This episode takes a closer look at the pivotal moments leading to the crucifixion of Jesus, examining the series of trials before Annas, Caiaphas, and Pilate. Understand the manipulation and malevolence present during this dark chapter of history and explore the fundamental themes of evil and redemption. We tackle profound questions about humanity’s capability for betrayal and the enduring presence of spiritual adversaries.
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 03 :
My heart goes out to Simon Peter. It’s impossible to feel what Simon and the others felt on the night that Jesus was arrested. They had followed this good and gentle man up and down the hills of Galilee and Judea for three and a half long years. Not only did they love him like a brother, they were convinced of the rightness of his cause, of their cause. It was a righteous cause. You know, when you have done nothing but good, when you have been nothing but kind, when you are absolutely convinced that your cause is just, your conduct righteous and blameless, it must come as a terrible shock. to have your leader betrayed and arrested and dragged away in chains. But that was not the worst of it. When Jesus was arrested, Simon Peter and all the rest of them had ran into the darkness in abject fear. There is no ease for the shame that comes on a man when he has run away. No one needs to convict him of cowardice. His own heart is judge and jury. And I suspect it was that sense of shame, kind of a desire to recapture a little manhood, that brought Peter back to follow Jesus and his captors, back to the place of judgment. He followed at a distance. He wasn’t real close. But he had to go. He had to try to get some of his courage back. He had to try to get some of his self-image back. And so Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. That one was known to the high priest. In other words, he was known around the palace, had connections, and even though they may not have known that he was one of the conspirators in this thing, he went right up there, and he went in with Jesus into the palace of the high priest. Peter stood at the door outside. And then that other disciple came back, and he spoke to the girl that kept the door, and she let Peter in. But when she let him in, she said… Say, aren’t you one of this man’s disciples? And Peter said, I am not. And the servants and the officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves. And Peter stood with them, that is, the officers and the servants, which apparently were the people who had arrested Jesus. He stood with them, and warmed himself at the enemy’s fire. And he denied Jesus. I gather they hadn’t seen Peter in the garden. He warmed himself at the enemy’s fire. He denied Jesus outright. You know, it took a certain amount of courage to be in that place, trying to keep his hands from shaking with the cold and with fear. But it would have taken a lot more to have confessed Jesus in that time and in that place. They took Jesus, meanwhile, and led him away to Annas first. He was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. That was the same Caiaphas that gave counsel to the Jews that, well, it’s expedient that one man should die for the people. And so this thing starts to come full circle as those who plotted Jesus’ arrest and death begin to bring it to pass. The high priest then asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine. And Jesus answered him, I spoke openly to the world. I taught all the time in the synagogue and in the temple where the Jews always resort. I have said nothing in secret. Why are you asking me? Ask them that heard me what I have said to them. Behold, they know what I said. Now, what Jesus says is really quite reasonable because what they were asking him to do was to incriminate himself, which was not allowed. There had to be witnesses that heard what he said. They should not have been asking him. They should have had men there that knew precisely what he taught and knew precisely what he had said if they intended to accuse him on the basis of that. But when Jesus said, Why are you asking me this? You should have witnesses here. One of the officers standing by reached out and slapped Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Are you going to answer the high priest that way? And Jesus said, Look, if I have spoken evil… Bear witness of the evil. And if I’ve spoken well, why are you hitting me? It was contrary to the law for them to hit Jesus in that situation. But they hated him so much that they even ran contrary to their own law, which they tried so meticulously to obey. Well, Annas sent him down to Caiaphas, the high priest, and now we have gone back full circle. And Peter? Well, Peter is still standing by the enemy’s fire. And he stood and warmed himself. And somebody said, you know, I think you’re one of his disciples. Well, no wonder they thought that. They had arrested Jesus in the garden that night. Peter had been there. And Peter said he denied it. He said, no, no, no, I’m not. And in this moment of time, Peter has kind of sealed himself off from this. He got over the initial shock of having run away, and he has come back. He’s trying his best to stay close. He’s trying to find some courage in there somewhere. And he’s in a state of denial in his own mind about what he’s doing in denying Jesus. Problem was, Jesus had said the night before, when Peter had been full of bravado and had said, I’ll never deny you. I’ll go with you. I’ll die with you. I’ll do all these things. And Jesus said before the cock crows, You will deny me three times. And Peter wasn’t thinking about that. And after a little while, they that stood by said again to Peter, I know you have to be one of them. You’re a Galilean. Your speech agrees to that. Then he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom you speak. And at that moment, a rooster crowed nearby. And Peter’s head snapped around in the direction of Jesus. And Jesus looked at him. He was that close. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, Before the cock crows, you shall deny me three times. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. You know, all this is too true to life to doubt for a moment. the false courage, the real fear, the denials of Jesus while Peter wasn’t allowing himself to think about what he was doing, and then the crowing of a rooster, and it all comes home to Peter. You know, there’s a gland somewhere in our body that sends a chemical all through our system at a moment like this. There’s a definite physical reaction to the staggering sense of shame that and what we have done. And that electric charge is what went through Peter. And he went out into the dark, and he cried like a baby, wept bitterly. And through that time of weeping began the process of healing to get himself over what he had done. But in the end, and this is something he didn’t really understand yet, he was going to have to come face to face with Jesus, with the man he had betrayed. You know, if you’ve lived very long in this world, you know what shame feels like. And if you live very long in this world, you know what it’s like to weep bitterly. Just multiply that feeling several times over, and you’ll understand how Peter felt on this night.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ll be back with more of the words of Jesus after this message. or call for a free program titled Why Christ Had to Suffer. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791 or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44.
SPEAKER 03 :
While Peter was staggering out into the night, weeping as he went, The chief priests and the council were putting together their case. They kept bringing in witnesses to try to get the case together, but the problem was they were all a bunch of liars, and their witnesses, they couldn’t get the story to agree. And there were some of them that stood up and said, well, we heard him say, I’ll destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. But their witness didn’t agree together. They just couldn’t make a case. And finally, the high priest stood up in the middle of it and asked Jesus, aren’t you going to answer anything about these things these accusers are saying against you? He held his peace and answered nothing, because why in the world should you answer a pack of liars? Then the high priest asked him and said, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And that was a question he could hardly ignore. And Jesus said, I am. And you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes and said, What need have we of further witnesses? You’ve heard the blasphemy. What do you think? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death. And some of them began to spit on him and to cover up his face and to hit him and say, Prophesy, tell us who hit you there, man. And the servants smote him with the palms of their hands. Even the servants were wandering around hitting on him. I want you to think about this scene. Consider Jesus, an innocent man, a friend of the common people, a man who healed the sick, a man who would never hurt a living soul, a kind man, a gentle man. He was a truly good man by anyone’s definition. How do we account for this incredible hatred of Jesus? For in truth, if the man had been guilty of blasphemy and he was worthy of death, they should have just taken hold of him, drug him outside, and stoned him to death right then, right there. Stoning was not a particularly cruel way to die because the stone would hit you in the head, you’d pass out, you’d become unconscious. In other words, it was a pretty quick way to go. But this thing of the humiliation of this man through all of this, Well, if you’ve been listening to this series along, you’re going to remember that I told you that in this night in which Jesus was betrayed, he underwent all manner of humiliation. He was betrayed by one of his closest friends. All of his friends ran off and left him alone. He was falsely accused. He was humiliated. He was beaten. All these things, this hatred that he experienced, these things are common to us today. And so he exposed himself to them. But you still have to account for what’s going on in the hearts of men who would spit on him and cover his face and hit him and make fun of him and say, tell us who hit you. And even the servants wandering around beating up on him. I know he was a threat to the religious establishment, and that’s one of the reasons they hated him. I know he was harshly critical at times with their doctrines and practices, but no more than a lot of other people of that time and place. The people who lived down in the Qumran community had a lot harsher things to say of the priests and the priesthood than Jesus ever said. There’s no accounting for what happened to Jesus on this long, miserable night and the next day without acknowledging the festering presence of evil in the world. I don’t mean evil in the abstract. I do not mean mere adversity as the Bible sometimes uses the word. I mean a spirit, a hateful spirit, a spirit of evil abroad in the world. Paul dropped a little hint of this in his letter to the Ephesian church. Second chapter, verse 1. He’s writing to these people who in their past life had been cut off from God. He said, to you he has given life, you who were dead in trespasses and sin. Whereas in time past, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. among whom also we all had our conduct in time past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Now, there’s a lot in here, but there’s one thing that is very important. He says there is a spirit at large in the world. It is a spirit that is at work. That spirit is at work in the children of disobedience. And it’s very apparent that that spirit is a hateful spirit, an evil spirit, an adversarial spirit. What he’s telling them, there is a wicked prince in the world. There is a spirit that actually works. Did you know that the word Satan actually means adversary? When we look for rational motives for this evil force, we are always thwarted because it’s not possible for us to grasp that kind of evil, that kind of hatred. If you set up and you try to easily work your way through and say, well, the Pharisees did this for that reason, and the chief priests were jealous for that reason, oh, sure, but these people had jealousies all the time. But they had never faced a man this good before. And the evil forces that were at work in them and the children and the people around them had never had to face this person, this good before. And all of it was focused, all their hatred, all the evil came into a demonic focus on Jesus Christ. You’re not going to grasp it rationally. Now, am I suggesting that the men who had Jesus on trial were demon-possessed? Oh, no, not really. Evil is like a virus, and it creates a sickness among men. The Gospels tell us that Satan entered Judas Iscariot and led him to betray Jesus. But we’re going to see that Judas still had his own mind and the power to regret what he had done. But the seed of evil did enter Judas. And that evil disease is still among us today. It’s tempting, you know, to look for rational causes and reasonable solutions to the festering violence among children today. But you’re not going to find either cause or cure through reason. This isn’t something you’re going to just settle with rational discussion. How can we come to some kind of reasonable explanation when a six-year-old boy and a seven-year-old boy kill a little girl to steal her bicycle? How are you going to reason your way to a conclusion on that? How can it be prevented? There’s no solution in science. When two boys set up teachers and students like a shooting gallery and mow them down when they hit the fire alarm, everybody runs outside and away they go. You’re not going to come to solutions of that through science. Oh, sure, you can take the guns away from them. But the six-year-old and the seven-year-old used a rock and stuffed bits of clothing in the girl’s mouth and nose to suffocate her to death. Well, we should certainly try to keep guns out of the hands of evil people. But do know this, they’ll use rocks, they’ll use knives if they have to, because you’re not solving the problem of the evil. So, what are we going to do about the evil? Well, God’s law is the vaccine against this virus. And as far as I know, Jesus Christ is the only cure. Stay with me.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ll be right back after these words. For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only and request the program titled The Words of Jesus, number 44. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE-44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station. Thank you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas into the Hall of Judgment. They’re taking him to Pilate now. It was very early in the morning, and the Jews themselves did not go into the Judgment Hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. This was on the 14th day of the first month of the Jewish calendar. Jesus and his disciples had kept their Passover the night before. The Jewish Passover, the standard one, the regular meal they kept, was the following night. And they didn’t want to be defiled. If they went into the Hall of Judgment, they would have been. So Pilate came out to them, an accommodation as it were, and said, all right, what accusation bring you against this man? What’s the charge? And they answered and said, if he were not a malefactor, we wouldn’t have delivered him up to you. Now this is almost funny. I can imagine Pilate looking at these people with a curious expression on his face and saying, What are you talking about? You don’t bring people in here without a charge. You want to tell me he’s just a malefactor. I see. What’s the charge against this man? He’s a criminal. Oh, well, that’s all right. Let’s kill him. Anyway, Pilate said, You take him and judge him according to your law. I don’t want to fool with this. The Jews therefore said to him, Well, it’s not lawful for us to put any man to death. And then Pilate had to stop because this was no longer a small matter. This came about that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke signifying by which death he should die. He had made the comment about being lifted up. If the Jews had killed Jesus, he would have died by stoning. But that’s not what he said he would do. If the Romans killed him, he would be crucified. Then Pilate went back into the judgment hall and called Jesus and said, Are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus said, Do you say this of yourself, or did somebody else tell it to you of me? And Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you unto me. What have you done? He’s trying to get this thing straight. He’s not very patient about it, which, frankly, I can understand why he wouldn’t be. Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from hence. And right there, Pilate had his answer. If Jesus was trying to be the king of the Jews, then Pilate knew as well as anyone that if there was a Messiah to come along, a king of the Jews to come along, then that meant nothing but trouble for the Romans in that area, because it would almost certainly mean an insurrection. But now he knows that Jesus is not making that kind of claim. So then he asks, are you then a king at all? And Jesus answered, you’re the one that’s saying I’m a king. Let me tell you why I was born. Let me tell you why I came into the world. It was that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice. Well, Pilate had heard enough. He said, What is truth? And got up, walked outside, and said to the Jews, I find no fault in this man. He thought the whole thing was ridiculous. But the Jews became more fierce, saying, He stirs up the people. He’s teaching throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee all the way down to here. And when Pilate heard of Galilee, he said, Is this man a Galilean? And as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who happened to be in Jerusalem at that time. Now, this rings so true. This just follows right down the line of human nature. I can see a government bureaucrat doing this as quick as he can to get rid of a naughty problem. Oh, this is someone else’s jurisdiction. Let’s send him over there. Well, Herod, when he saw Jesus, well, he was glad. He really had been wanting to see him for a long time. He’d heard so many things of him, and he’d like to see some miracle done by him. So he questioned him in many words, but Jesus wouldn’t tell him anything. And all the while, the chief priests and the scribes stood around vehemently accusing him all the time. Again, think of the hatred against this man. He’s a kind man, a gentle man, and he’s not saying anything. and all these people around him pointing the fingers, ready to kill him. And Herod, with his men of war, actually made him a mockery. They arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and they mocked him and made fun of him and humiliated him the whole time, and then they sent him back to Pilate. And the same day, Pilate and Herod were made friends together. They had been enemies for a long time. I guess Jesus was able to heal things that he actually had no particular intention to heal. Well, when Pilate finally called the chief priests and the rulers back together again and said, You’ve brought this man to me as somebody who perverts the people, and I have examined him. I don’t find any fault in this man touching all the things of which you have accused him. No, even Herod didn’t find any fault in him. I sent you to him, and nothing worthy of death is done to him. Therefore, I’m going to chastise him and release him. Now, I have no idea why he felt he had to chastise him. I guess just a gesture. But, of course, he was a Roman, and Romans were in charge. And I guess when you’re in charge, you can do what you want to do. So I’ll chastise him, and I’m going to let him go. He had to release one person to them at the feast because that was the custom. But they cried out all at once saying, away with this man. We don’t want you to release him. Release Barabbas. Now, Barabbas, because of a certain rebellion made in the city and for murder, was cast into prison. This guy’s a killer. They said, no, no, release Barabbas. We don’t want this man let go. And Pilate is still trying to release Jesus, and he said, no, he spoke again to them trying to get Jesus let go. And they cried again, saying, crucify him, crucify him. And he said to them the third time, why, what evil has he done? I have found no cause of death in him. I’m going to chastise him and let him go. And they were so insistent, requiring that he might be crucified. And the voices of them and of the chief priests prevailed. And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required. So he released to them a man who for sedition and murder had been cast into prison, whom they had desired, and he delivered Jesus to their will. So his soldiers took Jesus and scourged him. That was the first step. A lot of people died of scourging. It was a particularly cruel form of whipping. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they wrapped a purple robe around him and said, Hail, King of the Jews, and smote him, slapped him with their hands. All of this, the humiliation, the brutality, the beating, the mocking, all of this was because Jesus not only had to die for our sins, but because he had to suffer. Remember, it all started the night before when he was betrayed by a friend. And it continued through the evening as all of his friends forsook him and fled off into the dark and left him entirely alone. It continued through the night as one of his closest friends denied him three times. As the high priest and his servants slapped him around, beat him, made fun of him, all this went on through a long, hard night and came to something of an early climax and discouraging that he went forward through the next morning. Pilate went forth again and said, Look, I bring him forth to you that you may know I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, Behold the man. When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, screaming, Crucify him, crucify him. And Pilate said, You take him and crucify him. I find no fault in him. And the Jews answered and said, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. And when Pilate heard that, he was a little more afraid. He went into the judgment hall and he said, Where have you come from? Whence art thou? Pilate was beginning to really worry about this thing, because there he knew. He could see the hatred. He knew it was outside of all boundaries. He knew this thing went far beyond any human reason. And he began to wonder if there was some divine power involved here. And Jesus gave him no answer. And Pilate said, Are you not going to talk to me? Don’t you know that I have the power to crucify you and I have the power to let you go? Then Jesus did decide to speak and he said, You could have no power against me at all except it were given to you from above. He that has delivered me unto you has the greater responsibility. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him. He tried every way he knew how. But the Jews cried out, saying, If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. What hypocrisy! These people hated Caesar. The only reason they brought it up was political. When Pilate heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat and a place that is called the pavement. It was a preparation for the Passover in about the sixth hour, and he said to the Jews, Behold your king! And they cried, Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him! And Pilate said, Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar. In that terrible moment, These men denied God as their king. So Pilate delivered Jesus to be crucified, and they took him, and they led him away.
SPEAKER 02 :
Until next time, this is Ronald Dart. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560 White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1 888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net Stay in touch with the new Born to Win with Ronald L. Dart app.
SPEAKER 01 :
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