Matthew 26:64, commentary and pictures

When the high priest put Him under solemn oath to say if He was the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus openly affirmed that He was, one with the Father in divine nature, power and right. He added that His judges would yet see Him, no longer as a prisoner before them, but seated at God's right hand with everlasting dominion and coming in the clouds of heaven with angels and great glory as supreme Judge from whose decision there is no appeal. All who rejected, mocked, condemned and crucified Him will stand before Him, see Him as He is, have every deed exposed, and face terror and remorse when acknowledgment comes too late for salvation. By answering a lawful judicial oath instead of refusing, He showed that Christians may testify under oath, and by confessing the truth at the cost of His life He left His followers an example never to deny faith to escape suffering or death.

Trial Setting and Declaration

Jesus stood before Caiaphas and the council after the false witnesses had failed to agree, in a mock examination held in the officiating high priest's palace in the early morning darkness. He had been hurried through the dark, narrow streets by an armed band with torches and lanterns amid insult and mockery, and there He was coarsely accused by His persecutors, sneeringly questioned by the priest, and reviled by the whole assembly. The trial kept the pretense of legality yet was carried on in great secrecy, lest the people learn what was being done and come forward to vindicate Him by His mighty works, which would bring their indignation upon the Sanhedrin, condemn and bring its acts to nothing, and free Jesus to receive new honor. False statements and accusations presented Him in the worst possible light, with the scribes and Pharisees who had planned His betrayal taking a leading part and expressing a spirit opposed to Christ that stirs the unsanctified heart. While He endured, His heart was pierced by a keener pang than His enemies could inflict when He heard His beloved disciple deny Him with cursing and swearing, a denial witnessed largely by Peter as well as John.

Caiaphas, as the highest acknowledged authority in the nation, raised his right hand toward heaven and adjured Jesus by the living God in the name of the Most High to tell whether He was the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus knew that an affirmative answer would make His death certain, yet He broke His silence when so plainly interrogated because respect for the law required an answer when thus appealed to. His character and mission had been challenged and were at stake and must be vindicated, denial would have stained His humanity, and there was a time to be silent and a time to speak. In that solemn moment He confessed His relationship with God, in keeping with His own teaching that whoever confesses Him before men He will confess before His Father in heaven.

His reply, Thou hast said, was Yes, a voluntary, public, open confession under the most solemn oath that He is the Christ, the Son of God. He thereby declared Himself the Messiah long looked for, one with God and the Father, fully asserting His divine character, Godhead, divine power, and the prerogatives of the Son of God. It was the same truth that seeing Him is seeing the Father and that He and the Father are one.

He spoke with dignity, assurance, and conscious power, with calm voice and dignified manner, and with heavenly light upon His pale face as for a moment His divinity flashed through His humanity. His penetrating eyes quailed the high priest, reading his hidden thoughts and burning into his heart in a way never forgotten. His words struck the hearers with conviction as never man spoke, every word an aimed arrow, and when the judges rose and confronted Him asking if He was the Son of God He answered them I AM, leaving an impression never effaced so that they never found peace. Even in His humiliation His bearing testified that the coarse, homely-garbed prisoner is akin to God.

The scene set His lowly appearance against His former reign in heaven, where crowned and clothed in garments of brightness and attended by holy angels He possessed heavenly royal glory. Now He stood calm, serene, dignified, and majestic, with God-like presence and holy influence, at the foot of Caiaphas's earthly throne of judgment to be tried for His life, while Caiaphas sat above Him in gorgeous robe, glittering tiara, and costly breastplate. He endured insult and abuse instead of using His divine power to overcome His accusers, bearing dishonor without retaliation or intimidation, and that submission was part of His mission to bear humanity's sin and suffering.

The high priest fully understood what the answer comprehended, was convicted by it, and was furious with himself for believing. Instead of rending his heart in contrition and confessing Jesus as Messiah, he in determined resistance rent his priestly robes, lifted his hands toward heaven, charged Jesus with blasphemy, declared that no further witnesses were needed, asked the judges for their verdict, and they answered that He was guilty of death. By rending his robe he transgressed God's law for the temple service, which forbade priests to rend their robes and required perfection in dress, attitude, word, and spirit to represent the holiness and sacredness of the heavenly service, thereby placing himself under penalty of death, while Christ as maker of those laws had right to charge him with transgression.

While Jesus awaited legal trial in the guard-room and during His abuse, His claims to sit in glory and come in heaven's clouds were repeated in mockery, as soldiers and the crowd turned His declaration of divine authority and future glory into an occasion for abuse. The priests and rulers who mocked Him were fulfilling prophecy while rejecting the Messiah they should have welcomed.

Exaltation and Coming Judgment

The word spoken to the judges is plain and irrevocable, addressed to the highest authorities of the Jewish nation who stigmatized Him and to the heathen rulers who joined with them to put Him to death. Though He had left the heavenly courts and clothed His divinity with humanity to secure the salvation of Israel and through them to bring light to the world, He was rejected, dishonored and crucified by their combined action. Yet He told those very condemners that they would see Him exalted at the right hand of power and returning with the clouds of heaven in glory.

What is foretold is a complete reversal of the trial then in progress. The One who stood as prisoner, accused and abused before priests and rulers, will be seated at God's right hand as supreme Judge of heaven and earth and of all the earth, from whose decision there is no appeal. There He is clothed with power, with everlasting dominion and glory and a kingdom over all peoples, nations and languages. He will come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, escorted by legions of angels. He will send His angels with trumpet sound to gather His elect, and will execute judgment on those who disregard God's commandments and trample Christ's blood underfoot. That glory will be more fearful than the glory on Moses' face after communing with God, which Israel feared to approach.

Pilate and Caiaphas, all who mocked, derided and pierced Him, and the whole world will stand cited before Him. Those who pierced Him will look upon Him and know Him, and every secret thing will be set in the light of God's countenance. Each will be judged according to deeds, sins will be unveiled in their hideousness, and sentence will be passed on all who have not received Him. Sinners will then desire to be hidden under mountains or in the ocean to escape the wrath of the Lamb. At His return in glory those who mocked His claim to be the Son of God will behold Him as King and recognize that He was the true Messiah. His vindication will confront them with their rejection of His grace, and will bring terror and remorse to the priests and rulers and all who abused and condemned Him. Those who rejected Him will acknowledge Him, but too late for their salvation, for His kingdom was not temporal rule on earth and He ascended to His Father to be seen again at His coming.

The chief priests and elders had sought to condemn Him because they feared He would gain authority and become king. Their effort to prevent this ended in His crucifixion, which made Him Redeemer and Saviour of the world. God overruled their crime for human good, but that outcome did not lessen their guilt. The priests who had cried for His crucifixion and called His blood upon themselves and their children knew that if the soldiers' testimony that He had risen went forth, His assertion of divine identity would be believed. Therefore Caiaphas and the council stopped the soldiers, promised them safety from Pilate, paid them money, and framed for them the lying report that His disciples stole the body while the guard slept.

Lawful Oath and Faithful Witness

When adjured by the living God to state whether He was the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus did not refuse to testify but answered under that solemn judicial oath. His reply, Thou hast said, affirmed the high priest's question. In so submitting, He showed that a lawful oath in court is permitted and that Christians may testify under oath. His conduct agrees with His teaching against deceptive and evasive oath-taking, and had He taught His disciples that judicial oaths were wrong He would have corrected the high priest and made that teaching plain at His trial.

He had kept silence until plainly interrogated, for there is a time to be silent and a time to speak. He knew an affirmative answer would make His death certain, yet denial would have stained His humanity, and in that solemn moment His character was at stake and must be vindicated. His answer confessed His relationship with God in keeping with His teaching that whoever confesses Him before men He will confess before His Father in heaven. It declared His divine power and Godhead and His oneness with the Father, the same truth that to see Him is to see the Father and that He and the Father are one. The high priest fully understood what the answer comprehended and condemned it as blasphemy.

Spoken amid insult and scorn and mockery and rejection and shame, that answer proves Him true and without guile. Therefore His words are truth to be believed and rested in with love and faith. In so confessing, He left an example to be followed under similar circumstances, not to apostatize from faith to escape suffering or even death.