Incriminating Statements

Luke 22:69-70 "'Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God.' Then they said, 'Are you then the Son of God?' He said to them, 'You rightly say that I am.'"

Jesus made some amazing claims when He was put on trial. First, He claimed that He was so special that He was going to sit on God's right hand. Historically, the right side of the king was a place of honor. Any old Joe just could not get up and sit down at the right side of the throne. It was a place reserved for individuals who were highly favored by the ruler.

This lead the Sanhedrin to ask another question: "Are you then the Son of God?" The word "then" is really important. By stating that He was going to sit at the right hand of the power of God, the spiritual leaders of the day realized that Jesus was claiming that He was closer to God the Father than any of them could ever imagine. They asked the "then" question. Then what? Who are You? Are you God's Son? This was a loaded question, for they knew that His answer would save Him or condemn Him. If He said that He was, then that would result in a sentence of death for no one could claim to be God's Son as this made him equal with God. "Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God." John 5:18 The spiritual leaders of the day were out to get Jesus for a very long time and now His answer would give them the evidence that they needed to put Him away for good. Jesus knew this too. He knew that if He claimed to be God's Son that this was akin to blasphemy and under Jewish law, the punishment was death by stoning. If Jesus were not God's Son, all He had to do was say: "This thing is just a big misunderstanding. No, I am not God's son. That is something my guys have made up. I am just a leader of a ragtag group of men who enjoy my teaching." He could have said this, but He didn't. He didn't because a statement like that would not have been true. Jesus had to speak the truth and the truth was, He was and is the Son of God, so He said: "You rightly say that I am."

The actual translation of this is interesting. The word "rightly" was thrown in by the NKJV editors. The actual translation says: Ὑμεῖς λέγετε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι. (Pretty cool, huh?) It means: "You say that I am." This doesn't sound so much like an affirmation on Jesus' part, does it? Why would these guys follow with the statement: "What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from his own mouth." v 71. Because Jesus actually said: "You affirm that I AM." Now, this is a big deal. Under Jewish law, this would be worthy of death…only one problem…it was the truth. Jesus was and is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, God Himself.

This is the One we worship. This is the One who came for me, who was put on trial for me, who was abused for me, who died for me, who lives for me, who sits at the right hand of the Father for me. Amazing.