When I Survey
H. Hoeksema
Book 1, Part 1, Chapter 2
The Judgment of the Church

"Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." Lu. 20:18.

"Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy." Matt. 26:65.

"They answered and said, He is guilty of death." Matt. 26:66.

The cross and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ are the judgment of this world. In the trial of the Savior the world confronts the question: what shall we do with the Son of God? And its answer is: we shall kill Him! The world of fallen man is condemned, and its prince is cast out through the judgment of the cross. But God's world is justified in the resurrection of the Lord, and its Prince is exalted at the right of the Majesty in the heavens.

Now, as we are studying some phases of this judgment of the cross, we notice that the first and chief defendant that appears before the tribunal of the Most High to be examined and judged is the Church, the House of God! It occupies a chief position, it plays a leading part in the crucifixion of the Son of God! Judgment must needs begin at the house of God. This had been foretold by the prophets of old: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming: and who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." Mal. 3:1-3. Hence, it had been said of that day of the Lord, that "it shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Mal. 4:1. Yet, on the other hand, unto them that feared the name of Jehovah the sun of righteousness would arise with healing in his wings. Mal. 4:2. The coming of Christ, therefore, would be a judgment for the house of God, for the Church as it was then present in Israel, and represented by official Jerusalem. The Church would be tried, judged, condemned; the vials of the wrath of God would be poured out upon her. And in and through the separating and refining process of this judgment, the sin of that Church would be exposed as never before, the chaff would be burned, the wheat would be gathered into the garner. Thus John the Baptist had announced His coming, Matt. 3:1ff.; Luk. 3:7ff. Thus grayheaded Simeon had prophesied with the child Jesus in his arms: "Behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign that shall be spoken against ... that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." Lu. 2:34,35. And thus the Lord Himself had not only clearly expressed more than once, but had also plainly obsignated when twice He had come to the temple to drive out those that made of the house of God a den of robbers.

The judgment of the world. therefore, through the cross of Christ must begin at the Church, in order that God's Church in Christ may be justified and saved, while man's Church is condemned and destroyed. For even as we distinguished in the previous chapter between God's world and man's world, so we must now distinguish between God's Church and man's Church, the true and the false church, the faithful bride and the adulterous woman. The one is called Jerusalem, the city of the living God, the daughter of Sion; the name of the other is Sodom and Gomorrah, even though in the world she appears as Jerusalem. To the one the Lord says: Ammi, My people; to the other He says: Lo Ammi, not My people. They are Jacob whom God loves, and Esau whom He hates. In the world they are always one to a certain extent, like the wheat and the chaff. Especially was this the case in the old dispensation, when the church was under the law and confined within the limits of Israel's theocracy. Also in the new dispensation the false church constantly arises in the bosom of the true; and always that false church seeks to gain the ascendancy, the controlling influence in the church in the world. It seeks the pulpit that it may corrupt the truth of the gospel; it wants a ruling position that it may deliver the Church to the world and to the devil. But in the new dispensation the true church can always maintain purity of doctrine by separating from the false, apostate church in the world. In the days of the Old Testament this was impossible. There was one throne of David, one temple, one king, one service of God according to the law, one institute, and if the wicked were in power, occupied the throne and served officially in the temple, the true Church had no means of expressing itself. Then the temple was defiled, the idols were introduced into the land, the righteous were persecuted, and the blood of the prophets of Jehovah was shed. Thus it was in the desert, when they could not enter into the land of promise because of unbelief. Thus it was frequently in the period of the Judges, and later during the reign of the kings; think of the days of wicked Ahab and the service of Baal. Nor is there a more wicked, abominable, hypocritical, self-righteous, self complacent, outwardly pious and inwardly corrupt part of the world whose prince is the devil than the false, apostate church, that wicked adulteress that denies that Jesus is the Christ! It is that church that stones the prophets and then builds their tombs, that kills the righteous and then garnishes their sepulchres; it is that church that is compared to a whitewashed sepulchre, beautiful without but within full of dead men's bones and uncleanness; it is that ungodly, abominable, antichristian harlot that sheds all the blood of the saints, that crucified Christ, and always crucifies Him again!

That world, that apostate Church was, at the time of Jesus, represented by the leaders of the Jews, particularly the Jewish council, whose president was the high priest. And it is these leaders of the Jews that lay their hands on Jesus, and that, in spite of themselves, are compelled to stand in judgment, and to give a clear answer to the question: "what will ye do with the Christ, the Son of God?" Let us follow the history of this trial, which appeared to be the trial of Jesus by the Sanhedrin, but in reality was the trial of the apostate church, that had always stumbled at the stone God laid in Sion, always had, and always does and will kill the prophets, the trial of that part of the world that was represented by carnal Israel.

On Wednesday of the same week in which Jesus was crucified, these leaders of the Jews held an informal meeting to consult how they might kill the Lord. At that time, that is, just a day before they actually captured and tried Jesus, they seemed to have been quite convinced that they could do nothing against Him in the way of a legal procedure. Yet they had always hated Him; and especially since His reappearance in and about Jerusalem, and the enthusiasm that was caused among the people by the raising of Lazarus, they were incensed against the Savior, and became more and more determined to kill Him. So they had met on that last Wednesday afternoon, not in formal session, but rather as a band of conspirators against Jesus' life. For they consulted how best to remove Him from their way. Two things had been established by them at that informal gathering: they would try to take Jesus by subtilty and kill Him secretly; and they would not make an attempt to murder Him on the feast day, for they were afraid of the people's enthusiasm for the Lord. If their plan had succeeded, Jesus would never have been publicly and formally tried and condemned and crucified. It is in this scheme that Judas who that same day appeared before them to offer his evil services, had his proper place. And, no doubt, he left them under strict orders: "not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people."

However, God's purpose was different. Jesus must be publicly tried and condemned. And all the plans of the Jewish council were completely frustrated. One of the main factors in the frustration of their plans was, no doubt, the dismissal of the traitor from the upper room, where Jesus had prepared to eat the last passover with His disciples. Judas also had taken his place among the disciples that night, although the traitor's reward was already in his pocket. No intention he had to deliver Jesus into the hands of His enemies that night, for his orders were: "not on the feast day." But the Lord had revealed in that upper room that He was fully acquainted with Judas' evil purpose, and had sent him out in the night to accomplish it quickly. The result was, that when the traitor reported his experience to the leaders of the Jews that same night, these realized that now they would be compelled to follow the way of legal procedure, and that for such procedure they were not at all prepared. And so, they obtain a band of soldiers from the captain of the guard, and proceed to Gethsemane, armed with swords and staves to take Jesus captive. And thereupon followed Jesus' trial and condemnation by the Jewish council which belonged to the condemnation of the world, the judgment of the false church.

To understand how this was accomplished we must again call attention to the fact that the false church was well represented at this time, and the Jews were well qualified to give an answer for the carnal church of all ages to the question: "what think ye of the Christ?" First of all, the Sanhedrin was an august body. It was the highest Jewish tribunal. There were, indeed, smaller sanhedrins in every town with a certain number of Jewish inhabitants; but the supreme court was the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. It consisted of seventy-one members, the high priest always presiding over its sessions. It was a self-perpetuating body, for it appointed its own members. At an earlier date this supreme council of the Jews appears to have had power to try and settle all kinds of cases, both political and ecclesiastical, but its power had been considerably curtailed by the Romans. Capital offenses it had no longer authority to try, and capital punishment it could no longer inflict. However that may be, the Sanhedrin was a very able representation of the Jews of that time. It consisted of the very ablest men of the nation, the high priest and the chief priests, the elders and scribes, Pharisees and the Sadducees, men that were versed in theological questions, and that knew the law. And they certainly were well qualified to give an answer to the question: what think ye of the Christ? For they had been in direct contact with Jesus of Nazareth. Often they had sent delegations to watch Him. Besides, Jesus had taught openly in the synagogues and in the temple. And they had been eye witnesses of many of His wonderful works. Well were they able to represent the church of man in giving answer to the question: what shall we do with Jesus, the Son of the living God?

In the second place, let us notice three outstanding results of this trial of the Savior by the Jewish court: 1. The entire trial very strongly sets forth both the evil design of the judges and the innocence of Jesus of Nazareth. 2. The whole trial culminates in the question of the high priest, whether Jesus be the Christ, the Son of God, and the Lord's affirmative answer. 3. And when they condemn Jesus to death on the basis of His testimony that He is the Christ, they have, in spite of themselves, given a plain answer to the question: what will ye do with the Christ of God? The court judged and found guilty. The false church is for ever condemned.

Let us examine the court records to see how they established the wickedness of the court, and the innocence of the Son of man. First of all, the records show that these judges condemned Jesus the day before, and had wickedly covenanted with a traitor for thirty pieces of silver to deliver Him into their hands that they might kill Him. This proves that in their own consciences they were convinced that they had no case against Jesus. Secondly, it is evident that the entire procedure on the part of the Sanhedrin was illegal. This is true of the session of the court at this time. The Jewish court was not allowed to conduct trials at night, or even to begin a case in the later afternoon; but Jesus' case was begun in the hollow of the night. There were, it appears, four different sessions that night and early morning. There was a session in the apartments of Annas, where a preliminary hearing and examination of the Savior took place. This was arranged, most probably, because no meeting of the council had been summoned until they were sure that Jesus had been taken captive. Not being permitted to begin a session in the hollow of the night, they postponed calling such a meeting until Jesus had been captured. Annas, who was not the high priest that year, but his father-in-law, no doubt welcomed the opportunity to subject the Lord to a hearing of his own, which, however, led to nothing. Then followed the session of the council as it had been hastily summoned in the night, and from which we may well imagine men like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were absent. It was in this meeting that an attempt was made to find an accusation sustained by witnesses against the Savior, an attempt which absolutely failed. There was, according to Luke 22:66ff, a third session early in the morning, in which Jesus was put under oath by the high priest and placed before the question whether He were the Christ, the Son of the living God. It was then that the Savior was condemned to death. And, lastly, a meeting was held in the absence of Jesus, to discuss the matter whether or not they should bring Him to the Roman governor to have him confirm their sentence.

Examining the court records of these different sessions, we come to the conclusion that the entire procedure was illegal. It was such for three reasons at least. First of all, they had no authority to try cases that involved capital punishment. Yet, even before the case was opened they had determined that they would pronounce the death sentence upon Jesus. And this is also their actual verdict. The Jewish council condemned the Lord to death, a fact which is not altered by their seeking the confirmation of this sentence through the Roman governor. Secondly, the trial was begun at night, which they were not permitted to do, and which plainly characterizes their entire procedure as a work of darkness. It is only when men are convinced in their own hearts that they conspire to do evil, that they avoid the light of day and publicity. And, thirdly, they evidently gathered in the palace of the high priest, rather than in the council chamber, the only legal place for official sessions. The motive was again to work in private, and to avoid their evil works becoming known to the people. In all these respects, therefore, the trial of Jesus by the official representatives of the Church was their own condemnation. Already they were drawn before the bar of God's justice, were exposed in their evil character and purpose, and were answering God's question: What think ye of the Christ?

But there is more. Also the trial itself served only to establish the innocence of the Savior, and their own wickedness. The records clearly reveal, first of all, that when the Savior appeared before Annas and later before the Jewish council, they had no charge against Him! There was no accusation! They had come against Him with swords and staves, they had bound Him, and led Him captive, but when He stood before their tribunal, there was not even an indictment against Him! Not only that, but from Matt. 26:59 we learn that they deliberately sought evidence of such a nature that would be sufficient to put Him to death. Then, secondly, they had no witnesses, and they could not find them. The Sanhedrin was accustomed to an elaborate system of witnesses. These witnesses had to be examined separately, and at least two of them had to agree before their testimony could be accepted as valid. But it is evident that in Jesus' trial no witnesses were at hand. The court deliberately looked for witnesses from their own body, and that, not to sustain or corroborate a charge, but to bring an indictment on the basis of which they might condemn the Lord to death! And even in this they failed miserably. For when two witnesses did appear introducing an indictment concerning a statement of the Lord's about rebuilding the temple, they did not agree. No accusation, no witnesses, there were; and yet they had captured the Lord with the deliberate intention to put Him to death! Surely, the trial of Jesus by the Jewish council merely served to accentuate Jesus' righteousness, and the wickedness of the Sanhedrin. The judgment of Jesus was the judgment of the world as it was present in the carnal old dispensational church.

But the case may not rest here. The matter must be definitely settled. In God's courtroom the Sanhedrin must give a clear and definite answer to God's question: what think ye of the Christ? What will ye do with Him, the Christ of God, if ye can lay your hands on Him? The matter may not be left in doubt, for the Sanhedrin represents the false church of all ages. The blood of all the prophets must be on their head. It is evident that they would rather evade the issue. For they like to maintain their appearance of righteousness. They are very religious, as the false church always is. And they prize their reputation. They seek the honor of men. If at all possible the Christ-question must be avoided. Jesus must be exposed as a malefactor, and as such He must be condemned. Even after they have killed Jesus they must be in a position to place an extra wreath on the graves of the prophets they had killed. And so they seek other evidence. But God will not have it so. All their efforts fail. The high priest becomes irritated and angry when Jesus maintains a continual silence and answers not one word to all the false and foolish accusations they seek to bring against Him. And finally, all their efforts to incriminate the Lord having failed, the high priest and the council realize that they must face the issue. And by mouth of their worthy president, they adjure the Lord to tell them, whether He be the Christ, the Son of the living God. This time the Savior breaks His long silence, and replying affirmatively, He solemnly adds, that henceforth they shall see the Son of man, sitting at the right hand of God, and coming with the clouds of heaven!

Upon this they condemn Him to death! What does it mean? It means nothing less than that they had been summoned before the tribunal of God, and had been confronted with the question: what will ye do with Christ, the Son of God? What will ye do with God's anointed, and, therefore, with the living God Himself if He appears before you as a defenseless man? And with one accord they answered, "We will kill Him! He is worthy of death!" O, it is true, they still attempt to keep up their appearance of righteousness and piety! They feign indignation. They pronounce the Lord a blasphemer. The high priest rends his high priestly robe. And well might that born prophet-in-spite-of-himself do so, for the death of Jesus meant the end of his high priestly office. The council maltreat the Savior, smite and buffet Him, spit upon Him, blindfold and mock Him. But all their show of religion and indignation will avail them nothing, and will never suffice to cover up the fact that they reject the Christ of God! That is their condemnation. For they speak the language and do the work of Antichrist! He that denies, not that a certain Christ will come, but that Jesus is the Christ, is moved by the spirit of Antichrist. And why should not Jesus be the Christ? Why should it be blasphemy on the part of this Jesus to confess that He is the Messiah, the Son of God? Had He not revealed the Father in all His teachings? And did they not know? Was He not the Son of David? Did He not have the testimony of John the Baptist, of Moses and all the prophets? Had not the Father borne witness of Him? Did not all His mighty works corroborate His claim that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God? Yes, they knew Him. They had heard Him. They were acquainted with His doctrine. They had seen His mighty works. Yet, they did not want to accept this man Jesus as the Christ! Another Christ they wanted, not Jesus. A Christ after their own heart, of their own imagination, Who would never testify that their works were evil, Who with them would walk in darkness and seek the honor of men, they desired and sought. Because Jesus is the Christ they condemn Him to death! God's question was clearly answered. And they were condemned! "Now is the condemnation of the world!" The Church rejects the Son of God! Judgment must needs begin at the house of God!

And presently the sentence, God's sentence upon an ungodly church is executed. The vials of His wrath are poured out in that hour! But again, in that hour Jesus Himself, God's own anointed High Priest, willingly went to the place of execution, that He might bear the wrath of God against the sin of the Church, and bear it away for ever! For even though the form of the house of God, as it was represented by the high priest and the Jewish council may and must perish, there is within that corrupt institution, within man's church, the true Church of God. And it may never perish! Hence, when men nail Him to the accursed tree in the hour of judgment, He transforms that cross into God's altar, upon which the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. And so the false church is forever condemned and shall presently perish, perish in the destruction of old Jerusalem, the old temple and all that was connected with it; perish again when the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God shall arrive; but, nevertheless, Sion is redeemed through judgment. The true Church presently emerges, justified, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ascends into glory, is exalted with Christ to reign with Him. Jerusalem, Mt. Sion, the temple, the High Priest and the priesthood are now in heaven! And presently she shall be presented as the glorious Bride of Christ, without spot or wrinkle to the Father, to dwell with Him in God's house for ever!