Dear Explorer,
Read Luke 22:63-65
I don't believe that the soldiers normally behaved this badly. I believe that Satan himself was stirring these men up to do cruel and terrible things to Jesus. I think Satan thought he had outsmarted God and caught Him not looking. And it certainly appears that way, as the guards mocked Jesus and tortured him all night long. What a long, long night that was.
Read Mark 15:1
And
Read Luke 22:66-71
At dawn, Jesus was brought back into the Council of the Jews, the Sanhedrin.
Look at Luke 22:69. By telling them that He would be seated at the right hand of God – He was claiming to be the Messiah.
C.S. Lewis wrote that Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or He was who He claimed to be.
Which of these 3 choices do you think that the Chief Priest and Pharisees believed?
We don't know whether they knew the truth and rejected it, or whether they truly believed He was one of the others. We don't know. But there's no middle ground for believing He was a prophet, or a good man, or a wise teacher. Jesus either was God in the flesh, or He was not.
So, they headed to the Roman governor, Pilate, to seek the death penalty.
In His service, dale
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