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Reading Luke 22:66-71 where Jesus is brought to trial and asked if He is the Christ, and the reply that Jesus gave has been debated by skeptics but it couldn't be more clear. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
Jesus was asked, are you the son of God? And he said to those who were questioning him, you say that I am. Now there are skeptics who will say that's a non-answer, but it's really the answer when we understand the text.
This is when we understand the text, studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Thank you for subscribing. And if this has ministered to you, please let others know about our program.
Here once again is Pastor Gabe Hughes.
Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel of Luke, we're finishing up chapter 22 today with Jesus brought before the council, confessing that he is the son of God. Let me begin reading here in verse 63.
I'll go through verse 71. Hear the word of the Lord. Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, prophesy, who is it that struck you?
And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him. When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes, and they led him away to their council.
And they said, if you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, if I tell you, you will not believe. And if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on, the son of man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.
So they said, are you the son of God then? And he said to them, you say that I am. Then they said, what further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips. Now, what is it that they heard from his own lips?
Because there are many who will take this confession here in verse 70 and say that Jesus didn't actually say that he is the son of God. They ask him, are you the son of God then? And he says, you say that I am.
In other words, I am whatever you say that I am, because if I tell you, you're not gonna believe me anyway. So just go ahead and do what you're gonna do. And then they respond, what further testimony do we need?
We have it, we have it right now from his own lips. You have heard him say that he is what we say that he is, claiming to be the son of God. But Jesus did absolutely affirm himself to be the son of God.
And I'll explain that as we go on here. So verse 63, now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. Luke has a little bit different sequence of events happening here.
The way that he details this, when we read in Matthew and Mark, it's not as if Matthew and Mark are giving details that contradict Luke. But when we read in the other two synoptic gospels, we just assume that all of this is still happening at night.
Like Jesus is just taken from the garden. He's brought into Jerusalem. The chief priest is woken up, Caiaphas. He comes in to interview Jesus. And all of this is still happening in the dead darkness, in the wee hours.
But what appears according to Luke's details is that Jesus was simply held and he was mocked during that period of time. And it wasn't until daybreak, really at sunrise, when the elders of the people gathered together and then you would have Caiaphas and that whole council that makes this determination as to whether or not Jesus is really guilty of something that they can accuse him of and therefore turn him over to the Romans.
That's really what they're looking for. When you go back to Mark, when you go back to Mark's account, Mark is, it's almost kind of in reverse of some of the things that Luke is spelling out here in chapter 22.
In Mark 14, Jesus is taken to the high priest first and then you have the narrative of Peter denying Jesus. What did we have here in Luke 22? We read yesterday about Peter denying Jesus and then we have him being mocked and then the trial before the elders and the high priest.
In Mark, Jesus is brought first to the high priest and then you have him being mocked prophesy and the guards hitting him with blows and then Peter denies Jesus. So it's in a reverse order. It's not necessary to have to put all of these things in a chronological order.
We've seen that quite a bit in all three of these gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. All three of them have done it where they will put together things that are not in a chronological order. Luke is trying to put all the details that fit a particular theme.
So he'll put details together that fit a theme and it's not really this event and then this event and then this event. Mark also has in Mark 14, let me come back to this here. So let me find it. I got to find my spot here.
So in Mark 14, verse 61, Jesus remained silent when he was accused, when he was questioned, he made no answer and then the high priest asked him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? So same as asking him, are you the son of God?
And Jesus said, I am. This is according to Mark, Mark 14, 62. Jesus said, I am and you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Little bit different sequence of these words in Luke 22.
So first of all, Jesus says, if I tell you, you will not believe and if I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on, the son of man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God. So then they said, are you the son of God?
And he said to them, you say that I am. And that's a little bit different answer than what we have in Mark 14. The I am is the same. Mark 14, 62, Jesus said, I am and you will see the son of man seated at the right hand and with power.
And here in Luke 22, he says, you say that I am. It's just a very simple phrase. So like I had mentioned, there are many out there, skeptics in particular, that will try to say Jesus never actually said he was the son of God.
I've heard this skeptic argument for many, many years. I probably never heard it until I got to college. I was pretty surrounded by Christian culture when I was in high school. I didn't hear a lot of skepticism or pushback on my faith.
So I get to college and I hear these arguments being made about how Jesus never actually said that he was God or even the son of God. Or if he did say that he was the son of God, then it was as any of us could say, we are sons of God.
We're adopted sons and daughters of God. Anybody who follows Jesus, we're a son of God. Or you even go to people like Oprah or Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama would be another one. Even Pope Francis said this, that anyone is a son of God because we've all been made by God in his image.
And that makes us inherently the children of God. But you know that the scriptures speak of the difference between the children of God and the children of Satan, the children of the devil. John talks about this, especially.
It's in John's gospel. It's in 1 John where he says, here's how you know who are the sons of God and who are the sons of Satan. And Jesus even addressing the Jews and saying to them, you are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.
That's in John chapter eight. So there is a distinction between being a child of God and being his offspring, as the apostle Paul says in Acts 17, in that context, it's in reference to being created by God.
We've all been made by the same God. But when it comes to knowing the father or having a relationship with the son or being indwelt by the Holy Spirit, this is only for the children of God. This is only for those who have been adopted into God's family by faith in Jesus Christ.
So there is a distinction between being a son of God and a son of Satan. In other words, Jesus is the son of God. I am a son of God in that I've been adopted into the family through the son of God who gave himself for me and shed his blood for me.
By his blood, I've been adopted into the family of God. So anyway, you have those skeptics out there that will say any reference that Jesus has made to being a son of God is therefore the same way that we can say that we are sons of God.
Here he calls himself the son of man, of course, and that's a reference back to Daniel chapter seven. Daniel 7, 13, I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man and he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him.
With the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man. What did Jesus say here in Luke 22? You shall see the son of man seated at the right hand of God and with power. What did Jesus say according to Mark 14?
You will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. So Jesus saying that he is the one whom Daniel had prophesied about. Verse 69, again, this is Luke 22, 69.
But from now on, the son of man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God. Now, Ezekiel was called a son of man. When you have the vision of the valley of dry bones, Jesus, well, I say Jesus, but God taking Ezekiel up on the hill and saying, son of man, what do you see?
And he sees the valley full of dry bones, all these dead bones that have no life in them at all. So he's referred to as a son of man. So just like we can be a son of God, we can also be referred to as a son of man.
But there is the son of man who is Jesus Christ, and only he fulfills that prophecy in Daniel. Now, the assembly who's gathered together, the chief priests and the scribes, and they're grilling Jesus, they recognize this reference.
So back to verse 67 again, if you are the Christ, tell us. Remember that Christ means anointed one. The question according to Mark is, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? In other words, are you the Messiah?
Are you the anointed one? Are you the one that Isaiah prophesied about is essentially the question. So if you are the anointed one, if you are the Messiah, tell us. And remember, as I've been talking about, the whole time we've been going through the gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the whole time we've been talking about this, I've mentioned the fact that they have an expectation of their Messiah, that he is going to be an emancipator.
Now, one of the things that scares the Sadducees in particular about this, if Jesus is this Messiah, he's gonna be a military emancipator. He's going to fight against the Romans and drive them out, and then Israel will be an independent power again.
One of the things that worries them about that is they don't really think this Jesus, who's just this humble carpenter from Galilee, really has all the power and the authority to take on the Romans. They're looking at this guy and they're going, no way.
There's no way that this guy is the Messiah. So what scares the Sadducees about this is if Jesus rises up and raises this revolt that doesn't actually succeed because they don't think he's the guy and they don't think he's going to lead it, then the Romans are gonna get really, really mad.
The Sadducees are gonna lose all their power and authority, and then the Romans are gonna rule them with an iron fist. Right now, they kind of have this polite agreement with one another. The Romans saying, so long as you guys are paying your taxes, you can worship your one God, that's fine, as long as you're not going out and proselytizing and converting the Roman Empire to your religion.
So this is the arrangement that the Romans and the Jews had. And the Sadducees are afraid that if Jesus is going to raise up this revolt, if he's gonna claim to be the Christ, the Messiah, who will therefore raise Israel up to be like the kingdom David had, then the Sadducees are gonna lose all their power and influence.
I don't think the Sadducees disbelieved in a coming of the Messiah. Same with the Pharisees. They believed that a Messiah was coming. They're just looking at Jesus, and they're hearing the things that he's teaching, which are contrary to what they're teaching, and turning the people against them.
They're just listening to that, and they're just insanely jealous. They're like, no way is this guy our Messiah. We would not follow him because we're not gonna get anything out of this. We're not gaining anything from this guy being our Messiah.
So they truly doubted that he was the Messiah. They did believe there would be a Messiah. They just did not think it was him. And so if we can get this guy to admit that he is the Christ, he is the one who is gonna raise Israel up and fight against the Romans, well, now we have something that we can take to the Romans.
We can go to the Romans with this and say, look, he's blasphemed. He's blasphemed our God. Our law says that he has to be put to death for this, and you certainly don't want him rising up and raising a ruckus and causing problems in your empire.
So looking for something that they can accuse him of, that's what they're trying to get out of him, especially in asking if you are the Christ, tell us. But he says, if I tell you, you will not believe.
And if I ask you, you will not answer. If I ask you questions, you're not gonna answer because this trial that's going on is an information-only trial. We want information from you. You don't get any information from us.
That's the way that this has been arranged. I've worked with police departments before. I've been a chaplain in a police department. I've seen that side of the law in which they're grilling a suspect and they're trying to glean information from that suspect, but the police are not gonna share information themselves.
If they do share any information with the suspect, it's only to get him to admit to something, or they may lie to the suspect, give him information that isn't real. Like in an interrogation, a cop may say, well, your friend, he's already told us this.
And then once he says that, then they're like, oh, really, my friend said that? Well, then he starts spilling the beans on him or something like that. They may feed certain bits of information just to try to elicit a certain response out of the subject.
The Pharisees are already sure what they want from Jesus out of this, something that will get him in trouble that we can put him to death. That's what they want. They want to put him to death. They finally arrested him out of the view of all of the people because this is the way this is bookended in this chapter.
At the very beginning of chapter 22, they don't seize Jesus because they're afraid of the people. Here at the end of chapter 22, they finally have him when the people don't know that they have him because he was arrested in the middle of the night.
And now here they are trying to accuse him of something or get him to admit something that they can then take to the magistrate so that Jesus will be punished and really put to death. That's what they want, not just simply punished and let go.
He's got to be killed because we're never going to get another chance at this again. Previously, when they arrested him, the way that Luke has this arranged in chapter 22, they've blindfolded him, they've beat on him, they've told him to prophesy, who is it that struck you?
What have we seen throughout chapter 22? We've seen Jesus prophesying. The whole time he's been prophesying. He's been saying, this is about to happen, then this, then this, and it's all coming true. So now they're mocking him.
And in verse 65, it says, they said many other things against him, blaspheming him. And so Jesus says to them, if I tell you whatever it is that I tell you, you're not going to believe unless I tell you the thing that you really want to hear.
If I ask you, you will not answer. But from now on, the son of man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God. And they take that, they take Jesus saying that to be a confession of divinity.
So now in verse 70, the question becomes, are you the son of God then? And he said to them, you say that I am. And by the way, this confession to being the son of God is equal to saying that he is God, that he sits with God, that he is to inherit everything that belongs to God.
That's what it means to be the son of God. Hence why it is said in Colossians chapter one, that he is the firstborn of all creation. Doesn't mean that he's the first created thing as some of the heretics have taken that to mean.
It means that everything that belongs to the father belongs to the son, the firstborn. And so all that is God's belongs to the son of God. And they ask that question, are you going to say then that you are God?
That everything that is God's is yours. Are you the son of God? And he says to them, you say that I am. Now that is not to say it's whatever you say, fine. That's the way it goes. On the contrary, it's like a double affirmation.
It's like saying amen. Whenever we say amen at the end of a prayer, it's to say, so be it. It's to agree with everything that was said in the prayer. And so Jesus saying this, you say that I am, is to say what you have said, that's what I am.
So it's a double confession. You've said it, I'm affirming it. There are those that will prefer the Mark 14 .62 answer, I am. Just a matter of fact, two words, I am. Whereas Luke 22 doesn't sound as much like he's confessing to be I am.
But the fact of the matter remains that this is more of a rabbinic confession. This is what the rabbis would expect to hear out of a confession. You say that I am. What you say I am. Hence that word amen that we say at the end of prayers.
It's what you have said, let that be so. And this is Jesus' confession here. So he's really clearer, technically he's clearer in Luke 22 .70 than what is said in Mark 14 .62. The reason why Mark 14 .62 says I am and not the same word usage as in Luke 22 is because Mark is writing primarily to a Gentile audience.
And the answer in Luke 62 .70 is a little bit more particular to a Jewish setting than to a Gentile setting. So Luke's answer would actually be slightly more accurate or more detailed than the answer that we get in Mark 14.
Does that make sense? It's not as if the two answers are any different. It's just a, you might call it a translation difference. Since Mark is translating it for a Gentile audience and Luke is trying to be more particular on certain details.
So now the Christ has affirmed that he is the son of God. And in verse 71, they said, what further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips. My friends, the most important question that you can answer is who is Jesus?
Who is Jesus to you? What do you believe about him? What do you know of him? Everything that we could know about God, we get from his word, the Bible. And there are certainly things through life and experience and nature and stuff like that.
There are certainly things there that we can know about God, but we can't know him. On a personal level, we can't know God except for through his word. It's like the Bible is a collection of love letters that have been written to us by God for those who would believe in Jesus.
He did this through prophets and apostles, but it is God's word to us. And we get to know him through this word. I mentioned the chosen yesterday and how disappointed I was with the angle or the direction that they decided to take with this show, even rewriting the Bible and rewriting the story of Jesus in order to come up with the stuff that they did.
It's a blasphemous representation, not an accurate representation. You will never come to know God through these movies and TV shows that are made about the life of Jesus, especially when they're adding to God's word or taking away from it, which the Bible strictly forbids doing.
If they're using this as some sort of an evangelical tool, then they're going against what the Bible has said about how his word is to be handled. We get to know God through his word, not through somebody else telling us, this is what I think of his word, and here's the story that I'm gonna narrate around it.
No, we go to his word and we hear from God himself, the Holy Spirit, speaking through these words to us that we know the great I am. And if you know Jesus and he knows you, you have everything. Forgiveness of sins, fellowship with God, eternal life with him, even all that the son is going to inherit belongs to the children of God.
And so know Christ and be saved. Heavenly Father, we thank you always for these words that we read, for this is how we get to know who you are. Jesus did this amazing thing for us 2 ,000 years ago, taking on the form of a man.
He was wrongly accused by people that he made so that he would be taken away to death and would lay his life down for those who would believe in him, that our sins would be forgiven and we have everlasting life with you.
Teach us also to walk in the righteousness that we've been given by faith in Jesus Christ. And it's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
You've been listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study. Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book.
On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers. Tomorrow, we'll pick up on an Old Testament study When We Understand the Text.