, remember.
And he's nearing the end of his life, and he goes to each one
of his sons, goes through each one of them, and prophesies concerning
them. And when he came, I believe it
is to the fourth son, Judah, in verse 8, who says, David was of the tribe of Judah,
Solomon of Judah. And all of the kings from David
on, their brethren praised them because they were lifted up to
rule over the nation of Israel. And after they came back from
70 years' captivity, they never had another king, but they did
have governors. Remember Jeroboam, we read about
him and Zechariah, the prophecy of Zechariah. They had governors. But if you look in verse 10,
Jacob said, the scepter, and the scepter was a sign of rulership. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah. In other words, there would always
be a ruler from Judah until, notice, for a lawgiver from between
his feet until Shiloh comes. When they said we have no king,
we have no ruler, our nation, the nation of Israel, we have
no king any longer, no ruler any longer, they are confessing
that the scepter had departed from Judah, and Shiloh has come."
Now, who's Shiloh? Shiloh is the Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, the word means several things.
One of the things it means, it means peace. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the peacemaker. the reconciler. He reconciles
sinful men to God. He is our peace. There is no
peace with God apart from Him. Look at the rest of that. The
scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between
his feet until Shiloh comes, and unto him shall the gathering
of the people to shout to Christ. The gospel
goes out into all the world. Preach the gospel to every creature.
And whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved. God
has gathered his elect people out of all the nations, all the
kingdoms, all the tribes, all the languages of the world. And we're all gathered to Christ.
We're all brought to Christ. Because He's the only Savior,
because there's no other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved. I pray that the Lord would bless
this word to all of us here today.