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59 - The Desire of Ages - Ellen Gould · Philosophy and Faith

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  Priestly plottings. Bethany was so near Jerusalem that the news of the raising of
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  Lazarus was soon carried to the city through spies who had witnessed the miracle.
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  The Jewish rulers were speedily in possession of the facts. A meeting of the
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  Sanhedrin was at once called to decide as to what should be done. Christ
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  had now fully made manifest his control of death and the grave. That mighty
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  miracle was the crowning evidence offered by God to men that he had sent his
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  son into the world for their salvation. It was a demonstration of divine power
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  sufficient to convince every mind that was under the control of reason and enlightened conscience.
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  Many who witnessed the resurrection of Lazarus were led to believe on Jesus,
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  but the hatred of the priests against him was intensified. They had rejected all
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  lesser evidence of his divinity, and they were only enraged at this nu miracle.
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  The dead had been raised in the full light of day and before a
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  crowd of witnesses. No artifice could explain away such evidence. For this very
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  reason, the enmity of the priest grew deadlier. They were more than ever
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  determined to put a stop to Christ's work. The Sadducees, though not favorable
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  to Christ, had not been so full of malignity towards him as were the
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  Pharisees. Their hatred had not been so bitter. But they were now thoroughly
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  alarmed. They did not believe in a resurrection of the dead, producing so
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  called science. They had reasoned that it would be an impossibility for a dead
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  body to be brought to life, But by a few words from Christ,
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  their theory had been overthrown. They were shown to be ignorant both of the
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  scriptures and of the power of God. They could see no possibility of removing
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  the impression made on the people by the miracle. How could men be turned
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  away from him who had prevailed to rob the grave of its dead. Lying
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  reports were put in circulation, but the miracle could not be denied, and
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  how to counteract its effects they knew not. Thus far, the Sadducees had
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  not encouraged the plan of putting Christ to death, but after the resurrection of
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  Lazarus, they decided that only by his death could his fearless denunciations against them
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  be stopped. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, and they could not but
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  see that this miracle was in evidence that the Messiah was among them. But
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  they had ever opposed Christ's work from the first. They had hated him because
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  he had exposed their hypocritical pretensions. He had torn aside the cloak of rigorous
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  rites under which their moral deformity was hidden. The pure religion that he taught
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  had condemned their hollow professions of piety. They thirsted to be revenged upon him
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  for his pointed rebukes. They had tried to provoke him to say or do
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  something that would give them occasion to condemn him. Several times they had attempted
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  to stone him, but he had quietly withdrawn and they had lost sight of
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  him. The miracles he performed on the Sabbath were all for the relief of
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  the afflicted, but the Pharisees had sought to condemn him as a Sabbath breaker.
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  They had tried to arouse the Herodians against him. They represented that he
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  was seeking to set up a rival kingdom, and consulted with them how to
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  dis destroy him. To excite the Romans against him, they had represented him
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  as trying to subvert their authority. They had tried every pretext to cut him
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  off from influencing the people, but so far their attempts had been foiled.
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  The multitudes who witnessed his works of mercy and heard his pure and holy teachings
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  knew that these were not the deeds and words of a sabbath breaker or blasphemer.
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  Even the officers set by the Pharisees had been so influenced by his words
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  that they could not lay hands on him. In desperation, the Jews had
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  finally passed an edict that any man who professed faith in Jesus should be cast
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  out of the synagogue. So as the priests, the rulers, and the
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  elders gathered for consultation, it was their fixed determination to silence him who did
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  such marvelous works that all men wondered. Pharisees and Sadducees were more nearly united
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  than ever before divided. Hitherto they became one in their opposition to Christ.
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  Nicodemus and Joseph had in former counsels prevented the condemnation of Jesus, and for
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  this reason they were not now summoned. They were present at the council other
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  influential men who believed on Jesus, but their influence prevailed nothing against that of
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  the malignant Pharisees. Yet the members of the council were not all agreed.
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  The Sanhedrin was not at this time a legal assembly. It existed only by
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  tolerance. Some of its number questioned the wisdom of putting Christ to death.
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  They feared that this would excite an insurrection among the people, causing the Romans
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  to withhold further favors from the priesthood and to take from them the power they
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  still held. The Sadducees were united in their hatred of Christ, yet they
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  were inclined to be cautious in their movements, fearing that the Romans would deprive
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  them of their high standing. In this council assembled to plan the death of
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  Christ. The witness was present who heard the boastful words of Nebaconezar, who
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  witnessed the idolatrous feast of Belshazar, who was present when Christ and Nazareth announced
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  himself the anointed One. This witness was now impressing the rulers with the work
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  they were doing. Events in the life of Christ rose up before them with
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  a distinctness that alarmed them. They remembered the scene in the temple when Jesus,
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  then a child of twelve, stood before the learned doctors of the law,
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  asking them questions at which they wondered. The miracle just beform bore witness
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  that Jesus was none other than the Son of God. In their true significance,
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  the Old Testament scriptures regarding Christ flashed before their minds. Perplexed and troubled,
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  the rulers asked, what do we There was a division in the council.
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  Under the impression of the Holy Spirit, the priests and rulers could not
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  banish the conviction that they were fighting against God. While the council was at
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  the height of its perplexity, Chaiaphas, the High Priest, arose. Chaiaphas
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  was a proud and cruel man, overbearing and intolerant. Among his family connections
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  were sadducees, proud, bold, reckless, full of ambition and cruelty,
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  which they hid under a cloak of pretended righteousness. Chaiaphus had steadied the prophecies,
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  and although ignorant of their true meaning, he spoke with great authority and
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  assurance ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us
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  that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perished.
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  Not even if Jesus were innocent, urged the high priest, he must
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  be put out of the way. He was troublesome, drawing the people to
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  himself and lessening the authority of the rulers. He was only one. It
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  was better that he should die than that the authority of the rulers should be
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  weakened. If the people were to lose confidence in their rulers, the national
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  power would be destroyed. Chaiaphas urged that after this miracle, the followers of
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  Jesus would likely rise in revolt. The Romans will then come, he said,
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  and will close our temple and abolish our laws, destroying us as a
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  nation. What is the life of this Galilean worth in comparison with the life
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  of the nation. If he stands in the way of Israel's well being?
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  Is it not doing God a service to remove him? Better that one man
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  perished than that the whole nation be destroyed. In declaring that one man should
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  die for the nation, Chiaphas indicated that he had some knowledge of the prophecies,
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  although it was very limited. But John, in his account of the
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  scene, takes up the prophecy and shows its broad and deep significance. He
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  says, and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather
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  together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. How blindly did
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  the haughty Chaiaphas acknowledge the Saviour's mission. On the lips of Chiaphas, this
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  most precious truth was turned into a lie. The policy he advocated was based
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  on a principle borrowed from Heathenism. Among the heathen, the dim consciousness that
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  one was to die for the human race had led to the offering of human
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  sacrifices. So Chaiaphas proposed, by the sacrifice of Jesus to save the guilty
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  nation not from transgression, but in transgression, that they might continue in sin.
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  And by his reasoning he thought to silence the remonstrances of those who might
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  dare to say that, as yet nothing worthy of death had been found in
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  Jesus. At this council, Christ's enemies had been deeply convicted. The Holy
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  Spirit had impressed their minds, but Satan strove to gain control of them.
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  He urged, upon their notice the grievances they had suffered on account of Christ,
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  how little he had honored their righteousness. He presented a righteousness far greater,
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  which all who would be children of God must possess. Taking no notice
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  of their forms and ceremonies, he had encouraged sinners to go directly to God
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  as a merciful father and make known their wants. Thus, in their opinion,
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  he had set aside the priesthood. He had refused to acknowledge the theology
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  of the rabbinical schools. He had exposed the evil practices of the priests,
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  and had irreparably hurt their influence. He had injured the effect of their maxims
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  and traditions, declaring that though they strictly enforced the ritual law, they made
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  void the law of God. All this Satan now brought to their minds.
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  Satan told them that in order to maintain their authority, they must put Jesus
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  to death. This counsel they followed the fact that they might lose the power
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  they then exercised. Was they thought sufficient reason for coming to some decision.
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  With the exception of a few who dared not speak their minds, The Sanhedron
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  received the words of Chiaphas. As the words of God, relief came to
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  the council, the discord ceased. They resolved to put Christ to death at
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  the first favorable opportunity. In rejecting the proof of the divinity of Jesus,
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  these priests and rulers had locked themselves in impenetrable darkness. They had come wholly
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  under the sway of Satan, to be hurried by him over the brink of
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  eternal ruin. Yet such was their deception that they were well pleased with themselves.
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  They regarded themselves as patriots who were seeking the nation's salvation. The Sanhedrin
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  feared, however, to take rash measures against Jesus, lest the people should
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  become incensed and the violence meditated toward him should fall upon themselves. On this
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  account, the Council delayed to execute the senates they had pronounced. The Savior
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  understood the plotting of the priest. He knew that they longed to remove him,
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  and that their purpose would soon be accomplished. But it was not his
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  place to hasten the crisis, and he withdrew from that region, taking the
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  disciples with him. Thus, by his own example, Jesus again in forced
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  the instruction he had given to the disciples. When they persecute you in this
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  city, flee ye into another Matthew ten twenty three. There was a wide
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  field in which to work for the salvation of souls, And unless loyalty to
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  him required it, the lord's servants were not to imperil their lives. Jesus
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  had now given three years of public labor to the world. His example of
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  self denial and disinterested benevolence was before them. His life of purity, of
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  suffering and devotion was known to all. Yet this short period of three years
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  was as long as the world could endure the presence of its redeemer. His
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  life had been one of persecution and insult. Driven from Bethlehem by a jealous
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  king, rejected by his own people at Nazareth, condemned to death without a
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  cause, at Jerusalem, Jesus with his few faithful followers, found a temporary
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  asylum in a strange city. He who was ever touched by human woe,
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  who healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, hearing to the death,
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  and speech to the dumb, who fed the hungry, and comforted the
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  sorrowful, was driven from the people he had labored to save. He who
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  walked upon the heaving billows and by a word silenced their angry roaring, who
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  cast out devils that, in departing acknowledged him to be the son of God,
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  who broke the slumbers of the dead, who held thousands entranced by his
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  words of wisdom, was unable to reach the hearts of those who were blinded
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  by prejudice and hatred, and who stubbornly rejected the light. Into chapter fifty nine,