They tried one more trick, however, before proceeding to open violence. They set a trap by which to get him to say some word or give some sign which they could twist into a charge of treason or of disrespect for authority, so as to get him into the clutch of the Roman power and authority.
"Then went the Pharisees and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk." (Matthew 22:15)
And they watched him.
"And they sent out unto him their disciples, with the Herodians..." (Matthew 22:16)
As spies, who should feign themselves to be just men, that they might take hold of his words that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor. And they asked him that insidious question concerning the tribute, when he answered,
"Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's. And when they heard it, they were not able to take hold of the saying before the people: and they marveled greatly at his answer, and held their peace; and left him and went their way." (Matthew 22:16; see also Luke 20:20-30; Mark 12:17 [RV])
This was Tuesday before the crucifixion. Then the very next day,
"...were gathered together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people unto the court of the high priest who was called Caiaphas; And they took counsel together that they might take Jesus by subtlety, and kill him. But they said, Not during the feast, lest haply a tumult arise among the people, for they feared the people." (Matthew 26:3-5)
Then that same day (Wednesday) came Judas to the chief priests and captains and offered to betray him secretly unto them. They gave him the thirty pieces of silver,
"And he consented, and from that time he sought opportunity how he might conveniently deliver him unto them in the absence of the multitude." (Luke 22:6)
And the night of the very next day they captured him in Gethsemane, after midnight, and led him to Annas, and then to Caiaphas, then to Pilate, then to Herod; and back to Pilate.
Pilate tried twice to get them to judge him themselves; but they answered,
"...It is not lawful for us to put any man to death." (John 18:31)
"...We have a law and by our law he ought to die..." (John 19:7)
And when Pilate had insisted, even to the sixth time, that he found in him no fault, and spoke three times of releasing him, and really sought a way to release him, then it was, that in their desperation, they cried:
"If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar." (John 19:12)
Pilate then took the judgment seat, and they demanded that Jesus should be crucified. Pilate said,
"...Shall I crucify your King?..." (John 19:12)
And in utter renunciation of God and all that he had ever done for them, they replied:
"...We have no king but Caesar." (John 19:12)
Then therefore he delivered him unto them to be crucified.
"...and they led him away to crucify him. And they crucified him..." (Matthew 27:31,35)
Thus they accomplished their purpose; thus they persecuted Jesus to death for Sabbath-keeping-calling it Sabbath- breaking all the time. Thus they destroyed the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, and did all that lay in their power to shut away from, the world God's ideas of the Sabbath, in or der that man's ideas might prevail.
They shut away from the world the Son of God, and his salvation, and his sign of it, that they might appear themselves to save themselves from themselves. But how was it they accomplished this?
When Pilate was determined to let him go, and sought how he might release him, and they saw he was about to slip through their hands, then they made it a charge of high trea son, involving both Pilate and Jesus; Pilate, if he let him go, and Jesus, if Pilate took judgment in the case.
Now, any one who set himself up for king, or made any pretensions toward it at all, in the Roman empire, even by a sign or a word, was guilty of high treason at that time; for Tiberius ruled.
For a Jew to do such a thing was worst of all, and for a Galilean Jew to do so was even worse than the worst. For the Jews were the most unruly people under the Roman yoke, and the Galileans the most turbulent of the Jews. And when they said to Pilate,
"If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend: whosoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar." (John 19:12)
They simply said to him in other words,
"Here is a Jew, and a Galilean Jew at that, who has set himself up for king of the Jews. We, the Jews, have prosecuted him before your tribunal.
"Now, if you refuse to take notice of this case, and thus let this pretended king of the Jews escape you, and escape us, when we inform Tiberius at Rome, that a Galilean Jew set himself up for king and we ourselves rejected him, and prosecuted him before Rome's tribunal, and you sanctioned his kingship, and let him go, and refused to hear us,-you know what you will get. You know it will be your ruin."
That was what their argument meant, and he knew and they knew, that such a report to Tiberius would mean only death to him, for sanctioning the kingship of a Jew. And therefore under this threat they got Pilate to do what he was determined otherwise not to do.
And when they said, "We have no king but Caesar," and thus that they would carry to Rome with the rest of their report, this, that they had unanimously proclaimed themselves loyal to Caesar, and Pilate himself had turned traitor to Caesar, and had fought them down against all their wishes,-you can see what an immense weight it would give to such a charge in their threatened representations, or misrepresentations, to Tiberius. Thus they finally accomplished their persecuting purpose against Jesus for keeping the Sabbath in a way that did not suit them.
But that was not the end of the story. They did this to save the nation from the Romans. They said,
"If we let this man thus alone, all men will believe on him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation."
They did not let him alone, and the Romans came and took away both their place and nation forevermore. Their efforts to save the nation destroyed the nation. Self-efforts for salvation will always destroy him who makes them.
But let us follow this in its direct intent and purpose. Their efforts to save the nation, not only brought destruction to the nation; but the thing which they did that night settled the doom of destruction for that nation forever. There was no more salvation for that nation, as such, after that night, than there was for Sodom when Lot went out of it. It was only a question of time when the destruction would come.
And in view of that destruction Jesus sent forth his disci ples with the everlasting gospel of this same Saviour whom they had crucified; to call every one in the nation, as an indi vidual, to believe on him, not only for salvation from self, but for salvation from this destruction that was so certain to come. Every believer in Jesus escaped the destruction that was to come. Those who did not believe on him, did not escape.
From that time forth they needed Jesus Christ for their sal vation in this life as well as for the other life. They were just as dependent upon Jesus Christ to save them from the ruin that was to come, as they were dependent upon him to save them from their own personal sins. And he gave them a sign by which they were to know when to flee for their lives and escape that ruin:
"When you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies... Then let them which be in Judea f lee into the mountain; let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto; let them that are in the midst of it depart out." (Luke 21:20-21)
"Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. But pray that your f light he not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day..." (Matthew 24:17-18,20)
"For these be the days of vengeance..." (Luke 21:22)
So the doom of the nation was fixed that night. And all that the Lord himself could do for them after that was to send his saving message to the whole nation, to all the people, telling them to believe in Jesus and they would be saved out of the nation, and from the ruin that was to come upon all the na tion who did not believe.