Matthew, Chapter 26  

Matt. 26:51-56

Matt. 26:51 "And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear. 52 Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? 55 In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. 56 But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled."

Peter, the one who smote off the ear of the servant of the high priest with a sword, thought that the Lord needed delivering from this hour. He was ready to fight to deliver the Lord from the mob that had come out. Yet this was exactly the opposite of what the Lord came to this hour for. The Lord said, "Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. 53 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?"

The Lord did not come to cause men to perish, but to save the lives of his elect from eternal damnation. Furthermore, the Lord would have needed no help to deliver himself out of the mobs hand if that had been his desire. Twelve legions of angels could have destroyed all of mankind in a very short period of time. One angel on one night during the days of King Hezekiah had destroyed 185,000 of the Assyrian army that had come out against Jerusalem!
In addition, we see that the Lord counteracted the harm that Peter had done to the servant of the high priest: Lk. 22:50 "And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. 51 And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him."

"But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?" The Lord had much earlier said, "one jot and one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." The scriptures of the prophets were fulfilled to the most minute detail by the Lord.

"In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me." The reason that the multitude had not previously laid hold on the Lord was because his hour had not yet come and they were powerless to do anything until God permitted them to do it. The Lord can constrain and the Lord can bring to pass. We marvel at the mighty power and wisdom of God.

"Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled." That which the Lord had told the disciples came to pass just as he told them it would. All of the disciples forsook him at this time.
 

Matt. 26:57-68

Matt. 26:57 "And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. 58 But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest's palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end. 59 Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death; 60 But found none: yea, though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last came two false witnesses, 61 And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. 62 And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? 63 But Jesus held his peace.

And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God. 64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. 65 Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. 66 What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death. 67 Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands, 68 Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?"

The above passage describes to us the first of three trials that Jesus went through. The other two were before Pontius Pilate and before Herod the king.

This trial was held at the palace of the high priest Caiaphas. The court was the Sanhedrin court also known as the seventy. It consisted of the chief priests, the elders of the people and the Jewish rulers as well as the high priest. This trial was a mockery of even men's justice. Jesus was not brought before the council with a charge made against him, but rather they were seeking for something whereby they might charge him. Further, the outcome had already been determined before the trial began. They had already determined to kill Jesus, now they were fishing for a reason to put him to death. They sought not for witnesses but for people who would lie, i.e., false witnesses. According to their law they were to have a least two witnesses that agreed together in order to put someone to death. The problem for them was that even their false witnesses could not agree together.

"At the last came two false witnesses, 61 And said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days." What Jesus said was: John 2:19 "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body." Jesus certainly proved what he said to be true.
Finally, the high priest accused the Lord of having spoken blasphemy. Again, this was a false charge, but this council was not going to let a little thing like the truth stand in the way of their desire to kill Jesus.

Sometimes people ask, "Couldn't Jesus have prevented this from taking place." What we need to realize is that Jesus willingly went to the cross to suffer God's punishment of sin. The council intended to kill Jesus thinking that would get rid of him and satisfy their envious jealous rage against him. God's purpose was for Jesus to suffer on the cross the wrathful judgment of God against the sins of his elect and thus redeem them and present them before God blameless. That is why Jesus did not and would not stop the mock trial against him.

Once the council pronounced the Lord to be guilty of blasphemy their mocking maltreatment of Jesus escalated. One of the reasons that God destroyed Jerusalem and most of the Jews at 70 A.D. was because of their maltreatment of Jesus and his disciples.

Peter had gone into the palace to witness the events that took place there.

Matt. 26:69-75

Matt. 26:69 "Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee. 70 But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest. 71 And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. 72 And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man. 73 And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee. 74 Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew. 75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly."

Just as the Lord had said, Peter denied the Lord three times while at the palace of the high priest. Peter had so boasted of how that though all men deny the Lord, he would never deny him and would die for him. It is very easy to get on Peter's case and look down upon his actions. However, how many times have each of us in our actions and speech at times denied the Lord. I am so thankful that the Lord did not leave Peter in his bitter sorrow for having denied the Lord. As we will see later, the Lord after his resurrection gave Peter the opportunity to affirm his love for the Lord three times.