Mocked in Disbelief and Denied as the Christ

Luke 22:63-71

Jesus Mocked and Beaten

63 Now the men who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him. 64 And having blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face and asked Him, saying, "Prophesy! Who is the one who struck You?" 65 And many other things they blasphemously spoke against Him.

Jesus Faces the Sanhedrin

66 As soon as it was day, the elders of the people, both chief priests and scribes, came together and led Him into their council, saying, 67 "If You are the Christ, tell us."

But He said to them, "If I tell you, you will by no means believe. 68 And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go. 69 Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God."

70 Then they all said, "Are You then the Son of God?"
So He said to them, "You rightly say that I am."

71 And they said, "What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth."

Jesus was mocked for claiming His right as God in hypostatic union with man of the lineage of Adam through David (Jeremiah 23:5-6, Micah 5:2, John 7:42) as Messiah, the Christ.  They also beat Him as it was prophesied long before He set forth human foot on earth. He was dishonored and rejected as Isaiah 53:3-5 recorded for us to look back on in awe and wonder of God’s plan but whom Israel continued to disbelieve and reject their LORD as they had since their calling as His people.  These religious misleaders of God’s people comman Jesus to prophesy as they blindfolded and mocked Him as a false prophet to tell them which one was beating Him whom He could not see with His eyes.  It was not Jesus’s eyes which were covered though; the blind led by the blind (Luke 6:39) were unable and unwilling to see Jesus as the Christ come to suffer at their hands and be crucified for their sins as a sacrifice which no mere animal killed in the temple could ever do to cover their sins (Hebrews 9:12-13, 10:4, 10) for any length of time as they had come to rely on.  Jesus then was brought to face the council of the Sanhedrin, the religious rulers of scribes, chief priests, and elders to be judged and sentenced to death for what they claimed was blasphemy for confessing who He was.  They asked Jesus if He was the Messiah because they missed find the place of His birth thinking it was Nazareth instead of Bethlehem as Micah 5:2 foretold.  They knew the scriptures but failed to understand them and to see the facts before them, and so they set out to destroy Him as they were predetermined to do by God for their rejection of Him and His word.  Jesus therefore told them if He answered them that they would only refuse to accept His word because they had no faith to believe.  They would never let Him go because they were intent on killing Him as their fathers did to so many messengers of His Father before Him (Matthew 23:34-35, Acts 7:52, 1 Thessalonians 2:15) whose inconvenient truth from God only caused their persecution and death.  When Jesus therefore told the rest of the truth about His equality with God sitting at His right hand of power and divine authority, they called His confession of being the Son of God blasphemy instead of taking it to heart and believing the fulfilled promises which they claimed they had been waiting for.  Jesus was mocked in disbelief and denied as the Christ.  They sent Jesus therefore to be put to death, unable to comprehend that this would fulfill His work to die for their sins!  They meant these things for evil, but God intended it for good as Genesis 50:20 foreshadowed in the captivity of Joseph for the deliverance of God’s people.  God’s sovereign plan could not be stopped by religious leaders set against Him just as those today who preach false gospels will never prevail against His work through His chosen ones who are the church which the very gates of Hell cannot overcome (Matthew 16:18).  Christian, be of steadfast courage and conviction when you face persecution for the sake of Jesus Christ and the gospel of truth!  We dare not expect to escape the same from those set against the Lord.