Author Unknown
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Within l2 hours prior to His death on the cross, Jesus was literally
dragged through 7 trial courts: once before the retired high priest,
Annas; once before the son-in-law of Annas, Caiaphas, the latter serving
as high priest; once before the Sanhedrin, the highest tribunal in
Jerusalem with the high priest as president of such; once before Herod
Antipas; then twice before the Roman procurator, Pilate.
At least l0 reversible errors occurred during this fiasco in injustice.
1. It was against Jewish law to initiate legal procedure on a Jewish
Sabbath or on a feast day. This regulation was obviously violated as
Jesus was arrested on the Passover Feast Day.
2. No legal procedure could be begun during the night of a trial which
was to take place before the Sanhedrin. Jesus was taken as a criminal
around midnight on that Thursday--consequently this rule was broken.
3. The Sanhedrin had no jurisdiction concerning capital punishment
situations. The Jewish court had been divested of that authority some 40
years prior by the Romans.
4. It was legally wrong for High Priest Caiaphas to have served as judge
when he had publicly proclaimed, before the trial itself, that Jesus
deserved to die. Caiaphas should have disqualified himself in that he
evidently revealed his bias in the case. Jesus was confronted with 6
trial courts prior to the crucifixion. However, there was a seventh trial
of Jesus.
5 . Caiaphas, serving as judge, should not have tried to press Jesus to
confess. This was an attempt to coerce a conviction by the accused's own
confession without having supporting evidence. Such violation of law
infringed on the person's guarantees against self-incrimination.
6. The Sanhedrin had not convened for a regular meeting, therefore the
group was not actually in formal session, and consequently was without
legal power.
7. The Roman Empire stipulated that trials were to be public; the
grilling before Annas and Caiaphas were held in private, so were legal
errors.
8. Jesus was appointed no lawyer. He had no legal counsel. If He
Himself could not have provided one, then the political system was under
obligation to provide Him with one but no lawyer was given Jesus.
9. It was not legal for the Sanhedrin Court to convict an individual on
the same day of the trial. The Court could acquit on the same day but it
had to wait at least two days for a verdict of guilty concerning capital
punishment cases.
10. Procurator Pilate, having taken the position that Jesus was in fact
not guilty, erred in allowing the crazed mob to win out with their
verdict of guilty. The judgment on evidence was overruled by the
insistence of the mob.
Jesus was confronted with 6 trial courts prior to the crucifixion.
However, there was a seventh trial of Jesus. This latter was conducted in
the courts of heaven before the Judge Father. Six is the number of man,
but 7 is the number of deity. And deity had the last sentence--the
sentence of innocent/victory--in the dedicated life of the Son. The
Supreme Court of Eternity pronounced Jesus free from guilt.
Then why was it that Jesus had to undergo such injustice?
In part, to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies. For example in Ps 35:ll
there is the prophecy that He will be maltreated, spat upon and the hair
of His beard plucked.
In Isa 50:6 and 53:5 there are the predictions that He will be beaten
with stripes.
In 53:7-9 it is foretold that He will be condemned and oppressed as well
as mercilessly maligned.
Yet through it all, the providence was at work to yield the verdict of
the seventh trial court in heaven: innocent/victory.
The personal application for the believer is to trust the same God to be
at work just as meticulously in His bringing triumph out of trial. Can
the Christian have faith in God to believe that through the injustices of
life in the dedicated believer's days there will finally be victory in
light of eternity?
Corrie ten Boom wrote, "Sometimes it is difficult to understand the
secret of God's plan for this world. But one thing I know: God did not
make a mistake when He drew His eternal blueprint. God never makes
mistakes. He knows exactly what He is doing."
Then she tells of how she and her sister, Betsy, in the Nazi
concentration camp, prayed that God would heal Betsy who was so weak and
sick. Betsy had said with confidence, "Yes, the Lord will heal me."
But she died the next day and Corrie could not understand it.
When she viewed Betsy's thin body on the concrete floor along with all
the other corpses of those who had died that day, it was hard to
understand, to believe that God would have a purpose for all that.
But she says, "Yet because of Betsy's death, today I am traveling all
over the world telling people about Jesus. . .Now every place I go across
the world, people tell me how much they love my sister, Betsy. . .She is
a blessing for more people because she died than if she had lived.
"God makes no mistakes."
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