Luke 22: 66-69: When day came, the assembly of the elders (the Jewish Sanhedrin), both chief priests and scribes, gathered together, and they brought Jesus to their council. They said, “If you are the Messiah, tell us.” He replied, “If I tell you, you will not believe; and if I question you, you will not answer. But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”
Jesus was condemned by the Sanhedrin, because he claimed to be the Messiah who would share in the glory and the power of God!
Only days earlier Jesus had made a mess of the temple, interrupting its sacrifices and labelling it as a "den of robbers." So, Jesus was seen by the Jewish officials to be speaking negatively about God himself. The temple was after all the place where God had chosen to dwell. How could he be the promised “Son of Man”?
In his trial, Jesus claimed that he would be "seated at the right hand of the power of God". This was perceived by the council, beginning with the high priest, as clear evidence of Jesus’ blasphemy. This activist, temple-destroyer, and troublemaker was as far as the Sanhedrin was concerned, an obvious liar and blasphemer.
We, like the Sanhedrin, also get things confused.
We tend to limit the saving work of God’s Messiah to our personal salvation only, rather than the transformation of the whole universe and all of life by Jesus to whom was given all authority in heaven and on earth.
Yet, we are blessed, when we as followers of Jesus who acknowledge him as personal Saviour, seek to do the works of his kingdom, expecting the reign of God to occupy all of our world, looking forward to the day when it will be completed. In the words of Revelation 11:15, put to music in Handel's Messiah, we should celebrate the fact that:
The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ,And he shall reign for ever and ever and ever. Hallelujah!
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, help me to understand what it means when I confess you as the Christ, the Anointed of God and glorious King of everything. May this confession lead me to a life of complete faithful discipleship in everything I do. Let your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. And let this happen in my life today! Amen
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