The Jews Plot to Kill Jesus

The Council of the Chief Priests and Pharisees After Lazarus

Turn the Bibles with me please to John chapter 11. We all I think know where we are and where we're going this evening and as I mentioned this morning it is interesting that only a few verses are dedicated to the actual resurrection of Lazarus.

It's sort of a bare-bones narrative that is given to us and I think the reason is because of what comes afterward and in that we will find some very very important theology. So we only have a certain amount of time and so I feel somewhat rushed but we will see what we can do with this section of John chapter 11 beginning in verse 47.

If we let him go on like this all men will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation but one of them Caiaphas who was high priest that year said to them you know nothing at all nor do you take into account that is expedient for you that one man die for the people and that the whole nation not perish.

Now he did not say this on his own initiative but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation and not for the nation only but in order that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

So from that day on they planned together to kill him. Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews but went away from there to the country near the wilderness into a city called Ephraim and there he stayed with the disciples.

Why John Highlights the Leaders’ Motives

And so here we have the application after the resurrection of Lazarus this fascinating insight into what takes place. What is the response of the chief priests and the Pharisees? Well it says they they convene a council it's literally the a Sanhedrin a the Sanhedrin they they called themselves together and you have the chief priests which are primarily Sadducees.

The Sadducees had the political control over the Jewish people at this time even though they're the minority. The Pharisees had the minority the representation but the majority of the people. Interesting how that happens at times.

But you'll notice that you have people from different backgrounds different perspectives but they're gathering together because they feel a common threat and the common threat is this outsider this one that does not seek to have their approval does not seek to fit in with them.

This individual has obviously a set of goals and priorities that they do not share and so they ask themselves the question what are we doing? This man is performing many signs we let him go on like this all men will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.

And so you clearly have the situation laid out for us here that John wants us to understand. John wants us to understand the motivations of the Jewish people not only in what they're going to do in regards to the betrayal of Jesus but this continued to be a relevant issue for many decades thereafter.

In fact if John is written after the destruction of Jerusalem this is important information as to why this kind of destruction took place and why the Jewish Messiah would have been so opposed by the Jewish people themselves.

There needed to be an explanation. There needed to be an understanding. One of the great tragedies of course of church history is the fact that we can see it developing during the time of the New Testament.

There ends up being this necessary division between the synagogue and the church. There's no question that was necessary. But it came eventually to be not only a complete rupture but an attitude of animosity that were warned against in the New Testament.

The Apostle Paul knew that this was a danger. He himself experienced the hatred of the Jews but he did not allow that experience to cause him to become anti-Jewish. He did not allow that to cause him to stop praying for the salvation of God's like people amongst the Jews.

He said I could wish to be anathema, to be separated from Christ, if just my brethren according to flesh would come to know Christ. And so there unfortunately that attitude which is a difficult attitude.

It's difficult when you experience hatred from a group to not become consumed with a reverse hatred. But Jesus himself said that's that's not how Christians are to act. We do not return evil for evil.

We are to bless those who curse us. We are to bless and curse not. And so this is a difficult difficult attitude. It's one that must be cultivated. The natural response of the human being is to begin to think in such a way that you want anything that is negative to that group that's hurting you.

That's a good thing. That's a good thing. It's a it's a scary thing when you see it happening. And so in this situation John is explaining to us well what has what has taken place. What took place back then?

Why? Obviously it was a major apologetic concern for Paul and for all the early Christians. You say Jesus is the Jewish Messiah but the Jewish people as a whole reject him. Could you please explain that?

And and obviously the early Christians needed to give an explanation for why this was. And you can read Romans 9 through 11 if you want a rather extended discussion of that particular that particular issue.

But here we have an insight into the leaders of the Jewish people. And very often you need to make a differentiation between those who have political power, who have riches, who are who are obviously have very personal investments in religious matters over against the people that are under their control.

And here you have individuals. These are these are the chief priests. They obviously they're in we're doing pretty good for themselves. And they like the idea of people giving them greetings and the way that they were treated.

I've often said never underestimate how much people will give up monetarily to simply have religious power over others. There are people who love to simply have people bow down and kiss the ring. And they'll give anything for that.

They'll give anything for that kind of power over other people. And so you have the chief priests. Very often they they had interaction politically with the Roman Empire. The Pharisees themselves. They come together and even though they would often argue with one another, now they convene a council and they go, you know whatever we've been doing up this point it ain't working.

And you know feeding 5 ,000 people that was bad. Healing lepers that's bad. Making us look bad by healing blind people that's bad. Raising the dead is just beyond the pale. Okay this is not a good thing.

And it truly amazes us to think that these are people they possess the Word of God. They they can quote entire sections. Maybe some of the entirety of the Psalter on them on their own from their own mind in the original languages obviously.

And yet when they hear that this man amongst their own nation has raised someone from the dead, their first thought is oh this is going to totally mess up all of our plans. It's gonna mess up this balanced difficult political situation that we face.

You know if your view of politics comes before your praising God for some amazing thing that he's done, you're in danger of committing the unpardonable sin. And that's what these people are doing. What are we doing?

This man's performing many signs. If we let him go on like this as if they could control it. As if they had power over what God was doing. All men will believe in him. Oh we can't we can't have that happening.

We can't have people accepting this man's claims. Because the Romans will come and take away both our place in our nation. The great irony in this is not that they it's not that they do not have the political insight to recognize that a an uprising amongst the Jewish people would result in their destruction.

They recognized it wouldn't matter how many people joined any type of movement, Rome was a global power. They if you study Roman history, if you study Roman military tactics, these were individual. I mean this this this was the height of their power.

And they developed tactics and weapons that no one could stand before them. They they really were an amazing empire at this point in time. And so from their perspective we have to be very very careful or they will come and they will destroy us.

But the same time you've got to realize that the the messianic expectation and the promise of Scripture was it didn't matter. The Babylonians were really powerful too. So were the Assyrians and the Persians and and everyone else.

And the promise of Scripture was when God establishes his kingdom upon Mount Zion, it doesn't matter what the worldly power is gonna do. They really didn't believe that. They really didn't believe the prophecies.

They really didn't believe the prophets themselves. They didn't believe God was in control. There's nothing in here about God. There's no praising God that he has raised the dead. There's no there's nothing.

This is all simply political thinking, political reasoning on the part of the Jewish leaders. And they're afraid of upsetting the delicate political balance that existed. They had worked hard. You got it you know you read the intertestamental literature you recognize they had worked hard to obtain from Rome the privileges that they had.

We know that in early church history there had to eventually become on the part of the Roman Empire differentiation between Jews and Christians because they had granted the Jews special privileges. They didn't have to offer the pinch of incense on the altar to Caesar because they had been given you know everybody recognized that they just simply weren't allowed to do that so they were allowed to to do their thing.

Well they had worked hard to get these privileges and this man this man what he was doing was gonna mess that up. He's gonna mess it all up. And so the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.

This was their most important thing. Where's the single voice of someone going but but brethren raising the dead? If if he raises the dead is this not God acting? Is this not? They don't even consider it.

Don't even give consideration to it. Then you have verse 49. In verse 49 again I'm sorry I so appreciate the fact that you all put up with the apologist up here and I am always telling you stuff about what people are going to object about the Bible and sometimes some of you probably go I'm tired of knowing what people are going to object until they object to you and you got an answer because we talked about it once.

A lot of people look at this and say see here's here's an here's an error on John's part. What do you think the error on John's part might be? Well one of them Caiaphas who is high priest that year said to them you know nothing at all.

Now you see many will say you'll find lots of commentaries will say this demonstrates that John really was not familiar with Jerusalem and life in Judea. This was obviously someone writing at another time another place.

Why? Well even we know the high priest is high priest for his entire life. When you are appointed as a high priest it's sort of like being a Supreme Court justice. You're there and you had Annas who was high priest you got Caiaphas obviously this there's there's there's confusion here.

Well you can make that accusation but it's ignoring a lot of the history and the high priesthood had become a very politicized position and as such the Romans had taken control of it from the Jewish people and so they would place people in that office that would be the most amenable to working with them in violation of God's law.

This was one of the things that the zealots you know the zealots that would hide the the daggers under their cloaks and then they would go through the crowds and you know that you look at the small streets in Jerusalem and they would assassinate people by coming up behind you and then they just disappear and and this important person would die for having cooperated with the Romans.

Well this is one of the many many complaints that was raised against the the collaborators with Rome. God's law said one high priest at one time till he's removed by death but Rome said don't care do it our way or it's the highway and so you had had one who is appropriately the high priest and then from the zealots perspective someone who is not appropriately the high priest but he's functioning in that way and that is Caiaphas who was high priest that year and some people would say well he's emphasizing that year because it was it was that incredible period of time when the Messiah gives his life upon the cross or that the change from Annas to Caiaphas had taken place recently.

There's lots of different reasons as to why John would do this and of course it just doesn't make any sense of accusing John of ignorance these things because there's so many little details throughout the Gospel of John that plainly make it clear that the author was intimately familiar with Jerusalem and its environs.

But you have Caiaphas high priest that year so he is in charge even if you might argue illegitimately due to Roman interference. He stands up and he says to them you know nothing at all which strikes me as someone who is speaking politically here I have insight into what really needs to be done.

Nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people and that the whole nation not perish. Now that's the extent of what he says and here you have the explanation.

Here you have the Jewish leaders viewing Jesus's death as something that is expedient that one man die for the people so the whole nation not perish. Now what's fascinating is the explanation that John provides for these words from Caiaphas especially when you think about exactly what is said in these words that one man die for the people.

That is substitution language. That is language of one dying for his people and in light of for example our studies in the book of Hebrews in light of what we're going to see later in the Gospel of John in light of what's found the synoptics and in developed Christian theology and Romans so on and so forth a lot of people will stand back and go oh come on Caiaphas never said anything like that.

How would John have known anyways. Well John could have known. Obviously we know that John was known in the high priest's house remember he's invited in at the time of Jesus's arrest so he very well could have known just on just on a natural level.

There would have been natural ways this information to have been passed on to John. We don't have to go that direction because the entire explanation is a supernatural explanation. Notice it says now he did not say this on his own initiative.

He didn't say this of himself or out of himself. It does say it's in his own initiative. But being high priest that year he prophesied. I think about that for a moment political position maybe even illegitimate from a biblical perspective violation of the law.

But he was the high priest. And as the high priest he prophesied. He prophesied. He didn't mean to prophesy. It wasn't his intention to prophesy. It was the last thing on his mind. If someone had told him hey Caiaphas you were just prophesying God was speaking through you he would have gone.

You've got to be kidding me. It wasn't his intention. He was being 100 politically expedient. And yet because of his office God used him. He used him a special way. And if you think that's strange or odd you haven't read about Balaam recently.

Have you. And so he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation not for the nation only. But nor that he might also gather together into one the children of God or a scatterbrot now that is absolutely astounding.

Because Peter didn't even have that figured out yet it was going to take the coming of the Holy Spirit for for the disciples to start putting all of this together. And yet before that Caiaphas a man of purely political orientation prophesies.

And in his prophecy you have particular redemption. Yeah. Yeah. The terrible horrible L mm-hmm. Yep. Yep. That's that middle letter. You you know how you know how RC Sproul has described those those Calvinists that don't like that one.

There they're Christmas Calvinists. Noel. And you. Oh come on. You've heard that before. You hadn't heard that before. Well now. Yeah. Some of you have. But I'm shocked that pastor Fry didn't use that for his limited atonement sermon.

But but you've give I'm sorry. But you've got it right here. You've got it right here. Yes substitutionary atonement. You have the statement of Jesus going to die for the nation. Not for the nation only.

The Good Shepherd Gives His Life for the Sheep

But or that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered. Who is he dying for. He's dying for the children of God. They're scattered abroad Jew and Gentile. He's going to bring them together into what.

This is the fulfillment of the previous chapter. This is the Good Shepherd. This is his sheep. This is him knowing his sheep. This is his laying down his life of sheep. And he says to the Jews in John chapter 10 you're not my sheep.

But here you have substitutionary atonement. And it's definite atonement. It is for a specific people. It's not just some big Peter Pete peanut butter thing where you just you just slather it all out there.

And well Jesus has taken away all the legal encumbrances. And now it's up to us. No there is a specific purpose. I I saw a I was I was listening to brother Fry and brother Callahan talking about social media just a few minutes ago and that's a that's a rather humorous conversation for me to listen to.

It's it's sort of like me talking about sushi. I detest sushi. I know nothing about sushi. So me talking about sushi it's those people like Sean who eats sushi would probably find it rather intriguing.

Well I have to spend a lot of time in social media. You you need to know where the gunfire is coming from. And I happen to run across a tweet. That's a little hundred and forty character statement pester fry.

It's a don't worry about it. It's just the way it is. But it's how people communicate today. And we are learning to be very concise in being stupid on Twitter. That's basically how that works. But but a quote-unquote theologian that a friend of mine debated a few years ago on this very subject had made the statement that Jesus didn't save us from God.

This is the primary problem with the idea of penal substitutionary atonement. And I just thought you know this man has had it explained to him over and over again what it really means. And yet there is this full-on attack upon this idea that Jesus voluntarily experiences the wrath of God in the place of his people.

Penal substitutionary atonement. God's law is fulfilled. God's wrath is fulfilled. The Sun does this voluntarily. Oh how it is misrepresented. And yet oh how it is right here in the very words of the Gospel of John because the death of Jesus actually accomplishes something it doesn't say so that he might make it possible for the children of God who are scattered abroad to come together as one.

That's not what it says. And yet that's how most people view it. That's what you get from so many people today. The fundamental idea is that Jesus's death makes us savable. Not that it saves us but the reality is in order that he might also to gather also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered about.

Who does the gathering. Who does the gathering. Jesus does. Oh wait a minute. How can that be. Because he's the Good Shepherd. He's the shepherd of the sheep. He is the shepherd of the one fold Jews and Gentiles brought together into one all those who are scattered abroad.

And what is necessary for that to happen. His substitutionary death. Absolutely necessary. Now how much of that did Caiaphas ever understand. Probably hardly a syllable of it. Probably hardly have a syllable of it.

Could he have. Did he not have access all around him to Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22. And of course but it takes a work of the Spirit of God to open the heart and the mind to be able to understand what is here.

And so we can see we are we are given I think a very very clear example here of the fact that prophecy even when it's prophecy that we would understand for example coming from Isaiah or Jeremiah or something along those lines.

When you have prophecy where it is God's Word coming forth and and that the Prophet desires to bring this information to bear. And he desires to see the repentance of the people. Still what does Peter say.

That does not have its origination and its source within the Prophet himself. It is men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. And so it's one thing for us to see that in the sense of people like a Paul like a Peter who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God their desire is to do what is right.

They're being used by God to promote his kingdom. You know we can sort of wrap our minds around how that works. But here is a man oh yeah I know he's been. He bears the covenant signs and he says all the religious things.

But the reality is he's an unbeliever. There were many in the leadership of the people of Israel. And yet God uses him. He prophesies. And he prophesies sound doctrine. Well I suppose if you're going to be prophesying at all it's going to be sound doctrine one way or the other.

Right. But that sound doctrine does not require the understanding of the individual who's even saying it. This guy this guy preaches sound doctrine while seeking to convince people to kill the sinless son of God.

He thought about that. That's what he does. He's being politically expedient. He is simply doing what he thinks is best to save his own skin and everybody else's. And the profit and the process God uses him because he's the high priest to announce his own purpose in his son.

Now I would love to know how John came to know this. Was it just simply a supernatural revelation. Or you know I sort of like to think that years later John may have been speaking with someone. He again he knew he knew the people in that in that circle.

And maybe somebody came to John one night and said you know I was in the remember when Lazarus was raised from the dead. Oh yeah I remember that that's incredible. Well you know what happened that afternoon.

They had a meeting of the Sanhedrin and I listened to Caiaphas say these words. At the time I just thought oh you know I it never even struck me. But now that I've come to know who Jesus was now that I've been instructed in the Word of God.

All of a sudden I realized and John's like really that's amazing that is astounding that he did that he was being used of God to prophesy. I don't know how he got hold the information. But he said he said these words.

And John says being the high priest that year he prophesied. And he prophesied sound doctrine. Jesus was going to die for the nation not for the nation only. But or that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

Now probably at this point we would also need to note that the true nation here is defined for us. And it's not one that's just simply based upon ethnicity. We're talking about something that will come out in Romans chapter 11 as to who the true Israel is as well.

And oh boy do you get in trouble with that with certain people. Eschatologically speaking we won't go into that this evening. But you might want to think about that. So from that day on not individually together they planned to kill him.

The the giving of life the raising of the dead. From that day on they plan together to kill him. He gives life they want death. I don't know what greater warning we could have against the danger of religious traditionalism Pharisee ism blindness than what you see here.

I can't imagine there is a tremendous danger in constant repetitive exposure to the Word of God that is not joined with a true heartfelt love for God repentance from sin a real spiritual life. It can create this kind of an attitude in the presence of God's grace.

You desire death and you think you're being good because you're religious. The harshest strongest words in all of Scripture are always for those who have so much light and so little life. So much light and so little life.

What an astounding response. Now many of them weren't there. But there's no question. They accepted the reality of the sign. They accepted the reality of what Jesus had done. They accepted he had raised a man from the dead.

Let's kill him. What can result in that. What what. What brings that about. You may remember the atheist Christopher Hitchens he used to say before he passed away religion poisons everything. Religion poisons everything.

And there is a element of truth to that false religion does poison everything. And we should never ever ever be afraid to confess the sins of religion. The greatest difficulties that we have to face for example in in looking at Christian history is when Christianity became religious and began to serve itself rather than its master.

When we have to think about what has been done in the name of Christ the abuse of Scripture. This is a major problem that we have to deal with on a regular basis. And here we have yet another of the many and all you gotta do is go to Matthew chapter 23 if you want a real long extended example of God's view of pharisaical understandings of things.

But we must be very careful. We have so much light. We have so much light. The attitude of the Pharisees. We should always be asking Lord may I not in my apathy and in my traditionalism end up embracing anything that would be reflective of those individuals.

Let me not do that. So from that day on they planned together to kill him. This is what John wants us to see. He didn't put the main spotlight upon the resurrection of Lazarus. He doesn't talk about the rejoicing.

Oh can you imagine once those grave clothes came off the embrace between Lazarus and Mary and Martha and then Jesus and all that first conversation that must have been there is that first meal. He was probably very hungry.

I would imagine I really don't know exactly how that resurrection impacts the appetite. But I would I would imagine that first meal was probably pretty amazing. We're not. We're not told a word. John instead immediately moves us to what this is.

This is just a waypoint along the way to the resurrection after the cross. And it must be understood in light of that. May God protect us from ever having the attitude of those who in seeing God's grace the first thing we want to do is find something negative.

Find something against what God is doing. No so from that day on they planned together to kill him. No light in them. Even in the in the in the presence of the most blinding light of resurrection life.

Close their eyes. Suppress hold down. It can be done religiously. It's not just done by the atheist. It's done by the religious person as well. May God protect us from that. May we be amongst those who rejoiced that day.

They don't. You don't get to see their rejoicing. It's not John's purpose. But there was rejoicing that day. Rejoicing the fact that God was still amongst his people. That God is rules over death. That God can give life once again.

We can't forget that aspect of it even though John wants us to see that against the dark black backdrop of the reaction that people had that some people had to what Jesus did resulted in their desire to see him killed.

This is John's message for us. Let us ponder it. Let us think about it. Let us ask God to give us wisdom from what we have seen in his word today. Let's pray together our gracious heavenly father. We do think about the tremendous act of raising the dead.

And we we are so thankful that death is not our final adversary in the sense that has power over us. You've broken that power. You you are a creator you are a maker. You can raise us from the dead. But Lord we in reading this text are reminded of the danger of religious hypocrisy of false profession of having much light but no life.

And so Lord we would pray that as we consider this text that you will make us very sensitive to any any development in our own thinking of the kind of attitude that you found so abhorrent in the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus's day.

May we not be people who simply hoard up knowledge and then sin against it. May we live in light of your truth. May we be a people who minister that life to those around us. And Lord we do thank you that there is a day coming when all the dead will hear the voice the Son of God.

And they will. They'll be raised up. He has that he had that power. He has that power. That is our great hope. We thank you for it is indeed a great encouragement to us. We pray these things in Christ's name.