Latest / HBCWestminster / 4.10.22 Luke 23:1-12 Pastor Danny Gardner

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4.10.22 Luke 23:1-12 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, allow me to read our text, and if you're able to stand in honor of God's Word, as I do, I'm going to read verses 1 to 12 of Luke 23, then we'll pray. Begin. It says, Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar and saying that he himself is Christ, a king. And Pilate asked him, Are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him, You have said so.
• 0:30
  Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, I find no guilt in this man, but they were urgent, saying, He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place. When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. And when he learned that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at the time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him.
• 0:59
  So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. The chief priests, the scribes stood by vehemently accusing him. Herod, with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day. For before this, they had been at enmity with each other. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, through the clear declaration of your word, teach us the truth.
• 1:32
  May we be made willing vessels of your gospel as we shine like stars in a crooked and perverse generation. May the scriptures dwell richly in us. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you, church. Isn't it funny the things that often unify us? I was lamenting this last week to pastors Nathan and Sam as we were eating lunch together.
• 2:01
  About a trip that I took an old youth group on, maybe 15 or 18 years ago, I took a dozen and a half high schoolers to Mexico on a missions trip, which was not abnormal since we lived in L.A. But this particular missions trip, we decided to go to Guadalajara. Guadalajara in Mexico is much further south. It's on kind of the bottom end of central Mexico, down where everything starts getting skinny.
• 2:25
  And on top of that, I had been speaking to the missions pastor of our church who had done missions work and actually church planting in Guadalajara in the 1980s. And he had encouraged me. He said, Danny, we got to get kids down there to see this gospel work. Would you consider sending some of our high schoolers? And I said, absolutely. And so he kind of led the trip and I assisted. And with all of these 18 high school students decided to go to Guadalajara. And then he said, by the way, we're going to drive. We're not going to fly.
• 2:52
  We're going to drive. Now, from LA to Guadalajara is about a 48-hour drive if you don't stop. And then he sprung on me that, by the way, we will also be borrowing one of those yellow school buses to make the trip. We're driving a yellow school bus from LA to Guadalajara, Mexico, 48 hours on those.
• 3:11
  old school you guys remember when you were kids standing at the bus stop you get on the thing you know it's got the swivel door and you go down the rows of those bench seats that are covered in not plastic but not leather it's kind of the pleather stuff right and you walk down remember the windows you used to have to squeeze both at the same time and they never quite worked right like you get one side down they'd be stuck that way forever you know like you you never get it up or down we spent 48 hours on this school bus
• 3:36
  together in the hot and humid and sticky and smelly and sweaty bus. I went to the other pastor and I said, we're going to drive? Isn't it possible to fly? I'm pretty sure you can fly. Like they have flights, I think, from LA to Guadalajara. He says, well, yeah, of course. Of course you can fly. He said, in fact, it's a direct flight. It's way easier. And on top of that, it's even cheaper.
• 4:02
  It's cheaper to fly than to drive this school bus. And I said, then why, why are we driving? And he said, wait till the end of the trip and then I'll explain to you why we drove. Sure enough, we drove all the way down there. We spent seven or eight days ministering to God's people in Guadalajara, Mexico, then drove back that 48 hours. And it occurred to me that we bonded on that school bus like we never would have if we had flown. That element of the trip, the fact that we suffered together,
• 4:33
  pushed us together two years later i was so inspired by that trip that i decided to do it again i called the christian school in town that we had borrowed the school bus from
• 4:45
  And I said, would you mind if we borrowed the school bus again? And they said, Danny, you may never use our school bus again, ever. You may never touch our stuff again. I said, well, why? They said, driving that bus on those shaky, you know, not very well maintained Mexican roads rattled the thing to pieces. We destroyed it. Rivets were falling out. The shell of the school bus, you know, it's just big plates that are all welded together or riveted together. They said they were all broken. They said it leaked after that. They couldn't get it to stop every time it rained.
• 5:14
  Water would just be flooding in. They said, you may never touch our stuff again. And so that time we flew. It was Shakespeare who said, misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. In other words, he said, I didn't realize the friends I had until we were commiserating. Charles Warner adapted that slightly when he said, politics makes strange bedfellows. Like saying, well, I suppose we agree on all of these issues, so I guess that makes us friends.
• 5:46
  Groucho Marx adapted it again when he said, politics doesn't make strange bedfellows, marriage does. He said, well, we're stuck together, we might as well get along. Another man, Philip Jose Farmer, adapted that same quote again by saying, resurrection, like politics, makes strange bedfellows. And that one, in light of our text this morning, I think, is especially poignant. It could strangely, and in kind of a backhanded kind of way, be claimed that Christ,
• 6:16
  unified the Jewish religious leadership. The Pharisees, the Sadducees despised each other until Christ came along, and then they found that they had a common enemy, and this made them friends. It could be said that he unified the civil leadership. King Herod Antipas and Pontius Pilate never liked each other before meeting Jesus, but then they found a common enemy, and that made them friends. He even, Jesus even unified
• 6:46
  the fallen world against its creator. James chapter 4 and verse 4 says it this way, you adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity, hatred, discord toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. God and the world are enemies. And although humanity can find a zillion things to disagree on and fight about,
• 7:13
  It's funny that they often find a common enemy in Jesus. They find further that the enemy of their enemy becomes their friend. It was Jesus himself who said, Woe to you if all men speak well of you. He certainly ensured that that would never happen to him. He said and did a lot of things which created a lot of unified enemies. Notice in verse 1 it says, Then the whole company,
• 7:45
  of them arose the whole body now the 23rd chapter of luke opens with the jewish leaders the sanhedrin that religious ruling class to take jesus to pilate who was the roman governor demanding his execution you will recall that it was very early on the on friday morning of the passion week so early in fact that the sun had barely risen the jewish populace wasn't even stirring yet it's interesting that the text says that the whole company of them
• 8:15
  with one mind, unified, and brought him before Pilate, very rarely would this ruling body agree with unanimity on anything. In fact, a unanimous decision within that Sanhedrin was grounds for automatic mistrial. Since it was widely understood that if 70 men agreed about anything, unanimously, there had to have been confusion, collusion together.
• 8:43
  Now going a step further, the whole trial before the Sanhedrin had been done in haste and even in contradiction to Sanhedrin law. John MacArthur words it well, I think, when he says, in their murderous zeal to convict and execute Jesus, the Jerusalem Sanhedrin violated the lofty principles of fairness and meticulous concern for justice that marked the Jewish legal tradition. In other words, they were willing to break the law in order to convict him of breaking the law.
• 9:13
  And you may ask, well, what laws did they break? Like what? Here are just a few. Sanhedrin law dictated that all trials would take place within the temple precinct. And yet, you'll recall from last week, Jesus was tried in the home of the high priest. That was cause for a mistrial. A defendant.
• 9:35
  could only be determined guilty of blasphemy if actual blasphemy took place by using the divine name of Yahweh or Jehovah. And yet Jesus never used the Lord's name. And so that accusation was cause for a mistrial. All capital trials where execution was the verdict.
• 9:58
  All capital trials were to take place over the course of a minimum of two days in order to ensure that the full truth had been conveyed and heard, and yet Jesus' trial lasted only minutes. That was cause for a mistrial. Trials, especially capital trials, never took place on a holiday, and yet Jesus' trial took place on the Passover. Mistrial. A pronouncement of guilt could only be determined by organized formal vote.
• 10:26
  beginning with the youngest member of the Sanhedrin and then working in ascending order to the oldest. The youngest would cast his vote first, all the way up to the oldest. They did it that way every time. The reason for that was so that they could make sure that the youngest member was not manipulated by the older and more experienced. That wasn't done in Jesus' trial. In fact, the high priest just stood up and gave a decree. He should be executed.
• 10:57
  Mistrial. Jesus was illegally tried and convicted. He was actually interrogated a minimum of six times within the span of just a few hours. Three times before the Jewish high priest and his council. Three times before the civil authorities, Pontius Pilate and Herod. No single gospel account gives a complete rendering of those six trials. But using, again, the value of harmony, allow me to catch us up.
• 11:24
  after jesus was arrested remember that night that jesus is in the garden he's praying the band of soldiers shows up peter takes out that sword whacks the guy's ear off right that whole night after he was arrested he was first taken to annas annas was the former high priest john 18 records it this way says so the band of soldiers their captain the officers of the jews arrested jesus and bound him
• 11:54
  First, it led him to Annas. He was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. Notice the word bound. Jesus was tied up. All that befell Christ was in order to fulfill that which was written about him in the Old Testament. On a dreadful day in ancient Canaan, Abraham was commanded by God to take his son, the son of promise, the son through whom the whole world would be blessed, Isaac.
• 12:25
  To take Isaac and to offer him up as a sacrifice. And Abraham obediently and trustingly led his son up the mountain. He bound him and laid him on the altar. That is Genesis 22 and verse 9. From that day forward...
• 12:42
  All festal, that is, sacrifices having to do with a feast, all festal sacrifices in Israel were bound. They were tied up before being sacrificed. In fact, Psalm 118 describes it this way. It says, the Lord is God. He has made his light to shine upon us. Notice it says, bind, tie up the festal sacrifice with cords and then take it up to the horns of the altar.
• 13:09
  To be sacrificed. No, these words describe the way in which sacrifices were to be made. But even more significant, I think. Psalm 118. This psalm was the song that was quoted when Christ came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Which, by the way, church, is today. Today is Palm Sunday. The day that Jesus comes into Jerusalem in triumph. And do you remember what the people sang? Hosanna!
• 13:40
  blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord even the king of israel that is psalm 118 it is that text in fact it was the same psalm which christ himself quoted at the conclusion of the last supper the evening before jesus quoted psalm 118 the same text in fulfillment of that psalm and being himself the festal sacrifice christ was also bound
• 14:10
  tied up and led to Annas. Now calling Annas corrupt is putting it, I think, too mildly. Although no longer in the seat, he no longer occupied the office of high priest, he still controlled the high priesthood. Upon his departure from that office, Annas appointed five of his own sons in succession and eventually one of his own grandsons. It was nepotism to the extreme.
• 14:40
  A man named Caiaphas occupied the office of high priest when Christ was arrested. But even Caiaphas was Annas' son-in-law. Annas hated Jesus because of Jesus' interruptions of temple proceedings when he two times cleansed the temple mount, he exposed the high priest's corruption, and when you do that, they don't tend to like it. John 18 describes his interrogation by Annas. It says the high priest, Annas, then questioned Jesus about the disciples and his teaching.
• 15:10
  Jesus answered him, I've spoken openly to the world. I've always taught in synagogues and in the temple where all Jews come together. I've said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said. Christ was merely doing what Jewish law required. A defendant could not incriminate himself. Guilty verdicts could only be declared upon the testimonies of two or three witnesses. When Jesus replied that way, he received a slap.
• 15:41
  for it john 18 says when he had said these things one of the officers standing by struck jesus with his hand saying is that how you answer the high priest don't forget church the decision to execute jesus had long ago been made as soon as his friend lazarus returned from the dead john 12 says the jewish leadership knew that they were going to kill him and unable
• 16:08
  To find suitable evidence evidence against Jesus John's gospel continues saying the simply that Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest as Annas had illegally and privately been questioning Jesus his son-in-law the high priest was scrambling trying to assemble that Sanhedrin as was the case with this fake trial before Annas so also his clandestine trial before Caiaphas It was during this sham trial that the Sanhedrin
• 16:39
  began bringing in false witnesses matthew 26 records it this way the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against jesus that they might put him to death you can imagine them going out and drumming up witnesses paying people to come in and testify against jesus we don't even care if it's false just give us something that they might put him to death but they found none though many false witnesses came forward it was one
• 17:06
  after the next and those witnesses which did testify contradicted each other mark 14 says until two finally came forward who accused jesus do you remember this of making a threat against the temple two guys come forward mark 14 says we heard him say i will destroy this temple that is made with hands and in three days i will build another not made with hands now he was obviously making reference to his own body if you kill me
• 17:36
  I will come back in three days. But they said, oh, he used the word temple. He was making a threat against that physical building. He is therefore a terrorist. Yet even about this, Mark says, their testimony didn't agree. Even when those guys were talking, there were errors in it. Mark 14, in verse 60, the high priest says, have you no answer? What is it that these men testify against you? But Jesus remained silent.
• 18:05
  Caiaphas at this point, so confounded and angry was he that in the midst of that testimony, he jumps to his feet. He begins pulling on his beard. He rinses his garments. He's ripping his own robes. He's making this big show of being offended. How dare you make that threat against the temple? But Christ gave no reply. He would not legitimize their hearing. He refused to cast his pearls before swine.
• 18:36
  And in fact, it wouldn't be the only time he did this. He was also silent before Pilate and before King Herod. And frustrated by his unwillingness to participate in their charade, the Sanhedrin degenerated into a mindless rabble. We observed last Sunday that they began beating him, mocking him, blaspheming him. They eventually try another line of questioning, which...
• 19:00
  Ended and this was last Sunday and Christ claiming his own deity and equality with the father He called himself the son of God and so they asked so you admit you admit being the son of God then and he said yes and They finally end verse 71 from last week. What further testimony do we need? We have heard it from his own lips in their minds Anas and Caiaphas No longer needed any witnesses because Jesus had condemned himself and we pick up again in verse 1 Says the whole company arose and brought him
• 19:30
  To Pilate. That Sanhedrin could execute judgment in religious matters. They even had the authority to punish violations of their religious law. The one thing they could not do was execute violators of that religious law. Execution, the authority to kill people, was reserved by the Romans. And so they take him to a Roman. Pontius Pilate was the governor, the Roman governor of Judea.
• 20:01
  The collection of Jewish taxes, the peaceful oversight of the Jewish people were his responsibility. Now allow me to run down a rabbit trail for just a moment. It was during these civil trials, right now, during Luke 23, that Judas Iscariot, the apostle and friend of Jesus, his traveling companion, his eventual betrayer and a devil, met his own end by hanging himself over a cliff.
• 20:32
  Eventually, the scriptures say, falling and bursting open those 30 silver pieces, the blood money he had received from this same Sanhedrin, the same guys, the same accusers, those 30 pieces of silver he threw back at them just prior to his suicide. He said, I don't want this blood money. He throws it back at them, but they didn't want the blood money either. And so they used the money to purchase a field where strangers and foreigners would be buried.
• 21:01
  When they died because of this, the field's name was eventually called the Field of Blood. Interestingly, that Field of Blood was in the bottom of the Hinnom Valley. The Hinnom Valley bordered Jerusalem to the south. I've got a picture of modern-day Israel. This is the old city today. If you were to fly a drone straight up in the air, which, by the way, the Israeli government does not let you do, okay?
• 21:30
  There's no drone flying. But if you were to take that up there and just take a picture, this is it. Here is the old city up toward the top. You guys see there the Temple Mount. There it is. That's where the ancient temple stood. It was destroyed in AD 70 by the Romans. 691 AD, six centuries later, the Muslims built this. It's called Dome of the Rock. That's the big gold dome. It's one of the most holy sites in Islam. But that's where the ancient city stood.
• 21:58
  On this side, the eastern side of the Temple Mount is the Kidron Valley. At the bottom of the valley is the Kidron Brook. During the Passover, it was said that so many lambs were being sacrificed, into the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, even were sacrificed, that their blood would run down into the Kidron Brook, and it would run red for days. If you were to follow that Kidron Brook all the way down here, you keep following it and keep following it, and you hit my son, Zach. You guys all see Zach?
• 22:28
  There he is. That's Bethlehem, all right? There's Bethlehem. The Kidron Brook ran all the way down to Bethlehem, and even citizens of Bethlehem would say that for days after the Passover, the blood of those lambs was making, even in Bethlehem, it was still running red. In the center there, the central valley, relatively nondescript, it doesn't have much significance, and in fact, you wouldn't even necessarily know that it was there unless you were walking. If you were walking in Israel,
• 22:57
  then you'd realize, oh wait, I think I'm walking uphill, all right? But other than that, Central Valley doesn't really come into play. This valley, however, on the west and especially on the south side of Jerusalem, the Hinnom Valley was a very big deal. The Hinnom Valley, also called Gehenna, was where in the Old Testament the evil Jewish kings would sacrifice their own sons to false gods by burning them alive. If you can imagine, Jewish kings, and this is...
• 23:26
  baffling to me, would take their own sons, and these were potential messiahs. This was the line of David. They would take them out to the Hinnom Valley and burn them as offerings to false gods. It was therefore the Hinnom Valley was cursed. Jeremiah in Jeremiah 19 cursed the Hinnom Valley. It became a place where the refuse or the dung gate of the city eventually emptied into. When the city was rebuilt,
• 23:52
  During the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, they purposely built the dung gate to run into the Hinnom Valley. All of the sewage of the city would flow into the Hinnom Valley. The garbage from the city was thrown into the Hinnom Valley and it was burned. It's also where the bodies of crucified criminals were thrown after they were killed and eventually burned. It is where Jesus' body would have been thrown.
• 24:21
  If not for the work of Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph was a Pharisee. He was a member of the Sanhedrin who became a follower of Christ. It was Joseph who asked for the crucified body of our Lord and allowed his own brand new family tomb to house Christ's crucified remains. The Hinnom Valley eventually became a perpetually burning and smoldering heap.
• 24:47
  just outside the city walls. It was always smoldering. Smoke was always rising up from the Hinnom Valley because it was always fueled with the waste and garbage of the city. And one day, as Jesus was speaking about hell, somebody asked him, Lord, what will hell be like? He described it as a perpetually burning dung heap. The Greek term that he used was Gehenna. Church, if this sparks your interest, if you're like, man, that is...
• 25:19
  Incredible. Then start saving your shekels because Highland is going to Israel. Finally, we are able to book a trip. The world is reopening. March 12 to 25 of 2023, Lord willing, 11 months from now, we will spend 14 days in Israel. I'll take you to the Sea of Galilee where you can attempt to walk on water. I'll take you to Nazareth. You can see the small village where Jesus grew up. We can go to Ingab where Jesus cast the demons into pigs.
• 25:48
  We'll go to Tiberias and Caesarea where the Apostle Paul was imprisoned. We'll go to Capernaum. You can see the ruins of Peter's house, the actual house. It's there. Bethlehem. You can go to Samaria. You can take a drink from Jacob's well. It's still there. You can get baptized in the Jordan River. We can march around the ruins of the walls of Jericho. Now, spoiler alert. If you've read the book of Joshua, then you realize there isn't much left in terms of the walls of Jericho, all right? But we'll seek to walk around them nonetheless.
• 26:17
  You can go to the valley where David defeated Goliath. In fact, at the bottom of that valley, there is a small creek, and you can search for five smooth stones. We'll go to Tel Aviv. You can swim in the Mediterranean Sea. We'll go to the Judean wilderness. You can see the network of caves where King David hid from Saul. You can swim in the Dead Sea. You can hike up the Snake Path to the Masada Fortress. We will spend five days in the old city of Jerusalem alone. And church, I cannot wait. I can't wait.
• 26:47
  11 months from now. If you've already written those dates down, March 12 to 25, then also write this. Cost, write the word expensive. It is expensive. And I mean, I apologize for it. I'm not the one who determines how much Israel costs. It is an expensive country to visit. I will get final numbers on that in the next few weeks. But even just flying there and back is expensive. Start putting money away if that interests you. It is a once in a lifetime trip.
• 27:17
  unless you can afford to do it twice, then do it twice. It would be my goal. I've told you for many, many months, it would be my goal to get all of us to Israel. It puts color to the black and white version of the Bible. I mean, it is that remarkable to see the places where these events took place. Well, let's go back to the text. The Sanhedrin bring Christ to Pilate. They levy three accusations against him. We can imagine.
• 27:45
  pilot with each successive accusation feeling the burden of convicting jesus getting heavier and heavier he knew he was going to have to deal with a no-win situation look at verse 2. they began to accuse him saying here's the first one we found this man misleading our nation
• 28:03
  They accused Jesus of starting a misinformation campaign. Today, we would call it spreading disinformation. Jesus' Twitter account would have been frozen. He would have been banned from all social media. Jesus fell victim to the original cancel culture. That was strike one. It continues. And, forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar? If you've been with us the last several months,
• 28:35
  You probably have something going on in the back of your brain like, wait, I'm pretty sure that's the exact opposite of what he actually said. I'm pretty sure he commanded us to pay our taxes. In fact, he commanded his followers to render to Caesar what belongs to him. His exact words were to give to the government whatever belongs to the government, including the paying of taxes.
• 28:58
  He said, your coins are stamped with Caesar's name and Caesar's likeness. And so he said, if they want all their coins back, they can have them. But then he said, we are stamped with God's inscription and God's likeness. And so we belong to God. But nevertheless, in their minds, that was strike two. It continues and saying.
• 29:22
  that he himself is Christ, a king. And Pilate asked him, are you the king of the Jews? And he answered him, you have said so, or you have answered correctly, yes, I am the king of the Jews. Now, a claim to be king was a claim at insurrection. It was an automatic threat to the authority of Rome, and so that was strike three. Pilate's weekend plans were about to be ruined.
• 29:48
  He was imagining having to stay at work late, filling out paperwork. He knew Jesus hadn't really done anything deserving death. He even declared his innocence in verse 4. Pilate said to the chief priests in the crowds, I find no guilt in this man. He is an innocent man. You can hear it in his voice. What do you want me to do? I mean, the guy might be a tad crazy and you might not like him. In fact, I don't even really like him. You can't just go around executing people for no reason. And then Pilate struck gold.
• 30:20
  verse 5 says but they were urgent saying he stirs up the people teaching throughout all judea from what's the next word galilee even to this place from galilee wait pilot says you're from galilee that's great news because that means you're not my problem verse 6 says when pilot heard this he asked whether the man was a galilean when he learned that he belonged to herod's jurisdiction he sent him over to herod who was himself in jerusalem at that time celebrating
• 30:51
  The Passover, you know, this week, because of this text, I asked a local law enforcement officer about jurisdictions. I said, I'm teaching on this, Pilate, and being so eager to hand Jesus off. Wait, that's a different jurisdiction. I said, how important, I asked this guy, how important are jurisdictions? And he said this, he said, it is literally the first thing you do, Danny, establish the location of the crime and whose jurisdiction it is. Investigations are expensive.
• 31:21
  They take a ton of manpower. You don't want to accidentally waste the department's time and money, right? Because you realize, wait, it's really somebody else's problem. And so I asked this guy if Pilate would have been excited to pass Jesus off. In Pilate's mind, Jesus is just going to be such a headache. Would he have been excited? And his reply to me was, oh yeah, oh yeah. You can imagine him just wanting to wash his hands of it.
• 31:49
  I can hand you off to Herod Antipas and that is the end of it. Now Herod Antipas was the puppet king of Galilee. He hands him off to King Herod. Now remember church, not all Herods are the same.
• 32:06
  There are a lot of Herods in the New Testament, but these are all different guys. Herod the Great was the king of Israel at the birth of Christ. Herod the Great was the guy who murdered all the baby boys in Bethlehem. Herod the Great died, I think, shortly after, maybe within weeks of Christ's birth. Herod the Great had many wives. He had many sons, most of whom he murdered. In fact,
• 32:28
  So paranoid was Herod the Great that one of his sons would eventually kill him and take his place that Caesar Augustus said of Herod the Great that it was better to be his pig than to be his son. He treats his pigs with more dignity than he treats his sons. Three of his sons survived their father. One was Herod Archelaus. Herod Archelaus reigned in Judea after his father's death. This was the Herod that Joseph was warned about in a dream.
• 32:57
  Remember the angel coming to Joseph when Jesus is just young? And he says, don't go back to Judea, the angel said, because Herod rules there. You're like, wait, I thought Herod was dead. Herod was dead. That was his dad. His son was now reigning in his place. And so the angel said, settle your family rather in Nazareth. And this was why Jesus was called a Nazarene. Herod Archelaus also died early in the story. Herod had a brother named Philip, Philip the Tetrarch.
• 33:26
  Philip the Tetrarch was almost irrelevant in terms of the gospel story. He ruled in the Decapolis on the eastern side of the Jordan River. But he also had another brother, Herod Antipas. That's this guy. That's this Herod. Herod Antipas ruled in Galilee. Herod Antipas famously cut off the head of Jesus' cousin, the man who Jesus said was the greatest man to ever live. Among those born of women, none is greater than who? John.
• 33:56
  the baptist it was this herod who we find to be a flippant and murderous man who would cut off a prophet's head just because he thought a girl was pretty literally what happened he's throwing a party this young beautiful girl comes in and starts dancing so infatuated with this young lady is he that he says i will give you anything you ask for and she asks for the head of the prophet
• 34:25
  It was this murderous man to whom Christ was sent. You pick up in verse 8, when Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad for he had long desired to see him. He had heard about him.
• 34:34
  He was hoping to see some sign done by him. So he questioned him at some length, but Jesus made no answer. We find that Herod Antipas was enamored with Christ the same way that he was enamored with John the Baptist. He had heard stories of the man who claimed to be the Messiah, the man who had miracle-working power, and now he wanted Jesus to perform for him. He viewed him as a party favor, as a means of entertainment, but Jesus would not play ball. He wouldn't even answer him.
• 35:04
  This we see enraged his accusers. They begin screaming their accusations. They begin beating him again and mocking him again. Look at verse 10. The chief priest, the scribe stood by vehemently accusing him and Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him, arraying him in splendid clothing, right? Because he claimed to be a king. He sent him back to Pilate. King Herod's toy was broken. And so he returned it.
• 35:33
  Now in a twist of irony, all of this kindled in Pilate and Herod an unlikely friendship. Notice verse 12. Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day. For before this, they had been at enmity with each other. The two had never gotten along before because they had differing opinions. They had differing agendas, but they found a common enemy in Christ. And the enemy of their enemy became their friend. We conclude that it is indeed true.
• 36:06
  Resurrections make strange bedfellows. And what we're going to see on Friday and on Sunday is the full force of the Jewish nation and the full force of the Roman Empire about to be poured out on Christ. Would you pray with me? Lord, we are thankful for the truths of your word. Lord Jesus, we thank you and we rejoice in the suffering that you endured for going to the cross faithfully.
• 36:34
  so that we could be saved for your death that gives us life. God, it is that gospel message we proclaim. In Jesus' name, amen.