March 28
“Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest,” John 18:24.
“The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, ‘What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.’ And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, ‘You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.’ Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad,” John 11:47-52.
Annas sent Jesus to Caiaphas, who had been appointed high priest by the same Roman ruler who had removed Annas from office. Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas. The position of high priest was being kept in the family.
It still happens today that in government, business, and even in the churches, people often keep their cronies in select or responsible positions, whether they are qualified or not!
For a long time, Caiaphas and other religious leaders were plotting and planning to get rid of Jesus. The chief priests and Pharisees were very upset that Jesus was performing many miracles and gaining followers. They had called a special council meeting to decide what they should do to stop Jesus in His teaching and preaching. They feared that what Jesus was doing would end up turning the Romans against the Jews.
At that point, Caiaphas took the floor, and said, “You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” God was speaking through Caiaphas, and moved him to speak those words which foretold that Jesus would die to redeem all people.
We see how God used people to fill certain roles to carry out God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Son of Man, our only Savior. Jesus had come into the world to fulfill the promise of God, which was first given to Adam and Eve after they had sinned in the Garden of Eden. God promised to send a Savior. That promise was elaborated upon and additional details were given as God directed the Old Testament prophets to speak and write. Then, as the apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons,” Galatians 4:4-5.
God kept His promise and sent His Son, who became also the Son of Man, to fulfill the Commandments in our place, and to take all our sins upon Himself and to sacrifice Himself on the cross to wash away all our sins. Then He rose from the grave and conquered sin, death, and the devil for us. In Him we are invited to believe and to put our trust for complete forgiveness and the promise of everlasting life in heaven.
And on His thorn-crowned head, And on His sinless soul,
Our sins in all their guilt were laid, That He might make us whole.
In perfect love He dies; For me He dies, for me.
O all-atoning Sacrifice, I cling by faith to Thee. Amen.