Bow down Your ear, O Lord, hear me; For I am poor and needy. Preserve my life, for I am holy; You are my God; save Your servant who trusts in You! Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I cry to You all day long. Rejoice the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. For You, O Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.
Richard Craig, Author at GraceAndWorks - Page 35 of 59
“You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.”
Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.
Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; Let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle. Then I will go to the altar of God. To my God exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise you, O God, my God.
We here cries in today’s society of, “I want justice”, “Give me/us justice” or “I/we can’t get any justice.” My question is–what is justice? Is it what YOU want or what the law says is right. If it’s not good for “Me”, then it can’t be justice. That seems to be the attitude today. What I want to take a look at here is the total injustice of Jesus’s trial before going to the cross to die for you and me.
Leviticus 19:15-19
A) You shall do no injustice in judgement
B) Jews had centuries to perfect their judicial system
This founded upon Deuteronomy 16:18-20
A) You shall appoint Judges and Officers in all your towns
B) Judge with righteous Judgement
C) Never pervert or distort justice
D) No practicing of partiality
E) Never accepting a bribe
F) Administer justice and only justice.
The application here is: Be fair in justice so you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God gives you.
The Sanhedrin at all levels guaranteed:
Deuteronomy 19:15-21
A) A fair trial
B) The right of disputing charges
C) No conviction without evidence of 2 or more witnesses to the accusation
John 18:15-24
A) Jesus before Annas, son-in-law of Caiaphus, the High Priest–“Jewish Council”
B) Annas was looking to legitimize the charges to Roman Officials
C) He asked Jesus about his work and followers
D) Protocol demanded that 2 or more witnesses already exist
E) Jesus challenges Annas–“Call your witnesses”
F) Unsuccessful, Annas sent an unindicted Jesus to Caiaphus
Now occurring during the trial and making the trial contrary to Biblical principals of Justice and Jewish Law.
A) No formal charges were made, no formal basis existed for Jesus’s arrest and there had to be at least two witnesses.
B) There was no investigation by the Court to determine the merits of any accusation–Deuteronomy 19:16-18
C) Arrest took place at night in order to hide the evil that was happening, Matthew 26:14-16,20,30,47-50
D) You shall not pervert justice–Deuteronomy 16:19
John 18:28
A) Trial was at night–Jewish law only permitted proceedings that took place during daylight hours.
B) Trial began before morning sacrifice at Temple–Illegal based on Jewish Law.
C) Trial held before one of God’s annual Feast Days.–Illegal based on on Jewish Law because it began on a day before a High Holy Day (First day of Unleavened Bread–John:18:28)
D) Trial was too short (Approximately 3 hours)–It minimized the chances of the of the Council to have advocated Him and witnesses couldn’t be notified in time. Trial is one day and if death sentence is pronounced, the trial couldn’t be concluded until the next day according to Jewish Law.
E) The trial was not held before impartial Judges. The Judges at the trial hated the accused and Jewish Law forbids a person from Judging a case if they are negatively biased.
F) False witnesses were allowed to testify
G) Condemnation charge was false–charged with blasphemy when He was telling the truth.
H) Death penalty was unanimously agreed–Illegal in Jewish Law to unanimously condemn a person to death if no one testified as a witness.
I) Sentence announced in an unlawful place. The final sentence was pronounced in the High Priest’s Palace (House/home). It was illegal to sentence someone to die in any location other than the Great Sanhedrin’s appointed place, which was a chamber in Jerusalem’s Temple known as the Chamber of Hewn Stones.
J) The Court changed the charge after the trial. After the trial, the Sanhedrin again changed the charges, this time from blasphemy to treason. They changed the charges to a Roman crime so they could improve their chances of having the Romans (And not them) do the dirty job of murdering Him.
K) The rest of the story is Pontius Pilate determined He was innocent, but still turned Him over to the soldiers for crucifixion to appease the crowd.
There was absolutely nothing right with what happened–a total INJUSTICE. Today we would liken this to a Kangaroo Court.
Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? While it is yet green and not cut down, it withers before any other plant. So are the paths of all who forget God; and the hype of the hypocrite shall perish, whose confidence shall be cut off, and whose trust is a spider’s web. He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure. He grows green in the sun, and his branches spread out in his garden. His roots wrap around the rock heap, and look for a place in stones. If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, “I have not seen you.”
Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace; Thereby good will come to you. Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; you will remove iniquity far from your tents.
I WAITED patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth–Praise to our God. Many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
You are wearied in the length of your way: yet you did not say, there is no hope. You have found the life of your hand; therefore you were not grieved.
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