And the chief priests and the elders and the whole sanhedrim sought false witness against Jesus, so that they might put him to death.
It is the middle of the night, and Israel's supreme court is sitting. The men want false witness, not evidence — and that exposes both the innocence of the prisoner and the state of the judges.
The court did not sit to weigh a case. It sat to find covering for a decision already taken.
In the scene that follows we see, in the chief priests and their council, how deep into wickedness religious human nature can sink. They had already decided to put Christ to death. So the trial that follows was not an attempt to find out whether He had done anything worthy of death. It was a horrible device to cover murder with a show of justice. With malice in their hearts, they seek not the truth, but witnesses "against Jesus to put Him to death."
They were not a mob. They were the men appointed to enforce the very law they were breaking. Their own Scriptures had said long before that the Messiah would be treated this way.
As a nation, Israel was especially guilty of false witness against the Messiah. The Spirit of Christ foreshadowed this sin in the prophets: "False witnesses have risen up against me, and men who breathe out cruelty"; "they charged me with things I knew nothing about" (Ps. 27:12; Ps. 35:11). And so, at the right time, the Anointed One presented Himself to the chosen people. It was not the rabble but the religious leaders of the Jews who looked for false witness against Jesus to put Him to death. In doing this they broke the law they were set to administer (Ex. 23:1).
The problem went beyond the hunt for witnesses. The timing and the order of proceedings also broke the rules of Hebrew courts.
The haste of the whole proceeding completely violated Hebrew law. Trials, even in money matters, had to be held in the daytime. Trials for life also had to take place during the day. And if condemnation followed, the sentence had to wait until the second day. The Lord Jesus was condemned and declared worthy of death, and this before the night of His arrest was even over. Then the law required two or three witnesses to satisfy the court that there was a matter to try. "Their sworn statement began every proceeding. Until they gave it in public against a man, the law held him not merely innocent but unaccused."
Their failure to find a charge is itself testimony. Enemies watched Him closely and came up with nothing they could use.
He walked so perfectly before God and before man that His enemies found nothing. Their sharp eyes never left Him, yet not one action gave them ground for a truthful accusation. Every attempt to catch something out of His mouth to destroy Him failed. So they turned to false witnesses, who twisted His words to produce even the appearance of a charge against Him. And how could it be otherwise with that holy and spotless life?
The law had a clear answer for a case with no evidence.
But did the chief priests succeed? "And they found none, though many false witnesses came forward." They could find nothing. Therefore, He ought to have been freed.
This spirit did not stop with them.
It is deeply instructive to see how religious apostasy always leads the way in insulting God, in persecuting the people of God, and in bloodthirsty cruelty. Nothing sears the conscience, hardens the mind, and steels the heart like the form of godliness without the power. Outward religious worship and service can be full of fuss and busy activity. Where grace and truth do not rest the mind and hold up the heart, that activity has always destroyed even the kinder feelings of people.
The method did not die with them: verdict first, evidence afterwards, with Scripture itself used for the job.
They sought witnesses for the purpose that was already in their hearts. And are not those who bring such witness commonly, if not always, of the same spirit? Do they not dare even to search Scripture to justify the condemnation they have already decided on? And yet how often they are forced to throw out their own witnesses! How little they can quote without misquoting.
- Verdict — the death sentence was settled before the court met. The hearing only dressed murder up as justice.
- Lawlessness — the men breaking the law were the men appointed to keep it. A night trial, a same-night sentence, a hunt for lies their own Scriptures forbade.
- Failure — they found no charge. By their own rules He should have walked free. His enemies became the strongest witnesses to His innocence.
- Foretold — the Psalms had already described false witnesses rising against Him. They charged Him with things He knew nothing about.
- Warning — religious form without reality produced this cruelty. It still does, wherever people collect evidence to prop up a verdict they have already reached.
And they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. But at the last two false witnesses came forward
The council has already decided that Jesus must die; what it lacks is evidence. This verse records that search falling apart. Witness after witness gave them nothing. Then two men came forward with a twisted version of words He had once spoken.
The order of events exposes the court. Sentence came first, and the hunt for proof came after.
In the scene that follows we see how far into wickedness religious human nature can sink, in the chief priests and their council. They had already decided to put Christ to death. So the trial that follows was not held to find out whether He had done anything worthy of death. It was a horrible device to cover murder with a show of justice. With malice in their hearts, they do not look for the truth. They look for witnesses "against Jesus to put Him to death." They find none. So they fall back on false witnesses, only to find that these will not serve their purpose either. The false witnesses condemned themselves by contradicting one another.
One writer turns this into a question for the reader: people who set out to justify a conclusion they have already reached will use even Scripture to do it.
They sought witnesses for the purpose that was in their hearts before. And are not those who bring such witness, commonly, if not constantly, of such a spirit? Do not they dare even to search Scripture to justify the condemnation they have determined on already? And yet how often are they obliged to put out of court their own witnesses! How little can they quote without misquoting.
His accusers had watched Him closely. Their empty-handed search says more about Him than about them.
But what can they say against Him? What evil had He done? They had watched Him closely. One group after another had tried to trap Him. Pharisees and Sadducees had come to test Him. They found nothing in Him. In one of His great talks, which they had heard, He had asked, "Which one of you convicts Me of sin?" There was no answer. He was the sinless One, the perfect and holy One... They could find nothing. Therefore, He ought to be freed.
The collapse was not bad luck. Men willing to lie under oath could not keep their stories straight.
But the power of God was at work behind the scenes, and every attempt to pin these made-up charges on Him came to nothing. They tried many times... One accusation after another broke down, as the false witnesses grew confused and contradicted each other. It seems as though God wrapped their usually sharp minds in a fog of confusion.
When the lies fell apart, the court fell back on His own words.
They found the will, but not the power; they were ready to testify, but even in that they could not succeed. Man fails in everything, except in malice against Jesus... The law required two or three witnesses to agree, but these did not agree. So in the end Jesus was rejected, not on man's false testimony, but on the true testimony of God. It was for His own testimony that they condemned Him. He came witnessing to the truth, and He witnessed to it right up to death.
The law fixed their number at two. Their charge twisted words He had spoken at the very start of His ministry.
There had to be two. Under Jewish law, they needed two witnesses to put anyone to death. God laid that down, and we can see the wisdom of it... They had to go all the way back to the start of the Lord's public ministry, in John 2. He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." They were to do the work of destroying, and He, as a Divine Person, would do the restoring and the raising to life... They made out that He had said He would destroy it. It does not agree at all.
The warning here reaches past courtrooms into ordinary conversation.
We have no way now of knowing what the different accusations were. Only one of them is recorded, and it shows well how careful we need to be when we repeat someone's words. How much harm is done by misrepresenting what someone said, even without meaning to.
The prophets had spoken of this long before. And the men who administered the law were the ones who broke it.
As a nation, Israel was especially guilty of false witness against the Messiah. The Spirit of Christ pointed to this sin long before, through the prophets: "False witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence" — "they ask me of things that I do not know" (Ps. 27:12; Ps. 35:11). So when the appointed time came, the Messiah presented Himself to the chosen people. It was not the crowd but the religious leaders of the Jews who looked for false witness against Jesus to put Him to death. In doing so they broke the very law they were appointed to administer (Ex. 23:1).
- Decided — The council was not weighing evidence. The death sentence came first. The search for witnesses came after, to dress murder up as justice.
- Defeated — Years of close watching, and now lies under oath, turned up nothing. Their failure proves His spotless life. By their own finding, He should have gone free.
- Distorted — The one charge we know of twists His words in John 2. They would destroy the temple of His body; He would raise it up. The lesson reaches into how we repeat anyone's words.
- Disagreed — Even the two could not match their stories, so the two-witness rule God gave held. The judges broke the very law they were meant to administer.
- Declared — No lie would stand, so they condemned Him on His own true words. He witnessed to the truth right up to death.
and said, *He* said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and in three days build it.
The council had already decided the verdict; what it lacked was evidence. Two men supplied it at last, by twisting words Jesus had spoken at the start of His ministry.
The search for witnesses was not about finding the truth. It was about dressing up a decision already made.
Before the high priest the false witnesses condemn themselves by contradicting each other. They looked for witnesses to serve the purpose already in their hearts. And are not those who bring such testimony usually, if not always, of that spirit? Do they not even dare to search Scripture to justify the condemnation they have already settled on? And yet how often they must throw out their own witnesses! How little they can quote without misquoting. They themselves were now seeking to destroy the temple of God, just as His words had implied they would. No one else could replace it, but He would raise it up again.
Why did the council need exactly two men? And what had Jesus really said? The change they made was small but total: He had told them to do the destroying.
Under Jewish law they had to have the testimony of two witnesses to put any man to death. God laid that down, and we can see the wisdom of it... It shows they had to go right back to the very beginning of the Lord's public ministry in John 2. He said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." They were to do the work of destruction. He would do the restoring and reviving as a Divine Person... They implied that He had said He would destroy it. It does not agree at all.
The trial kept failing, and the failure was not an accident.
There was no thought of a fair trial. His judges had no shame. They wanted testimony that would let them pass the sentence of death on Him. But the power of God was at work behind the scenes, and every attempt to pin the invented charges on Him came to nothing... One accusation after another broke down. The false witnesses fell into confusion and contradicted one another. It is as though God wrapped their normally sharp minds in a fog.
The saying was about His own body. That makes it a claim about who He is, not a boast about demolition work.
As a present fact, the Lord justifies what He had just done before their eyes. He does this by His relationship with God as His Father. He gives the Jews a sign in the temple of His body, as the witness of His resurrection power. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." He is ever God; He is the Son; He gives life and raises from the dead... Christ was the true sanctuary, not the one man had laboured over so long in Jerusalem. Man might pull Him down — destroy Him, so far as man could — but He was God, and in three days He would raise up this temple.
The charge turned the truth inside out, and the lie did not stop in the courtroom.
A small amount of truth is twisted, as often happens, into the most terrible form of falsehood. The temple of God was indeed to be destroyed, but not by Him; and restored, but not in the way their testimony implied. In fact, no one knew better than they did that He meant nothing of this kind. Later we see how this distortion spread among the people, who took it as the real ground for His condemnation. So easily people nurse a false suggestion along until they accept it as truth.
The words invented at the trial became the taunt of the crowd at the cross.
His words were turned against Him, not only at His trial, but in His dying moments. "And those who passed by reviled Him, wagging their heads and saying, Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself, and come down from the cross." How little they knew! His very words were about to come completely true.
- Temple plotted. The council fixed the verdict first and looked for evidence after. It kept throwing out its own witnesses.
- Temple misquoted. Jesus had told them to do the destroying. The witnesses made it sound like His own threat.
- Temple contradicted. The witnesses fell into confusion and contradicted each other, and the charge came to nothing.
- Temple revealed. He meant His body — the true sanctuary, not the building in Jerusalem. Raising it would be the sign of His resurrection power.
- Temple fulfilled. The crowd shouted the same twisted words at the cross while the destroying was under way. Three days later His words came true.